Comics
[Comic Review] “ODY-C” #1 Bends Gender, Minds, and Probably Spoons
To adapt Homer’s Odyssey in any form is a ridiculously difficult task. But to adapt it into a gender bending, space opera, fantasy-esque, psychedelic comic book takes “difficult” to a whole new level. Matt Fraction and illustrator Christian Ward have started a mission so colossal it’s scary, a feat of great proportions, an epic journey. “ODY-C” #1, their (almost entirely) female cast Odyssey reimagining in space, will have readers perplexed, fascinated, and charmed. This is not a tool for education. It’s not a dumbing down or easy-reader version of Homer’s original work with pictures. If anything, it’s more complex than the original, carving out its own place in the history of ambitious comics.
WRITTEN BY: Matt Fraction
ART BY: Christian Ward
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: November 26, 2014
Homer wrote of the Greek hero Odysseus and his ship-bound voyage home to Ithaca after conquering Troy in the Trojan War. In Fraction and Ward’s reimagining, Troy and Ithaca are planets and Odysseus is Odyssia, the female captain of a spaceship. As Fraction stated himself, essentially all cast members have been gender swapped and it’s the women who comprise the military heroes we read of in high school literature classes. Troy is now Troiia; Ithaca, Ithicaa. As a war-worn Odyssia sets about to make her way back home, the gods, as with Homer’s Odyssey (only with different genders) especially Poseidon, take it upon themselves to make this space voyage a challenging one.
I’m not going to go into a lot of plot detail because ideally, we all know the story of Homer’s Odyssey. I want to focus on the manner in which Fraction and Ward have adapted such difficult source material and made it uniquely their own, frankly, against all odds. I haven’t seen any adaptation this unique since “O Brother, Where Art thou.”
First and foremost, Fraction’s script would be nothing without Ward’s art. It’s Ward’s insanely stylistic take on both the space opera genre and unique female form that carry the weight of this comic. Without it, Fraction’s words would simply be a slightly reformatted and pared down (albeit very Fraction-esque) adaptation. And by Fraction-esque, I mean…the Sebex, the updating of language, the numerical captions! So him. It’s so entirely like him to take such great risks that always pay off.
And although there are plenty of times that Ward’s art resembles an acid trip, you just need to power through. On second read, it makes much more sense. But don’t try to understand everything that’s taking place within the art. It will pluck you out of the story and you’ll not be able to follow it for your life. But there’s so much to love. The colors and loose structure, the shapely women and their abnormal forms, the vague spaceship innards that leave much to the imagination, and my favorite, the scenes with Odyssia’s memories of war, which break style for Ward in that the coloring is a complete red-wash; dark tones that move away from his rainbow of colors. It’s a beautifully offset scenery of images that truly engage and perhaps are the most traditionally adapted bits of the comic.
Many of you will go through this once, and say to yourself, what the fuck did I just read? I did. That’s okay. This is not an easy comic to digest. But it’s worth it. Read it again. Unfortunately for some readers, this is not a “stand-alone” as it were. To understand a great deal of “ODY-C” one must have a working knowledge of the source material. But this series has so much promise, and the world is ready for a space age, female dominant Odyssey.
Comics
‘You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive’ – IDW Dark’s Next Horror Comic Will Make You Question Reality
Five friends. Four houses. One perfect life. Bloody Disgusting is excited to exclusively announce You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive, a brand new horror comic from IDW Dark.
From Eisner-Nominated writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and rising horror artist Heather Vaughan, You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is described as a “paranoia-laced, socially-conscious, horror mystery that will leave you questioning reality, and reveal that this crafted world is more of a nightmare than the idealistic dream they were expecting.”
Phoebe Joplin has never questioned the world her parents built: a secluded community where she and her friends were raised to be smarter, stronger, and better than anyone else. No distractions. No dangers. No secrets. Until the night of their graduation.
When one of them dies under impossible circumstances, Phee starts to pull at the edges of her perfect life—and what she finds is something far more terrifying than she ever imagined.
Because this place isn’t a sanctuary. It’s a cage. And no one who discovers the truth ever leaves it alive.
Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing (Batman – One Bad Day: Clayface, Star Trek: The Last Starship) co-write the upcoming IDW Dark horror comic, featuring art by Heather Vaughan.
Jackson Lanzing said in a statement to Bloody Disgusting, “You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is in many ways a spiritual successor to our last creator-owned horror, The Principles of Necromancy – a dive into the promise and consequence of playing god with the blood of innocents. But the Hivemind book this reminds me of most is Clayface: One Bad Day. This is a deeply human story with intensely raw emotions – five best friends and their five mysterious parents, tearing one another apart for the promise of some impossible glory that’s waiting just beyond their darkest actions. We’re thrilled to be bringing this story to life with our long-time partner in crime, editor Heather Antos, at IDW Dark – and we’re particularly excited to give our Clayface fans a new, brutal and emotional horror made just for them.”
Adds Collin Kelly, “We’re deconstructing a feeling that seems universal these days; our elders have a death grip on their power, without any intention of giving it up to the generations that come next. YNLTPA is about growing up with the limitless potential of the future… and realizing how much it’s a lie we’ve been fed to keep us under the yoke of the past. Bringing this brutal experience to life is our artist and co-creator, Heather Vaughan, who brings an incredible amount of humanity to our cast. But it’s in our youthful leads that Heather’s art really shines – you are going to fall in love with these young people, even as they go through the worst experience of their lives. What we’ve all crafted together is going to be tragic, painful, but above all else, sincere – with a future so uncertain, there’s only one thing we can trust: you’ll never leave this place alive.”
“Some horror stories are about monsters in the dark. YNLTPA is about realizing the monsters raised you,” previews Senior Group Editor Heather Antos. “Working with Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly on this series has been a dream in the darkest possible way. They’ve built a story that’s layered, brutal, and deeply emotional, and every issue gives artist Heather Vaughan opportunities to push the art into places that feel both haunting and deeply personal. Some horror comics will keep you up at night…this is one that will stick with you for years to come.”
The first issue of You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive goes on sale October 14, 2026! Make sure to pre-order at your local comic shop by September to guarantee a copy.
Exclusively check out the various covers for Issue #1 down below.
IDW Publishing’s horror imprint IDW DARK features comics like A Quiet Place: Storm Warning, Smile: For the Camera, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, The Twilight Zone, Event Horizon: Dark Descent & Event Horizon: Inferno, and more.
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