Neil Gaiman and manga comics are probably a big influence on New Zealand artist Rachel Smythe, but she’s taken these influences in radical new directions. Lore Olympus is described as a romance comic, but if so, it is a romance for grown ups, psychologically sophisticated and with a dark edge.
I’m kind of surprised that I’ve only heard of Lore Olympus a short time ago; it’s the most popular series on Webtoons, with over 1 billion views and 6.1 million subscribers. I happened to click on it when I started publishing on Webtoons and was looking for examples of style and technique. What I discovered is one of the most significant works of comix I’ve seen in a long time.
What excites me the most about Lore Olympus is the style. Most comics, regardless of genre, seem to be mired in the tradition of newsprint publication, where everything is defined by heavy black lines. In contrast, Smythe composes almost exclusively with brilliant color, and employs only a minimal amount of elegant lifework to define selective details. Smythe’s compositions have a strong, confident sense of abstraction, but also hint at a skill depicting human anatomy, architecture and nature.
Her writing as well is minimal and effective. Funny, fascinating and deep, it introduces us to a world that is mythical but very much like our own. In an opening scene, a brief cell phone conversation portraying the breakup between Hades and Minthe incisively depict her vanity and vindictiveness. Later, another conversation between Aphrodite and her son Eros suddenly lifts the narrative to a higher moral plain— “Mom, you seem to have such a distorted view of people these days. When did you stop seeing the best in people? When did you forget about kindness? When did you forget about love?”
The weekly series is currently on episode 216. I suggest reading episodes 1 to 6 to see if you get hooked.
