If you are a fan of mazes and the mythology behind them you know the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Most people know the core portion of the story where Theseus meets the Minotaur in the middle of the maze. Today I will review 4 different comic adaptions of the story, show you some illustrations and hopefully help you pick the comic you want to read most. Or, you know, read them all.
Theseus And The Minotaur: A Graphic Retelling (2015)
from Capstone, 32 Pages
by Matt Chandler ; illustrated by Estudio Haus
The first comic is a quick read (32 pages) about the entire story of Theseus.
The comic is broken into five chapters and takes you through the Greek myth of Theseus from birth, to growing up, to his quest-like journey and finally his meeting with the Minotaur and return home. All of this happens in 32 pages. The illustrations are good.
Chapter 4 is my favorite chapter, called The Labyrinth, and is the showdown between Theseus and the minotaur in the labyrinth (which is actually a maze as you can see in the comic panel below).
And of course part of the story is the fact that the maze is very challenging and has never been exited before. This Greek myth originally was written by Apollodorus in his book The Library of Greek Mythology. Part of me loves that he has his own Amazon author page, and part of me hates it. Anyway, this story survives from this book.
Comic strip from the book
This is a good telling of the Greek Myth, and a fast read with nice illustrations. 7.8/10
Theseus And The Minotaur (2009) AMZN
from Capstone, 72 Pages
by Nel Yomtov ; illustrated by Tod Smith
The comic is broken into six chapters and takes you through the Greek myth of Theseus. If you compare to the 32 page version above, you get a longer and more detailed story. An event that was 5 separate panels in the first comic is now 10 panels, etc. The additional space also makes the quest portion of the book much longer and I think that helps tell the story.
Chapter 5 is titled The Labyrinth and this is the portion of the story I am most interested in. One thing that disappointed me about the book was there was no large illustration of the labyrinth, just the slender picture below.
One thing this comic does well is illustrate the battle between Theseus and the Minotaur and expands that to multiple pages. Here is the initial meeting in the labyrinth.
Overall, if you want a bit more to the story, read this version.
This is a nice telling of the Greek Myth, and has good illustrations. 7.2/10
Kill The Minotaur (2018) AMZN
from Image Comics, 184 Pages
by Chris Pasetto, Christian Cantamessa ; illustrated by Lukas Ketner
This version has the most recent publication date (2018) and is from Image Comics. It is also our longest version of the story at 184 pages.
Of the 4 different comics I review on this topic, this has the most unique story. The other three basically told the same story of Theseus from birth, growing up, a journey, meeting the king, the minotaur in the labyrinth, and his return. This is really focused on the Minotaur and the labyrinth, and I would say 80+ percent of the story takes place in there. This is also the only book to feature curse words and adult situations (this comic is not for kids IMO).
This version also tells a slightly different story than the previous versions, although with the same basic characters and themes. We also get a Minotaur that is deformed and has magical properties, roaming a labyrinth that also has some unique characteristics. I enjoy this version of the story because it takes place in the setting I am interested in, the labyrinth.
From an illustration standpoint the longer length also means more larger landscape artwork. Check out this large format illustration of Crete and this drawing of Theseus overlooking a portion of the labyrinth.
Different than the other versions, so worth it’s own read even if you know the story, you do not know this one ! 7.5/10.
Theseus Battling The Minotaur (2007) AMZN
from Lerner Publishing Group, 48 Pages
by Jeff Limke ; illustrated by John McCrea
Like our previous review, the comic is broken into six chapters and takes you through the Greek myth of Theseus. The extra few pages mean an expansion of the story from previous versions. We even get introduced to a few more characters that didn’t fit into the shorter versions.
Chapter 5 is titled Into The Labyrinth and if there is one thing this is missing is an illustration of the actual labyrinth. But there is a reason for this - in this version the labyrinth is underground ! So while I could show you a panel of Theseus in the labyrinth, it will just be a picture of him in a dark cave. Not very exciting. What IS exciting is the battle as shown by the panel below.
This is a nice version of the story, I just wish we could have seen the labyrinth. 7.0/10
So there you have the 4 different books. All are similarly rated by me it just depends how much time you want with the story with 32, 48, 72 and 184 page options available. I liked the short and long versions best, but none is a bad read.
Other blog posts you might like:
Jim Henson’s Labyrinth Comic Reviews
Neverwhere Comic Review by Neil Gaiman