Modern Mythology Presents: Medusa #1 is a comic written by Caleb Palmquist, illustrated by Chrissy Hoppes, and colored by Dave Swartz. The treasure hunter Medusa receives coordinates to an unknown location. This is a supernatural Greek mythology comic with drama, violence, and a spirit of adventure. The leading lady for this tale is Medusa, she is a wealthy treasure hunter that is very skilled when it comes to fighting both gods and heroes. This story begins with Medusa training in her home gym where she is surrounded by stone statues. Afterwards while she is cooling down she receives a note from a crow containing coordinates to an unknown location. This takes place in modern times, with Medusa residing in New England. The violence here is mostly physical with some light gore and decent amount of blood. This comic has a revenge theme. The pacing here is a tad bit faster than most with a Lara Croft-like tone. The intensity is heightened due to violence and drama. The dialogue is conversational with decent back-and-forth and little blurbs describing past events and items. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is an issue that brings excitement and drama by putting a modern twist on a well-known character.

            The art here is drawn in a detailed and slightly cartoonish style with thick outlines and good shading. The color range is decent with a lot of gray and blue. For scenery we have the ocean adjacent to sand and rocky terrain. There are two main locations and both of them are large and palatial. The building the story starts in is the Gorgon Manor. The backgrounds usually show the immediate surroundings whether that is a large amount of water or cold stone walls. The expression level here is on the lower end as the characters rarely show how they feel. The emotional range consists primarily of sadness, anger, and smugness. The faces have a high amount of detail and show the different expression with clarity. The violence involves bladed weapons from swords and daggers. There is some blood and there are rough attacks but nothing too gory but it can be a bit gruesome. There is a lengthy action scene with smaller ones throughout and they have a generally unconfusing flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural Greek mythology stories with a modern twist that star Medusa and features violence and drama then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“When will it be enough, mistress?”

 

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/giraffe-design/mm-medusa-1/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

*
*
*
*
*

Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 40

Violent Pages: 12, for 30% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 3

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 2

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”