And Then I Read: AGE OF BRONZE 32

Image © Eric Shanower.

It’s been quite a while since I was able to read an issue of AGE OF BRONZE, but despite the large cast of characters, many of whom look somewhat alike (no superhero costumes here), I had no trouble getting back into the story. Of course, the inside cover synopsis helps, but mostly it’s because Eric is really good at retelling this mammoth story.

Not only is it mammoth because it’s a war with hundreds of speaking characters, it’s mammoth because Eric is folding in not only the story told by Homer in “The Iliad,” but other stories within that story as embellished and expanded by other writers. This time the focus is on Troilus and Cressida, two troubled lovers made famous by the Shakespeare play, and not really in the old Greek legends at all. Cressida’s father has decided he wants to defect and join the Greeks, but Cressida has fallen in love with Troilus, son of the king of Troy. Father and daughter are given up to the Greeks in a prisoner exchange, which naturally does not make the couple happy. Once in the Greek camp, the pretty young maiden is beset with romantic offers from many of the Greek warriors, which only makes things worse. Meanwhile, the battle rages on outside the walls of the mighty city, and heroes fight and fall.

Of course you really need to start this epic at issue 1, but this one is just as good as the rest, with fine art and writing. Recommended.