POSEIDON: EARTH SHAKER on the NYTimes Bestseller List!!

A huge, heartfelt "THANK YOU!!!!" to everyone who helped put it there. Meanwhile, eternal middle child Poseidon celebrates a victory that little bro Zeus's book never quite managed.

Hades has been nominated for a ReadKiddoRead award!

...so I made this comic about it.

You can vote for me here. It literally takes seconds, and if you vote for me, and tell me, I'll make more zany comics like this. Also? I'll be your best friend.

Chance to win a free copy of Zeus!

The book review supersite Goodreads is running a contest from February 4th until the 13th in which 5 lucky people will win a copy of my very own book Zeus: King of the Gods. Follow the link for your chance to win!

Zeus, meet Turtle and Robot. Turtle and Robot, meet Zeus.

Turtle and Robot is a new(ish) children's book blog run by my old friend (and fellow Books of Wonder alum) Jennifer "Lavoovavie" Lavonier.  Jenn knows her children's books-- in addition to serving as the manager and book buyer of Books of Wonder, for, like, ever, she was the personal assistant to Maurice Sendak. Her blog and its reviews of children's books old and new has become very, very popular, and now she's turned her attention to my very own Zeus: King of the Gods. Gice a click, and check out the rest of her site while you're there.

Happy Lupercalia everybody!

Todays; Drawbridge topic was flowers. I used that as a departure point to explore the roots of St Valentine's Day.

So how did a Roman Catholic Saint, of all people, come to be associated with the holiday intended for the expression of intense physical love? Good question.

Like many modern holidays (I'm looking at you, Xmas), what we celebrate today is just a patch early christians threw on over pre-existing pagan rituals (Saturnalia, anyone?). That explains why, say, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with eggs and bunnies-- the christian element was overlaid on a pre-existing springtime fertility ritual.

St. Valentine's day is a similar case. Nobody is sure which St Valentine we're celebrating exactly (there were at least three) but his day is an overlay of the ancient Greco-Roman festival of Lupercalia, in which was celebrated both the holy marriage of Zeus (Jove) and Hera (Juno), as well as in Rome the founding of their city (Romulus, Remus, wolves, "Lupe"-- it's all connected). There was all sorts of courting between young folks of both sexes, and it was generally very frolicky. Lupercalia was a very, very  ancient festival, and it had replaced (more absorbed, really) an even more ancient one, Februa, which, you may guess, is where we get  the name for the month of February. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

My drawing is the sacred couple themselves, Zeus and Hera, in embrace, and just to keep this thing nominally on topic, there is also a water lilly, one of Hera's sacred flowers.

Classics and Comics cover tryout

A few months back I was approached by the editors of a new book coming out from Oxford University Press called Classics and Comics about doing the cover. Classics and Comics will be an exploration of the influences, both subtle and less subtle, that classical literature and myth have had on comics, something that is pretty much the whole point of a series like Olympians.

We talked about a few cover design ideas, and one of the ideas I came up with was this piece, which references the myth of Athena being born from the head of Zeus (not to mention my self-portrait from the back inside cover of each volume of Olympians)



Ultimately, we went with another idea, of paying homage to some classic comic book cover designs, but replacing the modern superheroes with their Olympian forebears. Please click here to see a gallery of super-hero cover designs on my Olympiansrule blog.

Zeus and Athena Reviewed at Aint It Cool News

Its been a while since I've posted a review of one of my books here, but when one crops up on a site I'm a regular reader of, well, I just have to. Venerable movie news site Aint It Cool News runs a weekly + comic section, and in the latest installment, way down toward the bottom in the Indie Jones subsection (y'know, where the cool comics get their due) is a double shot review of both Zeus and Athena. Please give it a look!

Giant Athena/Zeus Release Party!

So what are you doing May 1st? WRONG! You're going to come to the gigantic book release party we're having at the best comics shop in the known universe, Bergen Street Comics! In addition to me and my own books, Zeus: King of the Gods and Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess, I will be joined by Mike (Foiled) Cavallaro, Pascal (City of Spies) Dizin, and Leland (Resistance Book 1) Purvis.

Our release party starts at 7, and there will be refreshments and stuff, but kids and kids-at-heart should join us earlier at 5 for games (like, Make Mike Cavallaro Cry, What's Pascal Eating Now, and Pin The Tail on The Purvis) and a general celebration of Free Comic Book day (our books will NOT be free, but we will have free materials that are way cool). Plus-- anyone who buys one of our book will be entered into a drawing to win the original black and white artwork for the jam piece above, by all 4 creators! Snap!

New Title for The Glory of Hera!

Well, it will be almost a year until the book hits stores (not like Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess, out next week, but the book formerly known as The Glory of Hera will now officially be known as Hera: The Goddess and her Glory. The folks in sales thought it was important that we continue the naming style we had established so far with Zeus: King of the Gods and Athena: Grey Eyed Goddess, with the god or goddess's name first, followed by subtitle. Certainly when all twelve volumes are completed, it will look nicer this way, and help people to find the separate volumes easier.

I'm still hard at work coloring Hera: The Goddess and her Glory but let me tell you-- so far it's my favorite of the series. In addition to telling the story of the courtship and wedding of Zeus and Hera, you also get to see the story of Io, the Twelve Labors of Heracles, meet Jason and the Argonauts and see what happens on that mysterious day every year when Hera abandons her position as the wife of Zeus and Queen of the Gods. Cool stuff, if I may say so myself.

Now one of these days I'm going to go through this blog and change the three million references to Zeus: Father of the Gods to Zeus: King of the Gods. Titles!

Nice Zeus review on Finding Wonderland

Almost as much as I love mythology, I love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (though I have to say I prefer Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There of the two), so as such I thought I should share this wonderful review of Zeus from the Frabjously named YA book blog Finding Wonderland. Give it a click!

Zeus at Boing Boing

Cory Doctorow has posted a really wonderful review of Zeus: King of the Gods at the online superblog collective, Boing Boing. I must say, it's pretty exciting to have been featured there. Please give a click!

Zeus review at the Blog at Newsarama

The venerable blog at Newsarama has recently published this very, very nice review of Zeus: King of the Gods. It was especially cool for me to just happen across this, as I am a regular reader of the blog. A nice surprise, to say the least. I especially like that the reviewer praises the all-ages quality of the books, something I strove to accomplish. Please check it out.

Interview at Publishers Weekly

If you're already a subscriber to either Publisher Weekly's PW Comics Week Newsletter or PW Children's Bookshelf Newsletter you've maybe already seen this, but last week they both ran an interview with me about Olympians, conducting by the estimable Steve Bunche.

If you're so inclined, kindly check out this interview wherein we discuss 300, the proper pronunciation of Heracles, and Calvin and Hobbes with the clicky-click.

Glory of Hera finished black and white art

Wow, lately this blog has been all about the press Zeus: King of the Gods has been getting. I figured I'd share with you some of the finished black and white art for the third book in Olympians, The Glory of Hera. I've been posting most of my Olympians art stuff over on the Olympians blog, so if you miss this stuff, please head on over and check it out. In the meantime, enjoy this page from the wedding of Zeus and Hera

Book Club Discussion of Zeus at Good Comics 4 Kids!

Six different bloggers weigh in on Zeus: King of the Gods at the Good Comics for Kids website over at SLJ. It's a pretty cool piece, with discussions on the randiness of Zeus, speculation on Hera and Athena, and Greek myth baseball cards. One line to sum it up? "For the most part, this book club meeting has been a love-fest." Well, gawrsh. Please check it out.

Robot 6 says some superlatively nice things about Zeus!

"Five out of five giant, one-eyed monsters". I'll take that over the old star system any day of the week. Seriously, this is one of those reviews where I feel like the reviewer really got it and then some. Click here to read the review at Robot 6@ Comic Book Resources.

New Interview on the Graphic Novel Reporter

Click here to read an interview I gave about Zeus and Olympians at the wonderful Graphic Novel Reporter website. They had some cool questions, like what was my first comic book, and created the above image,which I think is pretty cool. The two faces on the end are myself on top, and Ball-Peen collaborator Adam Rapp on the bottom, btw.

Interview at Good Comics For Kids!

A new interview with me has been posted on the Good Comics For Kids blog at SLJ. Interviewer Esther Keller asked me some very interesting questions, give it a click and give it a read.

Interview with Yours Truly on Newsarama

I know I keep saying about my recent interviews that the interviewer asks really good questions, but it's true-- they do! And this one at Newsarama is no exception. Please follow the link and take a peek.

Olympians interview on Comic Book Resources

Please click here to read a rawther extensive interview with yours truly over at Comic Book Resources about Olympians and other exciting things.