Gareth Hinds' "The Iliad and The Odyssey graphic novels" teachers' review

Brief description and distinctive features

For Stages 4 and 5

Retellings of Homer’s epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey in graphic form by Gareth Hinds.

Gareth Hinds created his graphic account of The Odyssey in 2010, before a companion graphic novel of The Iliad which he created in 2019. Since Christopher Nolan’s film of The Odyssey was released in 2026 there has been considerable interest in the original poems and Hinds’ epic texts will be welcomed in English classrooms in late Year 8 or Year 9.

The deluxe edition of The Odyssey (in contrast to the original) is a hardback with new front and back covers which both highlight aspects of the story. The painted edges which represent the sea and sea creatures and foil embellishments in the title lettering make it a very attractive text for the classroom.

Brief description of The Iliad

Homer’s account of the Trojan War covers only events that took place in the tenth and final year of the war and it does not tell how the war started or how it ended. Hinds provides a prologue which explains the probable origins of the Trojan War. The story begins with a focus on the fierce argument between Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks, and Achilles, the famous warrior and hero. The god Apollo is angry with Agamemnon because he wronged Apollo’s priest and his daughter and the god retaliated by sending a plague among the troops. Achilles calls for an assembly of the Greek captains and tells Agamemnon he should send the girl to her father to get the gods back onside. When Agamemnon in retaliation takes the captured woman Briseis from Achilles, the hero is infuriated and withdraws from combat leaving the Greeks without their best warrior. The Trojans led by Prince Hector sense an opportunity and in a brutal assault drive the Greeks back to their ships. Achilles’ best friend, Patroclus, wears the distinctive Achilles armour into the fray in an effort to retake the field. The trick is initially effective, but it is shattered when Patroclus is killed in combat by Hector. In a rage Achilles returns to the battlefield and slaughters many Trojans and kills Hector in a brutal fight. He then desecrates his foe’s corpse by dragging it behind his chariot around Troy.

The grief of Achilles for his friend and of King Priam for his son saturates the final pages of the text. Priam slips into the Greek camp to beg Achilles for his son’s body so he can give him an honourable burial. Their shared grief is a fitting conclusion to the folly of war. Achilles is so moved by the plea of Priam that he releases the body and supports a truce to allow the burial to take place. The last line of the text focus on the mourning for Hector and his burial pyre conducted during an eleven-day truce between the waring armies.

That was how the Trojans buried 

Hector, breaker of horses. 

The death of Achilles and the Trojan Horse deception which was orchestrated by Odysseus is not part of Homer’s Iliad.

Brief description of The Odyssey

When Odysseus leaves Troy after ten long years he and his men are eager to return home to Ithaca. Odysseus is described in Hind’s text as ‘that man of many troubles.’ In the celebrated translation by Emily Wilson, he is described as a ‘complicated man’: both descriptions are clear indicators that the voyage will not be easy. Odysseus’ path home is delayed for seven long years when he is trapped on the island of Ogygia by the nymph, Calypso. When he doesn't return home, his son, Telemachus sets sail to find out what has happened to him. Upon escaping from Calypso, Odysseus comes ashore at Phaeacia and recounts his past decade of adventures and disasters. They include an encounter with the giant Cyclops whom Odysseus blinds to enable his men to escape and this directs the hatred of the god Poseidon against him. The Greek gods are divided about Odysseus, but Athena always supports him. Odysseus and his men also visit Circe and Hermes, the herald of the gods, who helps Odysseus to save his men after they are turned into pigs. They travel on to seek advice from Tiresias in the underworld and survive the Sirens and the terrors of the Scylla and Charybdis. However, when his men eat the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios, Zeus destroys them with a thunderbolt and leaves Odysseus as the sole survivor of his crew. At long last he arrives at Ithaca disguised as a beggar.

Paralleling Odysseus’ journey, life at home is very difficult for Queen Penelope and her son as they wait for Odysseus to return. Arrogant and rapacious suitors who want to marry the queen and claim the kingdom are becoming impatient. Finally, Penelope agrees to marry the one who can string her husband’s massive bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe handles. None can do it but the disguised beggar who, together with Telemachus, kills the abusive suitors. After Odysseus has been reunited with Penelope, his careful guardian, the goddess Athena, establishes a lasting peace between Odysseus and the families of the men he has killed.

Distinctive features of the graphic novels

• These vibrant and engaging graphic adaptations of the two classic Greek poems are emotionally and stylistically impressive
• Gareth Hinds captures Homer’s themes of the folly of war, the concepts of identity and home (‘nostos’ in the Greek language) and the complicated nature of humanity alongside the divine force and power of the interventions of the gods
• The epic battles and the larger-than-life characters of the warring sides are captured in the words and images that Hinds so meticulously displays in The Iliad while The Odyssey focuses on the depiction of the long and dangerous journey home and the gods and monsters encountered
• The gods match the humans for arrogance, manipulation and pettiness while the monsters have achieved fame and infamy across the centuries
• High action scenes are balanced with others showing domestic life and isolated and distressed humanity often at the mercy of the quarrelling gods
• Hinds has carefully researched ancient Greek culture and art and used their designs in representing the battle equipment and sailing boats as well as in the clothing, furnishings and architecture of the times and the use of candlelight for illumination
• Hinds uses exuberant colour to evoke the Mediterranean setting, murky monochromes and blacks to represent the underworld and despair while scenes of violence such as the blinding of Cyclops make use of reds shot through with yellows
• Layout panels change on every page and high action scenes such as Poseidon arising from the ocean are often enlarged; Odysseus’ long swim through the sea to Phaeacia is lengthened across the page and multiple shades of blue employed to capture the changing nature of the water
• Maps in both texts help the reader and viewer to understand the scale, scope and geography of the areas in which the action takes place. 
• In The Iliad edition
  • An illustrated list of Achaeans (Greeks) and Trojans with unique shield decorations to help the reader to tell them apart
  • The Author’s note is valuable for both teachers and students with headings such as what happens next? Why do we still read The Iliad? The author also discusses the historical accuracy of the text and the actual authorship of the original text and whether it was by ‘a blind poet of great genius’ or the result of a long oral tradition  
  • An extensive bibliography is available and reinforces the scholarship of these texts
  • Hinds hopes readers enjoy his adaptation while being conscious that considerable material from the original text is not represented because of The Iliad’s length, density and complexity and he encourages you to ‘seek out a good translation of the full text and experience it in all its glory’
  • Page by page notes at the end of the book support readers in understanding the creator’s decisions and some of the contextual nuances of the text
  • The map near the end of the book represents the armies that gathered at Troy: the number of ships in each contingent of the Achaean fleet and the Trojan allies
• In the deluxe Odyssey edition the end papers make use of classical style Greek vases to depict scenes from the text.

Ways to use The Iliad and The Odyssey graphic novels in the classroom

Explore/revise the elements of graphic novels 

The term ‘graphic novel’ is widely used to describe more complex illustrated texts in which text and image combine to tell the story. The name can cause some confusion.  Many so-called ‘graphic novels’ are non-fiction e.g. Steve Jobs: insanely great by Jessie Hartland is a graphic biography of the inventor of the apple computer and iPhone. Graphic novels are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex in the way the visual and written components interrelate to develop students’ understanding about specific ideologies, reading positions and multiple readings. Neil Gaiman suggests that graphic novels are a form not a genre, and just another way of telling a story. It's clear that the term ‘graphic novels’ has traction and they are increasingly popular with young readers and adolescents.

Some features of this form to raise with students include:

• Textual features: thought and speech bubbles, captions, special sound effects  
• Visual features: gutter, bleed, frame, panel and the graphic weight of a line, use of facial expression and gestures to indicate emotional status
• Literary features: use of plot and narrative, characterisation, themes and archetypes. 

Ask students to flick through the two texts and note what aspects or elements of the graphic novel form they can identify. In a class discussion, outline some of the elements of the graphic novel form. 

Background 

Create a short explanation of the source for the two graphic novels. Share with the class what happened BEFORE The Iliad started and what happened AFTER Hector’s death and burial. Then explain that Odysseus took ten years to return home from Troy. Introduce the class to Homer. Explain we know little about the person who crafted the two epic poems but that they have had an immense influence on the art and literature of subsequent civilisations and expanded humans’ knowledge of the lives and beliefs of Ancient Greek society. Consider showing images of several adaptations of the two poems and include references to the latest film version by Christopher Nolan of The Odyssey. A trailer can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzw2ttJD2qQ

Class organisation for group work on the two graphic novels 

• Divide the class in two with one side focused on The Iliad and one on The Odyssey.
• Have enough copies of each text so every student gets a copy of at least one text
• Each side forms three groups of five

Group task 1: Each group will be responsible for a class presentation on their text including aspects of context, plot, characterisation and the impact of the combination of image and text.  They can decide the medium for their presentation, but the task is to persuade the other students to read their text. Each group will have 10 minutes for their presentation.

Group task 2: Investigate the gods, heroes and monsters 

These two texts have an astonishing range of characters from the quarrelling gods to the heroes and villains and monsters that move through the ancient world that the texts inhabit. Every reader will have their favourites and an excellent way to explore these characters is to create an illustrated Iliad/Odyssey Homer’s Cast of Characters: gods heroes and monsters.

Katherine Rundell’s Impossible Creatures series provides a useful model through its ‘Guardian’s Bestiary’. Students could use the guide’s layout as a model for presenting their characters. They could also consult Edith Hamilton’s Mythology for further information about the gods and heroes.

Extension work 

If exploring these texts in Stage 5 consider pairing them with An Iliad, the modern interpretation of Homer’s work adapted by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare that was performed in 2026 at the Sydney Theatre Company with David Wenham in the spellbinding role of the travelling storyteller. You can find a short trailer at https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/2026/productions/an-iliad/

Relevant details in relation to the new NSW English K-10 syllabus

Stage 4 references

Text requirements: The Iliad and The Odyssey are graphic novels which are included in the description of a range of types of texts inclusive of short prose, visual, spoken, multimodal and digital texts. The graphic novels are quality texts from around the world. They contain a range of cultural, social and gender perspectives.

Concepts could include Genre • Intertextuality • Theme • Characterisation.

Relevant NSW English 7-10 Syllabus content

Reading, viewing and listening to texts

A student uses a range of personal, creative and critical strategies to read texts that are complex in their ideas and construction EN4-RVL-01

Reading, viewing and listening for meaning

• Explore the main ideas and thematic concerns posed by a text for meaning
• Engage with the ways texts contain layers of meaning, or multiple meanings
• Identify and understand that relevant prior knowledge and personal experience enables and enhances understanding when reading, viewing or listening to texts
• Explain personal responses to characters, situations and issues in texts, recognising the role of written, oral or visual language in influencing these personal responses

Understanding and responding to texts B

A student examines and explains how texts represent ideas, experiences and values EN4-URB-01

Theme

• Understand how repetition, patterning and language features used within a text communicate ideas about social, personal, ethical and philosophical issues and experiences, and demonstrate this understanding through written, spoken, visual and multimodal responses

Understanding and responding to texts C

A student identifies and explains ways of valuing texts and the connections between them EN4-URC-01

Genre 

• Understand how a genre addresses its purpose through patterns of textual elements, such as structure, choice of language, character archetypes and settings, and apply these patterns in own texts
• Analyse how texts can participate in larger, established patterns of narrative, purpose, theme and tone by exhibiting and challenging conventions, and experiment with conventions in own texts
• Explore particular genres to identify ways they may be adapted to different modes and media, or refreshed by combining with other genres, and experiment with these in own texts

Intertextuality 

• Analyse how texts can draw on elements of other texts to enrich meaning
• Understand how and why texts can be adapted, appropriated or transformed for different contexts, purposes and audiences, and experiment with adaptations, appropriations and transformations in own work

(English K-10 Syllabus 2022 © NSW Education Standards Authority for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2023)

Connecting texts

Please note that The Aeneid is Hinds’ latest adaptation which retells the story of the ancient myth of the fall of Troy and the founding of Rome. It is due for release in March 2027.