The Quality of Sappho is Not Hatred: Review Of House Of Muses
[Editor's Note: Elf Girl recently did a review for Prism Comics and we are cross posting here for your enjoyment.]
House of the Muses is the graphic novel version of the writings of Sappho and Alkaios, which follows a Spartan woman named Dika and her life and loves in one of the earliest lesbian soap operas. Pam Harrison, the writer and illustrator has taken the ancient writings and given them new life.
The story is told from a standpoint of an older Dika looking back on her life. As such, the story is told in vivid detail, capturing the full essence of her experiences. Even if there were not pictures to go along, the reader could imagine it well enough.
Want more? Read on after the jump!
However, the writing can become a little dry from time to time. As I read it, I found myself glossing over certain areas that really did not seem to lead anywhere. The first several pages are like that, in fact, making it a little difficult to get into the story. From time to time, there is a jump in when the story is taking place that can leave the reader a bit confused. Usually it's done as a flashback, but occasionally, there are leaps that just aren't explained.
Once the story starts to pick up, it becomes quite interesting to see how she comes to realize who she is, and how those around her react to that news. To use a cliché, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It becomes quite easy to feel a connection to Dika and how she sees things, her reactions to other women that she finds appealing. This is very much where the book shines, making it very much worth muddling through those dry first pages.
The images are done with a 3-D program, one that I'm actually not that fond of, so I'm not exactly impartial on the look of the characters. That being said, it is clear that great time and pain was taken to make each of the panels interesting and authentic as possible.
There are problems, however, with the layout and the text. Sometimes word balloons are pointed at someone who isn't actually saying the dialogue, which needless to say, can be a little confusing. The story that is put into text boxes sometimes can be a little difficult to read as you can still see the image behind it. The text boxes really should have been more solid rather than partially transparent.
The content of the comic is really quite tame by today's standards. While there is definitely violence and sex, neither are particularly explicit and rarely go beyond just implied. Dika has been abused quite a bit in her life and she does talk about that quite frequently, which is pretty much the extent of the more "adult" nature of the book. The sex scenes themselves, while not for younger kids, aren't even as explicit as prime time television's.
House of the Muses is available both online (once you get a hang of the odd layout) and in print. At the time of this article, only the first volume is out in print, the second is online only until it finishes. Fans of history, lesbian romance, or Sappho herself are sure to enjoy it; though it can be difficult to get into initially. Once you do, it's definitely worth the read.
Editor's note: "House of the Muses" can be purchased at IndyPlanet.com or at Amazon.com.
The Quality of Sappho is Not Hatred [Prism Comics]
jonostarsmore
Posted to Comics, Review on 22 August 2008
· Comments (3)
Other stuff like this: House of Muses
I would have to agree on many of your points Elfgirl. Credit goes to the creators of House of the Muses for getting their idea completed in web comic form after working on it since 1987. The story after two, very lengthy, issues has some interesting plot developments but in the end I was also slightly confused. The mythos is incredibly dense, especially in issue one and although I can see the appeal of wanting the project told in a graphic novel format unfortunately the balance just isn't there with simply too much ground to cover.
As for the art it SO evokes a mix between Second Life and a Playstation 2 game. On a limited budget the effort is admirable but the design style makes the characters seem stiff and every panel has the same color palate, which proves to be problematic especially with the frequent use of those flashbacks you mentioned. Not only does this story device and design style result in pacing problems but also the use of single panel frames with long sections of text didn't help my enjoyment either. Perhaps some of this might have been over come with a different look and feel for the flashbacks...
Ms. Harrison is a serious academic student of ancient Greece, not just someone who has dabbled in it as a means of satisfying idle curiosity. Keeping this in mind I would have to refute the statement a previous poster made about a limited color palette being used, the colors used tend to be those actually used during the era and in the locale portrayed in the story.
While the use of Poser and DAZ for 3-D art in Graphic Novels is still a developing genre, I rate this far and away above others currently in print and on the web. Ms. Harrison has taken the time to either modify the stock figures or design her own as none of them fit the overburdened, top heavy types most often associated with this genre of art and certainly much higher that the 3-D art one finds in the majority of the video games. Her use of text boxes to explain parts of the action allows one to grasp the transition between panels rather than having a disjointed break in the action that you find in many of the other 3-D and 2-D Graphic Novels.
While the plot for the protagonist does have a mythos that Melpoene, Clio and Erato would all certainly applaud, the flashbacks make the development of Dika from childhood to current easy to understand. The premise of the plot that she is a daughter of a Spartan woman of status and an unknown but presumed to be either highborn or Divine father, someone who seeks acceptance in a society that recognizes only heritage or excellence in knowledge and art. What passes for civilization in today’s society is much the same, it’s not who you are but who your parents were or what you know about whom ever.
This child is literally thrown to the wolves, forced to be a personal slave to a soldier who cares for nothing but himself, finds herself being accepted only by the Camp Followers, after she escapes she begins to recognize her true self and begins to accept it. Her life seems to take a turn for the better when she is adopted, however she soon finds all is not as it seems and friends are not friends.
All in all I have Found House of Muses I and II to be an enjoyable straight forward read. I am looking forward to following the remainder of the online series and purchasing a complete set when they are published. I would urge Ms. Harrison to contact Dream Works or one of the other studios about the possibility of an animated feature film in the future.
As a serious student of the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, literature, theater, philosophy, and history, I welcomed HOM in a heartbeat, not only because I find it a gorgeous story which shows true knowledge and appreciation for the culture of ancient Greece, but also because of its amazing 3D graphics.
Being also an adventure gamer, I'm always yearning for great graphics, and, alas, rarely find it (the only exception, perhaps, being Dracula: Origin, which has stunning backgrounds). Ms. Harrison's work does NOT look like a computer game, IMHO. Her characters' movements are dynamic and own unique and nuanced facial expressions. She has gone well beyond the standard options of 3-D Studio, and it shows.
As for the dryness of the pages mentioned by the reviewer, I have to disagree. I never found any page to be dry, rather, it's been quite a compelling ride. I can say it was a little difficult for me to follow the story at the beginning of book 1, because of the number of characters introduced at the same time and perhaps a little wordiness. However, I quickly found myself drawn to HOM and have been enjoying every single panel of it. The pace is great, and is picking up further and marvelously.
As far as the word balloons pointing at the wrong character, I haven't seen any example of it. If anyone could point it to me, I'd be happy to retract. I certainly have seen the transparent text boxes, though, and found them truly innovative. As the older Dika talks about her past, her words come through and blend with the story as if it was happening at the present time. So it makes sense that Dika's words from the future are transparent, while her words in the "present" are solid. I didn't have any trouble reading the transparent text, and found it quite an invention.
Lastly, it seems to me that the reviewer has a problem with the sex scenes not being enough or not enough explicit. She claims that the story "is really quite tame for today's standards". Now, of course I can be wrong, but I guess her today's standards are The L Word and the like. A hint of it comes from her mention of HOM as "one of earliest lesbian soap operas". Whether Ms. Harrison's intent was to come up with a soap opera or not, I take a little offense on her behalf. I have nothing against soap operas, as long as nobody forces me to watch them. I had to watch The L Word for research, and was very glad I was able to let go of that research. The sex scenes are on the soft porn side, and I'm glad someone enjoys them. I do enjoy sex scenes, but my real thrill is when they happen in my own bedroom. So, I truly am not interested in today's standards, rather, I am very much interested in a compelling story that has substance. I guess my point is: HOM is NOT a soap opera, so it doesn't need to conform to "today's standards" (of soap operas). It's a story that goes beyond ancient Greece. Dragonrider has it all down in her/his review, and got it perfect.
Em hotep (which is Egyptian, but, oh well).