Editor's Note: Marvel Illustrated: The Iliad #4 arrives in stores tomorrow, March 19.

Comprising:
Book 9 - The Embassy to Achilles
Book 10 - Diomedes and Odysseus: The Night Attack
Book 11 - Achilles Takes Notice
Book 12 - Hector Storms the Wall

Achilles, Hector, Paris, Ajax, Heracles, Odysseus, Agamemnon... names embedded in the lingua franca of western civilisation. There is a reason for that, and it's name is the Iliad.

My interest in the Iliad stems from a historic perspective, and I came to it in an oblique way. Between a study of the earliest known civilisations and biblical mythology, from the first known dynasties of China to a search for the presumed antediluvian cultures of the Meditteranean and Near East, I settled for a time upon Evans' attempt to unravel Linear A, naturally leading back to proto-archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, which lands one squarely in both Mycenae and what is now accepted as the "real" site of Troy. One cannot hope to appreciate Schliemann's motivation without some study of Homer, and while Schliemann might have been as interested in personal grandeur and the accumulation of worldly goods as any pure sense of history, he did succeed in elevating Troy, the place if not the battle, from a widely perceived legend or fiction into a genuine part of our living history, thereafter casting Homer in a broader light. Beyond the myths, legends, and history, however, is the story.

Without footnotes, a Homeric scholar would be required to readily attribute Roy Thomas' adaptation to which translation or interpretation of The Iliad employed, and there have been many; one assumes that Thomas has distilled his preferred interpretations into a unique text. The volume I have on hand (beyond those available online) is Peter Jones' 2003 revision of E.V. Rieu's 1946 translation (by way of Dominic Rieu's 1988 revision). Jones set out in part to restore what he believed to be the tone of the poem's hundreds of speeches, ascribing (or reascribing) a sense of forthrightness and, in a broad sense, vulgarity. Whatever else he might have achieved or failed to achieve, Jones gave the modern reader a relatively accessible version of the epic, and so Thomas strives to broaden that accessibility within the context of the sequential medium.

Chapter four begins with Book Nine, "The Embassy to Achilles," though this isn't explicitly stated. Evidently Agamemnon has already dispensed with his "...tears as it were a running stream..." (Butler, Gutenberg Edition - traditional, edited) or "...weeping tears like a dark stream..." (Jones, Penguin Classics Edition, 2003), and Thomas remains essentially faithful to the text as Agamemnon addresses his summoned council "...amid heavy sighs...".

Thomas is required to take a liberty with the text to conform to the medium, as Homer's narrative uses many speeches as opposed to dialogue. Without "modernizing" the text, per sé, Thomas manages so far as possible to infuse the characters with a genuine humanity, sometimes lacking from the often stilted structure of the "speech." There is a question of audience perception, however. A contemporary reader acknowledges that the supernatural qualities of both the participants and the story as a whole are mythical, save perhaps those few who continue to accept the Greek pantheon as fact and not myth or allegory. Yet we must recognize that the original audience, spread across centuries as the tales were kept alive according to the oral tradition, might just as easily have believed that they were being presented with a factual, if hyperbolized, history. Whether we perceive such belief as "quaint" doesn't absolve us from attempting to read the story as intended for that audience. Thus, while some of the "stilted" quality of these heroes remains in Thomas' interpretation (or "revision"), it helps to bridge the gap of millennia and appreciate the story with a foot in both worlds.

Without spoiling the entire book, chapter four ends with the conclusion of Book Twelve ("Hector Storms the Wall"), with Hector's command, "Now IN, all you sons of Ilium -- and fling fire upon their ships!" The latter phrase lifted straight from Samuel Butler's adaptation.

Miguel Angel Sepulveda employs a familiar style, what might be termed "straightforward," relying on a solid grasp of human anatomy and relatively simple page and panel composition to tell the story, supported by Florea's sharp brush; altogether more Wally Wood than Rob Liefeld (not up to Wally Wood's quality, mind you). He's gone to considerable length to capture the look and feel of the late Bronze Age, while Fairbairn's colours have a largely muted, "earthy" tone, helping to portray the epic scale in terms comprehsible to we mortals. If everyone seems built on the modern superheroic model, we have to remember that these were the original superheroes; of course in those days the word "hero" sufficed. Toward the end Hector raises a boulder to smash the ramparts of the Argive's (Greek) shipwall, evoking the name of Zeus to make it light. These were no mere men.

Thomas' adaptation is sufficient to the task, acknowledging his own obvious love of the story (none but an enthusiast would have accepted the challenge). Even with Sepulveda's journeyman illustration, however, I can't help but feel that something is lacking, and not just the scores of pages of text abridged in keeping with the limitations of the medium (the number of issues prescribed in which to tell the story, that is). With this shaky caveat, I would still recommend the series, especially for those attempting to find a way to access Homer but find the original text too daunting.

As with some adaptations, this edition concludes with a glossary. A few of the terms chosen might be generally helpful, though the majority appear aimed to assist younger readers. While much of the warfare of the Iliad, as with most wars, is siege, there are sufficient skirmishes and battles, realistically portrayed by Sepulveda & co., to warrant a caution to parents: this is not a children's storybook, childlike though many of the themes sometimes appear.

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