HERMES

The most mischievous of the gods presents some of his most outrageous pranks and exploits.

Seeking shelter for himself and his dog, a seemingly ordinary, dark-skinned traveler regales a many-eyed watchman with tales of the trickster god’s infancy (“Hermes was not a good little baby”), introduction to Olympus (“Where is that miserable, thieving, lying, little @#&?!?!”), and such unusual (even for gods) offspring as Hermaphrodite and Pan. Though it all leads up to an awesome climactic battle between Zeus and the humongous, ravening monster Typhon, readers are likely to find even more memorable a hilarious earlier episode involving doggy petitioners who repeatedly fail to complete their mission on behalf of all canine kind because every time they lay eyes on Zeus they “void their bowels.” In any case the storyteller turns out to be Aesop, his dog the great trickster in disguise, his listener Argus the All-Seeing, and the whole frame story another mythological episode that will lead in to another volume in this exemplary series. As usual, in O’Connor’s neatly framed panels the Olympians are ripped if male, poised and graceful if female, individual in features and skin color. Also as usual, he enhances his richly entertaining retellings with a massive family tree at the beginning, summary profiles of his main characters, notes, and discussion questions at the end.

Another crowd-pleasing, compulsively readable entry in this divine series.