Title: Stickman Odyssey:
Book 1: An Epic Doodle
Book 2: The Wrath of Zozimos
Author and Illustrator: Christopher Ford
Date: 2011-12
Tags: 10+, Graphic novel, Greco-Roman Mythology, Odyssey, Setting: ancient?
Readers interested in a scholarly approach to children’s literature may consult this title on Our Mythical Childhood Survey*
Do you love Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but think that it needs more shipwrecks and battle scenes? Rejoice! Christopher Ford’s Stickman Odyssey duology is the book series for you.
The main character, Zozimus, is on an Odyssey-like quest to return home and free his beloved island, Stickatha, from the clutches of his evil stepmother. First, though, he has to deal with all the wicked witches, people-eating monsters, treacherous companions, love-struck princesses, warrior maidens, magic ships, desert islands, and terrible prophecies that mythology fans could wish for. Don’t expect a one-to-one adaptation of any single myth, although the Odyssey is referenced constantly throughout. Readers in the know will spot elements of a dozen different myths intertwined in this hilarious graphic novel, and everyone else will be laughing too hard to care.
This book is pretty violent for stick figure art, and there’s some gross-out humor, so it’s probably best suited to readers 10 and older. That said, it’s a great book to get reluctant readers turning pages. So, “Sing, O Muse, of far-wandering Zozimos, the stickman on a quest for revenge…” – Krishni Burns
Stickman Odyssey is a great book for kids as young as 7. I think most readers will enjoy this book because of the humor and the connections that a bunch of people can relate to. Zozimos is this enjoyable guy who always wants to have fun and adventures at the exact same time. It’s like a kid-friendly “Indiana Jones” or “James Bond.” There’s one hilarious part where a shipbuilder creates a ship with a wooden head on the front (a tamer version of what used to really happen with human heads) that actually talks. When Zozimos starts talking to the wooden head, everyone thinks he’s crazy. Familiar scenes from Homer’s Odyssey like Scylla and Charybdis appear in the storyline too. To sum it up, it’s a terrific book for kids who are not quite ready for “The Goonies” or Homer’s actual Odyssey but still appreciate mythology/ graphic novels. — Julian (age 10)
Zozimos is lost with his Uncle Nestor and he is trying to get home to Sticatha, his hometown. There are two monster guys and a king and he tells them about how he is trying to get back home. There’s his stepmom, who is an evil witch and killed his father and turned the other kids into crows. Zozimos tried to push over a boulder, and found a sword. Nestor helped try to kill the evil people and the princess fell in love with Zozimos. - Cora (age 7)
* For further information on the Our Mythical Childhood Survey, please refer to the website of the project “Our Mythical Childhood” [link: http://omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl/], led by Prof. Katarzyna Marciniak at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales,” University of Warsaw, Poland, with the participation of Bar Ilan University, University of New England, University of Roehampton, University of Yaoundé 1, and other affiliated scholars, within the funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement No 681202).