Circe Comes to Kickstarter: A Stunning New Comic of Greek Myth & Power

Circe – a tale of a Goddess who wants to experience being a mortal and thus incurs the wrath of her Sun God Father Helios - brings together an unlikely creative team. 

Simon Harrison, who by his own admission is a rebel even within an already maverick set of creators in 2000 AD, has come out of a lengthy period away to produce his first (and very likely his best) comic artwork in 14 years. His experiences all over the world, including as a bodyguard in Israel, Africa and Ukraine, as well as his time producing fine art under the moniker and collaboration of Becker Harrison, have doubtless informed some of what appears here, but My God (or Gods!) isn't it great to have him back?!

Laurence Alison, a Professor of Forensic Psychology for over 30 years and more accustomed to writing scientific papers, has joined Harrison to rewrite and re-evaluate the ancient Greek myths that pervade our society. Alison has worked in operationally intense environments on topics as diverse as mass casualty incidents, threat events and child protection and - as with all his work - Circe has something to say.

Ably assisted by Neil' Bhuna' Roche (lettering, design and the 'Nerve Centre' of the quality indie publisher PSYComics), the team are now embarking on the second of their trilogy of ancient Greek tales.

Their first, 'Odysseus: In Defiance of the Gods', already had a successful Kickstarter campaign and was branded as 'Harryhausen meets the Sopranos'. Issue 2 will introduce Circe (after all, Greek myth scholars will know how inextricably intertwined Odysseus and Circe are), but, as Alison explains, in Odysseus we have a mortal's eye view looking up at the Gods and in Circe a God's eye view looking down on mortals.

Vietnamese master artist Vu Danh brings an earthy, gritty feel to Odysseus, in which Gods appear in waves (Poseidon), a giant faces in a murmur of starlings (Hermes) or as beautiful figures in the clouds (Athena).

But Circe is a different beast. Harrison's stunning art - part Geiger, part Moebius develops a vision of extraordinary otherworldliness. The art is truly arresting – a psychic attack on the eyeballs and mind. His Gods retain all the majesty of what we expect to see in a marble statue, but they are also dark, horrifying and intimidating. And that's just the Gods – let alone his edge of nightmare Furies, the cursed and transformed many-headed Scylla and the dark and ominous Nyx.

But as with all great tales, this has something to say about the human condition. Circe is aching to be human despite her birth as a celestial object. She longs to be held, loved and is fascinated by the transience of mortality. The male Gods, and particularly her Father, the Sun God Helios (who Harrison has designed around Nazi symbolism) is our villain. And what a bastard he is.

"How often do we hear about some redeeming feature of our bad guys? I get it and I've written that before but here I wanted pure evil and malevolence. He has nothing but a desire for utter control. He is burning, psychopathic and unfeeling rage. And now his daughter wants to invite a deliberate weakness in …this is where our story begins."

So, Circe focuses on a daughter-father relationship, but, of course, many other demonic, otherworldly forces enter the fray and impact both God and mortals. And there is plenty of bloodshed.

Circe issue 1 is the first part of a two-part piece (each is around 44 pages). Simon provides all the art and even makes available a series of original and stunning painted pieces of key characters. High-quality prints and t-shirts are available too. 2000AD Dredd artist Stewart Kenneth Moore is on variant cover duties.

This promises to be an intense event with two creators at the top of their game.

Circe issue one releases its power via Kickstarter on 31st May. You can register for the launch here.