Lore Olympus, The Number One Romance Comic on WEBTOON (Review)

Olympus, the fabled paradise of the gods is a bustling human like city with the crazy drama of a reality show in WEBTOON’s Lore Olympus. The comic takes the audience into the world of the Greek gods, exposing all of the drama and romance of their lives. Rachel Smythe, creator of Lore Olympus, takes the legends of the Greek gods in a new direction by depicting them in a modernized Olympus. The story is based on the tale of Persephone who is traditionally stolen by Hades to become his wife, but the creator spins a new tale of how the King of the Underworld fell in love with a nineteen year old, spring goddess, leaving home for the first time. In Smythe’s comic, the mortal world is still in the time of ancient Greece, and the immortal world is set in modern times with modern luxuries like phones, laptops and Fatesbook, a social media site.

Persephone, formally known as Kore, has suffered the effects of having a helicopter mother her entire life, so when she earns a scholarship to Olympus University, she jumps at the chance to be on her own. However, Persephone has trouble on her first day in Olympus City when she goes to a party with her roommate, Artemis. She attracts the attention of Hades, which is the beginning of her dramatic love life that gets twisted in all of the secrets of Olympus. From the goddess Aphrodite to the god Apollo, Persephone runs into trouble with every person she meets although some like Eros and Hermes become her friends along the way. Her biggest struggle is her attraction to the King of the Underworld, Hades, because of her own personal commitments and his complicated relationship status.

The comic doesn’t spare the gods of dealing with trauma and abuse from their past or the present. Smythe warns her audience before any trauma or abuse appears on screen from toxic relationships to past events that haunt the character throughout the comic. These dramatic scenes are well done minimizing any potential graphic illustration, so the audience understands the scene. Many of these scenes drive the gods to become better versions of themselves for the others around though some are tragic.

Smythe effortlessly unfolds each character’s story arch as well as relating it back to the main characters of the comic. The complicated lineage of the gods, their emotional relationships and experiences are cleverly revealed as Persephone and Hades interact with the different gods through each new problem. Lore Olympus has attracted many to the comic, and has now become a graphic novel and slated to become an animated TV series on Netflix. For those who enjoy a dramatic romance between the gods, Lore Olympus has a tangled tale of love for two underdogs in the world of the gods.