Comments on: *Promethea — Recommended

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:05:27 +0000

Well, Absolute Promethea V1 has been announced for a 9/30 ship date.

By: Storm Sunday: Teamwork is the Ultimate Gestalt! « stormantic

Storm Sunday: Teamwork is the Ultimate Gestalt! « stormantic — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:25:56 +0000

[...] down the Heavy Metal illustrated version), study the Kabbalah (or at least read all the volumes of Promethea by Alan Moore and J.H. Wiliams III), and reread the Dark Phoenix Saga. Then play the X-Men [...]

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:15:59 +0000

I agree with you. (I didn’t follow all the ABC books, but I was familiar with them.) After all that high-toned philosophy, it was weird to see standard superhero faceoffs. And to return to that art style.

By: Jason Michelitch

Jason Michelitch — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:04:12 +0000

The only quibble I ever had with Promethea was the inclusion, toward the end, of the other ABC characters. It stirred my gut-reaction against creeping continuity, a reaction that maybe wasn’t warranted in this specific case. It did feel like it sort of infringed on the specialness of the book, breaking the hermetic seal, so to speak. I’d be interested in anyone’s reactions who didn’t read the other ABC books — I read them all, so I didn’t have any trouble knowing who was who. Maybe it didn’t bother other readers, and I should just get over it?

By: Jason Michelitch

Jason Michelitch — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:58:50 +0000

“But ultimately it’s just a glorified lecture about magic,”

Yes, there’s a huge lecture element (which I find to be a plus as opposed to a negative — I guess most people fall more the other side) but there are also some very full, interesting characters who have revelatory, human moments of thought and feeling. Not to mention lots of clever bits that make me smile. Yeah, there’s less plot than in other “novels”… but then I’ve always found plot to be massively overrated, to be honest.

By: Scott Dunbier

Scott Dunbier — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:34:41 +0000

God, I wish the horizontal Absolute Promethea had been approved… Now that would have been a book.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:30:12 +0000

It took me three tries to get into the story (first as pamphlets, then as collected editions), but by the time I’d finished the first collected edition I was definitely hooked and couldn’t wait for subsequent volumes.

Promethea toys with many ideas I’ve had floating around in my head and it was just wonderful to see them on the page, making sense, and being so delightfully and imaginatively illustrated.

By: Doctor

Doctor — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:05:30 +0000

I followed this series for the first 15 issues or so, but I found it frustrating. I kept wanting him to make it more story-driven, since he’s such a great storyteller. I loved the “Five Swell Guys” subplots that were happening in the background. Maybe I should have read Tom Strong instead.

By: Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Dec. 2, 2008: A blunt instrument

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:23:23 +0000

[...] [Review] Promethea Link: Johanna Draper Carlson [...]

By: kate

kate — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:42:47 +0000

I found Promethea a LOT easier to deal with in tpb form, in fact. I tried it in pamphlet form and it really did just feel like a treatise on magic(k) and all didactic and… hostile.

But in tpb form, it’s both a treatise and a story that holds together, and I liked it a lot /as/ a story. (And the art is fantastic. Obviously.)

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:51:58 +0000

Well, I read some Tarot in high school (until it told me to stop), but that was just a lark. I’d done a little reading about alternate ways of perceiving the universe, both mystical and quantum physical, but I wouldn’t say I knew very much at all about the Kabbalah or any of that.

Then again, I imagine most traditional comic readers are already familiar with some ideas of magic, anyway, which is what makes this choice of presentation so clever, I think.

Since I read all five books in a weekend, I didn’t feel bad about skimming, or just looking at the pictures when it got too deep for me, either.

By: Rob McMonigal

Rob McMonigal — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:45:17 +0000

Timo–I think it helps if you have at least a smattering of occult knowledge, which I do. For me, it was a very visual presentation of things I was (somewhat to very) familiar with. I can’t say if that’s the reason why some people like it and some people don’t.

Johanna, if you don’t mind me asking–how much did you know of the mystical themes Moore presented when you were reading it?

By: Timo Raittila

Timo Raittila — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:42:49 +0000

I congratulate anyone who liked this. I think mr Alan Moore really wrote Promethea for himself. I have read the full series and still don’t know what is what.

By: Paul O'Brien

Paul O'Brien — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:20:58 +0000

Well, it was… certainly unafraid to be different.

By: Rich Johnston

Rich Johnston — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:14:32 +0000

See I loved the closing years of Cerebus.

I may have been alone. It sure felt like it.

By: Paul O'Brien

Paul O'Brien — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:37:28 +0000

I think it’s massively overrated, to be honest. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to admire in it, and the technique is dazzling. But ultimately it’s just a glorified lecture about magic, and as irrelevant in its own way as the closing years of Cerebus.

By: Rob McMonigal

Rob McMonigal — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:22:05 +0000

Promethea was great–I really need to re-read it again soon. I agree with just about everything you’ve said here. I think it’s arguably Moore’s finest work.