Once Upon a Time Machine Vol. 2
Editors: Andrew Carl, Chris Stevens
Associate Editor: Josh O’Neil
Publisher: Dark Horse
Review by Josh Rose
Some things you would never think to put together. People must’ve thought that the person who decided to put peanut spread and smushed berries together between two pieces of delicious gluten was crazy. Once Upon a Time Machine Vol. 2 has the brilliant idea to take classic Greek myths and transpose them on a more contemporary setting.
Some of the stories in Once Upon a Time Machine Vol. 2 are ones everyone has heard of and are instantly recognizable. Others like Cosmogony, thanks to the new setting, aren’t as readily recognized. Each new story gives an idea of what the story is about with the title and main mythological character. But even with the changes to the story, the core elements remain. I like a lot of the stories and think most of them are fantastic reimaginings. There are very few stories in this collection I think fall short of what they could be.
In between some of the stories are pin ups featuring various mythological characters. Eros with a bazooka, a spaceman hiding from Cerberus, and Hades on a flying chariot to name a few. The art for each myth also varies to suit the tone. Eurydice is a sad myth to begin with and the art matches it with a limited colour palette, with squares and lines obscuring parts of the panel like a TV losing signal. Then there’s Zeus at Large which is a series of “Sunday Funnies” comic strip style stories and the art style to match.
The Verdict:
Buy It! I grew up enamored with Greek Mythology and Once Upon a Time Machine Vol. 2 has reminded me of that. It’s refreshing to see the classic myths in a new setting while losing none of their original gravitas. This is a great read for fans of the original myths, and you don’t need to have read Vol. 1 in order to enjoy this.
