Greetings, dear reader! Welcome back to The Book Report.
When Semantink Publishing first popped its metaphorical head out into the world, it brought with it their flagship production: Mythoi, a sixty issue comic appearing monthly for the next five years. They got out their first issue, and then realized they needed a completely different marketing strategy to build momentum (and readers). So Semantink put the 60-issue arc of Mythoi on hold and worked with author James Ninness on releasing five “Birth” issues of the main Mythoi characters for free, available only on the internet.
Issue 2 has since been released, and Semantink also released a graphic novel collection of the Birth issues along with some extra goodies, including a sixth Birth.
What I thought I’d do today is take a look at the six Birth issues and not talk about them. Instead I want to talk about the different mythos that inspired each character. Hopefully, for those unfamiliar with one (or all) of these mythoi (plural of mythos, you know), this Book Report will help provide some depth without giving away story secrets that Mr. Ninness would want kept a secret. Let’s dig in!
Wiglaf
Wiglaf in the Mythoi universe comes from two different legends. The first is from the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. Wiglaf is an actual character in Beowulf, and Ninness does not deviate from the story when he portrays Wiglaf as the only soldier to stay by Beowulf’s side when he fights the dragon. He does, however, deviate from the tale’s resolution. In the original poem, following the death of the dragon, a dying Beowulf bestows his crown and kingdom to Wiglaf. Ninness takes the epic tale and makes it, if you can believe it, even more epic: He ties Wiglaf’s tale to the curse of Cain.
Cain was the brother of Abel and son of Adam and Eve, as the Bible relates the story. In the book of Genesis, we read that God preferred Abel’s offering of his best lamb over Cain’s offering of his best fruits. Jealous of God’s preferential treatment, Cain slew Abel. As punishment, God cursed Cain to wander the earth. Cain protested his punishment, claiming that as a wandering stranger cursed by God anyone who found him would kill him. So God set a mark on Cain, proclaiming that any man who killed Cain would receive vengeance seven times greater.
What Ninness does is make Wiglaf the son of Abel. He kills Cain to avenge his father’s murder, and receives the wanderer’s curse in Cain’s place.
So by the time of Beowulf, Wiglaf has already been alive for centuries, perhaps even millenia.
Vito
Fans of classical literature should recognize the beginnings of Vito’s story. His story begins during the last moments of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula. There was a Dracula sequel released in 2009 by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt, hardly worth mentioning. I only do so here to point out Vito (and Mythoi) has nothing whatsoever to do with the sequel.
Of course, Mythoi has little to do with the last chapter of Dracula as well. In Stoker’s novel, Jonathan and Mina return to London safely and have four children, a rather different end than what Ninness gives them. On the other hand, the slight twist is certainly no different than how Ninness changed the end of Beowulf. And who knows? The way stories become legends and legends become myths hardly guarantee the original story remains the same.
Vito’s tale ends a bit strangely. Dracula passing on his heritage to Vito was considered a gift. Vito doing the same is a curse. I’m intrigued to see how that develops.
Yuki
Yuki’s tale is a great martial arts battle. One woman against an entire temple (and their yeti). The temple is part of Tibetan Buddhist tradition, in a mythical kingdom called Shambhala. The common translation from Sanskrit is that Shambhala is a place of peace, tranquility, and happiness. The big tweak Ninness gives this story is that Shambhala is nothing of the sort. Yuki’s desire to bring Shambhala and its master down is her revenge for the horrors visited upon her by the monks.
According to Buddhist mythos, Shambhala was ruled over by benevolent Kalki kings, upholding a form of Tantra called Kalachakra. The Kalachakra has a prophecy that the “25th King” will come in a time of despair, war, and greed and lead an army against “Dark Forces”. Some scholars calculated the Kalachakra to predict this will come to pass in the year 2424 AD.
In Mythoi, Shambhala is ruled by Master Sho, given great power by the four elemental dragons. Sho does not appear in Buddhist legend (he wouldn’t, since I believe the name is Japanese), but there is a Confucian legend concerning a Master Sho of Kokei.
A monk came to Master Sho and asked him, “When things come from the four directions and eight dimensions, what then?“
Master Sho replied, “Hit the middle.“
The monk immediately bowed.
Asian cultures typically viewed dragons as being attached to the different elements, as well as time and even the universe. But dragon legends exist in nearly every other major “old world” (not the Americas) culture as well. The actual word “dragon” comes from the Greek word draco (actually a Latin translation). The word typically meant any great serpent, and not (necessarily) the type of dragons you picture when you hear the word.
Taros
Taros is yet another revenge story (seeing a theme here?), based on Greek mythology. Taros is the son of Ares and the human woman Mesia in Mythoi, though no such characters exist in the mythology. Ares sired a mortal son named Tereus, brutal and barbaric, and one of his immortal sons through Aphrodite was Anteros, god of unreciprocated love. But that’s the closest we can find to Taros, which is fine. Ninness has established already that he plans on tweaking the various mythoi, and for good reasons.
Besides, I like the idea of a son of Ares who doesn’t like fighting.
The story takes place in 201 B.C.E. which is the year the second Punic War ended with the defeat of Hannibal and the fall of Carthage. Given that the story is set during the ascension of the Roman Republic it’s interesting that Ninness chooses Ares, rather than Mars, as the god of war. The age of Greece is ending by then, and with it the pantheon on Olympus. At least until the Romans remake it in their own image.
What these first five “Births” offer are revenge stories set during the end of an age. Wiglaf’s tale is of God’s vengeance and the death of a king. Vito’s tale is of his own vengeance following the death of an immortal. Yuki’s tale is of her own vengeance against a mythical kingdom. Taros’ tale if of his vengeance against the gods as their power declines. What then does Touch’s tale offer?
Touch
Touch’s tale also begins at the end of an era, but rather than vengeance, Touch offers hope. The other tales are based on mythos of the past, Touch’s mythos is science, and the hope of the future. Science and the future offer uncountable possiblilities, something that all our mythoi of the past dream for. Touch represents a tangible (touchable) symbol that we aren’t stuck in our current disaster, but that life can be improved.
Not a bad way to end the Birth series, eh?
The graphic novel does offer a
sixth birth story, an interesting, Ninness-typical twist on the Little Red Riding Hood legend.
So go give all these a read, preferably by picking up a copy of the graphic novel. And then prepare for the imminent arrival of Mythoi Issue 3!
Until next time,
Still paddlin’ the old knew…
_-Akatzen-_
