Ody-C, Homère re-genré, décalé, excentré

Abstract

Ody-C is a comic book adaptation of The Odyssey, which displaces Homer’s narrative in a science-fictional world and re-genders most of the protagonists as women. This article seeks to study the ways in which Ody-C eschews alignment with traditional practices of adaptation into comics, and more specifically its position at the intersection of author-driven comics and more popular forms; this dual affiliation makes it possible for the series to critically examine both the original Homeric narrative and the genre of science-fiction. This text also examines the contrast between the lackluster sales of the series and its positive critical reception, through an exhaustive survey of Twitter posts mentioning it. It suggests that this reception used different frames of references than those suggested by the series and its peritext, creating a disjunction which hurt its sales.