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AUTHOR
Caitlan Smith
University of Western Australia
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'As it's never been told before': investigating the popularity and impact of Rachel Smythe's webcomic Lore Olympus
This paper explores the intersection of the new media of webcomics and the Webtoon webcomic, Lore Olympus (2018-) which is Rachel Smythe's adaptation of classical Greek mythology, and its effect on the consumption of public knowledge about antiquity. Lore Olympus is a modern re-telling of the Abduction of Persephone myth, where the gods, goddesses, and mythical creatures reside in a modern era setting and the human world is still set in the ancient Greek past. The webcomic currently has over three million subscribers. This paper argues that Lore Olympus' popularity can be attributed to at least three key factors: the accessibility within the medium of webcomics and its open-access platforms, Smythe's artistic style that makes it memorable and visually eye-catching, and the webcomic's relatability to its modern readers by including conversations of contemporary social issues including mental health and rape culture.
Keywords:
adaptation, greek mythology, webcomic, webtoon, rape culture, platforms, mental health, colour theory, classical reception
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CRICOS Code: 00126G
