Greek Street

Came across this while waiting for my Sirena to heat up for espresso … Greek Street is a very interesting looking comic which, to judge by descriptions all over the internet, reimagines Greek myths/tragedies as modern ‘street stories’. Newsarama has an interview with its creator — Peter Milligan (the guy who brought us John Constantine) — which includes this incipit:

The premise to Greek Street seems pretty straight forward – classic Greek dramas retold in modern-day London. How would you describe the series and what fans can expect?

PM: The premise might be straight forward enough. The reality of the comic is anything but. Greek Street is a very strange beast. I think of it as The Long Good Friday meets Agamemnon. A way of using those fantastically rich stories from Greek Tragedy to take a look at our world, and to explore some of the things I think about this world. I hope readers aren’t put off, thinking that this is somehow going to be dry or demand that they are well versed in Greek literature. The book is very sexy. IT has beautiful girls, beautiful boys, guns, tension, and the supernatural. The aim, or trick, is to forge something new. Something that refers to and echoes Greek Tragedy but that is also modern, new.

NRAMA: What drew you to retelling these greek legends?

PM: I’ve always been interested in the Greek Tragedies. A few years back a re-read a translation of the The Oresteia and that stayed with me, and slowly this idea of using some of those old legends and plays to tell a new story about modern urban life began to form.

There’s a preview of the first issue (and others) at Facebook, where one will see that this comic probably is ‘for mature audiences only’. The covers are definitely interesting … will have to track this one down.