I'm one of those comics/graphic novel fans who missed the manga boat. Call me an old fogey if you will (of course, I'll hit you with my cane if you do, you young whippersnapper), but I just hadn't found something appealing enough to break down my initial reluctance.

Until now.

Pantheon High was a delight: fast-moving and funny. It's got a great premise: mythological gods have a habit of procreating with mortals. Something has to be done with the progeny, and in these modern times, that something is Pantheon High in Los Angeles (of course), where the teenage godlings of the Norse, Greek, Japanese, and Epyptian pantheon are prepared for their lives as demi-gods.

If you thought that high school would have been easier if only you were a demi-god, you've got another think coming. The same cliques and bullies that darkened your high school exist here, although here the bullies are the kids of the "bad" gods like Set.

This gang of bad seeds hatches a plot to steal the powers of all their fellow students and ascend directly to godhood. Four kids from different cliques, bookish Grace (daughter of Tyr, wields a mean sword), happy-go-lucky Yukio (son of Benten, unpredictable luck, good & bad)), Griffin (son of Hades, has a death wish) and Aziza (daughter of Ra, snobbish Mean Girl), have to work together to save the school.

The story and the art are packed with mythological references (which Benjamin explicates in an amusing afterword) and it's both an informative and entertaining read. ( )

Completely awful. At a high school for demigods, four students plot to steal their classmates' powers - killing them in the process - and becoming gods in their own right. Four other students fight the baddies, mainly 'cause they don't really like the first four.

Blatant objectification and cliches run rampant. All the girls wear short skirts and/or low cut tops, and I'm pretty sure not a page goes by that doesn't include at least one shot up a skirt (complete with panty-shot) or down some high-schooler's cleavage. (and yes, I know those types of drawings are a "thing" in certain genres of manga. I am nonetheless disgusted by it.)

Absolutely awful. ( )

I don't know what much I can say about this book. I honestly didn't like the art work; there were some that were nicely drawn and the rest looked 'sloppy.' I guess the story line was 'OK', but nothing more. I enjoyed the fact that mythology was involved (not many mangas with story lines of Greek Gods or Gods for that matter) and atleast the author tried at best to stick to the original myths about them. I utterly HATED the dialogue (dawg, slammin', word, etc. "gangsta" talk) had me annoyed throughout the end. I managed to read all the way through, but it's really not my cup of tea. I will however be reading Volume 2 to see if any improvements/changes were made fromt the first volume. Plus there are only 2 Volumes throughout the whole series. So, on with Book 2. ( )

A weird take on the children of Greek Gods, who all go to school together. There's a lot of silly sexual tension and not the best plot, but the overall hilarious nature of the book made up for it. The graphics were pretty good and overall I enjoyed it. ( )

Not bad for my first manga; a little immature, but fun. ( )