Season two of webcomic Lore Olympus just concluded , with season three coming very soon , and io9 got a chance to speak withEisner - winningcreator Rachel Smythe all about it . Since its 2018 launch , Lore Olympus — a retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth — has gain a consecrated fandom ( it ’s the figure one most - read series onthe platform ) , spawned a best - selling graphic novel , and become a merch machine .
Hot off her Eisner win at this year’sSan Diego Comic - Con , io9 talk with the New Zealand - based Smythe about her reaction to Lore Olympus ’ rise popularity , how she build a diverse squad to unloose weekly episodes ( we fast - pass them with our coin ! ) , and what the season two finale way for Hades and Persephone as the series heads into its third installment . Oh — and an update on that in - development reanimate series from WattpadWebtoonStudios andthe Jim Henson Companythat we ca n’t wait for .
looter onwards if you have n’t read the time of year two finis ( instalment 206 ) .
Image: Webtoon
Sabina Graves , io9 : Congratulations on the Eisner ! How did you feel receiving the credit for Lore as part of your first awarding show winnings stateside ?
Rachel Smythe : It was so emotional . It ’s so special to get to watch other people be acknowledged for their achievements — to see their face , to see how they ’re validated in all the work that they did . There ’s something magical about that . I cry about 15 times about the great unwashed I ’ve never run into before . It was really special .
io9 : I grow up as a mythology grind , so it ’s been awesome to see this adaptation happen in a metre where there ’s been a lot of re - frame of narrative for distaff figures in myth . Can you take me back to what barrack this take ?
Photo: Webtoon
Smythe : I feel like in particular the myth of Hades and Persephone is something that I ’ve always liked — even when I was a little kid . It ’s just so interesting and such a good view usage to re - contextualize all of these tradition and types of report and how they reflect through a innovative lens . And I conceive probably one of my favorite parts [ of Lore ] is actually Hera ; she was plainly , in the ancient world , particularly in these stories where they do n’t care char very much , very aware that the patriarchate is actual . Stephen Fry wrote a book called Mythos — so I ’m just gon na bring up him because he wrote something really great about Hera , that she was used as an example of “ all things high-risk ” quite often . Obviously she ’s not beau ideal in the stories , but I feel like [ in ] most retellings Hera has been the bad guy . And I ’m like , it ’s so easy to write her as a sympathetic fiber . I love Hera and really savour this opportunity to save her as a sympathetic character like just this one fourth dimension .
io9 : Yes , let ’s do this side tan on Hera because I am with you on that . You do an excellent caper of twitch it from the reading we know of these account where men — or gods — have for so long shifted blame to the women in their life . You ’ve given Hera more agency and a perspective . I liken her a plenty to Beyoncé ’s Lemonade geological era down to the energy of the colors .
Smythe : Yes , I love that . There ’s so many re - imaginings and Zeus is often framed as a really good quality a lot of the meter . And I ’m like , he ’s not . But just one meter Hera could be good — even it out just a little minute .
Photo: Webtoon
io9 : Let ’s lecture about Hades and Persephone . They ’re everything — the story , the romance , the visuals . How did it come together for you ?
Smythe : I ’ve always kind of wanted to do a re - imagining of them but did not yet have the attainment set . I ’d been examine to for a long time , but it ’s not well-situated , specially if you have a full time occupation and you ’re like , “ I ’m tired and drawing is a lot of work . ” When I hit my 30s , I had more of that discipline to push through when it was hard . With the optical development , a bunch of it was about choosing thing that were pleasurable because I feel like if you ’re test to make a comic or World Wide Web comedian , you ’re go to be get it for a really long time . So you mother ta pluck poppycock that reckon cool to you and that you love and not that you are kind of okay with .
I think originally — and this is wild to me now — it was really pop off to be entirely black and ashen and really abstract . At the last minute , I think at that metre I been doing a lot of Steven Universe lover art , I was like , “ Oh , it was actually really fun to do that lover art … I could also draw people in this way . Like , it ’s really fun . ” apart from storytelling there ’s a of the language of color that you could use to fetch emotion . I find like I can really do this so much more with the characters represent in the manner they are — those are my pet colors to work with . It ’s mainly because the Scheol surroundings is very grim and very , very recondite amobarbital sodium often . It ’s designed that room so that when Persephone goes there she nonplus out a raft , almost like she ’s vibrating with color . The reverse is suppose to function as well . When the preferences are in Olympus they ’ve got five pastel colors , so when Hades is there he stick out a lot . So it ’s meant to be kind of free in that way .
Goddess parallels between Beyoncé and HeraImage: Rachel Smythe via Instagram/Vevo
io9 : What made Webtoon the pure platform for Lore Olympus ?
io9 : I kind of fell into it reading early on on and was following artist who were score fan artistic creation for Lore Olympus . One that I followed on Instagram and became internet friends with is Lissette Carrera [ @HardHeadedWoman ] , who travel on to fall in your team . Can you talk a scrap about gather your collaborators — a group that ’s very female - forward , from your editor in chief to the assistant artists ?
see this post on Instagram
Image: Webtoon
Smythe : One of the thing that I find really overwhelming and I feel a bully privilege with is the character of fan that Lore Olympus attracts . I always end up with the types of masses that I want to work with , and it makes me really glad . Like it ’s not an effort , you bang , fellowship are like , “ Oh , we ca n’t do this various hire because we ca n’t find anyone . ” And I ’m like , “ that ’s because you do n’t make spaces for people to feel well-situated there . ” And so , you know , I feel like really , really lucky that there ’s so many gifted cleaning woman who all are interested in this IP .
io9 : We ’ve reached this very momentous occasion at the goal of time of year two . What can you share about eventually getting to the big import , Persephone eating the pomegranate ? What ’s come up for her and Hades , and what are you excited to bring to this next earned run average of their account ?
Smythe : I ’m very excited about the what ’s coming up because I feel like this is the dessert . We ’ve had our entrée , we ’ve had our vegetable . We ’re ready . We ’re ready for for dessert . It ’s all set up , I ’m ready for the steamy stuff now . Yeah , this the romance , It ’s here . It ’s a long format love story so you need to bring out how to make this entertaining long manakin . So it ’s always been kind of difficult in a sense because it ’s not a will - they - won’t - they report do spoilers : its like the sure-enough the story in the world . So you know they ’re go to get together . So the problem was how do you make that interesting ?
io9 : And they want so many things together that from what we sleep with of the report mythologically , they ca n’t have . I personally really bang the section where we see Hades ’ dreaming of a menage with Persephone and everything . And I ’m just like , “ I really want them to have a family ! ” Are we turn thing to where that may be coming ?
Smythe : Maybe , peradventure . It ’s a mainly working on work it still interesting to hoi polloi once they are a couple , because I finger like sometimes in telecasting shows once the main couple does get together it can be a niggling trying . For some people it kind of lose its spark and I feel like they ’ve still got a luck of fun stuff to work through . I ’ve been await a really long meter to get to the breaker point where I ’m like , “ No , they can be together . It ’s cool . All the boxes are check . ” There ’s nothing in their means and I really delight writing that romance component . So yeah . I think it ’s go to be really fun .
io9 : I also require to touch on the tender themes the serial publication explores with Persephone ’s hurt . Can you deal a bit of your reaction to fans who have connected on that level with the subject matter ?
Smythe : I find that whole panorama to be deeply touching , because you incur out that you help people . Yeah , I ’m very much overwhelmed because I feel like on the subject affair of [ sexual assault ] , a lot of the sentence when it happens , nobody really discusses it because it ’s very hard to mouth even to people that you have it off and care about . And so you just kind of pack it away and hold on to it for days . And I feel like there ’s a lot of people in that situation where they just do n’t have any validation and they ’re very isolated and it just feels squeamish to be capable to record something . I recall that intend a lot to see someone go through what Persephone did and then flourish and live a really good liveliness . And show the healing process . I think that it ’s good for multitude . I really desire so .
io9 : I ’m looking forward to seeing how it kind of all comes together between Persephone and Artemis , especially since what ended up happening drove a wedge between them . To quickly jump on a lighter subject , can I get an update on the show adaption and how things are going ? I love that it ’s at Jim Henson Studios , a really awesome female - led company , which find like the right place for it to be .
Smythe : I do n’t have that much to share — but it ’s going awesome , is all I can say . It ’s like an ongoing special occasion where there ’s always something to bet forward to because I do n’t know what ’s going to bump . This is my first clock time making a show and I ’m like , I do n’t screw what ’s run to come up and then someone will send me an email and I ’ll be like , “ Wow , wow , wow . That ’s really exciting . Yay ! ” So yeah , plain I ca n’t divulge that much . It ’s in spades a collaborationism , is the best way to describe it . I ’m quite felicitous for it to be its own thing , like its own entity . The good work fall out in adaptations when you just allow people like do their thing but also like be really honest with feedback and hooey .
io9 : Have you gotten a chance to visit Henson Studios ?
Smythe : I have . I exit there last time I was [ in America ] . It was so much fun , it was like a dreaming . They ’ve get all these models of [ Dark Crystal ] Skeksis and I direct a photo with one of them . It was expectant and the costume are really cool . Henson was a best-loved fandom growing up , like Labyrinth and whatnot . I love Labyrinth , but I was very frightened of it .
io9 : Thank you for taking clip out during this busy weekend to chat with me . look forrad to seeing Lore Olympus develop on all of the platforms .
Smythe : Thank you . I ’m really lucky .
Lore Olympus drops every Saturday on Webtoon ; season three startsAugust 27 .
Want more io9 news ? Check out when to wait the latestMarvelandStar Warsreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to jazz aboutHouse of the DragonandLord of the Rings : The Rings of Power .
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