Pantheon High
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Pantheon High is an original English-language manga written by Paul Benjamin and illustrated by Steven Cummings, with inking by Cummings' wife, Megumi. It is published in the United States and United Kingdom by Tokyopop.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Pantheon High is a school for the demi-god children of various deities. Among the many attending the school is the troubled daughter of Tyr, the (seemingly) suicidal son of Hades, the popular daughter of the Egyptian sun God Ra, and the extremely lucky son of Benten, the Japanese goddess of luck, love and the arts. Several of the more amoral children develop a plan to become full blown gods, leaving only a few of the students to oppose them.
Book two (several pages are shown in book one) features two of the protagonists attending another school as the repercussions of the Pantheon High events are still being worked out. Once again, popular cliques and abusive students begin to cause problems.
[edit] Gods
It is mentioned in the preview for second book that despite the fact that only children of Egyptian, Norse, Japanese, and Greek gods go to Pantheon High, children of Aztec, Indian, Hawaiian and Mesopotamian deities go to rival school Gilgamesh High. A Chinese pantheon has been mentioned, but the student from that pantheon turned out to be a morphed Loki.
All gods in the series are incredibly powerful compared to a normal mortal, and their power is concentrated in an "icon", a weapon or item that symbolized themselves, like Zeus' thunderbolts, Hades' helm, Thoth's spellbook, and other. When the icon is broken, the immortal disappears, but immortals can apparently have their icons replaced or taken and not disappear.
So far, it is unknown if the rest of the world knows of the gods. Modern day vehicles are seen parked side by side with other more exotic forms of transportation, such as floating bloats and war-elephants.
[edit] Main characters
- Aziza el Ra: Aziza is the daughter of Ra, the sun god that is the head of the Egyptian pantheon. A popular cheerleader, she has the power to control her internal temperature, which comes in good use many times.
- Grace Morgenstern: Grace is the daughter of Tyr, the Norse God of war, but unlike her father, Grace likes to study and finds it pointless to fight. As a 'Tyrspawn', it is foretold she will lose a hand, which effects her deeply in multiple aspects of the story.
- Griffin Pierce: Griffin is the son of Hades, the Greek lord of the Underworld (not to be confused with Thantos, the personification of death). His mortal mother is dead and he lives with foster parents. Griffin wants to be with his birth parents, so he comes across as what would be considered suicidal. He spreads the rumour he has a 'death touch', which isn't exactly true.
- Yukio Takahashi: Son of the Japanese luck goddess Benten. Yukio has excellent grades despite never studying thanks to his supernatural luck, and is a sports star as well. His typical teenage maleness interferes with his luck; at one point he crashes into a wall during battle as a female adversary had become attractively over-exposed.
[edit] Minor Characters
Principal Prometheus: The principal of Pantheon High, and a Titan. Tries to convince the school board to bring back an old punishment (having an eagle rip out their livers, mimicking the punishment imposed on him by Zeus.)
Mr. Heimdallson: The hall monitor, son of Heimdall. Eaten by Jormundgand, the Midgard serpent and brother of Fenrir.
Tierce: The school's mascot, a chimera. Initially fierce and dangerous, he becomes meek and more like a dog after Grace defeats him.
Coach Hercules: The famous hero and son of Zeus. He's the gym teacher and coach for the school
Chris Lokispawn: Loki's child, whose gender is unknown. Even less can be said with his/her gender neutral name and ability to shapeshift. It leaves it even more ambiguous when he/she says he/she doesn't use the locker rooms, saying "I don't need a locker room to change" and "this place smells like anus", when referring to the boy's locker room. She avoids the eagle torture by moving her liver to the outside and severing her nerves. Eventually she escapes, and helps the kids, but Yukio remarks that "He..er...she...er...Chris is only looking out for Chris."
Fadil el Set: Son of Set, Egyptian god of evil, chaos, and the desert. Known for being a gangsta wanna-be, though he lives in Beverly Hills. Chris Lokispawn reveals that his "gangsta talk" is more torture than having to have her liver ripped out. He is the only one to actually get the torture of having his liver ripped out.
Abby: Daughter of Chronos, Greek god of time and ruler of the Titans. She is known for her violent temper and immense dislike of Griffin, whom she constantly calls "pervert." Se is also known for her third eye, symbolizing her father also being the brother of the Cyclopes. She is incredibly tough, being both the MVP on the Tlachtli team and having unbreakable skin. This skin saves her from the eagle torture.
Yutaka: son of Susano, Japanese god of storms, thunder, and evil. He is quite full of himself, and only pretends to like Aziza to get her to drink the echanted ambrosia. However, she gets too hot and she boils the potion, initially starting the four's downfall. His father looks nothing like him, however, resembling more of a samurai. He electrocutes the eagle sent to torture him.
[edit] References
- Sparrow, A.E.: Join the Gods: Pantheon High Vol. 1 Review, IGN, February 20, 2007.
Pantheon High, Volume One
