Modern retellings of Greek mythology never fail to be entertaining. In the webtoon “Lore Olympus” created by Rachel Smythe, Greek mythology mixes with modern day culture to retell the classic story of Hades and Persephone.

In the webtoon, Hades is the ruler of the Underworld and the only one of his brothers who isn’t married. Sick of being ridiculed by Zeus and Poseidon and being alone, Hades plans on proposing to his secretary when he meets Persephone, a young goddess who has come to Olympus to continue her education.

Hades falls for her immediately and after commenting on her beauty, he upsets Aphrodite to the point of the goddess of lust getting Persephone drunk and leaving her in the backseat of Hades’ car, unbeknownst to him.

After discovering an unconscious Persephone, Hades brings her to his home to let her recover. With the encounter sparks conflicting feelings between Hades and Persephone, ones that will not easily be resolved.

The first eye-catching thing about the webtoon itself is the artwork. The art is full of vivid colors pertaining to specific ideas, such as how each god and goddess has a specific color associated with them.

Hades is colored as blue for his title as the ruler of the ominous Underworld and his sadness of being alone, Persephone is pink to represent her brightness and youth, and Zeus is dark purple to show the power he exhibits. These assigned colors to particular characters give a unique shine to the story and help the reader distinguish their personalities.

The artwork also beautifully displays the emotion characters are experiencing with symbols and splashes of different shades of color. When a character is experiencing trauma, there are images of broken music notes and then certain swirls of color to hint at which character is coming into play. The artwork immediately draws the reader in, and it’s interesting to see the art style change as the story progresses and the creator grows.

The story itself has a lot to offer. While it’s primarily marketed as a romance, it also displays themes of friendship and passion while touching on darker topics like sexual trauma and anxiety.

The story has positivity in the trusting and affectionate relationship between Persephone and Artemis and the patient budding friendship and eventual romance between Hades and Persephone, but the darker elements start coming into play when Apollo takes advantage of Persephone’s innocence.

The balance between the positive and negative aspects of the plot helps for the story to move along and not drag, making it more entertaining and exciting to read. It also displays an air of realism despite the story being a retelling of a myth.

“Lore Olympus” is full of creativity and unique ways of retelling classic stories. The artwork is compelling, and the creator does an amazing job of making the characters stand out and making important topics stand out amongst the craze of the plot. This webtoon deserves more recognition for the creativity it displays, and it brings back some of the oldest stories in the world.