Maze Comic Book Review - Oh My Gods! 2: The Forgotten Maze

Oh My Gods! 2: The Forgotten Maze (2022) AMZN

from Clarion Books, 208 Pages

by Stephanie Cooke (Author), Insha Fitzpatrick (Author), Juliana Moon (Illustrator)

Oh My Gods Volume 2

Oh My Gods! 2: The Forgotten Maze cover

When I first checked out this book from the library (online) I thought it was a regular book for Young adults. And in a way it is being targeted at kids 8-1 years old. What I did not expect was that it was actually a comic book.

This particular comic reminds me a bit of The Wicked + The Divine if it was written for 4 graders. The comic takes place at Mt Olympus Junior High and includes characters like Artemis, Hermes, Medusa, Apollo, Athena and Aphrodite, so you understand the theme ! A portion takes place in a forgotten maze underneath the school where the group looks for an antagonist called M1N0T4UR. Here is just before they enter the maze challenge from the M1N0T4UR.

Oh My Gods Volume 2 - Minotaur panel

maze entrance with M1N0T4UR

Overall this is a fun story, and worth a read for any age.

Other blog posts you might like:

The 12 Best Maze and Labyrinth Movies Of All Time

Watchmojo's Best Maze Movie Scenes

How to make over 40 types of mazes

Book Review - The Curious History of Mazes

The Curious History of Mazes by Julie E Bounford

192 pages, AMZN

THE CURIOUS HISTORY OF MAZES

Before I delve into my review of the book I want to mention that the Amazon page for this book is excellent if you click on the link above. Specifically, the “From the Publishers” section - each chapter has an illustration and a quick summary.

The book is a great mix of the history, uses, and symbolism of mazes and labyrinths around the world. The illustrations and examples are excellent and I really enjoyed the breaks to solve unique mazes along the way.

What I learned in this book (at least some of it):

  • “In some Meso-American cultures, it was believed that the wicked could be “mazed” in the underworld, so their souls would not return” ; Which to me seems like a nice pitch to a new horror movie

  • I have never seen a Sidereal maze before, based on the constellations. Very interesting and fun to solve (page 45 in kindle version). Or the Switch Maze (Page 105).

  • I learned about the city of Saffron Walden in England, a city with a hedge maze and the largest turf maze in Europe at 132 feet from corner to corner. Seems like a nice place for a maze museum ?

  • That Francesco Segala, an Italian architect from Padua in the 15th century may have created the first picture mazes ever (with illustrations in the book !)

  • The first 3 dimensional maze was built in the 1830’s by Stuart Landsborough using wodden board to create a second story on a maze.

  • The strategy game Nine Men’s Morris that was popular to be played at turf mazes.

  • There are 270 labyrinths on the London Underground, created by English artist Mark Wallinger in 2013 to mark the Underground’s 150th Anniversary. You can see some of them here.

  • Cloud cities by Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno, which you should just see to understand.

  • There is a nice illustration comparing the classical and medieval labyrinth designs (figure 2 page 46) that I found interesting.

What this book does best: The mix of mazes with history and examples makes for a fun reading experience. The mazes are a break from reading - unless you get to a hard one - then the reading is the break!

Maze Comic Book Review - Maze by Thiago Souto

Maze (2022) AMZN

from Dark Horse Comics, 220 Pages

by Thiago Souto, illustrated by Thiago Souto

Maze (2022) Comic cover

Maze comic

If there is a comic called Maze you know I needed to review it. This is the story of a boy names Nico and what happens in his dreams when he goes to sleep. And what happens is Nico goes on adventures with his friend Góreck. The book takes place almost entirely in the dream world and that makes for some wonderful illustrations as long can see on the cover. I really enjoyed the number of full page illustrations in the comic and the story is good too. A key part of the story is Góreck going ton his own adventure to find Nico and this involves traversing a maze in the dream world. If you get a chance this is a good read. And you do not need to take my word for it becasue it won the best new release category in 2018 of the Angelo Agostini Award, a Brazilian comic award.

goreck in the maze, maze comic panel

Goreck in the maze

Kids Book Review - The Labyrinth of Doom by Stuart Gibbs

The Labyrinth of Doom (2022) AMZN

157 Pages, for ages 7-10

by Stuart Gibbs, illustrated by Stacy Curtis

The Labyrinth of Doom book cover

Today I review The Labyrinth of Doom by Stuart Gibbs and Stacy Curtis, which is the second book in the "Once Upon a Tim" series. The story follows Tim, a knight-in-training, and his best friend Belinda, as they embark on a quest to save Princess Grace. The princess needs rescuing again (also in book 1 of the series), and Tim and Belinda must face a series of challenges as they traverse a labyrinth, including menacing beasts like the minotaur and treacherous obstacles like chasms filled with cave sharks. Yes, cave sharks. I enjoyed the writing style a lot (maybe I like kids books ?) and found the story to be engaging. The illustrations are also fun by Stacy Curtis.

This is a great book for kids, that I recommend.

Other blog posts you might like:

The 12 Best Maze and Labyrinth Movies Of All Time

Watchmojo's Best Maze Movie Scenes

How to make over 40 types of mazes