Graphic Novel Review: Socrates by Francesco Barilli and Alessandro Ranghiasci

Reviewed by Cord Scott, UMGC Okinawa

Socrates by Francesco Barilli (w) and Alessandro Ranghiasci (a).  Miami, FL: Mad Cave Productions, 2025. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Socrates/Francesco-Barilli/Becco-Giallo/9781545821671

Any historically-based graphic novel must walk a fine line between known facts, re-creations for storytelling or effect, and the need to balance a compelling story with engaging art.  When one then includes a significant historical figure and a discipline that is often considered “deep” - such as philosophy – the likelihood of problems is compounded.  However, the story of Socrates is one that works to meld these issues into a story which sheds light on the famous philosopher that also has resonance in today’s world.

A translation of the original Italian version Socrate, which was released in 2019, also contains a historical forward by Stefano Cardini, explains the events in which we enter the story.  Socrates was brought up on charges of not recognizing the old god, as well as corrupting the youth of Athens. This was in the aftermath of the Thirty Tyrants uprising (abetted by Sparta).  The actual reasons for Socrates’ arrest and trial were probably due to jealousy and divisions within Athenian society.

One of the biggest issues with a biography of Socrates is that he did not write anything down. Much of what is known about his philosophy comes from his most famous student, Plato. Why he never wrote anything down is not discussed or speculated about in this book.  Plato’s version of his oratory skills are clearly demonstrated in the script, and the creators of this graphic novel worked to make a flowing story arc with narration and conversations borrowed from later written works. 

The story starts directly with the trial.  As the trial is taking place, chapter sections go back to past memories or aspects of Greek gods; instances in the past are presented in black and white, while the sections about Greek gods or lore are illustrated to look like a Grecian vase artwork.

Much of Socrates view on the issues of the world are applicable not only to his Athens, but still today.  One of Aristotle’s biggest complaints was that no matter what their status, everyone he talked to considered themselves an expert on a variety of subjects. He personally thought that “the wisest is he who knows he knows nothing.” (p. 29). He also noted that while many people may feel that laws benefit everyone, the prevailing truth was that the strong always dominate the weak, be it in nature or in a society of laws.  Reportedly, Socrates even predicted his own arrest and trial due to people around him.  To that end, Socrates noted that rather than being driven by power or money, he wanted to live his life pursuing the truth.  “Not to have riches or honor but to seek wisdom and truth” (p. 55) was an aspect of Socrates’ creed for a just life.

Socrates’ trial was one in which the true motives of those who opposed him or his ideals (or were simply jealous) were brought to light.  The nature of the charges was disputed through logic and reason, yet made no difference in the end.  His sentence was one of three options: exile from Athens, a monetary fine (which many of his disciples were willing to pay) or death by poison, in this case hemlock. Socrates argued that he was too old to live in exile, especially with his wife and children still in Athens, nor was he rich enough to pay any sort of fine imposed upon him.  He accepted death, and this story is relayed in a simple, yet almost dreamlike manner. 

The entire book is under 150 pages, while the last part is a section that deals with the historical basis of both the story itself, as well as discussing the art. Rough sketches are included to give insight into the process.  One passage stood out in this section, and it seems especially apt in today’s climate; Barilli writes, “a free and rigorous intellectual always makes those who hold power, in whatever way it is exercised, uncomfortable.” (p. 139).  As so many institutions of higher learning, let alone politicians, are questioned for their rigor, or lack thereof, this story from 2,500 years ago still serves as a guide for good moral governance and living.

Graphic Novel Review: The Compleat Angler: A Graphic Adaptation by Gareth Brookes

Reviewed by Deborah Tomaras

 Gareth Brookes. The Compleat Angler: A Graphic Adaptation. SelfMadeHero, 2025. US $19.99. ISBN: 9781914224270. https://selfmadehero.com/books/the-compleat-angler-a-graphic-adaptation

        

    English comics creator Gareth Brookes is known for art comics using experimental techniques, such as the crayon-rendered A Thousand Coloured Castles, as well as The Dancing Plague, which examines the 1518 historical phenomenon through pyrography and embroidered panels. In The Compleat Angler, Brookes creatively revisits the past in comics form, this time via linocut prints and ink on bamboo paper.

     As a work of art, the comic is stunning. The weaving together of sharp linocut and dreamy ink-on-bamboo mimics the undulations of a river and the movement of the text. More meditative sections of Walton's work—poetry, philosophy, musings—are illustrated using ink on wrinkled and borderless bamboo pages. Delicate smudging, and wordless panels, highlight the slower-paced and contemplative nature of the passages.

    The comic flows between these contemplative sections and more straightforward descriptive passages discussing fish and angling, where animals move sinuously across and between crisp three-color linocut panels, the traversing of gutters emphasizing their dynamism. A curious compression of human figures within the panels creates a rough size equivalence between people and animals depicted, highlighting the interconnectedness between human beings and the environment that Brookes foregrounds in his Preface to the comic.

     In all, the art style and pacing of the comic ably convey the artist's vision of The Compleat Angler as pacifist contemplation, a calming salve in turbulent political times. Brookes also emphasizes Walton's environmental argument against those who damage nature in service of profit—another timely contemporary issue. The artist turns Walton's ecological statement into direct environmental activism, donating ten percent of the book's profits to the British charity River Action.

    As a "remix, a celebration of Walton's book, or an elaborate fanzine," per Brookes' Preface, the comic works. As a literary adaptation, however, the reader is left with questions. Brookes never specifies which edition of Walton's work is being adapted. Certain sections, like an observation that Romans consider the eel "the Helena of their feasts," seem to point to later versions, as that phrase doesn't appear in the first edition. But it's difficult to pin down, particularly because the adaptation is similarly opaque as to where and why historical language has been retained. The artist specifies in the Preface that "some of [the] original, unusual spelling" (but presumably not all) was kept: why daintie, but not eele? Brookes also "abridged the book comprehensively and altered its structure entirely;" as with the Ship of Theseus, it's uncertain whether the text is still The Compleat Angler after all the alterations, or a different book entirely.

    Conversely, the retention of Walton's original pronouns for animals is perhaps too historical—and problematic—for the contemporary reader. Brookes keeps Walton's masculine pronouns for most animals, purportedly to highlight both the antiquated feel of the text and "the sense of respectful harmony" between people and animals, per the Preface. However, that harmony is decidedly and only masculine. Animals receiving feminine pronouns uniformly conform to moralizing stereotypes of womanhood held during the seventeenth century. The otter is a gluttonous and unnatural despoiler of nature. The raven callously abandons her hatchlings in a later section that again couples women with the unnatural. The female carp "put[s] on a seeming coyness" before breeding with multiple male carp at once; her behavior is contrasted to the courtly male carp guarding and assisting her at the end of their encounter. The sole virtuous feminine animal, the lark, ascends to the heavens while singing, presumably due to her piety and purity. In an adaptation where the artist freely acknowledges taking "great liberties with the original text" in the Preface, one wonders why this potentially beneficial textual change was overlooked.

     Despite questions about the comic as an adaptation, however, it is, in its own right, an enjoyable, beautiful and meditative work. Don't expect it to be the complete Compleat Angler; as Brookes writes in the Preface, the comics adaptation "is in no way intended as a substitute for the original." Read it instead for the peacefulness, the prints, and the pike.

A version of this review will appear in either IJOCA 27-1 or 27-2.