Otherworldly Goods – Page 11
Depending on which sources you read, Tantalus was a son of Zeus or of a mere mortal king. Either way, he was a sick dude. Promethean in sharing the secrets of the gods with mortals, his story gets pretty dark when he tries to feed the gods his son.
According to one story, only Demeter, upset by Hades’ abduction of Persephone to the Underworld, takes a bite of the kid; when the gods bring the boy back to life, part of his shoulder is missing, so Hephaestus, forger of the gods, makes him a new one. In my depiction, I have Zeus unwittingly slurp some stew while his wife Hera and Phoebus the sun god are revulsed. The gods kicked Tantalus out of Olympus and after he died, they punished him for eternity in the manner Fetch describes. Ever so clever those Ancient Greeks in devising innovative methods of psychological torture.
Tantalus is a classic example of divine retribution, but otherwise he’s a pretty minor character in Greek mythology. I’m going to have some fun with him. You may wonder why I vaguely modeled him after Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. That’s what emerged from my stylus as I drew him. I suspect unconscious influence. But I like it, so let’s keep it.
Fetch and Charon in the boat on the Styx.
FETCH: All I know about Tantalus is he stood in a pool of water under a fruit tree. Every time he tried to get fruit, the branches would rise. When he tried to sip water, the pool would recede.
CHARON: Yep. Pretty clever, huh?
PANEL 2
Fetch and Charon. In a circle Tantalus giving thumbs up to his people.
FETCH: Why did he deserve that?
CHARON: When he was a king, he stole ambrosia and nectar from the gods. He thought he’d get popular by making his people immortal.
PANEL 3
Fetch and Charon. Circle: Tantalus with a knife and his son looking innocent.
FETCH: Well, that’s not so bad…
CHARON: Then he killed his son, chopped him up as a sacrifice and fed him to the gods.
PANEL 4
Fetch and Charon.
FETCH: Okay, that’s bad.
CHARON: Now he wants to rule the Underworld!
Discussion ¬