Title of the work
Country of the First Edition
Original Language
First Edition Date
First Edition Details
Terry Denton, Story Maze. The Obelisk of Eeeno. Sydney: Allen & Unwin Children's Books: Allen & Unwin, 2003, pp. 144.
ISBN
Genre
Action and adventure comics
Comics (Graphic works)
Fantasy fiction
Fiction
Fractured fairytales*
Humor
Illustrated works
Target Audience
Children
Cover
Terry Denton's Story Maze 6: The Obelisk of Eeeno (Sydney: Allen & Unwin Children's Books: Allen & Unwin, 2003). Courtesy of the Publisher.
Author of the Entry:
Lynnette Lounsbury, Avondale College of Higher Education and The University of New England, lynnette.lounsbury@avondale.edu.au
Peer-reviewer of the Entry:
Elizabeth Hale, University of New England, ehale@une.edu.au
Daniel A. Nkemleke, University of Yaounde 1, nkemlekedan@yahoo.com
Terry Denton
, b. 1950
(Author)
Born the youngest of five boys in Melbourne, Australia, Terry Denton loved art from a young age and drew constantly in his spare time. He studied architecture at Melbourne University, was a comedic theatre actor and regularly created cartoons for the University newspapers. After University he spent time on his art working in animation, painting, etching, sculpture, cartooning and shop window design. In 1984 he wrote and illustrated Felix and Alexander which was published in 1985 and won the Australian Children’s Book Council Picture Book of the Year in 1986. Since then he has written and/or illustrated more than 100 books, including the Gasp! books and TV series, the Wombat and Fox books, and the Bumper Books (1, 2 and 3). He began collaborating with Australian writer Andy Griffiths in 1997 and they developed the Just! series, followed by The Cat on the Mat is Flat, The Bad Books and more recently the hugely successful children’s comedy series The Treehouse books-13, 26, 39, 52, 65 and 78. He has won more than fifteen children’s choice awards throughout Australia and another 40 more with Andy Griffiths. These include the Australian awards – The Multicultural Book of the Year, Best Designed Picture Book, Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award 2014 and The Australia Book Industry Association Book of the Year for older readers in both 2012, 2013 and 2015.
In 1991 he worked for the Australian Children’s Television Foundation on the TV show Lift-Off, spending two years planning the program and designing the puppets. Terry does many school visits throughout the year holding both writing and artistic workshops. He is also a fine artist and has held several exhibitions in Melbourne.
Sources:
Official website (accessed: July 3, 2018).
Morriss, Maureen, "Highlights of the 1995 Children's Book of the Year shortlist [Book Review]" [online], The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 18.3 (1995): 219–227.
Winner of the 2015 ABIA book of the year [online], Incite 36.6/7 (2015): 12–13.
Profile at the thelitcentre.org.au (accessed: March 3, 2018).
Bio prepared by Lynnette Lounsbury, Avondale College of Higher Education and The University of New England, lynnette.lounsbury@avondale.edu.au
Sequels, Prequels and Spin-offs
Previous book: Story Maze (Series, Book 5):The Minotaur’s Maze.
Summary
The sixth book in the "Storymaze" series follows the surfing adventures of Nico, Claudia, and Mikey through parallel worlds and across the universe. The story begins with yet another attempt by protagonist Nico to win the surfing world championship on the planet Ganymede. This time he is confident of victory given that his main rival, Hercules, has been sent to the Underworld to retrieve Cerberus. By some twist of traveling fate, they accidentally arrive on the reverse of Ganymede, the planet Edemynag, where the surf is backward and so is the scoring system. Unfortunately for Nico, he loses to the worst surfer because… it is a backward world. They hurry to make it to the next championship which is on the planet Eeeno. This time Nico does well, so well in fact that he is in the lead and it appears that he will win the championship. However, Hercules arrives, back from the Underworld and tries to thwart his attempt. A malicious dolphin takes care of Hercules but Nico slams into a stone pillar that rises out of the surf, and has to be rescued by officials. The pillar is the Obelisk of Eeeno, and it contains a surprising hieroglyphic reference to the Knossos Minotaur and the group, eager to find out if their friend the Minotaur (from "Storymaze" 5) might still be alive, head to Knossos for more information. They discover that King Minos has died but they do not know that his daughter Ariadne was the one responsible for her brother’s death. They travel with Ariadne to find the Minotaur and find themselves, again through poor management of their travel device, in a sinking ship. Captain Nick suggests that the god of the sea, Poseidon might be responsible for the obelisk. Poseidon overhears and uses a storm to upend their boat. They survive by holding onto flotsam and end up in Poseidon’s palace where Poseidon claims to have seen the Minotaur alive and labels him a spy for his brother, Zeus, and suggests that he has stolen Poseidon’s trident. Poseidon releases the Minotaur from the Obelisk in exchange for his trident and Ariadne is imprisoned in his place. Zeus takes the Minotaur to the heavens as a reward for his loyalty and the Ithacans are left alone once more. Nico wins the world surfing championship finally and the three of them end the series by planning a visit to their favourite burger place.
Analysis
Graphic novel for children, with a science-fiction and comedy approach to classical myth and antiquity.
The final book in the "Storymaze" series is slightly less fractured than previous adventures, but it is still a fast-paced and off-beat ride. The story roughly follows the myth of the Minotaur of Minos and his sister Ariadne but also includes interactions with the Hercules myth and the Poseidon and Zeus saga. The stories intertwine in new ways and include new characters amongst the mythical ones. The author shows a playful attitude towards the old myths and a certain degree of disrespect, mocking both the gods, the creatures, and the ways in which the stories are supposed to play out. If anything of the original remains, it is the idea of the melodramatic and highly emotional Greek gods reacting unwisely in most situations. The story has an omniscient and judgemental narrator, reminiscent of the Greek chorus who comments on the elements of the story, judge the characters and their decisions, and makes predictions about how the story might play out. The "Storymaze" series is an irreverent engagement with classical myth, a pastiche of elements and characters that is at once complicated and frenetic, but also simplistic, graphical, and lighthearted.
Further Reading
Profile at the goodreads.com (accessed: August 3, 2018).