Funny / The Olympians

The Series Overall

Zeus: King of the Gods

• Teenage Zeus' interactions with the Nymphs. This is a sign of things to come.
• When Zeus goes into Tartaros to free the Hekatoncheires and Cyclopes, he enters one of their cells and asks if anyone's there. Then a hundred sets of eyes start glowing behind him. Zeus' response?
  Zeus: Uh...

Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess

• Athena's friend Pallas fangirling over Zeus. Though it gets less funny when it leads to her death.
• Ares getting blasted off Team Rocket-style in the Gigantomachy.
• When Perseus asks for a helmet of invisibility to go with the mirror shield, winged sandals and sword he was given by Athena and Hermes, Hermes responds with "Hahahahaha—no."
• The Graeae's assessment of Perseus after he gives their eye back and leaves to fight Medusa.
  "Such a nice-sounding boy..."
  "Yes..."
  "We ought to have him for dinner."

Hera: The Goddess and Her Glory

• In the montage of Zeus' attempts at impressing Hera into marrying him, we can see her yawning in boredom as Zeus obliterates an entire mountain.
• When baby Heracles is abandoned due to the snake strangling incident, Athena and Hermes bring him to Olympus to be cared for. Since he needs nursing and Athena refuses to do it, Hermes suggests replacing a nursing baby Hebe with Heracles while Hera is asleep. Athena comments that Hera wouldn't be pleased, to which Hermes assures her that Hera adores him, even after he killed Argus. We cut to an Animal Reaction Shot from Hera's pet peacock, whose tail is adorned with Argus' eyes.
• Heracles' awkward "Oh, yeah..." reaction when he tries to skin the corpse of the Nemean Lion with a knife.. and the knife blade immediately shatters on the Lion's unbreakable skin.
• When Heracles captures the Cerynian Stag using an arrow, Artemis is immediately pissed. Fortunately, Zeus calms her down.

Hades: Lord of the Dead

• Demeter establishing her character by driving off Apollo for flirting with Persephone.
  • Shortly after we get this exchange:
  Demeter: You know how boys are!
  Persephone: No, I don't mother! Because everytime one tries to talk to me you chase them away!
• Persephone's expression when she first sees the tormented spirits of the dead.
• When Demeter rushes at Zeus with a massive sickle, the other Gods just look kind of surprised. Hera, on the other hand, just responds with this...
  Hera: Oh Zeus... what did you do now?
• When Hermes arrives to take Persephone back:
  Hermes: (comically waving his arms around) Kore! Your mother's worried sick, she's starving the whole planet, the mortals are revolting! (stops) Wait, that didn't come out right...
• Since "Persephone" isn't Kore's birth name here, Hermes responds to Hades calling her that with "Persepho-who now?"
• After Persephone is returned to the surface, Zeus is just about to welcome her home when Demeter unceremoniously shoves him aside.
• One of the activity questions at the end of the comic asks if Hades could've thought of a better way to show Persephone he likes her than literally kidnapping her. Well, probably, yeah...

Poseidon: Earth Shaker

• This story's adaptation of Odysseus blinding Polyphemos the Cyclops after introducing himself as "No-Man".
  Cyclops 1: Polyphemos, what's all this yelling? Are you okay?
  Polyphemos: No-Man is attacking me! No-Man has blinded me!
  Cyclops 1: Well as long as no man is attacking you, that's good I guess.
  Cyclops 2: Ha! I have to get back to my wife. No man is with her too.
• Athena's response to Poseidon leaving in a huff after she wins Athens.
  Athena: Sore loser.

Aphrodite: Goddess of Love

• Apollo and Ares getting into a fist fight over who gets to be the first to greet Aphrodite.
  Zeus: There, on Cyprus...
  Hera: I see it...
  Apollo: (already getting ready to run) And I'll see you there!
  Ares: (trips him) LIKE HADES YOU WILL!
  • Artemis watching and commenting "I don't get them".
  • Poor Hephaistos gets left behind when the Olympians more-or-less teleport to Aphrodite's location.
• When Zeus is about to bang Thetis, the Charities note that she was foretold to have a child more powerful than his own father. Cue Zeus suddenly having an Oh, Crap! look on his face.
  Euphrosyne: Oops, looks like he just remembered!
• Eris throwing the Golden Apple of Discord plays out almost like a Looney Tunes skit. She even has an Annoying Laugh!
  • invoked Really, all of Eris's actions at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus count — She jumps up from her seat and starts squawking randomly, sings off-key and loudly bangs on a shield until Ares stops her, and then trying to start a fire until Hephaistos stops her. The whole chain of events is made even funnier by how George O'Connor confirms in the "Geek Notes" for this book that, yes, all of these events actually come from the original mythology (specifically, from the account of Colluthus).
• Zeus, realizing that for him, there's no safe answer to the question of "Who among Hera, Athena and Aphrodite is the most beautiful?", decides he needs to bring in an impartial judge. Who does he choose?
  Hermes: Say anyone but Hermes, anyone but Hermes, anyone but Hermes...
  Zeus: Hermes!
  Dionysos: Ha!

Ares: Bringer of War

• Aphrodite calling Diomedes a "little mortal snot" for stabbing her.
• The simultaneously pitiful and goofy expression of pain Ares makes when Diomedes stabs him.
• During the big brawl among the Olympians, Hermes is a little freaked out when he realizes he's being pitted against Leto, his "bro" (yes, that is the terminology he uses) Apollo's mother. He folds almost immediately.
  Hermes: Forget it, if anyone asks, you beat me.
  • Poor Apollo and Artemis themselves don't get off any lighter—Apollo's pitted against Poseidon, who very clearly spells out to the sun god that he's outclassed, prompting Apollo to dip; meanwhile Artemis has to fight Hera, who, in swift succession, catches her arrow, breaks her bow and socks her in the face.
• After Athena bests both Ares and Aphrodite, Hermes starts interrupting to tell her about Achilles killing Hector. Athena responds with "Not now, Hermes, I'm gloating!"

Apollo: The Brilliant One

• An...interesting little Mood Whiplash occurs when Hyacinth dies—Apollo rushes to him, cradling his body and trying to revive him, only to find that it's too late. Apollo is just about to go in for a Last Kiss...and then we cut to Erato, the Muse of Love poetry, very enthusiastically making out with Apollo's statue. The other Muses look on, very weirded out, before reminding her to get back on track.
• The whole sequence of Athena trying to play the Aulos.
• Melpomene and Thalia's whole dynamic, as the Muses of Tragedy and Comedy respectively.

Artemis: Wild Goddess of the Hunt

• This story goes for the version of Orion's backstory claiming that he was born from the urine of Zeus, Poseidon and Hermes. Orion even breaks the fourth wall demanding that the readers not laugh at him about it.
• One from the author's notes at the end, during O'Connor's speed run of obscure mythical creatures:
  George O'Connor: Dragons are a very obscure type of mythological creature that almost no one has ever heard of, so let's move on.

Hermes: Tales of the Trickster

• The weird dog story the Shepherd who acts as the story's narrator tells at the beginning.
• ALL of Hermes' backstory.
  • Baby Hermes getting the idea to steal Apollo's cows. The two panels could easily become a meme.
  Hermes: Boy, I'd like some cows! (smirks mischievously) Heh-heh...
  • The Shepherd narrating the story notes that baby Hermes kept all of the cows but two, whom he slaughtered. One of them can be seen uttering a slightly terrified "Moo?"
  • Maia, Hermes' mother, is only slightly surprised when she learns that he can walk and talk when he's only a day old.
  Hermes: Mom! I mean...goo?
  Maia: Don't you "goo" me!
  • Apollo starts chasing after baby Hermes throughout Ancient Greece, in what plays out like a Wile E. Coyote vs. Road Runner chase. Seriously, you'll probably expect Hermes to yell "BEEP-BEEP!" at some point.
  • As they pass the Cynocephali^note a race of dog-headed humanoids, a Skiapod^note a humanoid creature with one large foot it uses to shield itself from the sun and Atlas^note the Titan punished with holding up the sky and the father of Hermes' mother Maia, all of whom very confused at the scene playing out before them, baby Hermes describes all of them thusly:
  Hermes: DOG-HEADS! BIG FEET! GRANDPA!
  • Apollo thinks he's got baby Hermes, only for the infant to splash water in his face and slip out of his diaper, evading Apollo's grasp once more and speeding down to Olympus naked.
  • Baby Hermes proceeds to zoom into the palace of Mount Olympus, immediately hugs Zeus and cries out "DADDY!" Hera is NOT amused...at first...
  • Apollo, sopping wet from his run across the sea and now twice as furious at Hermes as before storms in, having had quite enough of this nonsense, explaining all of the trouble baby Hermes has caused him throughout the day. When Hermes nonchalantly confirms to Zeus that he also tied brooms to the cows' tails to cover their tracks, Hera gives us this gem:
  Hera: Zeus, this one...this one I like.
  • And Apollo doesn't take the reactions at all well, leading to this exchange:
  Apollo: You're all laughing—At him! At me!
  Artemis: No one is laughing at you, Apollo.
  Ares: (thinking to himself) I am.
  • Baby Hermes innocently tries to claim Apollo's throne, adding insult to injury for the poor sun god.
• This story's version of Pan and Syrinx's story, and the creation of the Pan Pipes—turns out, Syrinx was playing a joke on Pan when it seemed she had turned herself into reeds.
• The twist ending. Just...the twist ending.

Hephaistos: God of Fire

• The opening to Prometheus' story of Hephaistos' birth:
  Prometheus: Hera, the great queen of the Gods, was about to deliver her child...and she was not happy about it.
  • In the background, baby Ares can be seen playing with toy soldiers. More specifically, setting them up and then breaking them apart with a small sword.
• Hephaistos, wanting to be nice to his sister Hebe, decides to take up her position as cupbearer for a day. As he's offering drinks to the other Olympians, he eventually gets to Dionysos, with predictable results.
• When Hephaistos traps Ares and Aphrodite and demands a divorce from Aphrodite, Hermes and Apollo, naturally, make lewd jokes about it. Aphrodite threatens to make Hermes fall in love with a sandal.
• Hephaistos then traps Hera on a floating throne that hangs her upside down. Everyone tries everything to help her out. Eventually, Zeus just zaps her with lightning. She's not pleased.
  Hera: Zeus, when I get out of here...
  • Zeus then promptly begs Ares to find Hephaistos as soon as possible... before then amending his statement and telling Ares that he should still wait enough time for Hera to "cool down".
  • Later, Ares goes to Hephaistos and demands his help in releasing Hera. The story promptly gives a Gilligan Cut to a very singed and burned Ares meekly telling the others that he and Hephaistos had a "disagreement".

Dionysos: The New God

• Before the comic even came out, George O'Connor provided a sneak peek page showing poor Hestia in the middle of an Olympian family squabble on one of his vlogs.
• After Dionysos first creates wine, the satyrs are initially ecstatic and enthusiastically party all night... until the next morning, where they're all suffering from hangovers and look likely they're begging for the sweet, sweet release of death.
  Hestia's Narration: In his discovery of wine, Dionysos created something with which to lift the pain of existence, to alleviate the boredom, to help celebrate the act of living.
  And, if one is not careful, maybe a wish for death the next morning.
• The Shout-Out to Arrested Development when King Midas realizes that he didn't think his wish all the way through.