Rachel Smythe Roundtable Interview at New York Comic Con 2023

Lore Olympus is a modern retelling of the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades’ love story. It has been a massive success on WEBTOON, with over 1.5 billion views and 6.4 million subscribers. The webcomic has also been adapted into multiple formats, including print graphic novels and an upcoming animated series.

The win marks a significant milestone for WEBTOON, as it shows that the platform is producing high-quality content that is being recognized by the comics industry. It also shows that webcomics are becoming an increasingly important part of the comics landscape.

Rachel Smythe Roundtable Interview at New York Comic Con 2023

During the round table interview, Rachel announced her newest project entitled “Rachel Smythe Presents.”

It is called “Rachel Smythe Presents,” and what it is is basically celebrating other creators who do work based on mythology and help bring these stories to life. It’s really exciting. And I can’t wait to get started.

[The mythos is] from anywhere basically. So at this stage, it’s very early beginnings. So we haven’t made those complete decisions yet. But […] it could be Greek mythology, but mythology in general.

Following up on the exciting announcement, Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast host Jenna Wrenn asked Rachel about what sparked her love for Greek mythology.

I have liked it for a really, really long time, like since childhood. I think my introduction to it is like really similar to a lot of people. So Disney’s Hercules came out, I believe […] I might have been a middle schooler, but I don’t know because the education system is different here. But it came out and I watched it and I was very fond of it and loved it very much.

And of course, like many people who see something they like, they need to research it a lot. Me and my sister were very much into it. And we learned that Hades had a wife. […] And I researched it as a kid and just consumed as much as humanly possible. And the rest is history.

Among the many defining traits that make Lore Olympus a standout in storytelling is Persephone’s rich and deep development. Persephone is much more than her romance with Hades or heiress to her mother’s empire. She is a complex protagonist who tries to make the best choice in every situation in which she finds herself. This is perhaps best exemplified by the symbol of Persephone’s bond with the Underworld: the pomegranate fruit.

Jenna: Earlier you were mentioning, of course, the pomegranate. A huge component of the story, and something very unique about the way you tell the story, is that there is a theme of agency; that “this is me choosing to do this.” What about that theme of agency was important to you?

Rachel: I think it’s good to honor Persephone’s character in the story. And I think a huge part of her growth as a character is learning to have agency. And I think, based on like the content of the story of what we already know, I think it would be kind of doing her disservice to have some level of trickery–I don’t think that’s like the correct word. But just her not having a choice later on. I feel like it would be a little bit of a step back. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, because I feel like not all like development should be linear. But for such a major moment, it like had to be a choice and it had to be a growth thing.

You can listen to the entirety of the roundtable with Rachel Smythe on episode 18 of Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast directly on this page or stream it on Apple Podcasts / Google Podcast / iHeart Radio / Stitcher / Spotify and wherever you stream your podcast. You can even watch it on our YouTube channel. 

Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast

The “Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast” is a new series from the team at the Temple of Geek. Portrait of a Fangirl initially began as a web series and has now expanded into a podcast series as well. You can watch and listen to the series both here and on our YouTube channel.  Hosted by Jenna Wrenn, at the core of the project is the importance of telling the stories of women who have found inspiration, growth, and power through fandom.

About our Host

Jenna Wrenn is a podcast host and entertainment correspondent for Temple of Geek. She has also written several articles covering conventions, anime, and much more. Jenna is a historian by trade, writer by passion, and cat mom by birthright.

Jenna loves all things nerdy and can be found playing D&D with her long-standing Sunday night group. Equally important to her, Jenna loves cosplaying, reading, and rewatching Star Wars: Rebels.

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How Portrait of a Fangirl Came to Be

The Portrait of a Fangirl Podcast is executive-produced by Monica Duarte, Nathaniel J. Peinado, and Madison Morrow. In addition, it is produced by Jenna Wrenn and Tiffany Cagle. Hosted by Jenna Wrenn and was created under the umbrella of the Temple of Geek Podcast, as an ongoing series. Originally created by Monica Duarte and Emily Schuck for Temple of Geek.