With the recent release of Punderworld Vol. 2, I've reread Vol. 1 again and read Vol. 2 for the first time and I just have to say how much I continue enjoying this retelling!
I love how light-hearted it is while still having proper stakes, the art is just gorgeous, the story development is intriguing, the way the different powers and forms of the gods are utilized and shown is amazing and I love the designs and interpretations of pretty much every god and character (especially Hestia and Hekate in this volume)! While it does go the route of turning Demeter into an overbearing mother, it's a nuanced portrayal that doesn't just turn her into the villain. Her perspective is given equal room to that of Persephone and Hades, she has her reasons and justifications and I'm looking forward to seeing how this conflict between them is going to develop with already some obvious mistakes and misunderstandings being apparent. I also like that one of the original myth's purposes of explaining the seasons is taken into account with several hints about the mortal world being perpetually in the "growth" period so far and that becoming a strain on pretty much every god involved by now. I'm curious to find out if the initial hook with the influx of shades who don't remember how they died is connected to that or something else entirely. Nice setups of some intriguing mysteries there!
I'm a huge fan of modern retellings/reinterpretations of myths, some obviously much better or worse than others, but I think it's fine to do as long as you don't claim that you're telling the "actual true original" myth without any proper sources or claim that you're "improving" it. I certainly have my preferences for what kind of retellings I'm interested in and for this particular myth that usually means (1) Persephone and Hades being in love with each other and (2) Demeter not being demonized. That's not to disregard the strength and importance of the original myth which was also largely about the grief of a mother and her fight for her daughter after she was taken away either by forced marriage or an early death. However, these versions all end relatively tragically with Demeter only getting her daughter back for part of the year and Persephone being forced to live with her kidnapper and rapist for the rest of it. I admit I'm too much of a fan of happy endings, especially for female characters suffering under a deeply patriarchal society, for that to appeal all that much to me. I see too much of women not winning against misogyny irl, I don't need to see it in my fiction as well. (Though I'd totally be up for a retelling that gives Demeter and Persephone a full happy ending despite the kidnapping premise. Maybe in combination with the little fact that records of Persephone actually predate Hades - that'd be really cool to see in a retelling.) Again, that doesn't mean these stories aren't deeply valuable or not good, they're just not for me.
Some more spoiler-y praise of Punderworld under the cut.
