Brian Truitt

USA TODAY

In tackling a gender-bent, psychedelically sci-fi version of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, comic-book writer Matt Fraction wanted a fittingly epic beginning. That is, until he learned that a 10-page foldout spread would break the presses.

An eight-pager, though? Totally doable.

"It is very much about wanting to do a story bigger than big — it is so majestic and heroic," says Fraction, the co-creator with artist Christian Ward (Infinite Vacation) of the Image Comics series ODY-C, debuting Nov. 26,

The Odyssey is the definition of a classic, "so we wanted to do something appropriately scoped and scaled. Opening with as big a foldout as technology allows us to do — and not flinching at the prices — is pretty me. So please, folks, buy three!"

Fraction did his homework of rereading The Odyssey and crafting a 26-chapter series that focuses on the mighty Reecian warrior and mother Odyssia — a female take on Odysseus, naturally — and her travels returning home to her family after a huge galactic war with Troiia.

It's a daunting task, for sure, but one well worth it for Fraction, who wanted to write an adventure story for his 4-year-old daughter, Tallulah.

"There's this fallacy in American comics anyway that women don't have power fantasies or don't enjoy adventure stories," says Fraction, the scribe on the Image series Satellite Sam, Sex Criminals and Casanova (returning in January).

Tallulah loves Captain Marvel, the star of a superheroine series written by Fraction's wife, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and also Wonder Woman, though "I knew they'd never let me write Wonder Woman," Fraction adds. "So I had to think about mythological adventure heroes, and Western myth kinda starts in a lot of ways with Odysseus and The Odyssey. It's the foundational 'Someone comes to town, someone leaves town' kind of story."

Fraction also wanted to see what Ward could do with a grand space opera since he was bored with the highly stylized aesthetic and milieu of 300. "It's not my jam," he says. "I want this to stand in stark antithesis to that macho he-man (stuff)."

Although the world "looks like a universe that Lady Gaga designed" — with influences ranging from Barbarella and Moebius to Hindu iconography and burlesque and fetish wear — Fraction wanted to stick as closely to the original material in terms of inspiration.

He's writing ODY-C in six-syllable dactylic hexameter, the same poetic way Homer did, "because I can't do anything simply," Fraction says with a laugh. He'll use the rhythm "until it becomes inconvenient, and then (expletive) it, that's a dumb idea."

Like her ancient male counterpart, Odyssia is the captain of a crew who've been at war for 10 years and just want to go home, though they run into lotus-eaters (in the second issue) and other familiar aspects for Homer-philes.

"She is crafty and wily and she's the mother trickster who won the war with the big ideas and big plans," says Fraction, who even has a riff on the Trojan Horse that was born of a maternal thread.

Wanting Odyssia to look "badass but tangible," Ward took armor associated with Greek mythology and mixed it with a high-tech exo-suit. "The idea of the suit was that the 'skin' of the suit was made from some impossible bronze that has jaded over the years of the war," the artist says, "reflecting the fact that Odyssia, too, has grown old and changed by the endless years of war."

The eight-page spread that kicks off ODY-C also is the big announcement that the war is over, with remnants of the last great intergalactic battle, according to Ward.

"There's bodies upon bodies, giant space grabs, cosmic jellyfish, alien vultures and three of the most kickass women you're ever likely to meet," says the London artist.

Ward actually quit his teaching job to focus on ODY-C, and he's been redesigning many famous icons in new and different ways.

The goddess Athena here is a dude with a robot owl, and the all-powerful Zeus is a very Rubenesque, larger-than-life figure who's domineering and full of sexy bravado.

"There's nothing particularly subtle about the gods' designs," Ward explains. "Unlike the human and alien characters in the book, they're more like caricatures and far more abstract in the way they're depicted.

"There has to be a core emotional response to how they look — visual gut punches. It was important, though, to look at their Greek counterparts so there was an anchor with each, something that would make them relatable."

His favorite so far: Poseidon.

Since the original god from The Odyssey controlled the waters that Odysseus traveled through, it made sense that Osidion in ODY-C "should have a connection to the universe itself since that was what our hero battles through," says Ward, who enjoys drawing "her black inky, flowing form."

Adds Fraction: "Gods are fun. Anytime you have a chance to write gods, you should do it."

He's built a Star Trek-like crew for Odyssia since the original text was vague about the personalities of Odysseus' sailor pals, and folded in stories featuring Agmem and Ene — the analogues for Agamemnon and Menelaus, respectively — to fill out ODY-C's tale while also exploring myths and gender politics.

"We've kept pushing and discovering how much further we can go and how much more interesting if it's not so simple as 'All the boys are girls and all the girls are boys!' " Fraction says.

"But the root of it was wanting to give my little girl a great big (expletive) hero."