Far From Home

Colored pencil on hot press illustration board

15" x 20"

Story

After centuries of being painted as the villain in every hero's tale, Medusa – who now went by her stage name "Zola" – had finally found her voice, quite literally. The transformation happened sometime in the late 1970s, around the same time punk rock was exploding across the mortal realm. She'd been hiding in abandoned temples, growing tired of the same old narrative: brave hero seeks glory, finds monster, monster dies, hero gets the girl. But watching grainy footage of The Ramones and The Sex Pistols on a stolen television set, something clicked. These mortals were angry, raw, and unapologetically themselves – just like she had always been, before the world decided her story for her. The snakes in her hair began swaying to different rhythms, and for the first time in millennia, Zola smiled without turning anyone to stone.

Stheno and Euryale, her immortal sisters, were initially skeptical when Zola announced she was forming a band. "Sister," Stheno had said, adjusting her own serpentine crown, "we've been outcasts for three thousand years. What makes you think mortals will suddenly want to listen to us?" But Zola had already written her first song – a scathing three-chord anthem called "Poseidon's Lies" that detailed exactly what had really happened in Athena's temple that day. The raw emotion, the years of suppressed rage, and the truth she'd never been allowed to tell poured out in distorted guitar riffs and vocals that could shatter marble statues (which was actually quite useful for their stage effects).

The Gorgons quickly became the underground's most feared and beloved act. Zola's voice carried the weight of centuries of injustice, while her sisters provided a rhythm section that could literally petrify audiences – though they'd learned to dial it back to just "stunning" rather than "permanently geological." Their concerts became safe spaces for outcasts, monsters, and anyone who'd ever been misunderstood by history. Between sets, Zola would tell the real stories – not the sanitized myths, but the truth about gods who abused their power and heroes who were often just bullies with good PR. Punk forever, indeed, because punk was about telling your own story, no matter how uncomfortable it made everyone else.Write your text here...