No winking, no nodding. Just blood, guts, and gods.

Blood of Zeus
All eight episodes in Season 3 begin streaming Thursday, May 8, alongside all 16 episodes of Seasons 1 and 2. I've seen all 24 episodes.

Vivid primary colors set the scene for , which tosses the viewer into a huge vat of incessant action and furious emotion.

Continuing the battling emotional vibe that has been a hallmark of the series, Season 3 maintains a serious, though not solemn, tone. The stakes are extremely high; we're talking not only about the future of humanity but the extinction of the gods.

Season 1 established Heron (Derek Phillips), the bastard son of Zeus, and the highly-charged conflict that ignited among the gods. By the end of the season, Heron became a demigod. Season 2 followed Heron as he sought to learn more about his heritage, while the gods battled among themselves. Heron's goal was to become the ruler of the gods, who, quite simply, weren't having it.

In Season 3, Heron continues on his hero's journey, as it were, which involves winning back alliances with gods and dealing with the unleashed Cronos (Alfred Molina), who means to decimate the gods themselves.

Created and written by Charley Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides, the series manifests an understanding of sibling rivalry and family relations, while translating that into a plausible alternative reality, in which humans appear as little more than sacrificial pawns in monumental games played by all-powerful beings. That makes it strikingly different, in concept and delivery, from tales of superheroes, who are often made by accident, and are always yearning for humanity.

In superhero movies and television shows, the larger than life characters are always reduced to the motivations of human characters, which is intended to make them more relatable or at least understandable. In , the universe is defined by beings who are truly not part of this world, and whose motivations are correspondingly less easy to understand.

The older I get, the more I value wholly original creations, including fresh versions of classic tales, rather than minor variations or endless new installments of an exhausted franchise. Charley Parlapanides and Vlas Parlapanides have created their own mythology, borrowing from Greek mythology, but introducing characters who are entirely new, even as they follow in the path of gods whose actions are legendary.

It's a refreshing and remarkable accomplishment that is distinctly different from DC or Marvel, and may be closer to an amalgamation of Dark Horse, Image, Dynamite, Boom! and other independent publishers. As I mentioned in my review of Season 2: "Resplendent in darkly beautiful animation, feels like a graphic novel brought to life. The characters are well-defined and very expressive, playing against backgrounds that are detailed without being unnecessarily fussy."

The same applies to Season 3, only more so. The colors fairly well burst off the screen. Each episode feels different, too, in its intent and artistic realization. This time, there are fewer quiet moments, so when they arrive unexpectedly, the placid sequences somehow are more startling, just because the pace changes so rapidly. Certain sequences even become mournful, filled with regret and reflection, before the furious action kicks off again, leading to an inevitable, yet no less momentous, confrontation in the final episode of the series.

Like many graphic novels that collect individual issues of a series' run, the end credits for each episode include character and scene sketches, some in partial or full color, which function as a means to catch one's breath before the next episode. It's a bonus that further allows the images to sear into the brain in this bold new mythological epic.

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