A thought-provoking graphic novel is slated for release on November 11th, 2025, from Mad Cave Studios about the final days of Socrates. Francesco Barilli (Stalag-X, The Red Line) and artist Alessandro Ranghiasci (Zenobia, Refugees) team up to bring you SOCRATES: The Trial of a Philosopher, highlighting one of history’s greatest minds and his court hearing in 399 BC. Find out the cost of truth and enduring courage of conviction this Fall!
Socrates: The Trial of a Philosopher
Writer: Francesco Barilli
Artist: Alessandro Ranghiasci
Athens, 399 BC. In what may be remembered as the first trial for crimes of opinion, Socrates is sentenced to death. Accused of corrupting youth with atheistic doctrines, the philosopher’s line of defense is uncompromising and defiant. He is thus sentenced to drink hemlock by an even larger majority of jurors, and once in prison, awaiting execution, he refuses to flee lest he violate those laws to which he has always been devoted. Socrates was not only one of the best known and most influential philosophers in human history, but also the first martyr for his own ideas. His trial tells how the greatest democracy of the time could have sentenced the best of its citizens to death
“Socrates: The Trial of a Philosopher is a thought-provoking reimagining of the life and conversations of one of the world’s greatest philosophers,” said Mad Cave Studios editor Sarah Brunstad. “Through Socrates’ story, we wrestle with questions as relevant today as they were upon his death in 399 B.C.—questions of the value of truth and knowledge in a world where ignorance is encouraged because it is manipulable. This volume is another inspiring and eye-opening historical reframing by the masters of the craft at BeccoGiallo.”
