ComicCritc87 Weekly Comic Spotlights
Marvel Comics: Herc #1
Hello there guys, this is going to be a new series of reviews, based off my fellow reviewer and Godzilla enthusiast Destroyer14. Where I typically do a chunk of reviews that I get from week to week, Destroyer would do both Spider-man and now Godzilla single issues a few days after I would do my reviews. So as a tribute to his reviews, I will be doing a similar version but of course with my own take. I call this “Comic Spotlights”, where I will look at one comic from the week that I think my readers would like to give a look. Some of these might be new titles added to my or a maybe highlight an event in Marvel or DC. This won’t exclude just reviews, but also I will talk about upcoming arcs that the companies have graciously show us in advance and give my thoughts on what they could be and how it will progress and what will it conclude with. Alright with all that said, let’s begin with my first spotlight: Herc #1
Back story: Hercules in the Marvel universe is the Greek Mythological hero (Though it’s Heracles in Greek, Hercules in Roman) who is a loud, boastful and is treated as joke until his true calling in the event of Chaos War, where he gained the omnipotent powers of an All-father to do battle with the destructive force of the Chaos King. He won the day but at the cost, he had to sacrifice all his godly powers to restore everything the Chaos King has destroyed. Now powerless Hercules seeks out a new life with only his physical strength and the keys to Ares armory, Herc will wage a one man war against evil.
Herc #1
Abridged Story: Hercules (now depowered) is on a train and helps a woman from being taken away by a group of thugs; he instantly disposes of them with an assortment of mythological weaponry. Hercules flees the scene and tends to his mortal wound. He finds a statue in the middle of a barren building as he hears the praise and worship of his followers. The next day Hercules stumbles across a man getting attacked and saves him. He learns the man is an owner of a Greek restaurant and Herc takes up a job there as a bartender. He talks with a fellow coworker who is in cahoots with the gang from the train and forces her to take him to their base. As they arrive they are attacked by none other than HOBGOBLIN!!!
Review: Before I write the review let me just say this *ahem* DC!!! THIS IS HOW YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE IT WITH WONDER WOMAN!!!!.... I was sold this title way before it was released after just reading the first few pages on CBR. This was an amazing first issue with this character, which during the events of Chaos War I began to favor as he finally became less of a joke and more of a bad-ass, and this issue reaffirms him being a bad-ass. The first issue not only shows us him as a great warrior but also showing us a humanity the character can show, especially with his interaction with the Greek restaurant owner and his daughter. Although he has lost his godly powers he still has a connection via his visions of his followers which still sacrifice animals to him. The first battle on the train is one of the best fights because not only is it Hercules fighting off a group of thugs on his own, but it shows off the weaponry , which they kindly give small panels devoted to their history and legend(I love mythology, mostly Greek Myths FYI).
Are there any bad moments in this issue, well of course there is but not so many. There is a panel that shows a wanted poster for the animal (a calf) that went missing which was sacrificed to Hercules; I didn’t know NYC had calves in the area (an odd nitpick but still an odd thing in the comic). Another thing is that we see him with these amazing weapons but we don’t see him gather them or place them back in the Armory of Ares. The final nitpick is that they made the way for him to find the gangs base a little too easy, rather than seeing him force one of the gang members with another cool mythological item.
The big reveal of the Hobgoblin as Herc's first real test of battle as a human was awesome, essentially making their fight a battle of science/technology versus mythology, an interesting parallel; I hope they implement this further into the series.
The writing team of Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente (who both did Chaos War), continue to do a fantastic job writing this character. You can see the change from Chaos War where Hercules was still his Godly and overly boastful due to his status as a God and become the All-Father of the Greek Pantheon. With this new series that has changed that tuned, here Herc has to deal with being human while dealing with the life he no longer has. Pak and Lente do a great job of implementing the ancient weapons into the narrative by as I mentioned before, giving us a quick synopsis of what they are and what legends they are associated with, making those myths and legends more real(considering this is a World where Gods exist amongst men, it’s no surprise). This is power house team know how to handle this character and I can’t wait to see where they are going to take this series.
Artwork: I wanted to get the JRJR cover which features Hercules fighting the Hydra, but my comic shop didn’t have it (LAME!!!!), yet this cover is still pretty awesome. The cover features Herc in an alleyway about to be attacked by evil floating hands. Hercules is in the Spartan fighting position (like in 300), his shield at the ready and his sword preparing for a thrust.
The inner artwork is done by Neil Edwards and Scott Hanna, and these two do an impressive job drawing this series. The beginning fight is awesome, when Herc cleaves the guys arm off, it is very clean with some blood (if it was more mature title then it would be really bloody) and the Arrow shooting the machine gun which splits in two like a banana peel was the real head scratcher. Yet the part where he uses the power of Medusa makes up for those two parts that seemed odd. These two keep the artwork consistent; nothing seems or looks out of place. I do love the panels with the pottery art that shows the weapons being used by their legends (score points for that).
The moments in-between his battles are done pretty well since we see Herc as civilian rather than him in his heroic persona and the people he interacts with. The second battle involving Hobgoblin is great even though it is a brief encounter; the battle is quick and shows Herc being overpowered.
Grade: Well from a first issue I'm impressed; the writing of Pak and Lente are spot on with the character and have really developed him into a likable character. The artwork is great, a few odd moments but nothing too harsh and doesn’t hurt the issue. I can’t wait for more out of this series; see where it goes from here. I like, I love, I want some more of it, and this first issue gets an A+
Well I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it, I will keep what my next spot light will be but I will most likely alternate between Marvel and DC. Next week will be my comic reviews, excluding this one of course. Til then I will see you all in the posts and comments, ComicCritc87 OUT!!!