Hercules: Finally in the Spotlight
It’s crazy to me that, since his first “modern” appearance in Journey into Mystery Annual #1, it took 43 years for there to be a Hercules on going series. Other than a few limited series (and two of those set in an alternate future) there had only been a few stand alone titles. Other than that, the character was usually only a back-up character in issues of Thor and the Avengers. Whereas Thor had countless tales told about him, Hercules was a mostly untapped character in the Marvel Universe. He was only just ever around and wouldn’t do much unless they needed a foil or a stooge. If he wasn’t prattling on about the gift of battle, there were a lot of jokes about Hercules being an alcoholic. The only Hercules story that really ever mattered was the in Avengers #273-277, aka the Siege on Avengers Mansion, where Hercules gets his ass beat by a group of supervillain bruisers. Unfortunately, the story didn’t have any lasting power. While Hercules was left seriously injured and potentially brain damaged, he got over it pretty quick. There was a brief point in Thor during Tom DeFalco’s run in the late 80s/early 90s where Hercules is involved in the birth of a Celestial and then overcomes his fear of fighting the Wrecking Crew (who were part of the siege). In the mid-90s, after briefly losing his godhood, and Onslaught, they tried to have the character recover from alcoholism and mourned the apparent loss of his fellow Avengers beforehe joined up with Heroes for Hire for a bit. Again, nothing of lasting consequence.
Soon enough, Hercules was back to the drinking, womanizing, lout that he always was. The character had no real growth in all this time. Nothing that happened to him lasted long enough to really stick.
It came as a bit of a surprise to me in the late 2000s when Hercules was given his own series. This was on the tail end of Greg Pak’s iconic Planet Hulk and World War Hulk storylines. But they still apparently needed Hercules to piggy back off the Hulk (including his legacy numbering) in order for that to happen. I can’t say for sure, but that tells me that perhaps editorial didn’t think that a solo Hercules could stand up on its own. Still, I’m glad it happened because it gave the character time to grow and expand. Not just Hercules himself, but the entire pantheon of Olympian gods who have had even less exposure in the Marvel Universe.
While I usually find using characters and stories that are part of mythology to be creatively lazy, when it is used here in Incredible Hercules, it’s done to contrast the Hercules of old with the one in the present day. I guess I’m a lot more forgiving because, unlike Thor, these stories haven’t been told and re-told a million times over whenever writers struggled to tell anything new or interesting with the thunder god. Greek mythology hasn’t become as threadbare in the Marvel Universe as Norse mythology is what I am saying.
Another reason why this series is great fun is the addition of Amadeus Cho. Part of the reason why Thor can be so boring is the fact that there isn’t a decent contrast between an immortal god and every day mortals. Sure, Thor would occasionally become Don Blake, or get merged with Eric Masterson, or Jake Olsen as a means of grounding the character, but it is not an ever present thing. Thor can and has often abandoned his mortal guises and responsibilities as stories dictate. Chaining Thor with an alter-ego never has really worked with balancing him out. Even when he’s beside his fellow Avengers, there’s no contrast because they aren’t ordinary people either.
Cho being a mortal who is just really, really smart is the perfect companion for Hercules because it ground Hercules in reality. It causes him to reflect on his past (especially his mistakes) and re-evaluate his life in the present day.
I also like that they gave Cho some chance to shine. Coming out of the second volume of Amazing Fantasy volume 2, he was part of a bunch of brand new characters that Marvel creatives were trying to introduce to their ever expanding universe. There was the new teenaged Scorpion, Monstro, the Great Video, Blackjack, and Positron. However, Amadeus seems to be the only character that seemed to grow any legs and withstand the test of time. Most of the others never really caught on. Which seems to be the going trend with a lot of the characters that have been introduced over the last 20 years. Very few of them ever really get any lasting power. They just shuffled to the background and/or killed off once the novelty wears off as Marvel focuses more and more on established characters. Newer characters having any lasting power is very rare is what I’m saying. If you look at characters who have withstood the test of time over the last 20 years — of all the new characters created — there have only really been three who have stuck around: Amadeus, Kamala Khan, and Miles Morales.
Sure, newer characters stick around, but how many of them are shuffled to the background? How many of them are eternally stuck on team books with no chance of breaking out and having a title of their own? In a way, these characters aren’t unlike Hercules, always sidelined in favor of more popular characters. If Incredible Hercules can show the reader anything it’s that there is plenty of story telling potential in a side character. All it takes is some risk.
