Love & War, Part 1

New York City, Now

At Silly’s Greek Diner, the owner is delighting his customers with stories about how Hercules frequently dines at his establishment. As he tells them how Herc recently saved the multiverse, this annoys another customer sitting at one of the booths.[1] This annoyed customer is Ares, the god of war and Hercules’ half-brother. He asks for the bill so he can leave, but is interrupted by his daughter the Hippolyta. She has come with news that her grandmother, Hera, is rallying all true Olympians together to be by her side.[2] Ares is disinterested, wanting to slay Hercules on his own terms. He also knows why they have come to him now: With spring in bloom it is the time when gods and mortals are most interested in both love and war.

Lemuria

The undersea kingdom is rocked by falling debris on the surface. With Queen Namora nowhere in sight, a team of soldiers is sent to the surface to investigate. They emerge on an island where a volcano has recently become active. They also find Amadeus Cho enjoying sun on the beach. He tells them that he and Hercules came here for a vacation and that the demigod is preoccupied with their princess. As it turns out, all the volcanic turmoil is caused by a play fight between Hercules and Namora. The Lemurian soldiers locate the pair with binoculars and when they realize that this is some bizarre form of foreplay, they return to the sea without issue.

That’s when Amadeus gets a call from Athena, who tells Cho to rest up before their next quest. Amadeus, however, is in a sour mood because he went along with Hercules to this island with the promise that there would be wood nyphs for him to screw around with. Instead, there were none, leaving the youth feeling like a third wheel. Athena tells him not to feel so bad, as Hercules has tricked far larger people than him….

The Strait of Gibraltar, 2168 BC

For his part in the war against the Olympian gods, the Titan known as Atlas was forced to carry the heavens on his shoulders. On day, when his back was giving him grief, Atlas was approached by Hercules who offered to take his burden for 3 hours in exchange for three golden apples. Happy to be free to walk around for that amount of time, the Titan exchanged places with Hercules.

However, when Atlas returned with the apples, Hercules asked him to take back the weight of the world for a moment while he put the sling holding the apples around his shoulders. Sure enough, Atlas did as he was asked only to discover that Hercules was now gone and he had been tricked!

Now

Hercules is now telling this story to Namora as they soak in a hot spring. He does so because he finds it amusing that Namora’s team, the Agents of Atlas, have named themselves after someone so easily duped. Hercules then revealed how he tricked Namora during the war with the Hulk. When he had to hold up Manhattan from underwater, he tricked her into thinking he needed to breath so he could get her to kiss him.[3] She playfully smacks him upside the head for the trick.

That’s when the couple are ambushed by an army of gun toting Amazons. While running to cover, one of the warrior women fires a rocket launcher at Hercules which hits him in the stomach, sending him and Namora flying across the island and it explodes over the ocean.

As it turns out, the Amazons are not here for Hercules, but for his young companion Amadeus Cho. Finding him on the beach, they are unsure if they have found the right person. To confirm his identity, they begin opening fire on the youth. Luckily, Amadeus’ hyper-intelligent mind allows him to determine the trajectory of the bullets allow him to dodge the bullets. They instead strike some cooling lava, causing it to spray in the direction of his attackers. However, before he can get away, Amadeus is grabbed from behind by an Amazon armed with a knife. However, before his throat can be slit, Princess Artume arrives on the scene and reminds them that Cho is hers. Seeing the Amazonian leader and her army of beautiful women, Amadeus revels in his current predicament.

They then load Amadeus into an Atlantean Machcraft and try to leave the island. When Namora sees that they are flying ships used by her royal cousin, Namor the Sub-Mariner, she becomes enraged. Flying into the air, she manages to take down one of the ships, but the one carrying Artume and Amadeus manages to get away, thanks to the piloting of snaked haired Delphyne Gorgon. That’s when Artume pulls Amadeus aside and kisses him. She is impressed so far and explains that they have kidnapped him because they plan on having him stud him out to spawn the next generation of Amazons. When she orders the other Amazons to bring him to her bedroom, Amadeus is excited about the prospect of getting laid.

He is taken to the chambers by Delphyne who explains that the Amazons have captured him because he is Hercules’ eromenos (a submissive in a same-sex couple in ancient Greek culture). Cho takes offense to this, saying that he and Hercules are only just friends. Gorgon doesn’t really care one way or the other. She goes on to say that usually the only Amazons who are allowed to mate are either too injured or too old to fight, except Artume isn’t either. She also shows him an ancient battle shield with an engraving showing a young woman with a knife about to stab a older man. She warns him that the mates chosen by the Amazons are usually killed after their usefulness is over. Amadeus is bummed out by hearing this because he figured there was some kind of catch to his situation.

That’s when their ship is rocked by an explosion. This was caused by Hippolyta who demands the Amazons return Amadeus and the stolen Atlantean ships. However, her daughters — particularly Artume — refuse to do so. They have reveled in being on Earth ever since Amatsu-Mikaboshi destroyed Olympus and, after fatally shooting Hippolyta, Artume vows that the Earth will learn to fear the Amazons once more, starting with Atlantis.[4]

Meanwhile, Hercules and Namora have found a survivor in the stolen ship they crashed. However, before they can get answers out of her, she blows herself up with a hand grenade. While they are recovering from the blast, Hercules is then ambushed by the Sub-Mariner who is spoiling for retribution!

Recurring Characters

Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Namora, Athena, Sub-Mariner, Ares, Hippolyta, Amazons (Artume, Delphyne Gorgon), Pallas, (in flashback) Atlas.

Continuity Notes

1. This is in reference to how Hercules slew the Skrull gods in Incredible Hercules #117-120.

2. Here, Hippolyta mentions how Hera was previously in mourning the loss of her husband Zeus. Zeus was killed during a war between Olympus and the Japanese chaos god known as Amatsu-Mikaboshi in Ares #1-5. Zeus will later be resurrected in Incredible Hercules #130-132.

3. Hercules tricked Namora into kissing him in Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #111.

4. Although she is killed here, Hippolyta will be resurrected by Hera in Fearless Defenders #2.

Topical References

• Amadeus is depicted as having a “flip” style cell phone. These types of phones were quite common when this comic was first published in 2008. However, they have since fallen out of common use thanks to the advent of smart phones. As such, its depiction here should be considered a topical reference.