Incredible Hercules #123
Love & War, Part 3: Axis Mundi
The Amazons had kidnapped both Amadeus Cho and Poseidon, the Olympian sea god. This has led to an uneasy alliance between Hercules and Namor the Sub-Mariner. After storming a captured Triton Station, they discover that Amazonian leader Artume has absconded with Amadeus. However, Poseidon is still held prisoner and is being used as a hostage by one of the Amazons. While Herc and Namor squabble with one another over what to do, Namora (Namor’s cousin) knocks the Amazon out.
After freeing the sea god from his chains, Namora bows to the deity in honor. Poseidon then explains why he was captured. Hippolyta and the Amazons ambushed him when he was meditating in Melanesia. His capture was easy as he was weakened after the Olympians came to Earth for refuge.[1] She forced him to reveal the location of the Tablet of Zhered-Na, which reveals the location of Omphalos.
While Namor and Namora are horrified to learn this, Hercules has no idea what they are talking about. Disappointed in his nephew, Poseidon explains why this is a dire set of circumstances. Centuries ago, after he, Zeus, and Pluto defeated the Titans they divided up the realms they would rule over. While Poseidon was given the seas, Pluto was given dominion of the underworld, while Zeus took control of the heavens. Zeus then sent two eagles into the sky in opposite directions to mark the center of the world. They then forced the surviving Titan known as Atlas to hold up the Axis Mundi from this center point. At the time, the center of the world was the Isle of Atlas, which later became known as Atlantis. As the center of the world, Atlantis became a powerful kingdom ruled by magic. However, over time the island fell into decadence and indolence.
The Atlanteans eventually stopped fighting their own battles, once hiring Queen Myrina and her Amazons to deal with a nest of Gorgons from the western mountains. Myrina and her warriors took many Gorgons captive, and their line continued on as members of the Amazons. The Amazons soon came to hate the Atlanteans when their rulers slew a garrison stationed in the city to avoid payment for their services. To defend themselves from potential attack, the sorcerers used their magic to create the Omphalos, a mystical drum that drew power from the Axis Mundi. This was a fulcrum that they used to ensure that Atlantis would always be the center of the Earth and thus reflected by their image. However, this would not last long as soon the Omphalos was too powerful to control and Atlantis was eventually sunk in a great cataclysm.[2] As the island sank, the Axis Mundi and Atlas were shifted to a new center point in the Mediterranean. The Omphalo was then lost for centuries.
This is until Amadeus Cho was able to decipher the tablet and figure out the location of the Omphalos at the bottom of the ocean. Now, Amazonian Artume seeks to claim the Omphalo and use it to make New Amazonia the new Axis Mundi. As she rallies her troops, Delphyne Gorgon goes to check on Cho, who is being held prisoner. He needs some junk food to fuel his intellect and hopefully get free, but unfortunately the Amazons have none. Delphyne has come to remind Amadeus that he is in this situation because he refused her offer to free him earlier. Cho isn’t that concerned about his current predicament because he figures Hercules will save him. She then explains that, under orders of Artume, she was forced to kill Herc. This angers Amadeus who lunges at her. But rather than fight, the two start kissing. The two know they have to work together to escape, but for the moment they can’t help their lust for one another.
Meanwhile, an Atlantean healer has restored Hercules’ vision. As they prepare to go after the Amazons, Hercules first asks if the have a phone. He calls his half-sister Athena to see if she can help them figure out the location of the Omphalos. She tells him that they are seeking to move the Axis Mundi. At first, Hercules thinks it is in the ruins of Atlantis, but Athena tells him that it hasn’t been the center of the world in over 10 thousand years and that it has moved since then. Her intel points to it having been moved to Washington, DC. However, Namor doesn’t intend to join the fight as he is to bring Poseidon to his secret grotto to heal his wounds. This leaves only Hercules and Namora to go to Washington to stop the Amazons.
By this time, Artume and Delphyne are preparing to go to the massive spherical structure where the Omphalo is hidden. As they are preparing to leave, they pass by Amadeus Cho’s cell and he tries to convince them to take him along. However, Artume doesn’t trust him to not try something and leaves him behind. Before they go, Delphyne gets Artume to let slip that she does have junk food hidden in the vault of their craft. The two women then swim out to get the Omphalos. When they arrive at its location they are attacked by a monstrous octopus and work in concert to slay it. With the Omphalos in hand, Artume then stabs Delphyne in the back and leaves her to die.
When she returns to the ship, she reveals to Amadeus that she was aware of the Gorgon’s betrayal because the security camera outside his cell recorded their plans to betray her. She then tells Cho to enjoy his last few hours as she will be killing him soon. As she leaves, he spies the vault where the needed junk food is being kept.
Meanwhile, in lower Manhattan, there is an important meeting at the head office of the Olympus Group. Present are Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, and Pluto to discuss the direction of New Olympus. Hera wants to get the meeting started, but Apollo protests as Poseidon, Ares, and Athena are not present. Hera won’t entertain this, calling down a bolt of lightning with the power she inherited from her late husband. She tells the others that she has 95% controlling stock of the company. With near total control of the Olympus Group, Hera has decreed that their main corporate product will be devoted to the destruction of half-breeds like Athena and Hercules!
Recurring Characters
Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Namora, Sub-Mariner, Amazons (Artume, Delphyne Gorgon), Poseidon, Athena, Olympus Group (Hera, Typhon, Apollo, Artemis, Hebe, Hephaestus, Pluto), Pallas, (in flashback) Hippolyta, Atlas, Zeus
Continuity Notes
The Olympians sought refuge on Earth after Olympus was decimated by a war against Japanese god Amatsu-Mikaboshi in Ares #1-5.
The Great Cataclysm was first depicted in Strange Worlds #2. The sinking of Atlantis was actually due to catastrophic events happening in a convergence. On top of the Omphalo, the island was attacked by the space gods known as the Celestials to punish their rogue creations, the Deviants, who had enslaved much of humanity at the time. See Eternals #2.
