Marvel Unleashes "Herc" In April

[SuperFerret]

Looks cool. I might pick this up, when's it coming out?

 

[bored]

And it's not like he wouldn't have messed up peoples' **** in the past, it's just jarring see him go a decidedly Punisher-style route after being the fratty version of Thor for so long.

 

[Dread]

And it's not like he wouldn't have messed up peoples' **** in the past, it's just jarring see him go a decidedly Punisher-style route after being the fratty version of Thor for so long.

True. I hope things don't get TOO "grim and gritty" to be honest, but Pak & Van Lente have delivered so many royal flushes with this franchise that in my eyes they have earned some benefit of the doubt. At the very least, it will showcase that Hercules is more than just a Class 100 brawler, that he does have warrior skills, too, that he just hasn't always had to use. Now, he will.

 

[SuperFerret]

With powers, he's able to find non-lethal methods of stopping his foes. Without powers, he's got to fall back on his warrior skills, which involve killing.

Also, as any D&D player will tell you, petrification doesn't necessarily mean death.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's what I figure. Even though he knows killing isn't necessarily too acceptable in modern society, he's lost the confidence that goes with his immortality and super-strength, so he returns to the very lethal but effective methods he learned back in ancient times.

As for the petrification, I'm not sure about Marvel's version of Medusa's stone gaze. DC's version definitely did mean death, though. There was a whole arc about Medousa murdering this kid by turning him to stone in Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman run.

 

[SuperFerret]

Pfft... I've been petrified a few times. And I've survived more than half of those.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, the Grey Gargoyle's version of it definitely sucks. Maybe Medusa's sucks too...

 

[hippie_hunter]

Herc is cancelled with issue #10

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Bout time. Why the heck did they think it'd be cool and interesting to depower him and have him fighting street level thugs is beyond me.

 

[Scourge2099]

Herc is cancelled with issue #10

I'm not mad it got canceled since Herc was one of the books I had to drop due to financial reasons. I hope my LCBS has the rest of the issues.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I'm not mad either on account that the Incredible Hercules story is done. Herc felt like they just continued it for the sake of continuing it.

 

[Scourge2099]

Will this be collected in TBP ? Or is it too early to know ?

 

[runawayboulder]

Fun's over, now put him back on the Avengers.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Fun's over, now put him back on the Avengers.

Yup!

 

[Dread]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/08/31/marvel-to-cancel-herc-with-issue-ten/

It isn't a surprise. Sales were lousy. It was amazing it even lasted to a 10th issue.

Still, unless Herc joined the staff of Academy, that'd put him in either one of Bendis' teams, or SECRET AVENGERS, which is basically a page filling exercise at this point.

 

[bored]

Herc on the Academy staff would be great. He'd be incredibly knowledgeable, but really obnoxious to the rest of the staff (not unlike his role with the Avengers most of the time), and every now and then Cho would show up and remind the students that he didn't need to be go to school to be an Avenger.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Herc on Avengers Academy would be awesome.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Good God, yes. "Today's lesson, mortal children: how to procure and imbibe liquor without your teachers' or your mortal constabularies' awareness!"

Anyway, I'll miss getting a regular dose of Hercules, but I agree that Herc just wasn't up to the stellar standard Incredible Hercules set forth. I hope he regains his powers and isn't so mopey sooner rather than later.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

People over at CBR are suggesting the book lost its heart when it stopped being about Herc and Cho's partnership. While I think that had a lot to do with it, I was more put off by the fact that he was basically a bearded Batman. If there's 1 character that should always be a "run in and punch things in the face" tank, it's Herc(with the occasional wrestling match)

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, it lost its heart when Herc stopped being fun. Cho and Herc's partnership was great, but it wasn't 100% necessary to making a great Hercules comic book. We saw that in the "Thorcules" arc. What is 100% necessary to making a great Hercules comic book, however, is Herc's sense of humor and boisterous attitude. I mean, this week's Point One issue showed Herc super-depressed, drowning his sorrows in wine, and basically being horrified by his wife's low opinion of him. Hercules at his best embodies over-the-top fun and Herc just isn't that fun a comic book.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I haven't read it but the idea of a sad Hercules is ridiculous. The plus side of being a stereotypical frat boy is that you can be cheered up by loose women and beer at a moment's notice.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Yeah, it lost its heart when Herc stopped being fun. Cho and Herc's partnership was great, but it wasn't 100% necessary to making a great Hercules comic book. We saw that in the "Thorcules" arc. What is 100% necessary to making a great Hercules comic book, however, is Herc's sense of humor and boisterous attitude. I mean, this week's Point One issue showed Herc super-depressed, drowning his sorrows in wine, and basically being horrified by his wife's low opinion of him. Hercules at his best embodies over-the-top fun and Herc just isn't that fun a comic book.

Exactly, I was starting to think that I should drop Herc because by the end of the Fear Itself arc, I came to the conclusion that I was just buying this book due to how much I loved the Incredible Hercules epic and I just became absurdly attached to it. I really do consider the Incredible Hercules to be one of the greatest comics ever written. I loved Hercules and Amadeus Cho on the Mighty Avengers. But without the fun, Hercules just isn't good. At all.

With Marvel announcing the cancellation, Marvel is at least giving me a solid dropping off point as opposed to me having to deal with coming to the conclusion that I just have to let go.

 

[Dread]

I still like HERC and I enjoy most of the issues. But I'll acknowledge that it isn't the same without Cho, and not having as much comedy (or artists who can draw it) does hurt things. Cho was selling at similar numbers without Herc, and Herc probably can't sell without Cho, either.

Still, I imagine the dilemma of HERC was that Pak and Van Lente finished their saga, but Marvel was handing them paychecks to write more. The easy thing would have been to have changed nothing and just pulled up a different threat of the month from the Handbook for Herc and Cho to fight. And it'd have sold the same, and everyone would whine about them "coasting". Instead they decided to do something drastic and different for Hercules and at the very least the debut issue sold decently. At the very least, they didn't coast. And that's the risk with doing something different - sometimes it doesn't work the same. That's why it happens so rarely in comics; nobody wants to risk failure or turning off the fanbase, since there's never anyone to replace fans who leave. The sales for HERC #1 were the best they'd been since 2009, which does indicate that a lot of those who read it didn't like it, or retailers drastically over ordered it.

What I like about their run on Hercules is that while they've had a lot of fun Herc moments, they also know when to give him some depth so he's not a cliche of himself. The moment in the first arc after WWH where he tells Cho that gods can't change which is why mortals are superior was a remarkable, and hardly comedic, moment of clarity which did a lot to endear him to me. While I do think HERC is less fun than INCREDIBLE HERCULES was, I still enjoy it and it'll be a shame to see it canceled. Even if the sales indicated that it was inevitable.

I do wonder if this is it, like ATLAS was, or if they'll get another mini or so on to hit the reset button or whatever.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Preview of Herc #9

Why couldn't the rest of the series have been like this?

 

[Dread]

Preview of Herc #9

Why couldn't the rest of the series have been like this?

My theory is the more straightforward stories are ones where Pak does a majority of the work, and the more humorous ones are where Van Lente does most of the scripting. But I could be wrong.