Herc #9 – Review

By: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), David Hahn (penciller), Roy Richardson (inker), Jesus Aburtov (colorist)

The Story: Herc’s daddy issues interferes with his getting it on with the woman he loves.

The Review: After the completely baffling and apparently pointless crossover with Spider-Island, which seemed to include Herc only to sell some half-spider on half-spider intercourse, this title is set to get back to normal.  Problem is: you don’t know what “normal” is since the series has been plagued with Event tie-ins from day one.  With hardly a supporting cast and only a vague mission to protect Brooklyn, it almost feels like we’re back to where we started.

Herc #7 – Review

By: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), June Brigman (penciller), Roy Richardson (inker), Jesus Aburtov (colorist)

The Story: Spider-Herc, Spider-Herc, / does whatever a Spider-Herc does.

The Review: Once upon a time, crossovers were a rare, novel event.  Then they became frequent pleasures, then common fool’s errands.  Now they come about every other month, and the effect on all comics, be they solid ongoings or criminally under-promoted minis, has been irritating, pointless, or detracting.  As a newborn series, Herc hadn’t a chance to stand on its own two feet before Fear Itself dragged it along in its wake.  Now that it’s over, we finally have a chance to see Herc grow into the title it’s meant to be.

Just kidding.  Enter Spider Island, ably demonstrating the downside of having all the heroes operate out the same city; if one has an epic adventure, shared universe etiquette dictates everyone has to participate, or at least acknowledge it.  Here, Hercules gets to join in on the fun, which makes sense as an entertaining interlude to an already prospering title, but when you have one that hasn’t even established much of an identity yet, it doesn’t seem wise to let the star attempt to take on someone else’s.

Not that Pak-Van Lente don’t bring their trademark humor to the gimmick.  Herc has clearly established himself as second only to Deadpool in the mockery department, and while Spider-Man is no slouch when it comes to self-deprecating jokes, there’s still plenty of laughs to be had at the web-slinger’s expense.  In the midst of crowing over his extra surge of power, Herc wonders, “But what is this strange new feeling?  With this great power…comes great…angst?”

Had the writers simply stuck with these kinds of gags, the issue probably would have worked better, but we also have three competing distractions: guest appearances by several X-Men (no telling why they had to show up in this title—don’t they have, like, eight of their own?), Anansi the African spider-god-trickster, and Arachne, who vaguely reveals herself for two panels and, aside from giving us a fine view of an arthropod behind, serves virtually no purpose to the issue.

Herc #6 – Review

By: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), Neil Edwards (penciller), Cory Hamscher (inker), Jesus Aburtov (colorist)

The Story: Brother, do you know the Truth about Herc?  Oh, ye of little faith…

The Review: For the last couple issues, I’ve concluded that even with the Fear Itself brand and obligatory tie-in issues, this title hasn’t really been affected all that much by the Event.  Pak-Van Lente have managed to execute a story arc that seems in keeping with their original agenda: let Herc savor the mortal life; give him a new residence, mission statement, and outfit; have him experience the ups of a loving crowd and the downs of a popular backlash.

As well as Pak-Van Lente have carried these points to fruition, there’s a rushed quality to it all that suggests Fear Itself actually has affected the title in a subtle fashion.  I noted last issue that since Herc has been mortal for only a short while (even shorter in context of the story), Hermes’ invitation to return to Olympus feels very premature.  The same feeling lingers through this issue’s major moments; they’re all good, appropriate scenes, but seem a couple arcs too early.

Kingpin prophetically commented that people love to build up an idol and tear him down, and while Herc now has firsthand experience of that, it doesn’t feel entirely genuine considering the Brooklynites’ behavior dances to the three magical tunes: the Norse serpent, witch-goddess Hecate, and son of Ares Kyknos.  Even so, that Herc’s unyielding courage proves affecting enough to sway the New Yorkers out of their panic-induced violence is heartwarming indeed.

Similarly, the big turning point in the issue involves Rhea drastically redefining her relationship with Herc, but since they’ve only known each other for about two days, their relationship hadn’t much of a definition at all beyond possibly “friends with benefits.”  The scene where she finally gives up her revolutionary ideals in favor of simple faith in our hero definitely builds well on her initial view of Herc merely as a useful symbol, but lacks the impact it’d have had we seen more interaction between the two or more of her rationalist behavior at work.

Herc #5 – Review

By: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), Neil Edwards (penciller), Cory Hamscher (inker), Jesus Aburtov (colorist)

The Story: And here I thought New York City couldn’t get any weirder.

The Review: Even though in both his mythic and comic book incarnations Hercules technically gets counted as a god (of heroes, no less), it’s hard to think of him as such.  We are far more familiar with his exploits as an adventurer on Earth than those he ever had as a divinity, and especially in the comic books, his brash, gung-ho personality hardly lends itself to the lofty purposes of his fellow immortals.

Small wonder then that the cries of his “worshippers” for help serve to merely annoy him to distraction (“And if you left me in peace for five seconds perhaps they’d be answered!”) more than please him.  Still, even though he’s no god any longer, Herc is ever the mensch, vowing to do right by those that remain his faithful.  On an interesting note, one I’m rather ashamed to not have noticed before, does anyone find it odd how as a mortal, he can still hear “prayers” to him?

Considering Herc has been mortal for—what?—four days in-story, his meeting with Hermes, who bears a possible offer of godhood from Zeus, seems rather premature.  If anything, the speech and command for our favorite hero to return to Olympus and stand by while the world passes into its twilight hour is merely a contrived way for Pak-Van Lente to incorporate elements from Fear Itself, which has only tangentially affected this title despite the brand on the cover.

You’ll have the strong suspicion that, had it not been for the obligatory Event tie-in, the writers would’ve really preferred to devote more time to Herc’s struggles against the entire borough of Brooklyn gone wild magic.  Herc’s attempts to confront his challenges head-on, only to fall back thanks to new ones constantly popping up behind him, should be more enjoyable, but feels too truncated to develop beyond a passable energy.

Herc #4 – Review

By: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (writers), Neil Edwards (penciller), Scott Hanna (inker), Jesus Aburtov (colorist)

The Story: What?  No pitchforks and torches?

The Review: When it comes to solo heroics, writers usually take the trend of letting their hero baby-step his way long steadily bigger and greater trials before pitting him against the conflict of his life.  It makes sense; no point in tossing the rookie into the deep end of the ocean before he learns to doggy-paddle.  But Hercules is already a pro at this biz (a former god of it, in fact), so it doesn’t seem out of the question to throw a major challenge right off the get-go.

But experienced as he is, his new mortality has set him back to square one.  In his glory days, a few Raft escapees and Kyknos, son of Ares, would have been a walk in the park; now, he can literally be felled by a little girl (granted, she stabbed him in the back with a pair of clipping shears).  It doesn’t stop there, though.  Pak-Van Lente also drop in Hecate, witch goddess, and a whole NYC borough of mobbing civilians, a challenge worthy of a god he now faces as a mortal.

As you can tell, this issue has a lot of problems going against our favorite mensch, so such so to the point you’re left just as bewildered as he is.  Remarkably, Pak-Van Lente manage to give each set of conflicts some time to develop, especially where it concerns the growing disarray of Brooklyn.  We get some humorous scenes of neighborly confrontations gone out of control (“I know you’ve been laughing at us.  Ever since the bedbugs!”), but also some moments of genuine horror, like a pack of mauling dogs threatening children after ravaging their elderly owner.

Even though the descent into chaos seems universal, Rhea remains the only one seemingly unaffected aside from Helene and the Warhawks, devotees of Ares.  Her apparent immunity to the growing paranoia warrants investigating, especially since she’s so quickly become Herc’s lady-friend and loyal supporter, yet remains largely a mysterious, if well-read, figure.  But now that she’s a captive of the Warhawks, there’s plenty of incentive to dive deeper into her history.

In the meantime, Herc gets left largely on his own, one vulnerable man with some fancy weapons against an entire city gone to heck.  His only ally: Griffin, the Raft prisoner gone feral, thanks to a magical twist that probably should’ve been shown to us, since I, for one, already forgot about that character since last issue.