Writers: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente
Penciler: Khoi Pham
Colorist 112-114: Stephane Peru (RIP)
Colorist 115: Dennis Calero
Inker: Paul Neary
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Covers: Arthur Adams
Company: Marvel
So, there was this thing in the Marvel Universe recently. No, not that Civil War thing or The Initiative. No, not House of M (too old) or Messiah CompleX (too recent). Yes – the World War Hulk deal. Ya know: the Hulk gets kicked into space, takes over a planet, is happy for about five minutes, watches his pregnant wife die in an explosion, comes back to Earth and kicks the ever-loving hell out of every major hero in the Marvel Universe.
Well, there was some fallout from that. (Honestly, I’m still getting used to this whole concept: back in the 80’s when I started collecting, we got maybe one huge storyline a year, and you could go five years afterwards without watching a single other book mention it. Now, try and find a Marvel title that wasn’t affected by the Civil War: hell, even The Runaways get pulled in, for crying out loud.)
One bit of fallout involved The Renegades, the little group that Amadeus Cho put together to assist the Hulk while he tore NYC apart: the X-Men’s Angel, Namora, and Hercules. Well, World War Hulk ended, and heh — funny story: you remember when Herc tore a SHIELD helicarrier to shreds back in Incredible Hulk #107? Well, they haven’t forgotten about that. So, while Angel and Namora were offered amnesty if they surrendered, Herc and Cho were herded off to a holding area (the same holding area where the Hulk’s troops were being held apparently). Of course, Hercules could have caused a lot of damage if he decided to resist, but instead he got a sudden streak of repentance, and decided to try the “pay for my sins” route.
Well, that last about as long as it takes for Herc’s older brother, and recent Mighty Avenger, Ares to show up and muck up the works. After recounting the story of Hercules’ sixth labor (yes, we do reference Herc’s actual mythology – which I also appreciate), where Herc killed a whole bunch of birds that Ares treasured — well, there’s some smack talk, somebody insulted somebody’s Mama.. and yeah, of course it turned into a brawl. I mean – duh. So anyway: they escape, and Cho manages to steal a SHIELD laptop in the process.
Of course, we can’t talk about Incredible Herc #112 without noting Arthur Adam’s tribute to the famous cover of Hulk Annual #1, by Jim Steranko. And hey, Cho even gives a shout out to Ender’s Game, which is pretty damn cool in and of itself.
Issue 113 sees a couple more Avengers pulled in: the rather random choices of Simon Williams and The Black Widow (though we barely see the Widow in this issue). Even more mythology is thrown around, pleasing my geek heart to no end, and Hercules and Ares get down to business. Long story short: Ares uses bullets filled with Hydra blood to bring about a beserker rage in Hercules – which, in retrospect – probably not the wisest strategy ever.
Cho, in a desperate bid to keep reminding us that he is supposedly the seventh smartest person on the planet (so, anyway – when are we going to meet number 4, eh?), takes advantage of the situation, and points Herc towards the gathering forces of SHIELD. Much ass-kicky-ness ensues.
114 sees its most significant development happen early on, when Black Widow knocks out Cho while he’s trying to sneak onboard the Hulk’s alien ship. Unfortunately, Widow hits with with a kick to the back of the head, causing Cho to fall forward… and crush his little puppy, which he’s been carring in his jacket for… well, forever, as far as I can tell (this thing doesn’t grow much, does it?).
Meanwhile, after Herc knocks Simon and Ares into the next county, Widow is left alone to deal with a completely drug-fueled enraged Hercules. Thankfully, the writers of this storyline are MONSTROUS comic geeks, and actually throw references back to The Champions of LA, which last appeared in 1978. That’s some sweet nerd lovin’ right there. Widow is able to calm Herc down considerably, and he and Cho take off in The Behemoth, an old SHIELD helicarrier.
Issue 115 continues the rather amusing faux-epic Intro, with lines like “Cho deems S.H.I.E.L.D. responsible for wounding his pup, and so a furious can of gangsta-style whup-@$$ descends upon the mortal enforcement agency…” And here, we find out that Cho has succeeded in, basically, bringing SHIELD to its knees with his combination of alien tech and a couple nasty viruses. However, he’s leaning way too far into the “potential super villian” category for Hercules’ comfort.
Of course, there’s a failsafe – SHIELD just launches every missile it has against what it sees as the main threat: the Behemoth. Then Ares show up – so of course he and his brother continue their sibling rivalry in a very physical manner (including the amusing spectacle of catching missiles and tossing them into each other). But they manage to throw a rather revealing bit of expository dialogue in the middle, where Ares notes (accurately, based upon mythology) that Herc is “a murderer, a thief, an adulterer, a drunkard, a fool!”, and demands to know: “Why do they love you?” Ahhh, the complicated emotions of a spurned wanna-be super hero.
Hercules truly opens himself up, and forces Cho to face what he’s doing: he’s not taking down SHIELD for the betterment of the world, but because he’s just angry, and vengeful. And those are two emotions that Hercules is intimately familiar with. But Herc also does a good job of giving Cho some perspective, though it veers a bit too close to “that way lies madness” for me. But at the very least, the MAJOR mythology references, some with a serious tweak from the usual versions, more than makes up for it.
You’d have to be somewhat dense (or, possibly, 12 years old) to not see all of the analogies and metaphors in this storyline — of course, if you weren’t picking up on them back in the Civil War and World War Hulk, you’ll probably never get them. But it does take a deft hand to combine that level of storytelling while relating it to real-life events in a non-heavy-handed manner, while also keeping the action level intense, and throwing in more mythology references than Bullfinch. It’s a delicate balancing act, but very, very well executed through this first arc. Hopefully, they keep it up.
Rating: 8 out of 10
