By Dante' Maddox

Not that I dislike Hercules or anything, it’s just that Marvel removed his genitals long ago, and he’s Hercules in name only.

When Marvel decided to tap Ares as Thor’s replacement on the Avengers I had renewed hope for Herc. Ares is a darker character (I’ll let the bastardization of his character slide since all of western culture has done the same for centuries, honestly can we at least spell the man’s name right?) and more in step with contemporary superhero assumptions. With him on the scene, there’s no reason to believe that Herc shouldn’t get a bit of an update.



It’s nice to see Marvel letting the Amadeus Cho run while Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness explore the Red Hulk storyline. Aside from the chance to tell a fun story, I’m not sure where they plan to go with this, and if this will all end up tying back into traditional Hulk stories. Considering that the book numbering is still in keeping with the Hulk title, it looks like Hercules is simply babysitting the book until Bruce Banner gets back, which is a pretty cool idea.

At this point I can’t really recommend dedicating a great deal of time to this book. Not that the book isn’t good, but that if you’re on a budget this is a book you can likely skip. The art work is great, and the action is pretty good too, but so far everything seems to be safely removed from the rest of the major events going on. Hercules fans should definitely check this series out while it lasts, everyone else should wait for a collected edition.

Writer: Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente
Pencils: Khoi Pham
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $2.99

CraveOnline Rating: 3 out of 10