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Hercules: Prince of Power was the name of not one but TWO Hercules mini-series from the early-80’s. Both of these stories were crafted by writer/artist Bob Layton and were 4-issues in length. I guess now is as good a time as any to reprint these Hercules stories considering his own star is rising in the pages of Incredible Hercules (which he inherited from the Hulk) and may be a player in the Hulks storyline that Marvel is planning for summer of next year.
-Hercules: Prince of Power (1982)- Layton immediately introduces us to a carousing, womanizing, Hercules who has drawn the ire of his father, Zeus. Zeus banishes Hercules and that is where the fun begins. Hercules encounters a new danger every issue, stopping a plane from destroying the planet he’s staying on, saving a woman from imprisonment, stopping aliens from sacrificing planets for their god, and finally defeating that “god” in the final issue. That deity turned out to be Galactus and the ending of that mini-series is one of the most unique things I’ve seen. Hercules basically tries to get Galactus drunk to stop him from destroying his new home planet. Galactus thinks it’s pretty funny and lays off anyway. This whole mini-series exuded a lot of fun and it may seem like each comic just goes from one problem to another but all the issues built up to a great conclusion and along the way Hercules actually learned lessons that originally got him expelled from Mount Olympus. The events were catalogued by a Recorder robot he picked up early on in the first issue and he made a great foil for Hercules.
-Hercules: Prince of Power (1984)- The follow-up to the first Prince of Power looked to expand upon the character of Hercules. The first series really set up who he was as a character and this mini, set in the future, finds a Hercules that may be a little bit wiser. He is a little more humble, too, having to see his good friend die while he lives on in immortality. He befriends a Skrull and heads off. He encounters Red Wolf (a Skrull-hunter) and a Thanos follower named Shreck who has harnessed the bands of Capt. Marvel. He manages to defeat all those that get in his way home to Mount Olympus, a place where Zeus has gone mad and exterminated all the other gods. He has his final confrontation with his father that ties up the story very neatly with Zeus setting all this up so the gods could go off to another realm with Hercules staying to write his own legacy.
-The Bottom Line- Usually when it comes to Marvel Premiere Hardcover Classics I ask myself one question, is it worth it? Most of the times the cost of the individual back-issues are a lot cheaper than the cover price of these collections and I am seeing a bad trend in these Premiere Hardcovers, a lack of really good extras. There was no foreword in this one, and besides reprints of covers that were used before and Handbook entries, there aren’t any extras either. So we have to look at if the price of this book ($29.99 cover price) compared to the price of the Hercules back-issues ($3 each for a total of $24). So, is the hardcover worth the extra $6? In this case I think it is. We have a nicely remastered job and besides looking good the stories are just great. I love Layton’s take on Hercules and how he combines the carousing god with a very human perspective. The two mini-series worked as great bookends to the Hercules character and if you want to get a real sense of what makes this guy worthy of his own title. Luckily Greg Pak is channeling this iteration of the character into his solo book. I was all ready to go thumbs down due to the pricing but the story was so good it saved the book and raised my thumbs right into the up position.
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Questions? Comments? Shoot me an email.
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