The Incredible Hercules, Vol. 4: Dark Reign

The Incredible Hercules (Collected Editions)

by Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak, Rodney Buchemi (Illustrator)

Proudly presenting, for the first time in Marvel continuity... the ORIGIN OF HERCULES! How did the young man who becomes the Lion of Olympus learn of his divine heritage? In what battle did he earn the title "Prince of Power?" And, most importantly, why does the goddess HERA hate him so, now that her Dark Reign begins to fall across New Olympus? Collects Incredible Hercules #126-131.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Mythology, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2009

About the author

Fred Van Lente is the New York Times-bestselling author of comics as varied as Archer & Armstrong (Harvey Award nominee, Best Series), Taskmaster, MODOK's 11, Amazing Spider-Man, Conan the Avenger, Weird Detective, and Cowboys & Aliens (upon which the 2011 movie was based), as well as the novels Ten Dead Comedians and The Con Artist.

Van Lente also specializes in entertaining readers with offbeat histories with the help of his incredibly talented artists. He has written the multiple-award winning Action Philosophers!, The Comic Book History of Comics, Action Presidents! (all drawn by Ryan Dunlavey), and The Comic Book Story of Basketball with Joe Cooper (Ten Speed September 2020).

He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Crystal Skillman, and some mostly ungrateful cats.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.

There’s nothing better than a good public domain character from which you can make a quick hundred million dollars without ponying up a fortune in publishing rights. Hey, let’s take a bite out of Dracula! Look, its Frankenstein! Shut your ambrosia hole, Hercules!

Hercules is a tricky one to pull off. You have scores of movies (“Joey, do you like Steve Reeves Hercules movies?”), cartoons and TV shows based on the character. Stan Lee probably thought he caught lightening in bottle again a la Thor when he introduced Hercules into the Marvel universe. Sadly, Hercules has never been more than a second tier supporting character.



Here, he’s teamed with his sister Athena and teenage orphan Amadeus Cho, the eighth, ninth, tenth smartest character in the Marvel universe. There are several stories contained in this volume including: the origin of Hercules; Cho’s search for his coyote pup, Kirby; a smack down with Hera’s minions and the Dark Avengers (after all, this is a tie-in to the Dark Reign crossover) and Hercules attempt to rescue his father, Zeus, from the Hades.

Pak does a decent job of engaging the reader and trying to tie these storylines together, although once the story goes to Hell, all bets are off.

Just how many Hells are there in the Marvel Universe? There’s Mephisto’s, Hela’s, Pluto’s…

What’s to like

Nice camaraderie between Hercules and Cho, reminiscent of (or cribbed from) Armstrong and Archer.

The humor – Jabs at comic character’s Shakespeare speak, heroes that wear capes, etc.





Dark Avengers vs. Hera’s crew vs. Hercules/Athena/Amadeus is a Shallow Reader highlight.



Norman Osborn, you golden-tongued, carpet-headed bastard!!

Hulk saves a puppy

What’s not to like

Fields of Elysium - Hey, they worked Spider-man’s Uncle Ben Parker into this comic! *crickets*

[zara · Rating 3 out of 5]

“when you finally run the numbers…when you trace back every variable, every link, every trajectory…you realize it’s all…YOUR FAULT” oh ok just shatter my heart why don’t ya.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I'm amazed that Marvel managed to publish some kind of Hercules comic for the past ten years or so. You wouldn't know it - they barely promoted it. Somehow Greg Pak (et al) convinced them to offer up the space to flesh out and redeem the character. I won't pretend that all of those books were good ('Herc' is not so good) but at this point Hercules is absolutely one of my favorite Marvel characters and I hope that he sticks around, whether with the Avengers or in his own book.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Greg Pak always does an amazing job of packing in the funny and thrills into one book. Here, he does again but at times there was too much exposition. The continuing machinations of Olympian characters is still fantastic. The art, mostly by Ryan Stegman, was very good and a great fit for the book. The end of the book leads into two great new directions. Very good read!

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really cool. Hercules' origin, as told through the Marvel lenses. And then, we get Herc in Hades, full of Marvel villains, to save his Zeus, all while dealing with Hera and the Dark Avengers led by Norman Osborn. With fun, colorful art, a constant sense of fun and humor, this is a charmer of a comic.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hera is on her own side, and is trying to get Hercules again. Only problem is Norman Osborne also doesn't like gods interfering too much. Oh, and Zeus is being held by Pluto in the Underworld.

This is very much a character run plot, with the gods dragging Hercules and Cho into their plans. There are some truly great moments amid some very predictable ones. A good read.

[Terry Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much to go ahead and recommend in this one.

It's not abysmal, but it is a slog. And Van Lente and Pak love to add "sassy" rejoinders that carbon date everything that they write.

I'm not sure whether this is meant to be read as epic, but it comes across more like "epic, bro XD". It's tired and trite and not quite worth the time put into it.

[Omni Theus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow Pak and Van Lente are a Really Fun Team
OVERALL RATING: 4.5 stars
Art: 4.75 stars
Prose: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4.25 stars
Pacing: 4.5 stars
Character Development: 4 stars
World Building: 4.75 stars
Impeccable art from both Stegman and Buchemi.

[Eligos Vespillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Herc's incredible series continues as he and Amadeus Cho end up punching the Dark Avengers (They deserve it) and make a journey to Hades to save Zues from Pluto's shackles. Pak is a master of family drama and mythical storytelling, resulting in meaningful confrontations and cherishable lessons.

[Tym · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good art and good storytelling

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favourite so far of this series. I always liked the Greek gods and I thought these stories used them in an interesting way.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still good.

Although as I run into more Dark Reign comics, I wonder how Norman Osborn can be everywhere. He's not the entire Skrull race. He's Onslaught. He's a really strong guy with crazy here.

Was thinking about how interesting it was that they could get so much mileage out of Greek myths. Then I realized that it was the basis for all of the stories in Western Civilization. One day someone will use all the fictitious characters of the 20th Century and have to spend a lot of time wondering how they can give readers enough of a toehold to be able to understand what's going on. The writers do a good job foreshadowing and hinting at the characters and themes.

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this collection. The story managed to skilfully combine traditional Greek myth and legend with the current Marvel universe. The story was engaging with interesting characters and there was complexity to the plots that bares seeing where it has come from and where it will continue to.

[David Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greg Pak once again delivers great heartache via Kirby the "in-tow" pup.
In Olympian news, not even Norman Osbourn and his Avengers can keep Herc down. Hell, not even Herc can keep Herc down.
Best onomatopoeia: tied between "N-YU-DASUNNNN" and "PAPAKRAK", the latter's status being diminished through sheer repetition.

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not my favorite of the current Herc run, but it's a decent read.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have at thee!