(This review may contain spoilers).
Although I did find it slightly annoying that the Roman form of this Marvel character was used (Hercules rather than Heracles), I was interested in reading more about Hercules when I saw him in other books of this collection.
It was good to see Hercules’ appearance in Olympus and him and Thor battling each other in a battle that was evenly matched. I liked the fact that they formed an uneasy friendship… and it was cool to see Zeus, too. And I especially liked seeing Loki’s appearance… scheming nature and all. The frost giants didn’t really look like how I’d expected, though.
It was good to see the second set of comics and how they contrasted with the first, even though Hercules’ nature was still almost identical to his introduction. I thought it was interesting to see how he switched sides to battle against the bigger threat… and it was really interesting to see how he had to handle humanity being controlled and changed into monsters. I thought Hecate was interestingly drawn… though even when I saw her first, she struck me as really creepy.
In the second set of comics, it was interesting to see how ordinary humans played a part as well. I didn’t really like Helene and I found her a really hard character to empathise with. Hercules was much easier in many ways. Although he might have seemed a bit simpler, I thought there was a lot of depth to him. It was good to see him able to formulate plans and I really liked being able to see some of the Greek artwork that depicted his labours… as well as how they fit in with the scenes in the comics.
I really enjoyed being able to see Hermes towards the end of the second set and how Hercules made the decision to continue fighting alongside humanity, even without his powers. I was surprised, but also amused, to finally be able to see the worshipers who were praying to Hercules… and it was good to see what happened at the end of the comics.
Even though there was an ending, there was still a bit of a cliffhanger… and now I’m curious to see what will happen next, to the rest of Marvel’s Mightiest.
Ink of Blood 