Favourite Comic Character of All Time: HERCULES

Now, anyone looking at this blog design would think that my favourite character is Thor, the Asgardian God of Thunder. Truth is, he was my favourite character when I was growing up as a kid. But then, my favourite Thor stories all featured Hercules, the Prince of Power - especially the Tom DeFalco-Ron Frenz run on the title. In fact, among my favourite comic covers of all time featured Herc pushing Thor out of his own comic:

Another cover showed Herc punching Thor so hard that the thunderer nearly flew out of his own comic cover (at the reader):

Then, of course, there's the time when Herc even became Thor for a while:

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The real reason why Herc is my favourite character is because of the "Incredible Hercules" series by writers Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente. Any self-respecting Marvel fan who grew up with the Kirby Thor must get this series. I read the TPBs previously and loved them. Yesterday, I went out and bought the two oversized hardcover collections from the stores:

The Incredible Hercules - Smash of the Titans

Collects Incredible Hulk (1999- 2nd Series) #106-112, Incredible Hercules (2008) #113-115 and Hulk vs. Hercules: When Titans Collide (2008). Written by GREG PAK and FRED VAN LENTE. Art by GARY FRANK, KHOI PHAM, ERIC NGUYEN, REILLY BROWN and BOB LAYTON. Cover by GARY FRANK. When the Hulk returns to Earth for the senses-shattering events of World War Hulk, we can all guess which puny humans will fight against him. But which of Earth's heroes will fight for the Hulk? Don't miss the shocking revelations as Amadeus Cho, the boy genius who took on Reed Richards on behalf of the Hulk in INCREDIBLE HULK #100, confronts She-Hulk and Doc Samson - and precipitates a gamma-powered smash-fest in the wilds of Jersey! Then, the dust has settled after WORLD WAR HULK and Hercules and Amadeus Cho find themselves outlaws, a situation further inflamed by Cho's grudge against the super-spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and Herc's feud with his estranged half-brother - Ares, god of war, who isn't above abusing his new federal clout for the sake of sibling rivalry. It's Marvel's mightiest manhunt, guest-starring Wonder Man and the Black Widow. Then, the Greek Goliath gathers the most powerful super-team ever assembled to counter-attack the Skrull gods! Face front, True Believers, and prepare for the pantheon-pounding premiere of...THE GOD SQUAD! All this plus an untold tale pitting Hercules against the Incredible Hulk! Hardcover, 7 1/2-in. x 11-in., 248 pages, full color.

The Incredible Hercules - Sacred Invasion
Collects Incredible Hercules (2008) #116-125. Written by GREG PAK and FRED VAN LENTE. Art by RAFA SANDOVAL, CLAYTON HENRY and SALVA ESPIN. Cover by JOHN ROMITA JR. The SECRET INVASION has begun, and Earth is overrun by Skrull shape-shifters on a holy crusade to remake the universe in their image. But the goddess Athena has a solution: if you want to destroy the Skrulls: kill their gods. To this end, Athena's brother, Hercules, leads a uniquely divine strike force - including Inuit demigoddess Snowbird, Eternal warrior-scholar Ajak, the monstrous god-eater Demogorge and evil Japanese trickster deity Amatsu Mikaboshi, plus Herc's boy-genius sidekick Amadeus Cho and his faithful coyote pup. Together, they embark on a celestial voyage to the realm of the Skrull gods, finding romance, camaraderie and treachery among their ranks along the way. Then, Amazons are unleashed as Hercules and sidekick Amadeus Cho find themselves unwittingly wound up in Artume's insidious plot, one that eventually draws in plenty of other Marvel heroes and gods from the pantheon! Hardcover, 7 1/2-in. x 11-in., 264 pages, full color.

These are books that remind me why I read comics in the first place. Fist-fights featuring muscular brutes! The irony is that most geeks (like me) get into comics as a sort of escapist fantasy - i.e. to get away from a world of jock-jerks. But then, we get into comics to read about jock-jerks like Herc and Thor! Perhaps we just like to see them beating the snot out of each other? Maybe that would help explain why these images by Jack "King" Kirby are still all time favourites:

Jack Kirby was always a master at making his characters look so mighty that the panels or covers could hardly contain them. Kirby was all about POWER and maybe that was why he always dealt with huge, epic concepts beyond mere superheroics - he needed gods and he searched all over for them: from Asgard to Olympus, from the Eternals to the Fourth World.

Stan Lee, on the other hand, is a master of the art of trash-talking. He'd fill up pages after pages of Kirby-action artwork with trash talk. And, of course, nobody talks trash like Thor and Hercules. Check out the videos below for examples of trash talking. They were based on the Lee-Kirby comics:

I think this "trash-talk" will not translate well to the big-screen in the upcoming Thor movie. Maybe that's why I'm not exactly that excited about that movie. Go check out the Thor appearance in the old Hulk movie to see the "trash-talking" Thor. Or even better, look up the old Lou Ferignno "Hercules" movies to get great trash-talk:

The videos above feature only the good parts from the Lou Ferrigno movie. I cannot count the number of times I've rewatched (and laughed my head off) the movie over the years. If only they'll release a Blu-Ray of HD DVD version of this classic film.

Finally, the number one reason why Hercules is my favourite character --> Nobody does the shit-eating grin better than the Prince of Power: