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[MarkWarner]

After Will Eisner's Baseball Comics #1 we travel 18 years into a Silver Age future with what I have been confidently told  is a "real sure fire hit".

It is Hercules #1, published by Charlton in the autumn of 1967, https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=61092. We will concentrate on the main feature "Adventures of the Man-God Hercules". But, I guess most of us will devour this cover to cover!

[Kracalactaka]

I love these old Hercules books Thumbs Up! My only gripe about the series is that I don't care for the back-up feature. I own 11 issues of the 13 issue series and around half of the 13 have been scanned by either me or Foshay of thelongbox.net thus far. But unfortunately we can only host the 1st two here.

issue 2 can be read (c'mon, you know you want to) here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=61093

[SuperScrounge]

Adventures of the Man-God Hercules - Okay, but not great. The changes to the myths I've read were a bit distracting as well.

Meeko the Microbe - Uhhh... yeah... different.

Thane of Bagarth - Okay. The art was was nice, the story a bit wordy.

[MarkWarner]

The cover promises much, I hope the innards deliver! The dialogue is terrible (but funny)

Half-god is not enough my son, this I have told you before!

I thought it was interesting on our page 6 that the panel is basically split in 2. I guess a change of plan.

On a BIG PLUS I have found the perfect line to throw out to confuse the "missus":

"If I do wrong I will apologize later!"

The mash-up of fact and legend is more of a mess up. Alexander (soon to be the Great) in love with a blonde Helen (presumably of Troy) with Hercules thrown in. Of course probably the most unbelievable thing about this is the love triangle. Nowadays, he'd probably have been dubbed Alexander the Queen and found Hercules more to his taste.

To be honest the best bit of the story is the advertisement page half-way through. Which includes this:   

"Now you can Be TALLER instantly! By at least two inches with new amazing "Liftee" height increase pads."

I read the first page of Meeko the Microbe and rather enjoyed the quirkiness. When I turned the page I realized that was it! It appears to just stop half-way! UPDATE: I have spotted a few more like it!

I started the Thane of Bagarth, but only lasted two pages. I think this is only the second (or third time) I have give up on a reading group story. I REALLY hate this sort of fantasy genre!

Verdict: Just scrapes a pass mark. I was "well disappointed", but did get that line to use with Lisa.

[crashryan]

I had to overcome a big hurdle to judge this comic fairly. Joe Gill is one of my least favorite writers. His stylistic quirks drive me nuts and his stories always seem vague or unfinished. So I was surprised to find that, as Joe Gill stories go, this one isn't bad. It goes from point A to point B without straying too far afield. The dialogue leaves much to be desired, but Gill has written far worse. I don't mind so much that he throws in the kitchen sink (Alexander the Great, Helen). The story never claims to be a "true" version of the classic myths. Herc is a superhero. He meets famous guys and woos famous gals.

Sam Glanzman brings a lot to the table. He doesn't seem to put as much work into this as he does into his war stories, but nice battle scenes make up for some skimpy backgrounds. I'm sure this would have looked way better with decent printing.

I enjoy "Thane of Bagarth" for the art. I like Aparo from this period, even the strange way he shaded women's noses. The story is rough going, though. Skeates obviously thought it through and his plot is more coherent and detailed than Gill's. But the pseudo-archaic captions are almost unreadable. Another barrier to enjoyment are the character names. Authentic, sure, but since I hear dialogue in my head as I read, monikers like "Hrothelac" pull me up short.

I would stick around for the second issue of Hercules, though my enthusiasm would be tempered by knowing that Joe Gill never showed much interest in continuity, meaning the series would go nowhere.

[Morgus]

MarkWarner, you're right, the ads were the best thing. Love those full pages joke store ads...someday someone is going to do a coffee table book on how Hercules has changed down the years, just wait..as for the comic, not bad considering where it came from. Art a bit scratchy, but the assembly line had to keep running so you know too much time couldn't be put on too much art...what caught my attention was the way Herc's features would shift...one minute he'd look more like Lou Ferrigno, then Lou Diamond Phillips, Erik Estrada, and even Jay Siverheels. But never, (of course) like Steve Reeves. Laughed out loud how the leading ladies in both stories could have been taken right out of their line of romance comics...1967 hairdos and all....and I actually expected someone in the Thane story to use the words 'fore sooth'...and they didn't...a lot of fun considering it's source...

[narfstar]

I can not judge the book without bias. I loved the Hercules comics. I was not a fan of Glanzman art when I was a kid but I have learned to appreciate his art. I read them for the stories and the whole series did have a continuity with Herc continuing to fulfill his labors. I liked Thane because it was different at the time so cool. I recommend reading the whole series.