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.
