Synopsis
Guardians Of The Galaxy Annual #1 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
The current sober and mild-mannered Hercules is sitting in a bar drinking fruit juice and not giving people the 'gift of battle' when the so-called Prince Of Power literally drops in through the roof. Herc tries to pretend he doesn't know the guy but then gets drawn into an argument over who won their fight (in Guardians Of The Galaxy #5) and who has the rights to the title Prince Of Power.
Then the being Grunnt who punched POP into the bar makes a dramatic entrance demanding that he hands over a priceless emerald. The Prince declares that he ate the gem to stop Grunnt resurrecting a robot starship and helping Cordyceps Jones bulldoze an orphanage. Grunnt orders his 2 henchmen to rip the Prince apart to get the gem, so Hercules helps fight them off. Meanwhile he asks the Prince to explain what's going on, starting from the beginning. POP takes him literally and recounts his origin story.
He was born 22 years ago in Noblor on the planet Muscula where physical perfection and heroism are prized above all. Queen Regalia of Noblor has given birth, via a gestation matrix, to a baby son Prince Majestar with maximum heroic power. But he has a twin who is plain ordinary and is dismissed as the 'other one' and left to be raised by a nanny. The name sticks and Prince Otherone grows up to be a (not very good) apprentice paper clip sorter, while Majestar leads Abdomina, Biceptor and Legday in never-ending battle against Rapskullion ruler of Evillius. (But we see Majestar also win a victory by brains and general goodness as well as brawn.)
But Majestar has existential doubts and goes for answers to (for some strange reason) the wizard Answeros in the secret Cave Of Answers on Mount Answers. He wants to know why he always manages to defeat the more powerful Rapskullion. If he always *fated* to win then he isn't really a hero. Answeros says it's because Rapskullion is a bit thick.
He also gives us a description of Muscula as a planet of 2 halves. 1 half is Noblor and the other is Evillius, and their goodness and evil are seeped into the very rock that constitutes the globe. In between is the neutral Mount Answeros which maintains the balance between good and evil, and also between brain and brawn. Rapskullion loses because he focussed only on physical power. The wizard urges Majestar to always keep his mind as well as his muscles in good condition.
Meanwhile Otherone continues snacking on his favourite jelly beans and thinking that if he had his brother's power he would destroy Evillius for good. As fate would have it the purple Power Stone is in his bowl of beans and he swallows it. And it converts him into the Prince Of Power. Which also gets him fired from his job, but he doesn't care because he's now a hero like Majestar.
Majestar and Answeros are concerned about this power which Otherone says he got from a diet of jelly beans. (This claim has induced many others to follow his advice to consume jelly beans constantly without pausing even to breathe, which has caused an epidemic of jelly bean lung.) Answeros detects the cosmic gem in his body boosting his strength to potentially infinite levels. But luckily the power output is regulated by the user's mental capacity, and Otherone's low intellect will keep things still in balance.
Answeros decides to keep Otherone's intelligence in check by assigning him a load of boring homework. But our 'hero' sneaks off with a book called Count Thinkula's Mind Strentgh For Dummies. The Count's main lesson is the zen-like attempt to clear your mind and think of nothing at all, which Otherone finds extremely easy to do. And this gives him a direct link to the Power Stone to develop a new ability ...
... which he now demonstrates on Hercules. He touches Herc on the shoulder and the demi-god is imbued with power beyond even *his* dreams. A light tap and Grunnt goes sailing through a wall. POP explains that this was his Power Push which he used in GOTG#12 to regrow Groot. Herc asks why he didn't just do that to start with. The long fight has trashed the bar and knocked out (at least) all its clientele. Otherone says he didn't think of it, he was too busy recounting his origin. Which reminds him he hasn't finished it.
The Prince Of Power led Majestar and his allies in an invasion of Evillius, which Majestar is uncomfortable with as they're just supposed to foil Rapskullion's evil schemes. They defeat all the evil minions and confront Rapskullion at his No-Scheme Tuesday barbecue. Then the villain's untrusty henchman Betrayo sneakily knocks Majestar down. Otherone picks up his brother's dropped Sword Of Strength and channels the Power Stone through it to destroy evil forever.
But as we learned earlier the evil half of the planet Muscula is completely evil. And destroying half a planet isn't very good for the other half. And the only survivor Otherone is left drifting in space. Luckily he can hold his breath for many days and Blackjack O'Hare picked him up while looking for anything to salvage from the wreckage of the planet.
Now Hercules tries to console him for the guilt he must feel over destroying his homeworld. Otherone says if he really thought about that it would drive him mad. And if he thought about what someone smarter than him could do with the Power Stone he'd go mad with fear. Luckily he's very good at not thinking. But Herc offers to be his buddy and train him to use his power more responsibly. But 1st they have to talk about the name Prince Of Power.
2nd story:-
Infinite Fury part 6
Writer Jed Mckay. Artist Juan Ferreyra. Letterer Joe Caramagna. Editor Nick Lowe.
Nick Fury Jr has been hunting a new player in the spy game and has discovered that it is Nighthawk of the Squadron Supreme Of America. Nighthawk wants to restore the recent Heroes Reborn universe and has now brainwashed Fury into helping him.
Part of what motivates NF Jr is that in that world his father NF Sr became President instead of disappearing in ignominy. Now they hunt the people with the Infinity Stones to use to bring that world back. He's just 'liberated' a piece of a Cosmic Cube from Project PEGASUS which Nighthawk says will enable them to track the Stone bearers. Chased by cop cars he drives into the river to be rescued by a his high-flying partner.
At NH's base he tells Nick he used to have a partner Falcon (in the Heroes Reborn mini-series) and asks him to inherit his winged uniform. In his quarters Nick starts to change into the uniform but he sees the face of his mother Nia Jones tattooed on his chest with the word 'remember', which triggers a failsafe mental shutdown.