Hercules: Prince of Power #3

A band of crooks led by Dhielus Shreck break into a hidden tomb on an asteroid near Titan; the henchmen are polished off pretty quickly by the tomb’s booby traps, leaving Shreck, last of the late Thanos’ followers, to vow to succeed in his mission and destroy Titan….

Hercules is on his way home to Olympus with his companions Recorder 417 and Skyppi the Skrull when they are intercepted by a message from Mentor summoning him to Titan. They arrive safely (with Skyppi taking the form of an attractive green-skinned woman) and meet with Mentor and Starfox. A dying man claiming to be Apollo was found on the planet and he has been asking for Hercules; Herc discovers from him before he dies that Zeus has turned against the Greek gods and has been killing them. Mentor suggests that Herc consult their computer system I.S.A.A.C. to scan Olympus to prepare him. Meanwhile, Starfox puts his romantic moves on Skyppi (who looks like a hot babe, remember). For I.S.A.A.C. to scan Olympus in its separate dimension, all non-essential systems must be shut down and the power diverted to I.S.A.A.C….

…unfortunately, this includes the traps in the mysterious tomb, allowing Shreck to enter and claim the Nega-Bands from Captain Mar-Vell’s body….

I.S.A.A.C.’s scan shows Olympus a waste with only Zeus alive on that world. Herc and pals prepare to go but Shreck arrives on his mission to destroy the planet. With the Nega-Bands, the villain turns out to be more powerful even than Mar-Vell was. Shreck is able to withstand the attacks of Herc, Mentor, Starf, and the Skrull (who has taken on the form of a huge tentacled monster) and retaliate violently. Recorder and I.S.A.A.C. team up to find a solution, which includes giving Recorder (and the reader) a brief summary of Captain Marvel’s career. Recorder rushes to tell Herc to expose the baddie to an inordinate amount of photonic energy. Puzzled, Herc punches Shreck into the center of a solar generator where his powers begin to increase and increase until he overloads and explodes. Recorder explains that the Nega-Bands were made for a Kree and Shreck, not being of the race, would not be able to contain the full charge of the Bands. Herc and his companions prepare to leave and then Starfox discovers that the beautiful green woman he was courting was a male Skrull in disguise and he pitches a fit….