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Incredible Hercules #113

Feb 2008
?, Khoi Pham

Story Name:

Shirt of Nessus


Synopsis

Incredible Hercules #113 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

Story continued from INCREDIBLE HULK (1999 series) #112.

Ares visits a Louisiana farm where a live Hydra (multi-headed dragon out of Greek myth, not the terrorist organization) is being kept for him….

Hercules and Amadeus Cho are hiding out at a Green Cross refugee camp in New Jersey: Amadeus wants to take the fight to SHIELD and destroy them; Herc thinks they should hide out. Herc calls his cousin Athena in Vermont to tell her they are coming for a visit; Athena advises her cousin to watch out for Ares but even more to beware of Amadeus: he is at a crossroads and his genius can be used for good or evil and Hercules should guide him toward the former….

Ares is hunting for Herc with an assist from Wonder Man; he has bullets filled with Hydra blood which killed Hercules once before. Ares relates the story of Herc killing the Hydra as one of his famous Twelve Labors; afterward, he dipped arrows in its blood as the deadliest poison known to the gods. Some time later, the centaur Nessus, overcome by lust, carried off Herc’s bride Deianira and the mighty hero shot him with one of the poisoned arrows. Dying, the villain told Deianira that the blood on his shirt would act as a love potion should she feel Hercules is straying from her. When that happened, she put the shirt on him and the Hydra blood on the shirt killed him….

Now Ares and Wondy have located Hercules and Simon drops down for a slugging match but Ares uses the opportunity to ignore the counsel of the Avengers and unleash his own deadly revenge on Herc. Problem is, the Hydra blood doesn’t kill him but it does drive him mad with the pain. Amadeus seizes the opportunity to hack into the Avengers computer via the Quinjet but Herc uses the jet as a weapon to smash Wonder Man. Amadeus leads the berserk god out to face SHIELD who have brought Hulk’s stone ship….


 

Review / Commentaries


Incredible Hercules #113 Review by (November 11, 2019)

Review: Hercules has gone rogue! The Avengers are after him! This is the pretext for what is essentially a family feud, Herc versus his brother Ares, who is not a nice fellow. So while Ares is claiming moral ground for pursuing a personal vendetta, confusing Wonder Man who is a nice guy if not too sharp, Herc thinks Ares has the force of Iron Man and the Avengers against him, the kind of thing that leads to serious overreaction. Meanwhile, his sidekick (and future Totally Awesome Hulk) Amadeus Cho is also on the brink of becoming the villain and Herc has to address that issue even though he doesn’t really see what Athena does (she is the Goddess of Wisdom after all). And I think artists Khol Pham and Paul Neary do an excellent job of creating an art style that at once seems both majestic (appropriately for Hercules) and gritty (appropriate for the situation). Pak and Van Lente also do a fine job of incorporating actual Greek myths into the modern plot.

Comments: Continues the numbering of THE INCREDIBLE HULK (1999 series) with the title officially changed to THE INCREDIBLE HERCULES. Bannered “World War Hulk: Aftersmash.” Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente are co-writers of this series.




> Incredible Hercules comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
statue
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

?
Khoi Pham
Paul Neary
Stephane Peru
Arthur Adams (Cover Penciler)
Arthur Adams (Cover Inker)
Guru-eFX (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Hercules
Hercules

(Heracles)
Wonder Man
Wonder Man

(Simon Williams)

Plus: Athena.