Casual Comics Guy

The 1980s were, to many, a golden age for Marvel Comics. To me, the nadir of that era were the limited series that Marvel would run, usually giving the spotlight to a character (or characters) for around four issues.

The magic thing was that the length of the series allowed enough time for readers to get a deeper appreciation for heroes that were less well-know – usually because they were either introduced as “B” characters in another book, or because they were part of a premiere team, preventing them from having a story apart from the whole group.

This year, we’re going to re-visit many of these books – starting with a character who was introduced in the MCU in a post-credits scene in “Thor: Love and Thunder”.

Having had great success with the Norse pantheon (hello, Thor), Marvel introduced Hercules either in “Avengers” #10 (1964) or “Journey into Mystery Annual” #1 (1965) – depending on your source. The hero of ancient Greek legend would team up with the Avengers off-and-on through the 70s, lead a team of his own – The Champions – and, eventually, finally get a showcase of his own in “Hercules: Prince of Power”, a four-issue limited series in 1982.

In our latest podcast, we re-read and review the Son of Zeus’ solo title from writer and illustrator, Bob Layton.

Launching the hero into space and giving him his own sidekick – the robotic “recorder” Layton creates a fun, funny, and compelling, action-driven series that could not be a better introduction for anyone looking for a great, self-contained introduction to Hercules.

Listen along with us as we go back in time to read HERCULES: PRINCE OF POWER – available on Spotify and just about everywhere else you’d listen to a podcast.

If you’d like to read along, the entire series is available on the Marvel Unlimited App! And, if you have a favorite series from this era that you’d like us to review, please send us a message in the replies, or find me on X (formerly twitter) @casualcomicsguy.com