Books You Should be Reading

I guess being late is my theme at this point, huh?

Let me just say that I hate snow. Being in the Greater Pittsburgh area Ive been seriously snowed in these past few days and I spent most of yesterday digging out and getting sured up in case another round of snow made its way in.

Anyway, on to the actual article. In my very first (god awful) post I made a list of my favorite Trade Paperbacks, and in that spirit of thinking you care what my opinions are I give you the first of a series of recommendations: Books You Should be Reading.

Today's offering: Incredible Hercules.As if you couldn't tell by the name this title spun out of Incredible Hulk in the aftermath (Aftersmash? Really Marvel?) of the crossover World War Hulk. In fact Herc even took over the numbering of the Green Goliaths series after Hulks failed invasion.

What happened with the Hulk? The less said of that the better (until next week *winkwinknudgenudge*).

The news series follows Hercules and new Character Amadeus Cho: The 7th Smartest Person in the World, a fact he is none too humble about.

The stories are classic superhero fare, and that's a good thing. So many comics, comic creators and indeed fans are desperate to separate themselves from superheroes as too juvenile or simplistic, but author Greg Pak embraces that simplicity and uses it to tell an amazing set of stories.

Drawing heavily on mythology, the Marvel version of it at least, our duo dynamic face a plethora mythic foes from Ares (HOT DAMN I'M EVIL!) to the Dark Elves or Norse myth. They even take a nice little swipe at the legendarily bad Amazons Attack with a much better Amazon war of there own.

The greatest achievement of this book, though, is when its looked at as a greater whole. The seemingly scattered story lines are all working together into an amazing tale about the growth of our two radically different heroes and the nature of heroism in a new age of myths. Comic heroes as myths of the modern age is nothing new, and Herc doesn't break any real new ground with it, but it uses this theory as a way to tie all its tales together give its readers an amazing read.

On top of that, its funny. Perhaps it has something to do with embracing classic Superheroing as much as it does, but Incredible Hercules never takes itself too seriously. The lead pair contrast each other, brains v brawn, in such amusing ways throughout the book that the only things funnier than their interactions are the fights scenes.

Incredible Hercules has been collected in four Trades so far: Against the World, Sacred Invasion (Featuring its 2nd and 3rd story lines), Dark Reign and Incredible Thorcules (:P).

With the current Assault on New Olympus storyline bringing everything to a head this is as good a time as any to pick up the book be it in the form of trades or back issues. Whether its because of its wonderful characters, great action or sense of humor, Incredible Hercules is one of the best books for anyone who loves comics or wants to love comics.(Of course even in Hercs big story Wolverine MUST be up front)