Incredible Hercules #118 Review

INCREDIBLE HERCULES #118
Written by Fred Van Lente & Greg Pak
Art by Rafa Sandoval

What Incredible Hercules lacks the depth of other titles, such as a Captain America or All-Star Superman, it makes up for it in pure, unadultered fun.

This issue continues the God Squad storyline and we get some fun interactions between the various deities that show off their personalities and motivations. The cut-out cards in place of the recap page was a nice touch, too.

The God Squad are travelling the Dreamtime in search of the Skrull deities. They don't have a map, so need to stop and ask Nightmare for directions. He agrees to give them a map, but only if they allow him to feed on the nightmares of gods.

Obviously, this wasn't the smartest idea and he betrays them. The team is saved, surprisingly by a combination of Mikaboshi and Cho's coyote pup, now officially named Kirby, who's howl awakens the team.

Nightmare didn't take too kindly to this and unleashed his greatest nightmares on the team, including the IRS, Mary Poppins, a rubiks cube, a chocolate bar, the numbers 4 and 2 and a legion of nightmarish monsters.

The issue ended with Hercules celebrating by "comforting" Snowbird in his private quarters as Cho's dog eerily watches on with glowing green eyes.

The only realy complaint I have about the issue is that, for how much fun it was, it felt like filler. There was no development on the Secret Invasion side of things and it's even revealed the gods have no clue where they are going and the plan was to stop and ask Nightmare, the lord of dreams, for directions and we end with the team stealing the map to the Skrull gods' location.

I would have preferred to see more interaction with the other God Squad members or something to do with the Skrulls over this little side trip, but I also get the feeling they are going for a Hercules and the Argonauts type of adventure with random sidetrips along the way, especially with Hercules comparison of each god to his former comrades and his greatest nightmare, as revealed by, conveniently enough, Nightmare, which may make the full story a much richer experience, but this early in the story just made it feel like padding.

Verdict - Must Read. It's just plain fun stuff that has the potential to be a very rewarding experience if Van Lente and Pak manage to blend this cosmic god slaying adventure with Hercules storied and mythic past adventures. However, if you are buying it for the Secret Invasion, you'll be disappointed, as there's absolutely nothing Secret Invasion related in this issue.

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