Hercules: Wrath of The Heavens

Hercules: The Wrath of the Heavens #1-5

by Jean-David Morvan, Looky (Illustrator)

A stunningly illustrated, science fiction retelling of the legend of Hercules by multi award-winning writer, Jean-David Morvan (Wolverine: Saudade).

As war rages across the galactic frontier, one half-human, half-god super-soldier faces his greatest enemy - his own demons - in a bid for truth, redemption and revenge.

Genres: Comics, Mythology, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2018

About the author

Jean-David Morvan is a French comic author, best known as the creator of the Sillage/Wake series.

After studying arts at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels, he first tried being a graphic artist, but eventually settled for writing instead.

His main series are 'Spirou and Fantasio', 'Sir Pyle' and 'Merlin', all with José Luis Munuera, and 'Sillage', with Philippe Buchet.

Reviews

[Armand · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so onboard with this reimagining of the Hercules mythos as a space opera, using the graphic novel as a medium no less. I've always been fascinated by his Twelve Labors, and the way Morvan creatively adapted this cycle to a scifi setting was mesmerizing. I know that in terms of execution it can't be any more different, but this sort of reminds me of Dame Agatha Christie's inspired take on the myth in The Labours Of Hercules.

This volume only presents the first three labors with the Nemean lion, Lernaean hydra, and the Ceryneian hind, but if they're any indication of the delights to come then I'm signing up for the next volumes. Only thing is - it's been years since an issue has been released even in the original French so we may be in for a long wait.

I like how arduous these challenges can get - how crafty the villains are, how formidable the monsters. It's been said that a hero's greatness is measured by the odds against which he's triumphed. For an archetype as majestic as Hercules, these Labors provide more than an adequate match. It's obvious that the objective of these trials is two-fold - to bolster the power of the Axiomatikos (the Olympian gods of this realm) at the expense of the Exogi (alien life-forms that the former believe are a threat) and more importantly: to mark Hercules for death. I've rarely seen a witch as conniving and as vicious as Hera.

The art in this volume is sprawling, intricate, and unbelievably kinetic, so you'd be doing yourself a favor by reading it on a bigger screen. Your smartphone just won't cut it.

I'm rating this 8/10 or 4 stars out of 5.

[Relstuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Sci-Fi reimagining of the story of Hercules where he is some sort of hybrid between a very powerful alien race and humanity. He is forced to perform his labors (though reimagined). The art is very well done and seeing pictures from the book was what convinced me to pick up a copy. There should be a second volume coming at some point.

[Maksym Karpovets · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ну от не всі європейські комікси круті. Точніше, серед банддесіне трапляються стільки ж само шлаку, як і серед американських чи японських. Не скажу, що "Геркулес" це якесь останнє дно європейської індустрії, але для мене це було абсолютно невиразна, нудна й місцями дивна робота.

Тут навіть не варто переповідати сюжет, бо це перекидання античних подвигів Геракла у якийсь умовний космос із кібертехнологіями. Ну й загостренним маскулізмом. Усі чоловіки тут щойно вийшли із спортзалу, а жінки -- вийшли з пластичної хірургії. Геракл, своєю чергою, місить направло й наліво то лева-робота, то гідру, то інших істот, наближуючись до своєї цілі. Подекуди мені важко було впізнати той чи той міф, але це неважливо, адже читати "Геракл" абсолютно не цікаво: Жан-Давид Морван (відомий мені тільки за роботою Zaya) не вміє ані будувати жваві діалоги, ані вести наратив. Можливо, проблема в перекладі, адже американські перекладачі не завжди сумлінно перекладають європейських авторів. Єдине, що рятує - це хороший малюнок, виконаний перспективними авторами. Спочатку я навіть думав, що формат маленької тпб несправедливо обраний для цієї роботи, адже часто-густо "Геркулес" виринав у моєму полі зору, тому я придбав зі знижкою за першої ліпшої нагоди. Після прочитання зрозумів, що цей комікс більшого формату не заслуговує, хоча шкода й художників. Утім, їх завжди можна видати у форматі альбому. Без діалогів і монологів. Якщо так, то який це тоді комікс? Правильно: ніякий.

[Leila Anani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ticks a lot of boxes for me. I'm a huge fan of futuristic versions of the ancient world, I love European graphic art and I'm very familiar with the Hercules myths.

So this is a futuristic reimagining of Hercules' 12 labours in the vein of Jodorowsky's Metabarons or Showman killer miseked with Banks' Culture. GRIN. Looky and Oliver Thill's artwork is super detailed and really nice - I love the metropolis style Hera.

Downside is that it is rather confusing, especially if you don't know the Hercules myths inside out and it is incomplete - this TPB only covers comics 1-3 of a 5 issue series and I'm not convinced that another two issues are going to have enough room to cover all the labours at the pace this is going.

But we take what we can get. And I absolutely adore the SF/Myth fusion here - its really cool, and it does not spoon-feed the reader, you have to infer quite a bit.

The Greek Gods are AI - The Axiomatikos - and they have discovered alien life and want to protect man - AT any cost from finding out - So there are lots of alien wars and the Axiomatikos have created armies - either fully mechanical or cyborg - we've got the cyborg demi gods - Axiomatikos merging with humans - And then all the hybrid mythological creatures as they fuse tech with DNA from the alien races they encounter.

Re: the 12 labours - we cover the Nemean Lion, the hydra (a bunch of escaped genetically modified clones, designation ID-R) and the Ceryneian Hind (a shape shifting prostitute).

If you like Heavy Metal Magazine and super weird Euro comics you'll love this (there's alien wars, intergalactic brothels, mad, petty A.I Gods), but for fans of general superhero American, graphic novels this will be quite bewildering I think.

[Martin Lund · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what it is woth comics that trade in near-photorealistic art styles, but they seldom appeal to me. So too this Hercules comic is perhaps artistically accomplished, but it holds zero appeal to me. The story is poorly told, with art and writing working at cross-purposes and the narrative being too thin to hold my attention. It does show that Hercules can still be good for a story of masculine violence, but that's not exactly a groundbreaking statement.

[Peter Wesolowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept, but I did not like how the technology itself changed some of the "trials" of Hercules. That being said, the trials were true to their originals and there were some interesting interpretations of what the gods would look like. Would read the next part just to see where it goes.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic short story details the challenges a warrior must face.

I found the graphics / storyline a bit disjointed - the original story is probably better.

Overall rating 2.5

[Justin Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don’t know if the story was good or not but it looked cool 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Sir Nicho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting sci-fi/futuristic reimagining of Hercules twelve trials. Looking forward to the next one.