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Real Hero Shit

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The layabout Prince Eugene has decided on a whim that he will be a HERO . . . much to the dismay of the adventuring party of Michel, Hocus, and Ani. They are in need of an at least moderately capable fighter and it looks like Eugene, being a prince and all (albeit a bastard one), is going to be it as long as he wants in.

Life on the road is different than Eugene expected, but there's no time to wallow in pouty disappointment; townsfolk are going missing and our heroes have answered the call to adventure. It feels straightforward enough; the perfect opportunity for the prince to save the day and make his companions some coin before moving on to the next distraction. But outside the palace walls, Eugene crashes into a hard reality: the system that kept him safe in his silk-sheeted bed isn't particularly concerned with the well-being of anyone who isn't him.

Eugene will have to level-up his awareness if he means to be a real hero, and time is running short!

120 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2022

4 people are currently reading
1073 people want to read

About the author

Kendra Wells

25 books27 followers

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5 stars
296 (35%)
4 stars
359 (42%)
3 stars
158 (18%)
2 stars
26 (3%)
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5 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews
Profile Image for anna.
693 reviews1,996 followers
January 18, 2022
rep: pan polyam mc, poc nb mc, gay mc, Black side character

this is just FUN!!! so much FUN!!! the prince is a true himbo, they have some not-very-surprising adventures, it's hilarious, there's some hate sex (not to be confused with hate-to-love lmao). my only question is: why is it so short??
Profile Image for Erin.
3,902 reviews466 followers
February 1, 2022
Thanks to NetGalley and LetterBetterPublishing Services for a protected pdf in exchange for an honest review.

Described as a fantasy action-comedy, Real Hero Shit is a lighthearted fast-paced story that I read over my lunch break. I was so into the story that I wouldn't have minded if it is was longer. The illustrations were gorgeous!



Expected Publication Date 01/02/22
Goodreads review published 20/01/22








#IronCircusComics #NetGalley
Profile Image for Alexander Peterhans.
Author 2 books297 followers
October 24, 2021
Here's a fun comedy fantasy romp, and I never really use the word 'romp', but this is a genuine, bona fide, electrified, six-car romp!



I was pleasantly surprised by this - the writing is funny, with just a soupçon of drama, and I never really use the word 'soupçon'. The plot is maybe a bit too basic tabletop RPG, but the characters carry the book.

Those characters are varied, even when they follow some storytelling stereotypes. One character is nonbinary, which is explored in a light, funny way.



I liked the manga-ish art, although the backgrounds have the tendency to be a bit generic - this is also down to the colouring, which mostly consist of primary colours, and especially in wideshots this makes the images a bit muddy and hard to discern.

There's some nudity, which came as a bit of a surprise, and it never returns, which makes it stand out from the rest of the book a bit.



All that said, I really liked it. Roll on volume 2.

(Picked up an ARC through Edelweiss)
Profile Image for Maia.
Author 32 books3,632 followers
May 10, 2022
A fun, fast-paced short comic that reads like a single session D&D campaign. Eugene is the handsome, flirty, single son of a queen and heir to a kingdom. He whimsically joins an adventuring crew with a gentle nonbinary cleric, a mysterious knife-wielding thief, and a prickly mage. They pick up odd jobs on the way to their goal: a small town plagued by disappearances. Tensions run high in this misfit band, and it's only a matter of time until they start stabbing each other, or making out, or both! Delightful art and character designs from an artist/author I've been following since we met in a mutual fandom :D
Profile Image for Rod Brown.
7,352 reviews282 followers
March 4, 2022
A party of adventurers set out on a mission to help a village where people are disappearing in this fairly typical D&D fantasy world. It's not quite as wild as early volumes of Rat Queens but it is plenty humorous, sex positive, and inclusive, and should appeal to the same audience. A fun time.
Profile Image for Geoff.
994 reviews130 followers
May 1, 2022
Really enjoyed this adult swords and sorcery graphic novel. The plot was a bit D&D campaign light, but the characters were well rounded and had realistic relationships (interpersonal and sexual), the art was excellent, the universe was interesting, and I would love to spend more in this setting with these adventurers.

**Thanks to the artist, publisher, and Netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight).
973 reviews162 followers
January 12, 2022
4 Stars

Review:
*I received an ecopy of this book via Edelweiss. This has not influenced my review.*

This was pretty, colorful, cute, queer, hilarious, and very fun!

– Bright and colorful art. Super clear and easy to discern everything. Also pretty!

– Eugene was quite a character. Always so bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Always flirting. Always horny. Always doing heroic poses while fighting. Loved being the center of attention. Even with his face bashed in, he was excited to be complimented. He’s the kind of character who could easily be insufferable, but instead he’s so hilarious and ultimately a good person (if naive about his privilege at the start) that he’s just lovable instead. Well, he’s probably still insufferable to the rest of the party, but he’s lovable to me!

– Eugene stole the show a bit, but the other characters are also great. Michel has a mysterious past. Hocus seems the most calm and even-tempered. Ani is angry and fiery, sometimes literally.

– A simple but enjoyable plot about Eugene joining an adventuring party and them solving the mystery they were called in to help with fairly quickly and easily.

– Lots of queer rep! No specific labels, but so far Eugene seems attracted to everyone, Michel said he’s not attracted to women, and Hocus is nonbinary.

– Different body types.

– Fun facial expressions. Very expressive.

– There was a bit of nudity (breasts), but the sex was off-screen.

– I legit laughed out loud many times throughout this book.

– I’m guessing (and hoping) this will be a series.

Overall, I loved Eugene, the art was lovely to look at, the characters and their dynamic were so fun, and I would definitely like to read more about this crew!

*Rating: 4 Stars // Read Date: 2021 // Format: Ebook*

Recommended For:
Anyone who likes graphic novels, bright and colorful art, high fantasy worlds, humor, queer rep, and lovably insufferable characters who can't stop flirting.

Original Review @ Metaphors and Moonlight
Profile Image for Stewart Tame.
2,476 reviews120 followers
May 10, 2022
Prince Eugene of the Marble Kingdom is bored. So bored, in fact, that he volunteers to join a group of adventurers looking for another party member. Despite his ego, Eugene proves to have some impressive blade skills, so the party reluctantly agrees to take him on. If the monsters don't kill him, his fellow adventurers just might …

This is a decent first volume. The characters are interesting, and the artwork is lovely. Although our heroes are investigating the disappearances of some villagers, the plot almost doesn't matter. The main point of this book is to introduce our adventuring party and show how they get along with each other. The disappearing villagers mystery is solved, but there are almost certainly going to be some callbacks to the story in future volumes.

The back cover advises,"Adults Only." There's a bit of language, and some sex (more implied than shown), but no graphic violence. I suppose the rest of the series may up the ante, but this volume doesn't strike me as much worse than about PG-13 or so. Maybe a soft R at worst.

It's a promising first volume, and I look forward to more. Recommended!
Profile Image for Oriana.
Author 2 books3,829 followers
May 30, 2022
Oh yeah, super fun and clever comic about a randy, narcissistic horned prince who joins a questing party and has great adventures with his crewmates, who alternately hate and are bewildered by him, until he slowly wins them over via (respectively) good fighting, good sex, and being surprisingly respectful. They also save a village from a nefarious ring of priests, meet many monsters, learn about the gender binary, and do plenty of other real hero shit. What a good time!
Profile Image for Mehsi.
15.1k reviews454 followers
June 29, 2022
A very gay and fun book about a quest, a horny prince, an adventuring party who are not happy with the prince, and tons of excitement.


NOTE: This is going to get chaotic. Haha.

So happy I could support the Kickstarter for this book and so excited I could finally read the book, and I so so loved it! Now I just hope there will be more of this world because I don’t want it to end here. I need more! I want more Eugene who was just weird, horny, gay, and silly, but also showed some stronger sides (wouldn’t mind more of that as he was really sexy when he did that speech), I want to see him explore the world more and discover what is going on outside of the palace walls. I want more Hocus and see more about their world, get more on their backstory, about who they are. How they picked this adventure party. Then there is Michel who seemed to be just an adventurer but has ties with the Thieves Guild and when he meets someone from his past in this book…. we know there is much more to him than meets the eye and I need to know!! Plus, I need to know about that woman, my heart just broke for her in many ways. Then there is Ani, a girl who I liked the least because of her constant grump, but I slowly warmed up to her especially as we learn just a dot more about her past. And then there is this world! I just love it! I am curious about the rulers. About what kind of towns there are found. If there are more people like Ani. Will Eugene ever get used to adventuring? I want more adventures and see what butts our adventuring team will kick. See them explore the world together.

Plus, evil churches doing evil things? Sign me up. That plotline was awesome (yes, also horrific).

Some words I would use to describe this book: gay, horny, exciting, oh my goodness, YASSSSSSSS, sexy, fun, hilarious, strong, did I mention gay?, adventurous, pouty, heroic, funny, OMG no he didn’t, magical, IT IS ON FIRE, diverse, fabulous, WOW, awesome, THAT ART, horny (but now different), kickass, OMG OMG OMG, now now kids be kind, SHIP, amazing, magnificent.

I had so so much fun reading this one and I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this sexy and adventurous book to all. If you are able to get it I would say GET IT. Everyone needs this one in their lives.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Profile Image for *JEN the booknerd*.
237 reviews53 followers
June 17, 2022
Well this was just so much FUN!! I got this one based on the title and cover and was pleasantly surprised to find out it is MA and has really fantastic queer rep. I laughed out loud a lot and the characters are so great. All the stars! I loved it!! ❤❤❤❤
Profile Image for Skye Kilaen.
Author 19 books375 followers
August 15, 2023
An RPG-inspired fantasy romp about a pansexual playboy prince joining a band of adventurers on a mission to solve a mystery of disappearing townsfolk in a small village. The mystery part feels a wee bit underbaked, but the characters are all fantastic and more than make up for it. I had a great time reading it and I really wish it had been a series starter!
8,985 reviews130 followers
December 12, 2021
This felt an almost throwaway, standard fantasy, but with some gender-bending, bisexuality and pronoun-mangling in amongst its simple style and lightheartedness. People here for the levity will feel more short-changed than those along for the 'wokeness'.
Profile Image for Eva B..
1,565 reviews443 followers
April 27, 2022
Ani I love you.
If you have a higher tolerance for annoying main characters than I do, you'll get more out of this. Eugene was by far the least interesting character to me, and I'd love to see the others explored more.
Profile Image for Juan Manuel Sarmiento.
802 reviews156 followers
August 13, 2023
Bien por la representacion y diversidad, pero bastante introductorio y demasiado evidente desde el principio que esos dos personajes acababan en la cama. La trama era buena pero desarrollo inexistente
Profile Image for Nicole.
524 reviews23 followers
February 8, 2022
I loved literally everything about this. EVERYTHING! Definitely sharing it with people.
Profile Image for ☽。⋆ Shells (jlreads_).
1,148 reviews83 followers
March 18, 2022
Thank you NetGalley for letting me review this book.

.

The art on this graphic novel is pretty cute, especially the color scheme. I pretty much did find thisi hillarious to be honest and would love to get to know more of the characters and see them develop more which I find pretty much lacking for me because of the shortness.

The characters were also enjoyable, like I said, but I would have enjoyed this more if I get to see them more developed and interacted. I also would like to add the fact that it felt way too rushed for me especially during the almost ending and of course THAT SCENE that shookt me.

Overall, this was an okay read. 3 stars.
Profile Image for Laura.
3,239 reviews101 followers
October 3, 2025
The main premise is that the prince Eugene, who looks like he was sired by a demon, wants to join a questing party.

Being a prince, he doesn’t get the concept of paying his way, or not having luxuries on the road, and not having everyone do what he wants them to do. And of course, all the other things that come from being privileged, though he is purple, and has horns, so he isn’t white privileged.

The prince is pansexual, and will bed just about anything that moves, and he is drawn to the members of the questing party, some of which he does bed, and others he just lusts after.

It is a fun adventure, with a lot of back story that we don't know, as though we were dropped into the middle of their lives, which we have been.

Fun banter, and mild sex. Probably young adult on up.

Thanks to Edelweiss for making this book available for an honest review.
Profile Image for jude.
773 reviews
June 9, 2022
very fun, great art, but it really relies on you falling in love with the characters, because there's not much in the way of plot. the plot is there, but the book is so short that it doesn't go into that much depth. the characters are great, i just wish we got to spend more time with them.
Profile Image for Sarah.
1,771 reviews114 followers
May 2, 2022
A fun quick romp. I hope for more because I think there are lots of interesting twists and turns for these characters, but right now I'm happy with what I have.
Profile Image for Steff Fox.
1,558 reviews167 followers
September 29, 2022
What a wildly fun ride this was!

Real Hero Shit is such a quirky and engagingly fun take on a hero’s quest with four quite unlikely friends. The story initially appears to center around a young Prince called Eugene, spoiled despite being generally seen as the devil’s spawn—and he does have the horns!—by his people. One day fed up with his current situation and eager for adventure, he steals away into town and stumbles upon an advertisement for a questing group needing a skilled fighter.

Enter Ani, Hocus, and Michel.

Ani quickly takes a disliking to the pompous and oblivious prince while Michel decides to duel him to see if he’s cut out for the dangers they’re sure to face on the road. As for Hocus, e somewhat exists as a laidback sort who grounds everyone.

Now, ultimately I’ll say that the plot is pretty simple. The book focuses a lot of time on set up and building characters before jumping into what is more or less an episodic-esque plot. I thought this was pretty fantastic, to tell the truth, as it gives a phenomenal set up for a series. Readers get to know the main characters, experience a quick adventure mystery, and are left with enough questions about the characters that it’s very likely they’ll be eager to read a second book.

Kind of feels like this could be a fun animated show…though depending on target age demographics (and frankly I thought all the sex stuff was quite unnecessary), it may need a little bit cut out.
Profile Image for Rory.
619 reviews8 followers
February 24, 2022
A horny prince who has too much ego? A short magician done with his shit? An elf who has a dark and secret past? A non-binary magic healer using ‘e/’ey/’em? That’s what you get with Real Hero Shit. Prince Eugene wants to prove he’s not a devil, so he like we say in French “tape l’incruste” in a quest to find missing people, and let’s just say, the crew will be so tired of him, but they need him too.
Thank you NetGalley and Iron Circus Comics for sending me an e-arc of this book. I loved it, I want to say everyone is queer so that’s it. But I will elaborate. A main character of color, a plus-sized main character, a polyamorous main character… Oh, and that’s totally normal.
This fantasy graphic novel is just so funny, the drawings are wonderful and the expressions are so expressive. The characters are everything, funny, cute, clumsy, flawed… Also, Eugene has a planner to organize when he’s going to get laid with someone…
The plot isn’t bad, even if it’s a character-driven story. Oh, and It’s between fade to black and spicy if you know what I mean…
Anyway, read it. You’re going to love it… Also, I hope there’ll be a second volume. Because clearly we need more answers, and I want to read another adventure with those characters
Profile Image for Nore.
827 reviews48 followers
July 22, 2022
I read this sometime in June and then forgot about it? I didn't have a lot to say. It was cute. I liked it. The plot was stupid as fuck, like - just put on your grown-up writer pants and admit that you prefer slice of life and hate plotting! That's totally fine, people love slice of life. (I'm only halfway serious, but really: The plot was dumb.)

Not dumb enough to keep me from reading more if this is gonna be a series, though. The art was A+, the characters were cute, and I had fun.
Profile Image for Jenn Watterlond.
110 reviews
April 26, 2022
Really quick read… I enjoyed the art and rpg feel. But it felt so rushed like there was no plot line… I didn’t feel attached to the characters, didn’t really care for the villain or anything. When a problem was presented it was immediately resolved with ease. No characters grew - all static.

I think it needs to be longer, more detailed, and explored further/expanded upon. Just… more.

Even the main character (the prince) wasn’t shown as a spoiled character to start with; and he did not grow to fight for better nor overcome his princely ways (as hinted on by the description on the back of the book). In fact, he did very little himself to resolve the problem, except hook up with his teammate.

Also the insert of gender identity felt random and a bit forced to make a point…
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Denise Ky (ramblingoutloud).
475 reviews23 followers
April 6, 2022
I loved this graphic novel! It's fun, cute and got some adventure. I loved all the characters and I would love to read more stories with them all. Of course, I also love me some antagonists who can't seem to help being attracted to each other.

Artwork is also splendid for the story.

/ Denise
Profile Image for Tiny Elf Arcanist.
176 reviews17 followers
June 14, 2022
FIVE FABULOUS STARS for this queer, fun, and irreverent graphic novel.

A queer prince joining an adventuring party sounded right up my alley, and it fulfilled my expectations. Sexy semi-nude prince from page 1, what's not to love?

I need more from this world and these characters. Kendra Wells seems to be setting up a bigger story for them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews

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