Comic of the Week: Assault on New Olympus #1

I realized I haven’t written anything in the last four days, so even though I’m half asleep and my brain’s fried to shit, I’ll try to come up with something decent.

Before I start talking about the issue for this week, I’d like to point out that Hercules has become one of my favorite characters. And I mean he’s up there with Iron Fist, Green Arrow, and Daredevil. The dude’s powerset is generic, yes, but it makes him all that more endearing to me. I’ll talk a little bit more of how frickin’ cool Herc is a little later because a lot of that becomes very evident in Assault on New Olympus #1.

Written by Greg Pak and Fred van Lente
Art by Rodney Buchemi (wonder if he’s related to Steve) on pencils and probably inks also since no one else is credited, Guillem Mari on colors

For some reason, Marvel was sort of hyping this up on their website and on Weekly Watcher, back when that girl was the host. And yeah, she never went over well with me. Either that, or it was just Herc’s return from obscurity and propelled into awesomeness that got me really looking forward to the issue. Simply put, though, if it weren’t for Herc, this would’ve blown but I guess you could say that for every other comic book. Yes, Herc makes them ALL better.

Hercules, in Marvel lore, is an immensely flawed character and he knows it. His mischievous yet kind heart is his greatest strength and weakness. Also, he’s totally aware of it, which makes him that much more relateable. He’s the kind of dude who you’d like to hang out with, throw down a couple beers with and share wenches with, but he’s also the dude you’d expect to right your wrongs when  your wrongs become too wrong. Also, he keeps his bitches in line, yo.

Okay, so this is how unbelievably incredible Herc is. He’s basically the poster boy for the Internet’s most powerful anti-trolling weapon - the Cool Story, Bro because of shit-eating douchebag grin. Also, if you image google search “Cool Story Bro,” his pic occupies 28.58% of all results. That’s 19.06% more than the Jesus Cool Story Bro pics.

Amazingly, Pak and van Lente’s writing takes the best things about Herc and plays them up so perfectly that the character fits his role and environment perfectly. Seriously, dude’s like a cartoon character I can’t quite put my finger on. At the risk of sounding super gay, I have to say that the dialogue portrayed the not-so-bright oafish hero as a lovable guy, without taking away his badassery, which is also another thing Herc’s got going for him.

The story, though, seems quite generic. Hell, it even followed the formula of team-ups. Two good guys meet, they have a misunderstanding and kick each other’s face in, and then they come to an understanding or resolution and then they team up to take on the bigger, supposedly unstoppable force.

But, you know what, it’s okay! For Herc, it works, especially when you’ve got the whole classic comics with an edge vibe going for you. Oh, and putting the New and Mighty Avengers together to save Olympus isn’t a bad idea, too, if not a little too cookie cutter.

Oh, and they’ve got some damn good bits, too.

The art felt a lot like the norm in most contemporary comics, which is something I enjoy. The over-musculature would’ve put me off normally, but since you’re portraying beings who are supposedly gods, it’s fine. And notice that they didn’t make Spider-Man look like a guy with a painted-on suit. They didn’t do it for Wolvie either.

Although the art’s tone remained whimsical for majority of the issue, it had some slight variations in facial expressions and mood that quickly changed the feel of a page or panel into total badassery. A good example of this would be the pages in which the main antagonist appears.

Assault on New Olympus #1 is the first issue of a series I’m seriously looking forward to. I hope the art and the writing remain consistently fun and i seriously wish that we’re given a good share of gratuitous violence and sheer Herc awesomeness. This is his title anyway. This issue gets 4 out of 5 Cool Story, Bro’s.

It didn’t get a five because there weren’t enough WOAH moments. That’s understandable for a first issue in a storyline, though, because it’s got to set the pace. It did a great job and I seriously recommend you pick this issue up.