Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Pull List (8-11-09): That's! In! Credible!!

After hearing almost nothing but good things about this series, and after only casually flipping through the trades (hey, I'm way behind on trades — gimme a break), I may finally be jumping on the Incredible Hercules bandwagon.

I've always liked Marvel's version of Hercules, but never enough to want to read about him on a regular basis. Mostly he's come across to me as a lovable doofus who gets drunk, hits on women and likes to flex his pecs in between missions with the Champions. But somewhere in the middle of World War Hulk, Herc started getting interesting. And the deeper exploration of a long superficial character (not to mention some of the most creative sound effects in comic book history) was carried on into The Incredible Hercules, a move so audacious it began with kicking the Hulk out his own book.

Ever since then it's been a steady drumbeat of "Hercules good! Must buy Hercules!" and dammit, I'm only human. Add the fact The Incredible Hercules #132 is being touted as a good jumping on point, that it's written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente, and it apparently involves Hercules picking up the winged helmet and filling in for Thor ... well, I think I just talked myself into it. And this is despite the title going bi-monthly for the next three months, which really just seems like you're taking advantage of my flirtatious nature, Marvel!


What else is on the list

Action Comics #880

Blackest Night #2

Booster Gold #23

Grimjack: Manx Cat #1


And maybe ...

Adventure Comics #1

Dogs, Bullets & Carnage Vol. 1

Red Circle Inferno #1

Starstruck #1


Waiting for the trade

BPRD 1947 #2

Fables #87

Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages (trade paperback)

Unwritten #4


Waiting for the library

Charlatan Ball (TPB)

Battle of Genryu Origin Vol. 1

Old Man Winter and Other Sordid Tales (graphic novel)

X-Men First Class: Finals (TPB)


What are you getting this week? Share your picks in the comments!

4 comments:

Jamie said...

You're waiting on the trade for Unwritten? I am totally digging it. But maybe that's because I don't have all of these other awesome things on my pull list :)

rob! said...

What book did the Hercules title take over the numbering for? I don't read much Marvel, but I know there hasn't been 131 previous issues of The Incredible Hercules...

Maxo said...

Jamie: Jamie!! Thanks for commenting! Yeah, I'm waiting for the trade; "Unwritten" sound really interesting, the preview I read looked solid and I've heard a lot of good things about it.

It might be habit at this point, but I've found that a lot of the Vertigo stuff tends to read better all in one whack rather than in single issues.The six-issue story arcs always feel to me more like chapters in a larger stories, and I like to immerse myself in them all at once.

Wow, that sounded pretentious! Either way, I'm looking forward to reading it!

Rob: I believe it was "Incredible Hulk;" it was part of the fallout from World War Hulk. I don't know what the rationale was, especially considering the Big Two seem to love starting things with a new #1 whenever they get the chance.

Khairul H. said...

Incredible Hulk became Incredible Hercules with #113.

Btw Max, if you wanna catch up with Herc when he took over the Hulk's book, you should pick up Incredible Hercules: Smash of the Titans which collects Hulk 106-112, Incredible Hercules 113-115.