The Mighty Hercules

 

For January's Cover Cavalcade, I had declared that month to be HERCULES MONTH and featured comic book covers showing versions of the demi-god as imagined by various comic book companies.

One of those covers was one of two Gold Key comics featuring stories based on the Saturday morning cartoon The Mighty Hercules, which ran in syndication from 1963 to 1966. Jimmy Tapp, a Canadian broadcaster, was the voice of Hercules through most of its run. The cartoon consisted of concise 5-minute adventures, running in 30 minute blocks.

I remembered at least occasionally watching it when I was a little one, though my only strong memory is of Newton, Hercules' centaur sidekick with an annoyingly high-pitched voice. But I didn't remember enjoying it and, when that comic book cover reminded me of the cartoon, I watched a few on YouTube. They really are fun.

With just five minutes to tell a story, the cartoon wastes no time. For instance, "Wings of Mercury" starts with Newton and the Greek Hero Theseus sitting together in a field. A giant bird (one of the Stymphalian birds) swoops down and snatches the Wings of Mercury that Theseus was carrying.

Hercules arrives and says glad to get the wings back for a hero like Theseus. Newton asks about Theseus' heroism, so Hercules explains. This sends the cartoon into a flashback, in which Zeus gives Theseus the wings so that he can quickly reach Cyprus and defeat an evil statue that is essentially firing a barrage of laser beams at everything.

Theseus defeats the statue, but now he's lost the wings. Hercules uses his ring to activate his super-strength (a feature of this version of the demi-god) and gives the bird what-for. The Wings of Mercury are recovered and everyone (well, except the evil statue and the bird) is happy.

It is indeed fun. The animation is limited but imaginative and and stories gallop through their five minutes with unironic charm and fun. I am, of course, a little annoyed at the mixing of Greek and Latin names. I get that Hercules (the Latin version of the name) is too ingrained in our culture to ever allow Heracles, but if its ZEUS on the throne of Olympus, then the wings should have been the Wings of Hermes. Oh, well. The cartoon does deserve credit for using a "Stymphalian Bird" rather than a generic monster to snatch the Wings. 

In a few weeks, we'll begin a look at the Gold Key comic book version of the Mighty Hercules.

Here's the episode. Enjoy.