The Mighty Hercules, The Final Chapter

 

cover art by Rube Grossman

The Mighty Hercules #2 (October 1963) comes to an all-too-soon end with the last story in the last issue. 

This time, writer Paul S. Newman and artist Rube Grossman move the action to sea. Helena is aboard ship, coming home after trading her sheep for food and spice. (She was herding her sheep in the first story--I wonder if that minor bit of continuity was intentional or a coincidence.) 

On a nearby island, Aeolus, the god of winds, is asleep. The sea witch Wilamene sees this and takes the opportunity to hypnotize him and place him under her control. Knowing Helena's ship will contain valuable cargo, she has Aeolus call up a wind to toss the crew overboard and then bring the ship to shore.

Helena calls on Hercules for help, who jumps down from Olympus. Wilamene tries to use a freezing wind to encase Hercules in ice, but he uses his warm super-breath to melt that ice and then still rescues Helena and the rest of the ship's crew.

That tactic surprised me, though that wasn't a rational reaction. Hercules' frequent use of super-breath can't help but call up images of Superman using his super-breath. Since Kal-el's breath freezes things, it momentarily seemed weird that Hercules' breath is warm. But it is two different universes and each one is allowed to have its own "Super-Breath Logic."

Everyone is soon safe on the island, so Wilamene uses Aeolus to use some wind to bring a shipful of slavers to shore. Hercules drives them off by using a tree as a spear.

Hercules knows Aeolus lives on the island and goes to look for him. Wilamene tries to use wind to bury the hero in sand, but he manages to bury her first, then forces her to release Aeolus from mind control.

The good guys begin to sail away, but the sea witch is a sore loser. She uses her own magic to set the ship's sail on fire. But Aeolus uses a wind to call up a water spout and douse the flames, while Hercules mans the tiller to keep the ship on course during the deluge.

The ship escapes and, well, the comic book adventures of the Mighty Hercules comes to an end. It really is sad. Newman's skill at pacing and plot construction, plus Grossman's lively and expressive art made both issues a lot of fun. There was potential for a lot of good stories yet.

Next week, we'll visit with Captain America to witness an unusual villain team-up.