The Mighty Hercules, Part 5

 

cover art by Rube Grossman

Sandwiched between the two Hercules stories in Gold Key's The Mighty Hercules #2 (October 1963) is a comic book adaptation of the Perseus vs. Medusa myth. Written with by Paul S. Newman with his usual skill at quick exposition and sound plot construction, it is drawn by Rube Grossman. 

After I read it, I was surprised when I leafed back through the issue and discovered it was only four pages long. Newman and Grossman pack a lot of story into those few pages without the story being crowded or rushed.

King Polydectes has the hots for Perseus' widowed mother. (A little cleaning up of the original myth goes on here to match Gold Key's family-friendly standards. Perseus, in this version, is explicitly not one of Zeus' many illegitimate kids.)

Perseus' mom declines a proposal and the king doesn't want to just take her because she's protected by Perseus. So Polydetes sends Perseus off on a mission--he has to bring back the head of Medusa the Gorgon.

It seems like a suicide mission, but the gods Athena and Hermes give him a shield, sword and Hermes' super-speed sandals to aid him. For brevity, the story leaves out the cap of invisibility and a few other magic items also given to him in the original myth.

Perseus uses the reflection of Medusa on the back of his shield to approach and behead Medusa, with our view of the beheading hidden by some rocks. 

Perseus heads home. Again, for brevity's sake, this version leaves out events of a longer version of the myth where Perseus saves his future wife Andromeda from a sea monster. Too bad--Grossman's lively art would have made that look cool.

Perseus arrives at home to discover the king has made Perseus' mom a slave. But the hero uses Medusa's head to turn the evil king to stone, then takes his mom home.

That Newman and Grossman were able to condense the story into just four pages and still make it a satisfying read is a remarkable accomplishment. One of the sadder things about this second issue being the last is that we don't get to see anymore adaptations of classic myths by these two.

Next week, we'll finish our journey through the pages of The Mighty Hercules.