Hercules #1
Hercules #1 (1984) opened the second of Bob Layton's two celebrated 'Prince of Power' limited series, itself a direct product of reader demand generated by the 1982 original — making it one of the earliest Marvel sequel limited series greenlit explicitly because of fan response. Set roughly forty years after the events of the first series, it shifted the tone from cosmic comedy toward something considerably darker, threading a father-son tragedy through Hercules's picaresque adventures: Zeus has descended into madness and begun systematically killing the Olympian gods, giving the sequel a narrative gravity that the lighter first series deliberately avoided. The issue also marks the first appearance of Skyppi the Skrull, Hercules's third long-running companion alongside Recorder 417, completing the core trio that would carry Layton's alternate-future mythology through subsequent stories and the 1988 graphic novel Full Circle.
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Coming off a well-received run on Iron Man, writer-artist Bob Layton created the 1982 Hercules limited series as a comedic cosmic romp set in an alternate 24th-century Marvel universe (designated Earth-829), and the series performed strongly enough that Marvel commissioned a sequel. Layton returned as sole writer and artist for the 1984 follow-up, which the indicia formally titled 'Hercules vol. 2' while the covers retained the 'Hercules: Prince of Power' branding. The series consciously pushed the story into darker, more consequential territory, setting the action roughly forty-one years after the first series (circa the year 2385) and introducing the Zeus-as-murderer plotline that would drive the arc to its resolution in issue #4.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published March 1984 (vol. 2 #1–4 ran March–June 1984); cover-branded 'Hercules: Prince of Power,' indicia reads 'Hercules vol. 2.'
- Written and drawn entirely by Bob Layton — sole creator credit for story and art across the full series.
- First appearance of Skyppi the Skrull, who joins Hercules and Recorder 417 as the third member of the series' traveling trio.
- Set on Earth-829, approximately 41 years after the 1982 first series (circa the year 2385 in-story), making it one of the earliest Marvel limited-series sequels set within its own established alternate timeline.
- Opening story titled 'My Love is Green!' — Hercules encounters a mysterious woman who turns out to be a Skrull, setting up Skyppi's introduction and companionship.
- The overarching threat of the 1984 series — Zeus's insanity and his methodical slaughter of the Olympian gods — is established in issue #1 via parallel scenes on Mount Olympus, a darker narrative departure from the 1982 series' comedy-forward tone.
- Both the 1982 and 1984 limited series were collected together in a 1988 trade paperback and again in a 2009 Marvel hardcover (Hercules: Prince of Power HC), with the 1984 run also feeding into Marvel Graphic Novel #37 (Hercules: Prince of Power: Full Circle, 1988).
- Available in both Direct Edition and Newsstand Edition formats at publication.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Un Récit Complet Marvel #9 (1986), Hercules: Prince of Power #[nn] (2009), Hercules: Prince of Power #30 (2009)
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