The Herculoids #1 // Review
There’s a planet somewhere out in the vast unimaginable infinity of the galaxy. It’s rish with the ind of resources that could make anyone incredibly wealthy. It’s not easy to get to, though. There’s one group of developers who just might have found a way to get to the planet in question. They might find it a bit more difficult than they might have expected in The Herculoids #1. Writer Tom Sniegoski and artist Craig Rousseau open a whole new chapter on an old property with colorist Omi Remalante Jr. The opening issue in the new series re-introduces the old animated heroes after a lengthy introduction involving the issue’s villains.
The developers had heard tales of the planet. They knew it was out there. They must have followed some very shady leads to find the old guy who actually knew where the planet was. It’s not like he was broadcasting his knowledge all over the universe or anything like that. He was just some old guy in a bar who liked telling the story but didn’t dare tell anyone where it was that it happened. So the developers decide to reach right into his brain and get the information. They might be thinking that the difficult part of the quest might be over at that stage, but they have no idea what they’re up against when the planet’s defenders arrive.
Sniegoski takes a LOT of time setting-up the introduction of the title characters. Sadly...even though the villains are looking to strip a planet of its resources and don’t mind sucking raw data out of an old man’s brain, they don’t gather much menace by the time they arrive on the planet of the Herculoids. And so it is that they don’t really manage to make much of an impression...but then...neither do the title characters themselves. They are merely shown as strange and powerful creatures attacking the villains.
Sniegoski’s script might hv hit the page with a bit more punch had it not been for the fact that Rousseau hadn’t quite found a way to present them that might give them some weight. Each of the Herculoids is given a moment on the page to introduce themselves, but Rousseau doesn’t manage to frame them visually in a way that truly captures how strange and cool they are. IT’s a fairly straightforward representation of them and what they are that doesn’t quite impress.
The late 1960s found Hanna-Barbera a degree of success with Space Ghost and a few other cartoons. Somewhere in the midst of introducing a few new cartoons for the 1968 Saturday morning line-up they created a group of weird space fantasy heroes who protected the fictional planet of Amzot. It was probably one of the stranger space fantasy ensembles to come out of the late 20th century. As such it never really managed much of an impact on the pop cultural consciousness. Nice to see Dynamite Entertainment reviving the old property for a whole new audience.
