Review: Prince of Power #1-4

Yikes! Halloween preparations have put reviews on the back burner for a while. To help get back on track, here's a review of all four issues of the Prince of Power limited series, issue-by-issue. Enjoy.

Prince of Power

• Written by Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente
• Pencils by Reilly Brown, with Zach Howard (#3), & Adam Archer (#4)
• Inks by Terry Pallot, with Jason Paz (#1) & Zach Howard (#3)
• Colors by Val Staples
• Lettering by Simon Bowland
• Covers by Humberto Ramos (#1), Edgar Delgado (#1 & #2), Kho Pham (#2), Carlo Pagulayan (#3 & #4), Jason Paz (#3), Peter Steigerwald (#3), Salva Espin (#4) & Beth Sotello (#4)

So, Hercules, the Prince of Power, and Amadeus Cho, the seventh-smartest person in the world, have been palling around for some time, saving the universe at least once and generally having a good time. They've been led around a bit by Athena, and we've just seen that she's been playing them: she has manipulated them and some of the events around them in order to sacrifice Hercules so that Amadeus can become the new Prince of Power. And that brings us to…

1: Blasphemy Can Be Fun

Marvel must have anticipated a crop of new readers would jump on with this limited series that is really just a continuation of the Incredible Hercules book (via Assault on New Olympus and Hercules: Fall of an Avenger), because the opening third-to-half of the book is largely there for establishing the current status quo. That's not to say it's not enjoyable, just that it may seem a bit slow-moving or overdone for someone who's been following the story for a while.

And for those people, yes, this has some of the humor (and awesome sound effects) coupled with emotion that made Incredible Hercules so good. It's not at a peak level, but it's up there. The art is on the high level that much of that title had, as well.

As for the rest of the story, it's mostly setup for the rest of the series (this is issue #1, you know). Basically, Amadeus has discovered that Hercules is not dead and is trying to find him. His technological efforts make things worse, so he decides he must become a god, gaining omniscience and, thus, the ability to find Hercules and bring him back. Also attempting to gain godhood is Vali Halfling who sets Amadeus up, causing a confrontation with Thor. I like seeing Amadeus's dedication to Hercules, and it makes me think of Tim Drake and his conviction that Bruce Wayne is still alive. Overall, this was a good first issue, though it's a little less enjoyable if you don't need to be brought up to speed so much. It's not up to the highest standard that Incredible Hercules set, but it's good.

2: Valhalla Blues

The second issue focuses largely on the relationship between Amadeus Cho and Thor, and each of their relationships with Hercules. This is a big highlight for this issue, as their whole fight and resolution is quite powerful. Amadeus's most prominent trait is his loyalty, and this is one of the times where it shows through the most. I love seeing his reaction to Thor claiming to have been Hercules's best friend (even though they mostly get together to fight). He does have a point (sometimes rivalries bring people closer than out-and-out friendships), though Cho's point rings truer here (it is his book, after all).

The other plot here is the misdeeds of Vali Halfling, as his trickery brings him control of the Olympus Group building (and the second ingredient to the god-brew). This section mostly just moves the plot forward, so it's not super-awesome or anything, but it's still enjoyable.

One thing I'd like to note (because it's most prominent here) is Pak and Van Lente's use of those “editor's note” boxes that were used so much in the earlier days of comics but hardly ever see anymore. It's a little thing, but it gives a personal touch to the comics (it's been going on at least since the World War Hulk issues) — and it really does help bring you up to speed if you haven't read the entire run.

Most of this book is a big fight, and the art does well to give it dynamism. There's also a good balance of humor in the art. I'm not terribly keen on how Thor's face looks, but that's a minor point in a well-drawn issue. The Hercules books have been noted for having the best sound effects in comics, and this issue has the best sound effects since the Thorcules finale, as well as probably the best of this series.

3: Our Lady of Slaughter

The last issue had lots of action, but that was mainly a backdrop for the relational issues Amadeus and Thor had to work out. This issue has even more action, and it's there largely to show how awesome Amadeus, Thor, and Delphyne Gorgon can be. We get almost all action here, and it's paced well. I like the inclusion of the snippets of mythology (explaining what the heck is going on and why) — I'm a sucker for myths of all kinds, so it really works to keep me interested during the sections where Amadeus and Thor are running for their lives instead of fighting for them.

It's interesting to note that Thor shows himself to be largely a replacement Hercules here. His is the brute-force approach, while Amadeus plans, strategizes, and thinks his way through difficulties. Case in point: while Thor attempts to make a last stand against Sekhmet, lady of slaughter, Amadeus takes the time bought to use his knowledge of Egyptian mythology to transform her into Hathor, goddess of love — a sequence that, out of this whole limited series, made me laugh out loud the most. Something about a monsterous death-cat turning into a lolcat cracked me up to no end and was more than worth the price of the issue.

I've probably given away too much already, but Delphyne shows she can kick some serious booty, and has a great armoring up for the big fight montage that concludes with her putting on her death scrunchie. Again, this issue, like the last mixes the serious with the humorous very well.

No serious change in the art quality, so we'll move on to the next — and final — issue….

4: Omnipotence for Dummies

Rather than go into details on this issue (the same things apply to this issue that applied to the previous two, especially) I'm going to look at this issue as a conclusion the series. This is the final issue of Prince of Power. It's a good issue, but it ends rather abruptly as it leads straight into Chaos War. There's little sense of conclusion to the title, other than the achievement of the stated goal: to retrieve Hercules. It does little to diminish from this issue, but it does make the series as a whole seem incomplete. It would be hard to get the trade of this series and just enjoying it on it own — it feels unfinished, like this and Chaos War should've been under the same title. The previous arcs in Incredible Hercules, including Assault on New Olympus (which was its own title, not part of Incredible Hercules), felt like a whole that was also part of a whole. You could read one of those trades and be satisfied that you got a whole story — that was part of a larger story, yes, but still a complete, rather self-contained story. This is the first time I've felt like I didn't get the whole story with a single arc. It's still very good, very enjoyable — a good mix of serious and funny, like you'd expect from this run. But, if you want an ending that feels like an ending, it's best enjoyed with the intention of reading Chaos War afterward. Or just stop a couple of pages from the end, because this series is definitely worth reading even without a conclusive ending.