Advanced Review: Herculian #1

Herculian #1 is a 48-page collection of Erik Larsen‘s Popgun strips and his 24-Hour Comic story “Guy-Talk.”

LOVED

THE COMEDY – Erik Larsen’s Popgun strips are delightfully deranged and laugh out loud hilarious.

24-HOUR AWESOME – Larsen’s story “Guy Talk” was done during the 24-Hours Comic Event and is fantastic! It revolves around 2 brothers who meet after sometime not seeing each other. As they are talking the younger brother announces he is getting married, at the same time a female super villain busts into the bank across the street. The older brother berates the younger about marriage and as the younger defends the woman he loves the panels focus on the female villain. As the lecture comes to a close… well I won’t ruin the end, it’s an excellent one to read.

THROWBACK COLORS – This one-shot looks like it was colored back in the 80s or early 90s with misaligned color placement and extremely limited CYMK color palette. It reminds me of being 8 and reading my comics and looking at the awkward colorings from time to time and the stories that kept me loving this medium.

NOT SO LOVED

HAND WRITTEN TEXT – The text in the word bubbles look hand written (they just might be especially for “Guy Talk” which was done in 24 short hours), which isn’t bad, but can be hard to read sometimes, especially in the opening story “Guy Talk.” I found myself trying to decipher what was written down and what the word was.

VERDICT

Herculian #1 is 48 pages of awesome from beginning(there is an old comic book ad in the front that was like those of the 60s selling X-Ray glasses) to end. This book shows the different styles and the humor of Erik Larsen. If you’re looking for a good read with off beat comedy then go out and pick up Herculian #1 you won’t be disappointed.

Here is a preview of the first 5 pages.