Featuring: Little Hercules
Release: April 11, 1940
Cover: June 1940
10 cents
By: SAG
4 pages
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| Mystic Comics #2, Story B | PRELUDE | Daring Mystery Comics #6 |
| Daredevil #9 | Reading order | Journey Into Mystery Annual 1 |
Marvel’s second character named Hercules debuted just days after the original, this one known as “Little Hercules”.
The comic is signed SAG, referring to Bud Sagendorf.
It’s a gag comic, not the “serious” adventures we’ve been reading. Little Hercules is only 12, but he’s the smartest and strongest boy on Earth. The comic opens with him being awarded a doctorate in all the sciences.
He has a macguffin invention called dynopop that enemy agents are after.
Through the course of 4 pages, we see espionage, fist-fights, explosions, and feats of aerial skill.
At every turn, Little Hercules defeats the enemy agents with his brains or fists.
This was the only appearance of Little Hercules to date.
We met Marvel’s first Hercules, the gigantic superhero, in the last post. It’s interesting that that character lasted only two issues, but still managed to overlap in time with this character who only lasted one. This comes out in the month between the two other Hercules comics.
Bud Sagendorf would go on to acclaim with a long run on the E.C. Segar character, Popeye.
He worked on Popeye comics for about 20 years, and took over the Thimble Theatre strip from 1959-1986, continuing to illustrate the Sunday strips until his death in 1994, aged 79.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 50/100
Characters:
- Little Hercules
Story notes:
- Little Hercules is the strongest and smartest boy in the world; he invented an explosive “dynopop” and was awarded a doctorate in all the sciences at the age of 12.
- Enemy agents want dynopop; Hercules plans to give it to the army.
- Hercules designs and builds his own airplanes.
| Previous | Next | |
|---|---|---|
| Mystic Comics #2, Story B | PRELUDE | Daring Mystery Comics #6 |
| Daredevil #9 | Reading order | Journey Into Mystery Annual 1 |
