The Hero’s journey is where it all begins, with the mighty Heracles and his twelve labors brought into our contemporary age by the critically acclaimed artist of The Rise of Aurora West, David Rubin.
The Hero celebrates pop-bright superheroes, catapulting Greek mythology into the present day. Through gloriously rambunctious colors, Rubin pays tribute to the masters of the Silver Age of comics, from Jack Kirby to Gil Kane, and all the sense of fun, imagination, and action those artists were revered for. The cohesion of famed mythology and modern life is framed with a manga-like aesthetic; the book is anchored by a universal understanding of the very superhero stories that Heracles himself inspired.
The book marks the beginning of a run of success for the Spanish creator—originally published in Spain as two books in 2011-12, it was followed by the beautiful (and yet to be translated) Beowulf a year later. Rubin gained acclaim in the US for last year's Aurora West, written by Paul Pope and set in the universe of Pope's Battling Boy. The follow-up, The Fall of the House of West, comes out later this year.
This first volume of Rubin’s story focuses on a young Heracles and his growth towards adulthood in a relentlessly paced burst of action; the second volume comes out later this year.
The Hero: Book One (9781616556709) comes out on June 17th from Dark Horse.
