The Hero Book One

by David Rubin, John Arcudi (Introduction)

Overview

"Welcome David Rubín to the table. He is a big talent and the real deal. The Hero is a strong statement of intent.”—Paul Pope (creator of Battling Boy)

In ancient Greece the first superhero was born. Heracles, the son of Zeus, came into the world with strength, charm, and a fighting spirit.

Groundbreaking storyteller David Rubín (Illustrator on Paul Pope's The Rise of Aurora West) reexamines the life of the world's greatest champion in The Hero, chronicling Heracles's incredible adventures, from his innocent boyhood to his meteoric rise to popularity as he tackles the Twelve Labors. It is a journey tempered by a steady decay that never relieves him of his heroic burden. And it is this burden that becomes his only grip on reality as Heracles edges toward his fateful end.

Introduction by John Arcudi (B.P.R.D., The Creep)!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616556709
Publisher:	Dark Horse Comics
Publication date:	07/07/2015
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

David Rubin was was born in Orense, Spain on October 19, 1977. He is an animator and cartoonist. After studying graphic design, David Rubin worked in an animation studio. He then went on to co-direct the film The Spirit of the Forest (2008). At the same time, he founded the collective Polaqia in 2001 and collaborated with Golfiño, La Voz de Galicia and other magazines. The author lives in Orense, Spain.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/06/2015
The story of Heracles (aka Hercules) gets a blistering new workout in Rubin’s (Aurora West) gutsy reimagining. Eurystheus and Heracles are brothers: Eurystheus is doomed to become a tyrant; Heracles, younger, is destined to be a great hero. As the boys age, Heracles takes on the 12 Labors with brawn and the occasional bit of brain, while Eurystheus lives it up as an ever-more demented and sadistic Nero-like figure. Heracles’s adventures vigorously fuse a dark appreciation of the original mythology’s twisted nature with Rubin’s sly, off-kilter surrealism. Swords and sandals share these lavishly oversaturated pages with video monitors and classically nuanced dialogue laced with modern-day obscenities. Heracles takes on hydras, elephant-sized boars, and metal-plated birds and has a titanic lovemaking session with the goddess Diana, all with the same gleeful determination, as Rubin sprinkles in thoughtful notes on the true nature of heroism and the fine line between real courage and tragic obedience to a higher power. A muscular epic that actually questions what it appears to be celebrating. (June)

Publishers Weekly