Jumping to Conclusions: the beauty of Roger Stern's AVENGERS, 1987
#275 A doctor in #276 says he’s never seen anyone with injuries like this live; “I’d almost believe he really is the Hercules of myth!” My friend Joseph makes the point that the Hercules of myth used some brain power---whether he borrowed the suggestions or not is never made clear---and showed more leadership and skill than the boorish braggart depicted in 1980’s AVENGERS comics. It’s true! Even if someone made the suggestion to flood the stables of Aegeus to clean them (and if the twelve labors of Hercules doesn’t sound familiar, crack open a copy of Edith Wharton or Bullfinch’s mythology, pronto!---Literary Lue), no one else was around when he tricked Atlas into taking the world back on his shoulders. (Now that JUST may have involved a bit of …embellishment?) I suggested he suffers from context: he was what he needed to be in the chemistry of the Avengers personalities. Still, he could have a negative trait, like the sexism that forces Janet to stand up for herself, and still s...