Guardians of the Galaxies Annual #1 (2021) - "Oh No! It's the Prince of Power!"

[laughing_tree]

Greg Pak made [Hercules] a serious player, but kept him fun. Dan Abnett made him get serious in himself, to the extent of having him stop drinking, which is the bell you can't really un-ring - that felt like a major foothold in the rock, in terms of cementing the character's evolution and preventing too much backsliding. But looking back at that series, he's still heavily motivated by other people's opinions of him. I wanted to break him free of that shell and spread his wings, to put him through the wringer and then have him cast off all his old insecurities and emerge as the best, coolest, sexiest, most secure version of himself - and then, as the cherry on top, send him into space in a cool new outfit to Flash Gordon his way around the universe and bring it all full circle. -- Al Ewing

Comments

[beyondthefringe]

Of all the explanations for the new Prince of Power, I did not expect "tongue in cheek spit-take on He-Man."

Fun fact: this is not the first time someone has eaten an Infinity Gem/Stone thinking it was a jellybean. Drax did the same thing, back in his "immensely stupid" Infinity Watch days.

[coldfury]

Oh man, in the back of my mind I guess I knew that Prince of Power reminded me of 90s He-Man, but now with his backstory I can't unsee it.

This is fantastic.

[lonewolf23k]

Not only that, but Drax did the same thing with the Power Gem.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

"New" Prince of Power? There have been others?

[beyondthefringe]

well, you can either take "new" to mean he's a new character, or "new Prince of Power" because the original, Hercules, is right there... :)

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Oh, I was under the impression it was a name with some lineage... like Steve Rogers passing on the mantle of Captain America, for example.

Or is that an actual title Hercules has held?

[beyondthefringe]

It's one of his traditional epithets, at least in the comics, along with the Lion of Olympus. His 1984 mini was even titled Hercules: Prince of Power.

So this new golden guy totally stole the title. :)

[mastermahan]

So Star's power level is based on her punctuality?

[icon_uk]

A variation on "Punctuality is the politeness of princes"?

[numeronone]

So THAT'S why the Genie suggested it as a compliment to Aladdin..

[icon_uk]

I don't think I can adequately express how much my inner seven year old would have appreciated a show with lines like "My most snivelling henchman... Betrayo"

[arilou_skiff]

I loved that too.

[tinygaylaura]

I would watch every episode of this show

[scorntx]

It's the fact he says "most snivelling", suggesting at least some of the others are also snivelly.
Just not as snivelling.

[thezmage]

Okay, so there’s clearly some joke or something in that last page. Why are the names and descriptions of the infinity stones shuffled around like that?

[lordy_co]

If you're asking about they forming an 8-shape, it's because of what's explained below: the stones form a power circuit in which each stone makes the next more powerful.

[thezmage]

No, I’m talking about how they swapped the names of the stones. Like how the power to teleport is attributed to the time gem and the power gem’s ability is attributed to mastery of mind

[arilou_skiff]

No, that's deliberate. The idea is that the power stone gives you power, but the extent to which you can access that is based on your mastery of the mind, the same is true for the other stones. Each gives you powers based on their own but to unlock them you need the attributes associated with the previous in the sqeunces.

Which isn't how things used to work, but eh. They've never been consistent about them anyways.

[lordultimus]

Actually, there is an explanation this time: the multiverse reboot in Hickman's Secret Wars changed how they worked.

[mastermahan]

Ah, Crises. What would comic book writers do without them?

[thezmage]

Okay, I get it now. Kinda.

I'm not sure how somebody can have mastery over time, space, or reality without the stone in question though

[phantomfo]

They don't. They're examples of how they can be empowered by the other stones.

For example, the Space Gem normally lets you go anywhere in the universe. You're still limited to that universe, though.

But if you also add the Time Gem, you can use it's abilities to enhance the Space Gem and traverse anywhere in the whole *multiverse*. Presumably you slide along the timelines to the point where they branch, and then follow along that branch. With the Space Stone, you can then travel anywhere within that other parallel universe.

[lordy_co]

But that's the thing: if one already has the mind gem, for example, they'll be able to use the poer gem to its full extent. The mastery of one stone gives more power to the other. This is a new development, I think it first came up during the Infinity Wars saga in 2018.

[tinygaylaura]

This issue is an example of why Al Ewing is one of the best things to ever happen to comics

In an industry with far too many bigots, women hating idiots and edgelords who think Frank Miller's Batman stories are the only comics that matter, it's such a breath of fresh air to have a writer who loves fun as much as Ewing does.

[scorntx]

There is just so much about this that is entirely ridiculous and silly and brilliant.
Like the henchmen getting caught up in Otherone's story ("Don't encourage him!")

Poor Rapskullion and his ribwich.

Kind of amazed that so much of this is dedicated to a not-even-bothering-to-hide-it parody of He-Man.
(Anyone else wondering if this means there's a slightly less exploded parody of She-Ra hanging about the Marvel Universe somewhere?)

[tinygaylaura]

:(

I cried more over Rapskullion's Ribwich than I did over the death of Tony Stark in Endgame

[iamrman]

Ha. Glad to hear I'm not the only one. Mind you, I hate anything involving the Big Purple Simp.

[super_fly]

I can even hear his evil (but off-the-clock) laugh

[tinygaylaura]

NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH

[iamrman]

I hate Infinity Nonsense, so I skipped all these annuals. I should have known Al Ewing would do something fun.

[gnarll]

Paks Hercules was fantastic. A very funny, sexy, adventure with some serious character moments. I was quite a fan.

Then Abnetts run came along and said that was all terrible badwrongfun, and added a big dash of slut-shaming.

If you can't unring that bell, even Ewing cannot interest me in that somking ruin of something I enjoyed once.

[tinygaylaura]

I think he meant having Hercules give up alcohol was a bell that couldn't be un-rung

[akodo_rokku]

That's what I read too.

[thehood]

Ewing's Hercules has been really fun and i don't see why him quitting drinking is a bad thing.

[phantomfo]

"With the Reality Stone, you can use the Soul Stone preserve the soul to allow for life after death!"

Is that supposed to be impressive in the Marvel Universe?

[scorntx]

Meanwhile, the Mind Stone can grant telepathy or intelligence.

Unintentionally suggesting the two are separate.
Which might explain a lot about Charles Xavier's decisions over the decades...

[super_fly]

You can either know what other people are thinking or know what you yourself are thinking

[shakalooloo]

I think it provides telepathy, or intelligence if you already have telepathy and don't need, like, DOUBLE telepathy.

[tinygaylaura]

I like to headcanon that "Hell" and "Heaven" in the Marvel universe are just realms created by people who used powers like this like Missy in the Doctor Who season eight finale

"It's the funniest thing. The people in there think they've gone to heaven"