"Despite having fulfilled the prophesy of Pythia, Herakles ends up sentenced to mortal servitude by Zeus himself. But in the end, is that so bad? If Olympus won't have him, maybe it's time to just settle down on earth with a queen and kingdom...as if any story could end so simply"--Back cover.
"Herakles, son of Zeus, was born a half man named Alcides. Now grown, this demigod must prove himself to gain entry to Olympus, completing near-impossible tasks assigned by the King of Mycenae, Eurystheus. But are these tasks meant to prove his worth...or kill him in the process?"--Back cover.
Author Edouard Cour revisits one of the greatest Greek myths by painting the often-heroic Herakles as, well . . . somewhat of a jerk. Crude and stubborn at times, in little glimpses we meet a man--half-human, after all--with a psychology more complex than he appears, entangled in guilt over the ghosts who have haunted him since childhood. A mournful sadness seizes him as he crosses the fleeting silhouettes of a woman and her three children. "Friends or foe, all those who cross his path end up stiff and worm food," comments Linos, the ghost of his childhood music teacher. Brimming with pathos and dark humor, this portrait of Herakles is a graphic whirlwind leaving little respite and often revealing beautiful surprises.