Chaos War by Greg Pak

Chaos War Reviews

• 
  Gianfranco Mancini

  
  
  This casual 5 € tpb casual purchase was far better than lots of more recent events from Marvel for me.
  
  
  
  Sadly, havin'not read the previous volumes of the Incredible Hercules series, it was like arriving late for a movie and watchin' just the ending.
  
  
  
  Shame on me.
• 
  Damon

  This comic does not have any redeeming factors. I cannot decide whether the writing or the artwork is worse. The premise is absurd; some king of good vs evil escalation that doesn't make any sense. There are cameos by as many gods as the author could think of (and all of the characterizations of them are unflattering). There is no flow from one chapter to the next. There is no central character. It is always unclear who the bad guy actually is. I could keep going but really - just look at the cover.
• 
  Shannon Appelcline

  The Chaos War's biggest flaw is revealed on the last page: it's the "8th and final volume of Hercules". The problem is that it's disguised as a big Marvel crossover. Now maybe it succeeds as the final volume of Hercules. I dunno, because I like most was brought in by the crossover to other titles. And that's not at all successful.
  
  We get a big hero who was dead (Hercules) who has to fight a big monster that we've never heard of (The Chaos King). Who knows why Herc was dead; who knows how he got resurrected; who knows who this Chaos guy is. Herc forms a coterie of heroes to help him, but there's little characterization. It's just pushing the plotline along.
  
  And there's clearly some crossover, but they're almost entirely glossed over in this volume. I mean, it's hard to even figure out what's going on with resurrected heroes because it's so glossed in this volume.
  
  So all I can say is: definite failure as a crossover or even as the spine of a crossover. But the best part is the Hercules and Cho, so maybe a fan of the series would like it more.
• 
  Kurt

  2.5, I guess. The story is word stew, but the art is decent.
• 
  Mike

  I always find Pak & Van Lente a little jarring. I'm a Marvel zombie and I've read hundreds of Marvel graphic novels in the last few years. There's a certain style and reverence that nearly all the house writers bring to the Marvel universe (or so it seems to me in general), and when working together Pak/Van Lente tweak that style in nearly every outing of theirs I've read.
  
  They start this book out like the others they've collaborated on, but once it gets into the "universe is ending" ramp-up, there's a lot less of the irreverence and a lot more of the supreme reverence for Hercules than I ever thought possible. I mean, I know these guys have invested years of their lives into this character and his pack of sidekicks - but geez, can you turn off the aggrandising and saccharine and just tell us about your beloved screw-up?
  
  At the heart of it, I just don't see quite what all the tears and legend-making is all about. He's a funny guy, got heart to beat his brains, all that usual "humanity is better than we give it credit for" - but really, does he deserve his turn as the single most important character in the saving of the Marvel Universe? Geez. Maybe if it wasn't so obvious when they turned from "cloddish boob" to "supremely street-wise über-god", I'd be more impressed.
  
  Galactus? Ares? Hot generic goddesses? Cool. Too much time on C-list characters? Meh.
  
  Not a huge fan of the art either. Looks way to digitally processed, no attempt whatsoever to blend or shade - yes I'm sure it's a style but it's rather distracting. I'm focused more on the Photoshop layers that are supposed to delineate light and shadow, and I actually have to force myself to look past that at what the scene is trying to illustrate.
• 
  Mike McDevitt

  The culmination of a years-long comic book adventure about a guy who gives the gift of punching to all, and an insufferably brilliant teen who is an aspiring snarkitecht.
  Can Hercules and Amadeus Cho save the Marvel Universe from the entropic annihilation of The Chaos King? What odd and amusing things will the sound-effects spell if you sound them out? Anybody you like going to bite it? Find out here- fans will be glad they did.
• 
  Arturo

  The premise is great. Hela running to Maphisto's realm, as the Chaos King wants everything destroyed including all the underworlds was great. The God squad the included Galactus was great. The grand scale of destruction and the hopelessness of even getting out of this jam, was a dire problem with interesting and exciting implications.
  Unfortunately, the ending didn't stick the landing. Our main hero Hercules didn't rise up or have any character development for us to see him as a main player in the end. There's a panel where Cho is in tears, as he's out of ideas, meanwhile he's cracking a joke in said panel. Which makes me realize there's zero emotional interest in this. Meanwhile we have a one note villain, dragging the plot along.
  I've started to accept artists different art style, but there's something.. Too much lacking in this, be it inking, editing weird shading, just crudeness overall.
  The last issue ends mentioning it as the 8th and final Herc volume. Yes, as a Hercules volume it may have been great with guest stars galore, with the same levity balanced with its seriousness. But as an event? Fun but empty.
• 
  Leo McBride

  Weak plot, heavy exposition
  
  The end of the world probably shouldn't be this dull. Full of big scenes of battle with little detail so it's hard to figure out what's going on. Tons of exposition and so little emotional impact from page to page. At one point I was sure a character had died only for them to pop up again later without comment. Not keen on the art either and it all feels a bit of a chore to read rather than a joy. So much is just waiting for Hercules to save the day that the rest is just marking time.
• 
  Stephen Theaker

  I was a bit cheesed off to finish The New Prince of Power and realise that the story concluded in another book I didn't have, one that didn't even have Hercules' name in its title. But I'm glad I read it. Not the best book in the series, but it's an appropriately apocalyptic conclusion to this saga, and pays off well on story elements from the previous seven books.
• 
  ReyReyPod

  Don't be deterred by the overall average rating...horses for courses.. this was a fun event and still way better than some of the events Marvel has put out recently...if you love Herc (like me)...you'll love him in the spotlight here
• 
  Sean Dolan

  I really need to read more about Hercules
• 
  JP Bueno Siqueiros

  It's ok, the artwork isn't bad.
• 
  Scott E

  Bang average save the world/universe Marvel affair. Nothing original going on here but a decent way to pass the time
• 
  Eric

  This was none of the fun or old school heroics of Greg Pak's Hercules run. Kind of a letdown.
• 
  Dmitry Yakovenko

  "Война Хаоса" – это очередное глобальное событие во вселенной Марвел, в котором появляется невероятное, могущественное зло, стремящееся уничтожить всё и вся. И только один герой способен остановить его и спасти весь мир.
  
  На этот раз мир спасти может только герой Геркулес, что обрёл почти что всемогущество. В итоге в центре истории у нас оказался не только скучный и банальный злодей с мотивацией из серии "хочу уничтожить всех богов и простых смертных просто потому что я злой", но и инфантильный, практический всемогущий герой, что всё может. Просто комбо какое-то, создающее невероятно скучное чтиво, ведь за обоими очень скучно следить.
  
  Так это ещё добавьте сюда слишком предсказуемый и стандартный сюжет, с клишированными сюжетными ходами, жутко слабым финалом и перебором пафоса в диалогах. Добавьте безумное количество экшена, который почти не прекращается на протяжении пяти выпусков, и вот тогда вы получите невероятно слабую глобалку от Марвел, которая совершенно не стоит вашего внимания, и особо не стоит большого обзора.
  
  Было бы ну совсем всё плохо, если бы не рисунок, что тут вполне себе ок, плюс экшен всё же эффектный и красочный, да и парочка дельных моментов в сюжете было. Но этого всё равно не хватает для положительного впечатления. Читать не советую, перечитывать тем более.
• 
  Judah Radd

  **second read**
  
  The original review stands. This could benefit from a more focussed story. There were a handful of cool characters (like Pele) who were introduced but never utilizes. Would have liked to see Galactus do more stuff. Whatev. Still good, but I noticed more problems.
  
  ****first read****
  
  It’s a pretty cool story.
  
  Hercules, Thor, The Silver Surfer, Amadeus Cho, Cersi, Venus AND FUCKIN GALACTUS form an awesome team to battle The Chaos King.
  
  Talk about a stacked team. It’s even more impressive than The Annihilators.
  
  The battles are badass. There’s some cool mythology meets sci fi stuff. I really like the nebulous, esoteric religion stuff (and I’m not usually a fan).
  
  The tie in books are pretty lame. I wouldn’t bother. Sure, there are some small gems, but overall... don’t worry about what Hulk and Co, the dead Avengers and the dead X Men are doing. I wouldn’t worry too much about Alpha Flight either. The tie ins are not worth it.
  
  This story makes me wanna go back and read more about the Marvel version of Hercules. He rules.
  
  The art was badass. The villainous Chaos King is appropriately sinister.
  
  I recommend this book!
• 
  John Wiswell

  The far less humorous follow-up to Pak and Van Lente's Prince of Power, Chaos War is one long doomsday scene. The Anti-God Mikaboshi, who existed when there was nothing in the universe, has risen to consume all life and bring things back to the way they were. Almost every page of Chaos War rolls along with the action as he conquers Hell, unleashes the dead on earth, pacifies earth's heroes and attempts to consume astral planes. All the while earth's smartest mortals and last remaining immortals struggle to fight off his hordes and find a way to save the last bits of creation. There are flashes of humor (Cho's palm pilot says everyone surviving is "0%" in line with the laws of probability and physics), but it's largely a tense five chapter story about Hercules trying to play god and savior. Pak and Van Lente should be very grateful to their artists for packing so much emotion and actions into so few pages. This could not have been an enviable task, and turned out quite fun.
• 
  Sean

  I thought the Incredible Hercules series by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente was a fun book that wasn’t too serious but still entertained. This is basically the culmination of that series. Sadly, this just didn’t resonate with me. The Chaos King was a one note bland villain. The comic book “science” behind some of the events here were pretty hard to follow the logic. The dialogue was just as good and the Herc series but the story was just lacking. The art by Koi Pham was good not great. Overall a letdown based on the previous work.
• 
  J.

  Having read the entire Chaos War--including all the cross-overs--I can say that there just isn't much here. The main story has a few good ideas, and the Hulk issues are fair enough, but most of the crossovers are just terrible. Even as an event, the idea seems sort of ok, but the execution is just really sloppy--the Chaos King pretty much takes over in issue 1, then 30 issues or so go by where nothing happens, then they save the day. It's just very hard to like.
• 
  Earl

  Well, after a while, I got the impression that all-out cosmic wars in comics tend to be pretty messed up and catastrophic. This is no exception, but it doesn't mean that it isn't any good. Actually, I enjoyed a huge part of it.
• 
  K

  
  
  Greg Pak's worst. WW Hulk is are far better and worthwhile read!
• 
  Robert

  As far as events go this was ok. It is kind of cool that someone remembers the other Earth pantheons. However I think it ends far too quickly.
• 
  Jacquelyn Koh

  Had great bits here and there, but more chaotic that I prefer.
  
  The end 'saving throw' by Herc and the following exchange between Herc and Cho was the saving grace for me.
• 
  James

  High power but I do not like Hercules as a super hero.