Disney ‘Hercules’ Writer Elliott Kalan Talks The Strength, Labors, and Charm Of The Title Character

After featuring Hercules antagonist in his own book, Disney Villains: Hades, writer Elliott Kalan returns to the film’s unique spin on mythological Greece with Hercules, a new comic book series in which he and artist George Kambadais chronicle the hero’s next adventure. Aphrodite has gone missing and as Kalan tells Comicon.com in the following interview, others gods will soon join her. It will be up to Herc to find them, but is ready to be a detective? Kalan tells us a little bit about that, the strength Hercules retains after choosing to live as a human, and how the adventure has a certain topical edge to real life. Read on below:

Erik Amaya: The set-up for the series suggests it’s something of a mystery. In addition to being a superhero, after a fashion, is Hercules adding detective to his resume?

Elliott: I think Hercules is very much a superhero, the first superhero there ever was. He even wears a costume because his clothes are so ancient that they look like a costume now! As our series gets underway, Hercules finds that the gods of Olympus are disappearing one by one. He is definitely going to have to put on his detective hat, but he’s not used to detectiving, so it’s possible his reading of the clues may not take him in the right direction. Overall, though, the mystery is just one element of a book that’s mostly about fun, adventure, action, and what it means to be a mortal with a god for parents.

Erik: How long after the film does the series take place?

Hercules the comic takes place pretty shortly after Hercules the film. Hades has been defeated, Hercules has made his decision to be a mortal so he can remain with his love, Meg, but when the series begins that decision has been a recent one, and the Olympians are still struggling to fully understand it. Hercules’s relationship to the rest of his family is still being worked out.

Erik: Does he retain that boyish naiveté?

Elliott: Very much so. Part of the fun of writing this series has been writing a character who is sunny, noble, brave, and optimistic. He’s a little more mature after his experiences in the first movie, but he’s still someone who always expects the best and never doubts that right will win in the end. Of course, this means he sometimes gets into situations that require a little more effort than just wrestling a monster.

Erik: What sort of opportunities present themselves when you start with a Hercules who chose to live as a human?

Elliott: For me the biggest opportunity is to introduce the theme of the relationship between people and the gods in a world where the gods are very present and active in regular life. With Hercules as a human who could be a god, he provides a really unique perspective on that. It also means that Hercules can be endangered, beaten up, hurt, burned by a runaway sun chariot, and all sorts of things gods don’t have to worry about as much. He’s still superstrong, but he’s not totally invulnerable, so his refusal to give up when things get tough means that much more.

Erik: How much of that superstrength does he retain?

Elliott: Make no mistake, he’s still ridiculously strong. He can push over walls, throw horses around, smash stone, bend metal. Another part of the fun was coming up with mythological threats that would still be a challenge for a powerhouse like Herc.

Erik: How many of the character carry over from the film to the comic?

Elliott: We’re keeping Hercules with his core supporting characters. Phil and Meg are still along for most of the adventures, and we see Zeus and the other gods frequently (until they each get abducted). And the memory of Hades hangs over the series. And perhaps more than a memory, perhaps perhaps? In addition, we’ll be introducing a lot of new takes on characters from Greek mythology, ’cause I love Greek mythology.

Erik: Your career — The Daily Show and MST3K in particular — and the Disney Hercules sort of mesh together as both riff on the nature of fame and entertainment. Did the space for topical jokes immediately jump out as you plotted the story?

Elliott: Honestly, yes, but I try to resist the urge to make overly topical jokes. Hercules is an eternal figure, and Disney at its best is a timeless world, so ideally we’re telling a story that’s specific to itself without being specific to now but contains resonances with our current world that will remain relevant as time goes on. Although now that I think about it, much of the plot involves a villain capturing power in order to destroy the universe and recreate it in their image, which is a lot more topical than I realized until I answered this question!

Erik: Are the Labors of Hercules still in play or do you feel the film more or less covers that?

Elliott: I did feel the film covered that, and did a fun job of it without getting into the tragic aspects of them. I toyed with including some of the Labors here, but in the end I thought the audience would enjoy having all-new stuff that they’ve never seen before (unless they read the original myths we’re drawing from).

Erik: Do the Muses remain as narrators?

Unfortunately no! This is the question I get asked the most about this book, and unfortunately I just couldn’t find a way to fit them in with all the other things we were doing. But maybe someday in another Hercules story! I think there’ll still be a lot for Muse fans to enjoy!

Erik: Although it was a prequel – and somewhat continuity-breaking — will any of the animated series’ lore find its way into the book or are you going your own way in terms of expanding Hercules’ adventures?

Elliott: Disney gave us permission to work with just the movie’s continuity and not the animated series’, which was a huge help in giving us the freedom to interpret Hercules’s continuing adventures in our own way. Maybe someday we’ll do “Crisis On Infinite Myths,” and this Hercules and the animated Hercules will get to meet.

Erik: And once last, silly question: walking skeletons are such a part of cinematic Greek tales thanks to Ray Harryhausen, can we expect one or two?

I am such an enormous fan of Ray Harryhausen, and it’s one of the great regrets of my life that I never got to meet him. The Disney Villains: Hades series I did set in this world scratched the walking skeleton itch, since I had a whole army of them chase after Hades, his team, Jason, and the Argonauts. We won’t have any skeletons here, but we will have new versions of some characters Harryhausen also animated. I wish I could have Hercules go up against the Ymir, Mighty Joe Young, or Gwangi, though. Oh man, if only Disney owned the Harryhausen Cinematic Universe!

Disney’s Hercules comes to comic shops on March 13th.