Once there was a hero named Hercules. He was very strong and very brave. He had big muscles— the biggest in the world. From the day he was born, he went around the world having adventures. Some people say he was not very smart, but that’s not true. And here is a story to prove it.

One day, Hercules went to work for a bad king. The king hated Hercules. He spent all of his time thinking up dangerous things for the hero to do. First, he sent Hercules to fight the fierce Lion of Nemea. The lion was eating people all over Greece, but Hercules put an end to him.

Next, the king sent Hercules to a dark swamp to face the Hydra, a man-eating monster with nine heads. As soon as Hercules cut off one head, two more grew in its place. And the last would not stop biting—even after it was cut off! 

Then the bad king ordered Hercules to wrestle Geryon, a cattle rancher with three ugly heads, six legs, six arms, and six heavy clubs in his six hands.

To make matters worse, Geryon had a nasty two-headed dog with very sharp teeth! After each dreadful battle, Hercules always came back the winner with some trophy to show—a lionskin, for example, or Geryon’s wild herd of cattle, which stampeded through the court, scaring the king and making a mess!

Hercules was very proud of his prizes. But the day he brought back the three golden apples, he was proudest of all, for that’s the day he proved he was smart.

Here is how it happened….

“One of my sons had a lot of trouble with beginning reading. How laboriously we taught him his letters, then sounds, then short words! But then we found the Myth Men series. He read these books over and over -- and they have some big words! It's a comic book format, so he could pick up cues from the pictures. This series got him over the reading hump, he moved on to text without pictures, and last year he won an award for most books read at his school!"  —C. Sahu, Amazon, five stars

“My son loved it! I didn’t expect him to show an interest in Greek mythology, but that’s exactly what happened. This book is great for reluctant readers who are turned on by comic books and are making a transition to chapter books. The text is bigger than in most chapter books and there are pictures on each page. As an added plus,(readers) get exposed to ancient Greece. It’s been enough to make me a fan of the series.  —Nicola Gardiner, Amazon, five stars.

At the time I wrote the series, MYTH MEN my older son, Adam was ten years old and loved Superman. My younger son Ethan was six. He loved Batman and Spiderman. I wanted my children to be as familiar with the Greek myths as they were with the stories in Marvel comic books. If they knew about X Men, why not know about Myth Men, the original superheroes?  I chose the story of Hercules and the Golden Apples because in that contest, Hercules needs brain power as well as muscle power. He comes to realize that no matter how big and strong you are, there’s always someone bigger and stronger.  Click here to watch the CBS animated T.V. series, MYTHIC WARRIORS on YouTube, adapted from this series.  —LGB