The first issue of the first mini-series sets the tone: light and humouous. As the story opens, Hercules returns to Olympus "after years of wandering and adventure upon the world of men" and disturbs Zeus's "Day of Reflective Silence." In a fit of rage, Zeus banishes Hercules, not to Earth but to space where he hopes his boistrous son will learn humility. Apollo loans him his chariot and Hercules sets off. He soon encounters the Rigellians who loan him a Recorder to act as sidekick and furnish comic relief. After that he becomes entangled with Layana Sweetwater (whom we'll see more of later). He also becomes friends with Commander Amayd Malin and drives Galactus away from the distillers' planet, Ceigrim-7 by trying to make him drunk. [SPOILER] His ploy doesn't work, but Galactus is so amused that he leaves of his own volition. [END SPOILER] Hercules also hooks up with Galactus' Herald, Nova, the former Frankie Raye of Earth.
There is nothing in the first mini-series which indicates it takes place at any time other than the present, but the first issue of the second mini-series establishes that it is set in the 24th century. The reason for this will soon become readily apparent, but I prefer to think that these series take place in an alternate present rather than an alternate future. There are just too many discrepancies with Marvel Universe stories (that hadn't even been written yet). OTOH, a 40-year gap is established between the first and second series. If the first had taken place in 1982, then the second would have taken place in 2022, an "alternate future" anyway.
Hercules' friend Amayd Malin dies of old age, and Hercules and the Recorder acquire a new traveling companion, a Skrull named Skyppi. After that, Hercules encounters the 24th century version of the Red Wolf. Meanwhile, back in Olympus, Zeus goes mad and kills all of the other Greek Gods. This has the effect on Hercules of turning his hair grey, even as far away as the Andromeda galaxy. He, Skyppi and the Recorder then head back to Earth, stopping by Saturn's moon Titan on the way where Hercules must defeat a follower of thanos who has acquired the late Captain Marvel's nega-bands. Eventually, Hercules confronts Zeus face-to-face. Zeus reveals that the time had come for the Olympian Gods to move on to the next plane of existance, but he left the choice for Hercules to join them up to him. Hercules chooses to stay behind and his immortality is restored. It is the destruction of the Greek Gods which necessitated these series to be set in the future (that and the 40 year gap). The last thing Zeus does before departing this plane is to charge Hercules with siring a new race of immortals. (Little do either of them know at this point, but Hercules has already begun.)
Hercules next appears in a five-page back-up from (of all places) Marvel Tales #197. After that he moves on to Marvel Graphic Novel #37, "Full Circle." Emperor Arimathes rules the planetary system of Wilamean with an iron hand. Arimathes is the son of Hercules and Layana Sweetwater, who rules from behind the throne as the Emperor Mother. Layana hates Hercules for having rejected her and has raised Arimathes to hate him as well. When Hercules realizes that Arimathes is his son, he resolves to teach him the same lessons in humility that Zeus taught him.
A year passes while Hercules and Arimathes cintinue t fight the good fight. They next appear in three issues of Marvel Comics Presents (#39-41). From captivity in the north wing of the castle, the Emperor Mother tricks Skyppi the Skrull into a card game. She wins and asks Skyppi to "become the image of [her] son--to warm a mother's heart," and when he complies, she zaps him with a neuro-neutalizer, which not only prevents him from changing form, but also places him inder her control. She arranges to have Hercules assassinated, but the plan backfires and Arimathes bears the brunt of the attack. He survives and she learns a lesson, and this is the end of Bob Layton's Hercules... in the 1980s. (Actually, "Full Circle" made a better ending.
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So far, my comprehensive chronological "overview" of Hercules' life looks something like this:
What about this guy?