The improbably named Saul New York wants you to engorge your pectorals, the HERCULES II way
Comic book fans tend to have no problems with the “Gain Weight!” part. It’s the “Muscular and Admired!!” codicil that gives them fits.*
Add this to the vast pile of bodybuilding ads that have appeared in comics over the years — if you stacked them all on top of one another, you’d probably have a Great Pyramid of chest grease or something (the capstone would of course be Charles Atlas). Two things make this one special: One, it seems highly improbable that “Saul New York” was the manly test case’s real name, but who knows. Is there a Joe Des Moines out there who can also attest to the HERCULES II method? And Two — and this is related to the Hercules usage (or HERCULES, as it were) — Herc should probably sue for improper use of his name. But which one would have legal standing to file suit? The Marvel Hercules? The Charlton Hercules? The DC Hercules? The Steve Reeves Hercules? The “real” Hercules? All of them? The mythological legal community may never know.
*Based on countless hours of observation at spinner racks and in comic book stores and conventions. And in front of mirrors.
Jared
blog into mystery 
I trust Saul New York. It’s his no-good bum of a cousin Randy California I don’t approve of.
Any relation to Tony Montana or Robert California?
Randy California was an actual real guy(not his real name, I’d guess), a musician in the 60s-early 70’s band Spirit. Ironically, another guy (Jay Ferguson) in that same band wrote the theme for the t.v. show the Office, which featured a fictional character named Robert California. A coincidence? Whoo-whooo-whoo
I remember that course. It was marketed in the 1970s by Robert Kennedy, present day publisher and owner of MuscleMag International. Saul New York, of course, never existed. Bob took the head of a Canadian model from Brampton, Ontario, and added the body of a well known bodybuilder from the 1960s. The Hercules II course was actually pretty good well illustrated its time. You can see the entire program at the following amazing website, devoted to bodybuilding history:
http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/HerculesII/herc2-01.htm
Thanks for the info.
I’d like to see that, but the link takes me nowhere. Do you have another?
Hello Ken,
There is one for sale on Ebay.com. It’s a good deal as it comes with a ‘bonus’ course called Tensile Contraction. They were both marketed by Bob Kennedy, the late owner of Muscle Mag International. It’s still a great course too.
See: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HERCULES-II-BODYBUILDING-COURSE-/301328265325?pt=Magazines&hash=item462890706d
I took that course, along with two of my buddies, (my friend bought it). I was in high school, and it change our life – Strangers commented on my fitness. Good memory – wish I could find a copy of the course somewhere.
Still have the course from 43 years ago. It really worked wonders and I may go through it again.
Hey Peter – that’s cool – you’re going to feel great!
Bill Gibbons – Thanks for the link – unfortunately, I missed your comment back when you posted it!
I actually got this course, back in the day. Lots of very good exercises (which I didn’t keep up with, I’m sorry to say) and I couldn’t help but notice that “Saul’s” head was apparently cut-and-pasted onto some of the muscular forms shown therein.