Trivia / Mage: The Hero Discovered

• Sequel Gap: The Hero Discovered was published in 1984-6, The Hero Defined in 1997-9, and The Hero Denied in 2017-9. The first gap was partly due to the legal wrangling between Wagner and his former publisher Comico over both Mage and Grendel, but the second gap was purely voluntary.
• Write Who You Know: Just as Kevin is King Arthur and an Author Avatar of Matt Wagner, most of the heroes in The Hero Denied are both avatars of mythological characters, and based on comic creators of Wagner's acquaintance. The more prominent of them worked with Wagner on Grendel.
  • Joe Phat is both Coyote and Joe Matt, creator of the autobiographical comic Peep Show and colorist on Grendel.
  • Kirby Hero, the Olympian, is Heracles and Bernie Mireault, creator of The Jam and sometime Grendel artist and colorist.
  • The three witches, Isis, Magda and Ishtar, are former Grendel editor Diana Schutz and her sisters Barbara (who married Matt Wagner in real life) and Trish (her ill-fated relationship with Joe Matt is depicted in Peep Show). Isis's husband Bart Gretch is former Dark Horse and DC editor, and Diana Schutz's former husband, Bob Schreck.
  • Kim Song is the Monkey King from the Chinese Journey to the West, but which comic creator he's based on I don't know.
  • Garth, the Hornblower, is Roland from The Song of Roland, and possibly Garth Ennis?
  • The Sun Twins are the Maya Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Which comic creators they are based on is uncertain.
  • The Dragonslayer is Siegfried from the Nibelungenlied, and Cerebus the Aardvark creator Dave Sim. His chauffeur Schnobble is Cerebus background artist Gerhard, via a reference to Will Eisner's "The Story of Gerhard Schnobble".
  • The Ulster Hound is both Cú Chulainn (from the Irish epic The Cattle Raid of Cooley), and famed comics writer Alan Moore. His "warrior women" are the two women Moore had a polyamorous relationship with for a time.
  • The Bear-Wulf is Beowulf (his t-shirt symbol is the mask of Matt Wagner's Grendel, named after the monster from Beowulf. Comic creator unidentified.
  • John J. Strider the Xth, the Presbyter, is the legendary Christian king Prester John, and Grendel artist John K. Snyder III.

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