Comic Info
Comic Name: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Rafael Kayanan/Michael S. O’Hare/Tom Derenick
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2015
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #10
Reprints He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #7-12 (December 2013-June 2014). Grayskull has fallen and the Masters have been crushed by the invading forces of Hordak. In a desperate attempt by King Randor, He-Man, Teela, Stratos, and Moss Man find themselves travelling into the underworld of Eternia and braving the rings of Subteria to try to bring the Sorceress back…but someone in Randor’s party is a traitor that could deal the crushing blow to the attempt to stop Hordak once and for all.
Written by Dan Abnett, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 4: What Lies Within continues the adaptation of the ’80s Mattel toyline by DC Comics and follows He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 3 (which collected the first six issues of the continuing series).
I grew up with He-Man, and He-Man really, really needed expanding to be a valid title. The authors of the Masters of the Universe comics for DC have a tricky (but fun) assignment of creating a universe that was partially formed in comics and cartoons and giving it volume. This collection provides one of the best examples of how that works.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #12
When He-Man was released in 1982, the storylines were much different. The comics changed with the second wave of toys and became a bit closer to the stories presented in the popular cartoon series. One of the original concepts was that the Sorceress and Teela were the same toy. The Sorceress had a snake garb and you simply removed this to get “Teela”. Later a separate Sorceress was presented in the cartoon and this Sorceress was tied to Zoar (the falcon toy). In this volume, these ideas are merged along with the history of the Snake Men, and Teela smartly has her original “Sorceress” look when she is transformed…it is rather smart writing for a “dumb” toy that has throwbacks for early fans.
In addition to changes like this, you learn “Moss Man” is just a nickname for Kreann’ot N’norosh who is an almost Swamp Thing-esque characters. The story also looks into the past of Eternia with the Snake Man (King Hiss becomes King Hssss but still resembles the toy). It is quite fun for fans…I just wish that they could get more of these links into the series.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is a fun series, but I imagine if you weren’t a fan of He-Man, it might not be very good. The series really banks on fans who are now in their 30’s and 40’s and I don’t know how it will sit with the people who collected the newer incarnations of He-Man. I’ll be continuing with He-Man to see what happens on Eternia, and I hope He-Man has a decent run. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 4: What Lies Within is followed by He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 5: The Blood of Grayskull.
Related Links:
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 1
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 2: Origins of Eternia
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 3
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 5: The Blood of Grayskull
He-Man: The Eternity War—Volume 1
