HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE return to comics in an all-new graphic novel!
Prince Adam sets out to reclaim the mantle of HE-MAN, a legendary power that he can wield for the powers of good. But around every turn the evil villain Skeletor seeks to destroy the young hero and keep him from finding his fellow Masters. Join writers James Robinson (EARTH 2, STARMAN) and Keith Giffen (LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES) and artist Philip Tan (GREEN LANTERN, BATMAN & ROBIN) as they unveil a MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE for a new generation.
OK. So He-Man and the Masters of the Universe were hot property when I was growing up. We all wanted the power of Grayskull. We were also told that it was Satanic, which kind of made it even more cool, because now it was officially naughty.
In any event, time passed and the real life began and I forgot all about the story, until I came across this in a Comic Shop. Had to have it - for old times' sake.
Turns out Skeletor actually won the fight and has stripped He-Man / Adam of his memory (and thus his power)... not quite what you would have expected, eh? That's where this re-imagining of the Masters of the Universe mythos sets off, as Adam the Woodcutter starts regaining his memories and sets off to right wrongs and kick rattly Skeletor-posterior.
There's nothing truly groundbreaking here, but I quite enjoyed it. Check out that first tiff between Adam and Beast-man! It's edgier than the animations and most of the old guard make an appearance. I might even pick up the next volume to see where the story is going from here.
Quick and short review. Never read/watched much of He-man growing up. Came in with super low expectations. Came out enjoying it for most part. Cute little adventure, plenty of fighting, some good humor, and a decent set up for the future. A 3 out of 5.
When I heard that there was a comic for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by DC I was floored. I love He-Man and She-Ra. Always have. So I couldn't wait to get my hands on this comic. I was able to find it at my library too. I really enjoyed it. Most of the comic is about He-Man trying to get his memory back. Skeletor stole it from him and his crew. He man did act a little goofy and some of the things he said in the comic was hilarious. I do wish we could've seen more of Adam as He-Man but that doesn't happen till the end of the comic. So I am sure in the next volume he will take more of his He-Man role. It will be super fun if She-Ra enters the comics at some point too.
Like lots of kids from the 80's and 90's I was of course glued to the TV on Saturday mornings to watch the syndicated episodes of He-Man, and naturally, She-Ra.
I first head that DC was revamping the series via comics awhile back, and I was initially very enthusiastic - even though I love how nostalgic it makes me feel for my childhood, I have no problem with exploring a darker, grittier, and more complex vision of the original 80's iconic hero.
The Art (although baring little resemblance to the "look" of the original cartoon) was very good, but the writing felt a bit wooden.
My harshest criticism is regarding Teela, though.
She goes from this:
To this:
It's not just the scantily clad adaptations of all the "young" female characters (the old women seen at the beginning was fully clothed, yet most of the Eternian society reviles clothing) but Teela, in particular, felt odd in her representation. She was whiny and weird. The Feels I remember had spunk and verve.
The story is also a bit confusing - opening with Adam (no longer Prince Adam) as a lonely wood cutter with an ailing father. The ailing father is actually never fully explained because King Randor appears later, and oddly knows that He-Man, not just Adam, is his son. Queen Marlena does not make an appearance.
As the story progresses we find out that Skeletor has taken over Castle Greyskull, imprisoned the Sorcoress, and wiped everyone of their memories - also, Orko apparently did something to betray He-Man, but its never revealed what. Another big, unexplained shocker is the fact that Skeletor is He-Man's uncle, although I have no idea how that's supposed to work. Is he related to Randor? Marlena?
I wished their had been some sort of prologue to explore all of this, because I was a bit lost. Most of the readers going into this would be well acquainted with the show mythology, and I don't see how this wouldn't be confusing to all of us.
Adam is just a normal, run-of-the-mill woodsman. He has lived in the woods his entire life and has learned everything he has ever known from his now-ailing father. Adam knows this is his lot in life but he continues to be plagued by dreams that indicate that maybe, just maybe, he is to be something more. That he is supposed to live a life beyond his barrier of trees. Deciding one day to follow the bird who keeps him company as he chops, he leaves his father in his neighbour's care and for the first time in his life, makes his way out of the woods. His peace and wonder don't last long however, he soon runs into a vicious Beast Man who seems to know him and Adam finds himself utilising skills he never knew he had to escape. His escape once again does not last long, and he is soon kidnapped. Then he escapes again with a new friend, Teela, who he thinks he knows but he doesn't know how. Then they're kidnapped again. Then they escape again. Then Adam unlocks his destiny. You get the picture.
Basically, Adam is He-Man.
Sorry for that spoiler.
As someone who isn't a He-Man fan and was born after the prime of He-Man, I had hoped this would be my gateway into the lore of the universe as I know it's a property that means a lot to a number of different people. However, I found myself a little bored with the "hero of the week" approach to telling this story, otherwise, I think I could have enjoyed the "hero has his mind wiped by his evil skeleton uncle" plot. The layout of the book felt very much like a 90s cartoon and while I think that would be perfect for those with a nostalgia for the character, I have no prior connection with this world. My knowledge of He-Man comes from that video where it used He-Man over the "so I cry sometimes when I'm lying in bed" song.
Basically, what I'm saying is that this book is more for the already fans than any potential new fans.
This book was bought on a purely nostalgic whim and thankfully, it didn't disappoint. As a child, I literally had no chill when this show came on. I loved the opening theme and remember standing atop the sofa, holding aloft an imaginary sword and yelling, "I....have....the....Power!!!". Ofcourse this was followed by pointing aforementioned imaginary sword at imaginary pet cat, Cringer who would morph into the mighty Battle-Cat. And then I would shut up after that because it was time for good ol'Skeletor to get his routine dose of defeat at the hands of the mighty squad who protected Castle Grayskull.
Getting back to the book, He-Man has lost his memory and is an ordinary woodsman called Adam. He remembers nothing about being the most powerful man in the Universe but flashes of his past life skitter across his mind. Soon he will run into his forgotten foes and equally amnesiac friends who will lead him back to his nasty Uncle Skeletor. And all hell will break loose.
I enjoyed this book and might just follow the series to know what happens in this magical family feud that started in my childhood. Still crushing on you, He-Man
Went in with fairly low expectations, to be honest, which is my default setting when approaching any reboot of an 80's classic, but was pleasantly surprised that I did not in fact, hate this. The art is good, the dialogue was often quite sharp and genuinely humorous at times. But it's probably a series for new fans of the franchise, not the purists, because it's quite a different re imagining to the Universe we grew up with. Probably wont seek out volume 2, but will instead rewatch the Dolph Lundgren movie from 1987...
As my main introduction to He-Man, I liked it well enough. Each issue shows a new villain as the plot progresses and it's decently engaging while worldbuilding. I think a few aspects differ from the original but are still good.
Some parts would probably appeal more to preexisting fans and hinge on the assumption that the reader is at least somewhat familiar with the cartoon. I've only ever seen a few episodes with the terrible Polish voiceover so I vaguely recognised some characters here and think it's an alright starting point since I'm not too familiar with the cartoon.
I don't have much to say about this disaster called a comic book. It isn't He-Man, or at least, it isn't the He-Man I knew. I had picked up the comic because I thought to myself, “It's He-Man, it has to be cool.” Boy was I ever wrong.
This is as far from He-Man as anything could be. In the first volume of this ongoing series, it looks like they decided to mix He-Man in with Game of Thrones. This is a horrible fit. Look, I think that having some blood and other more serious fighting is fine. I don't mind all of the stuff that they changed, but this is not a bloody, gory franchise. It was never intended to be.
Between Sorcoress being brutally bloodied and killed (and worse), Orko being a villain, Teela being an immature brat that is around more for fanservice (very scantily clad fanservice at that) than anything else, among other bad parts, this is a disaster that I can't bear to finish. Oh, and the future volume will have She-Ra introduced as Hordak's adopted daughter, like in the original series, but with a twist. You see, she is not just more violent in this medium, she makes Xena in her bad days look cuddly and adorable. Wonderful job DC.
I know that many folks roll their eyes when they hear others complain how something has been ruined, but for me it has. Maybe others like to read this darker and edgier crap without the hope and idealism it had before, but not me.
I recommend never reading this book. I only gave it one star because I had to give it something. It is trash and doesn't deserve any stars at all. DC has horribly hurt this franchise, and destroyed some of my best memories. Disgusting.
Yes, I am reading this, and it's not just to get to the part of the series where She-Ra appears and it's pretty awesome so far!
REVIEW AFTER READING: This is a clever reinvention of the He-Man universe. The humor supplied by writer Keith Giffen sometimes falls flat, but the rest of the world building is wonderful. I love how nostalgic fans can see Eternia brought back to life as the characters themselves slowly remember who they are and the world they inhabit. Philip Tan's art is gorgeous and well worth the buy for that alone. Can't wait to read more!
A slightly modern take on the Masters of the Universe. The characters are treated as more than two-dimensional kids' characters, but the plot is still pretty staid. We start off with the old villains-have-won-and-taken-the-heroes-memories tropes. Then we get Adam fighting against one of the foes of Eternia each issue. It's interesting to see the slow introductions, and the writing is generally pretty good, but we end up with a pretty well-expected fight between good and evil at the end.
A reboot of the He Man/She ra story. It is basically a twist on the pilot of She-ra, but with some added plot and characters. I enjoyed this, as it is obviously written by a fan of the series. I just wish it was a completely new story. A good read.
Despite not growing up with He-Man, I've gotten into the franchise thanks to the Netflix Revelations/Revolution series. On the one hand, I appreciate that the comic isn't afraid to be a little more mature, a think I like about the Netflix series as well. On the other hand, the art is nowhere near as good. It's not bad but it's just kinda...scuffed looking. Teela was also blonde for some reason. Also wasn't a fan of He-Man's armor design but it could have been worse. Skeletor's design was good.
As for the story, it had potential. The premise is solid and has kind of a take on what Kevin Smith did with Revelations. The major problems are that there's no lead-in for this series and six issues feels sparse even for a sword and sorcery series. It started with an 8-issue all-digital series based on certain characters, just giving a look at them, not really telling a full arc, and then the series proper starts with the actual book. I think a full twelve issues could've worked well. Couple of issues to explain how we got here as a flashback, or maybe even at the beginning. It's mostly fun though, and I guess it's good that I wanted more but yeah. Solid like three stars, maybe give it an extra quarter.
Very interesting way to bring people back into the world of Masters of the Universe. This book collects issues 1-6 of the start up comic. I believe this was made to be tied into the action figure release from Matty Collector, since there have been some re-designs on some of the characters. This is definitely geared more for those kids that grew up on He-Man and now are adults, as there is more violence and the sword is actually used for fighting instead of just blocking.
There's a prologue that doesn't make too much sense at the moment, which I hope will be resolved at the end of the next collection. The heroes had their memories taken away as Skeletor has finally taken over Castle Greyskull. Slowly they regain their memories as they encounter more of his minions in a bid to have them killed once and for all.
Character wise, they're true to the original, except it seems that the secret to Adam being He-Man was revealed to the others a long while ago. I hope they will get into that later. There's also a twist that I didn't see coming, which should be interesting to read. I hope to pick up the next issue soon.
This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. The basic story is "Prince Adam and all the good guys had their memories wiped by Skeletor (and Orko?) and we see their journey to regain them". Now, I don't know if that story was shown somewhere else (this is my first He-Man comic after watching the cheesy animated series as a kid) but I could jump on without seeing that. I will say - if you didn't know He-Man then this story would make little sense to you, but knowing the characters and universe I could follow along and thought it was great fun and a much, much, much, better story than the animated series.
I think the only minuses I could say are - I wish the art had stayed more consistent, I wish James Robinson had stuck around- his starting stories were stronger than the later ones by Keith Giffen and since He-Man and friends lost their memory we didn't get to see them in action (as we know them) until the last few pages. But I am sure other He-Man comics do that. Also...why did Orko turn bad? I wanna see that story :).
Finally getting around to reading all these. Thanks, Hoopla!
I enjoyed the spin on this. Skeletor ensorcels He-Man, Teela and the rest to believe they are not who they once were. Adam believes himself to be a woodsman who takes care of his ailing father (Randor). No clue where Marlena is. She’s not once mentioned, which kinda bugged me.
Slowly, with the help of the Sorceress who is imprisoned by Skeletor in Grayskull, she uses her form of Zoar to lead He-Man, Teela, etc to the truth. As Adam sets off to find the Sword of Power, Skeletor sets his henchmen to kill him and those who help him.
He never learns.
Some really fun moments with Teela and Adam pairing up against Merman and Evil Lyn. I don’t like the idea that Orko is a traitor tho. That’s some fanboy hatred of the character coming through the writing and I’ve never cared for it.
But honestly a cool little spin on another adventure in Eternia. Love this world.
It begins with Adam the woodsman having dreams of a barbaric warrior fighting a skeleton man. One day, he has an awakening, a need to go out into the world.
Quickly, he finds himself fighting many of the classic Skeletor lackeys whom seem to know exactly who is he is even though he has never met them, or at least remember to have met them.
This is a story that talks about finding out who you are and what is your place in the world told in a fantastical way. It doesn't introduce us to many of the characters because we're supposed to be already aquatinted to them (I mean we're reading a story of Msters of the Universe after all).
After this story concludes we have some issues that tell us about who are some of the characters or some minor adventures of them. This is in order to understand the second part of this grand sci-fi/fantasy epic.
Ich lese selten Comics, in diesem Fall hat mich aber der Ausflug in meine Kindheit gereizt. Der hat sich gelohnt, He-Man und die Masters sind hier deutlich erwachsener geworden und die unterschiedlichen Zeichner schaffen es, eine düstere und wirklich großartige Atmosphäre zu erschaffen. Die Story ist spannend und speziell in der ersten Hälfte ist man verwundert und irritiert ob des seltsamen Verlaufes. Erst nach und nach kristallisiert sich heraus, warum die Figuren so handeln, wie sie es tun.
Band 1 wird definitiv nicht der letzte der Reihe in meiner Sammlung bleiben.
Bought this solely for Nostalgia purposes, and while the storyline may be very different to the cartoons I remember fondly I found myself enjoying it, I know people have said its veered away from what the cartoon and toys are based on but in fairness if id picked this up and it was as happy go lucky as the cartoon id have been disappointed. Its not an overly complex story and its an enjoyable quick read.
I love Masters of the Universe and was fortunate enough to find this in a thrift shop. I sat down and read the whole thing in one sitting, which is not something I always do. I have always enjoyed these stories and He-Man will always be the hero I grew up looking up to. Fantastic read and can't wait to get to Volume 2.
This was way better than Netflix, but left a lot of unanswered questions. Also, there seem to be quite a few He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Vol. 1's. It is confusing.
*SPOILERS*
I did not see the need to kill the sorcerous. Why does MOTU keep doing that? Please do not kill the characters I grew up with.
A collection which began DC's 2012 relaunch of our favourite muscled hero. A very good beginning, which introduces some of our main characters to the unintiated as well as giving fans a new take on them.
A really enjoyable volume, with action, humour and The Masters of the Universe.
This def put a smile on my face and brought me back to my childhood.Loved the way the story unfolded and the banter between He-Man and Teela was excellent.
A good reboot of the series. The six issues collected in this TPB give the characters time to get the story rolling. I will read Volume 2 and see where it goes.