Saturday, March 2, 2013

THE TARGET TWO-PACK COMIC


The “Target Two-Pack” comic (2002) was included with the exclusive He-Man vs. Skeletor Gift Set. It’s written by Val Staples and illustrated by Emiliano Santalucia and Enza Fontana. Here, Skeletor sends his minions to attack the Royal Palace while he moves on Castle Grayskull.

It’s executed in a perfectly competent manner, but this is about as generic a He-Man story as you could ask for – even though this is our first look at the 200X reboot, it feels like we’ve read this comic before, and more than once. And I suppose that’s understandable given that the cartoon was just kicking off; in that sense, this does everything you’d want a promotional comic to do: feature the main characters, get all of the supporting characters “on camera,” and set up the locations and conflict.

Santalucia was the foremost artist for the 200X He-Man comics, and his art is consistently good quality. His characters, faces, poses, action and attention to detail are always solid. And I tell you what: skipping from 1988 all the way to 2002, with modern comic book production techniques like digital coloring, is like night and day.

The art is excellent, as I say, but this one brings nothing new to the table simply because it makes no attempt to do so.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

Read it HERE