Issues #7 and 8 of Masters
of the Universe volume 3 were published by Image Comics in 2004. These are
self-contained stories that don’t connect to the events of the cartoon in any
meaningful way; this abrupt change in topic, the change in publisher, and the production
delay (#7 comes three months after issue #6) suggest significant difficulties
with the license.
Issue #7 was written by Val Staples, Leanne Shaw Hannah, and
Emiliano Santalucia and illustrated by Hannah. Here, Stratos recalls how, as a
child, his parents were slaughtered by insect people, and how he subsequently
became a warlord.
He-Man does not appear in this story, nor does any other
canonical character who isn’t one of the Bird People. There’s nothing
necessarily wrong with that once in a while, but while this story does some
world-building, it also feels somewhat irrelevant. The authors do a pretty good
job with the storytelling, but Stratos isn’t the most interesting character to
begin with. And I must condemn the grammatically horrendous line, “My entire
village was slaughtered, leaving only Hawk and I to fend for ourselves.”
Hannah’s art is okay. The faces seem off, and not just
because of the weird eyes she gives the Bird People. Everything unrelated to
faces is solid, though.
Issue #8 was written by Ryan Foley, Emiliano Santalucia, and
Val Staples and illustrated by Fabio Laguna. Here, Orko causes yet another
catastrophe, then goes off to feel sorry for himself.
Well, this is hardly the first time we’ve seen this story.
Not only is it highly reminiscent of the season one episode “Lessons,” it also
has a lot in common with the Filmation episode “The Rarest Gift of All,” and
never mind all the other Orko-screwing-things-up stories we’ve been subjected
to over the years. There are some nice touches here, but this is a tired old
story.
Laguna’s art is generally fine, if a little too cartoony, but
neither Adam’s nor He-Man’s head ever looks quite right.
In the end – and this is
the end for the 200X comic books – these are competently told but unimpressive
stories, and they’re an unfitting conclusion to what had been a rather satisfying
run of comics.
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
Read it HERE
