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
