If you’re a child of the ’80s, chances are you have memories of ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,†The story about Prince Adam of Eternia who transformed into He-Man to fight the evil Skelator on a weekly basis.
Notice the past tense there? That’s because those adventures were memorable, these new ones, in comic book form, sadly, are not.
But then again Dark Horse, along with Mattel, have decided to throw these in with Mattel’s new line of He-Man action figures. A three-part series written by Tim Seeley and art by Wellinton Alves, based on the much loved ’80s cartoon, it’s cool that the series at least is getting some new love from the comic book medium.
The story is about a great war going on in Eternia between the Masters of the Universe and the snake men and Skeletor’s men. Ancient prophecies are coming true so Teela, now a sorceress, sends He-Man back in time to find an item that will stop the war. Skeletor overhears and follows He-Man.
The story is weak and cliché in every sense of the term. Yes, the cartoon was not all that original to begin with but at least it was entertaining. This story is not. And at only eight pages it feels more like a comic you’d buy with a He-Man action figure than at a shop.
Also, there’s one scene where He-Man gets to the past, knocks out a snake man, steals his clothes and then attacks the other snake men. He-Man may have been many things in the cartoon but stupid and reckless was not one of them.
As for Skeletor, he just seems to be in the comic for the sake of being there. He-Man has plenty of dangers to face in the past and Skeletor was not needed. He also doesn’t do anything at all.
The artwork is well done, though. Alves managed to take the look of the cartoon and make it look like what a good He-Man comic adaptation would look like. He even makes some of the more ridiculous creatures (the triceratops with the laser gun on its head) look good. This is, sadly, the only redeeming quality of the comic.
“Masters of the Universe: The Powers of Grayskull†feels more like a cheap way to revive the He-Man franchise and make more toys. Well, maybe because it is. With a weak story that feels put together in two seconds, a mere eight pages in length and He-Man acting dumber than he was on the show, fans will not be impressed. Your typical comic reader will take one look at it and forget the comic even existed five minutes after reading it. Thankfully it was bundled with a He-Man toy.
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