The Pull Bag
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 2012 DC Miniseries Discussion

About this Episode
Skeletor, hurry! I am hurrying, I'm hurrying!
Welcome to The Pole Bag. Join us as we dig out
our latest comics and discuss them with the rotating
panel of the GCRN crew. Sit back and enjoy this
week's whole bag Hello and welcome to the pull
bag this is episode 14 I am your host tfg on
Mike and joining me for the first time in the
pull bag is a dust better and hello Since when
did you have a sex change operation? Oh, I don't
know it goes in and out ha Like you say now you
sound like a bad 80s Joker The one from the cartoon
from the was it the legends of the dark night
No Whatever the one that's in Batman the brave
and the bold the Jeff Bennett Yeah, well, no,
no not yeah, but like that style of voice Yeah,
cuz they're Batman brave and the bold are taking
that from what is it the 60s or 50? I don't know
They're taking it like Batman the brave and the
bold is a love letter to the old silver age stuff
And it's like holy crap. So we're here to talk
about comics Where did you? Where did you start
with comics? Were you did someone in your fan
did your dad or did your uncle or did somebody
get you into comics? Or did you just say hey
mom, look at this. It's cool. I want it. Um,
I didn't get like head over heels into comics
and chill about 2005. Before that, all of my
comic knowledge was based on all of the Marvel
cartoons and Batman and Superman from the 90s.
Pretty much it was the Spider -Man one that compelled
me to buy some books. I didn't buy a lot. It
was more like, hey, I know he's a comic book
character, but he's toys, and I'm all about toys.
So I went out and bought all the toys, and yeah,
it wasn't until about 2005 when I started going
to the Art Institute with a bunch of other comic
book nerds. It's like, you know what, maybe it's
about time I get into this. And it hasn't stopped
since. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's one of those things
where, like, I've long since appreciated comics,
but at the time, I'm like you. You know, three
or four years ago, I was heavy in the toys. And
then, due to financial reasons, I had to basically
sell my entire collection that I had had. And
due to other reasons, from a certain online retailer
that shall remain collector -less, I just said,
screw it. And we are explicit on this show. I
have always, you know... The entire GeekCast
Radio Network is explicit. We do try to kind
of curb it every now and then, but there are
times when you need a good, you know, damn or
hell or a couple of f -bombs. So if you feel
the need, don't worry about it. I don't bleep
anything out because I podcast for me. I podcast
for people my age. I don't podcast for kids.
So yeah, this whole family friendly thing works
for some people. It doesn't work for me. But
yeah, no, I was like. I've always respected comics,
I've always, you know, heard about them, and
it wasn't until New 52, Batman 13, when Death
of the Family started. Steve Megatron had written
up a review of it on geekcaster .com, our website,
and after reading that I was like, yeah, I gotta
find this. I read that book and my jaw was like
glued to the floor. Like, just the way that book
ends, and sadly, the run was anti -climactic
at the end. Yeah. So he dies! Well, not in that
book anyway, but anyway. But no, yeah, I'm like
full tilt into comics now, like I've said in
every other episode of this show. What are you
currently reading? Um, right now, I, with the
exception of Fantastic Four, I am primarily a
DC. And the funny thing is, growing up, I'd always
been a Marvel guy. And it wasn't until Blackest
Night where I started kind of like, all right,
you know, maybe it's time I should start broadening
my horizons and, you know, see what the other
side's all about. And ever since the New 52,
it's been the majority of DC that I'm reading.
Um, Aquaman, Batman, of course, Batgirl, Swamp
Thing, Wonder Woman, obviously the He -Man. I
was reading Deadpool for a while, and then, you
know, it's Deadpool, so it gets a little formulaic.
They need a new creative team. They have with,
um, Brian Poussain, which I was, that kind of
came out of nowhere. Kind of interested, but
I have yet to read it. And then, yeah, for Marvel,
it's just Fantastic Four. And like one of my
friend points pointed out, it seems to be Absolutely
impossible to get back into spider -man growing
up. He was always my superhero of choice and
You know, I've gone back and with the majority
of all the Marvel characters I read all the classic
stuff up until about late 70s and Just you know
once you get into the 80s everything just especially
with the x -men everything just gets so convoluted
and Layers on top of layers on top of layers.
It's it's too much. Yeah, I Like you And I've
mentioned this before on the podcast, like you,
in the 90s, you know, I started with the animation
and, you know, and, you know, that made me want
to go search our comics. And I had found it was
like the end of the spite. Like it was right
as Spidey TAS was ending and unlimited was beginning
in 98 or 99. And I went to a, I believe it was
a Walden books and I saw something. called spider
girl and i'm like what? and it's he and mary
jane's daughter and i'm like okay that's interesting
i'll read that and yeah but that's pretty much
the extent for me but now it's like with spider
-man i jumped back in with spider like spider
-man is right now the only title i read from
marvel and i only have one of the like spider
-man and batman it's like holy crap there's like
seven spider -man books and there's like ten
batman books not counting batgirl nightwing you
know not counting the other just specifically
batman there's there's batman there's dark knight
there's detective there's ink there's batman
and rob you know there's like that's five right
there you know so there's so many damn books
with spidey i jumped in at 698 through 700 and
I am fully on board with Superior Spider -Man
because Spider -Man for me and I've said this
before on the show and just for your purposes
there are always so many stories you can tell
with Peter Parker everybody in the last 70 years
knows Peter Parker's origin no matter how many
times you vary it everybody knows his villains
this this this and this and this and the whole
brain swapping thing spoilers for those that
haven't read it yet which why haven't you um
having oc in his body it it's something fresh
it's something new it's something that they hadn't
to my knowledge done before like they hadn't
really like marvel hadn't really committed to
okay we're not gonna have peter yes there have
been times where peter parker hasn't been there
it's been ben riley or it's been this clone or
that clone or whatever it's been you know or
you know peter you know whatever but It's one
of those things where they've never actively
committed to the fact of Peter Parker no more
whatsoever. And that's what they're doing with
Superior Spider -Man. I love it. I think it's
great. I think it's the best move Marvel could
have done with the character. Because there's
only so many times you can have Spidey go up
against the Sinister Six or the Insidious Six
or whatever the hell they're calling him this
week. I had never been a fan of the whole Ultimate
Universe, but I am. I'm fairly intrigued about
the Miles Morales Spider -Man. I just haven't
read it yet. I've been hearing good things, so
hopefully down the line I'll get into it. Yeah,
the only thing as far as the Ultimates universe
that I get into is the Ultimate Spider -Man cartoon
that's currently on Disney XD. I love that show.
The newest Spider -Man cartoon. Not Spectacular,
the one after it. Yeah, not really my thing.
But yeah, like you, I'm pretty much all about
DC. And speaking of DC, this is the Masters of
the Universe episode. We're going to be covering
the six issue miniseries that they released back
in 2012. And we will start with issue one after
this. I am Adam, Prince of Eternia, defender
of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. So yes, we
are talking about the 2012 miniseries he man
in the Masters of the universe issue one Basically,
it's a misleading cover because this doesn't
happen till the end of the series folks It's
an awesome cover don't get me wrong and the cover
is He man in front of Castle Grayskull with sword
held out, you know held the loft and You know
magic powers magic words and all that stuff.
I like the cover I don't know I haven't done
research on this series to see if there was variance
For it, but I do like this cover As far as the
book goes I'm loving the art the arts The art
is done by Philip Tan and I think Roy Jose Writing
on this first issue was done by James Robinson,
which I did not know. When I first bought these
six issues from my comic shop, I figured, okay,
James Robinson will be the same. No, Keith Giffen
takes over pretty much after issue two. But no,
it basically starts out with a dream sequence
and we get a really cool splash page on the second
and third page of all the different masters,
including Adora. For a second there, I thought
her crest was almost Nipple gate ish type thing
there for a minute So we have this huge battle
with with the Masters versus the evil warriors
and then hey Adam is a woodsman What the hell?
Yeah, I mean It takes like two two issues before
you realize everything that's going down and
You know, what gets revealed later? Do we want
to spoil it yet? Well, no, not yet. But Adam
as a woodlick, when I first brought these home,
like I mentioned earlier, I read through them,
but I don't think I fully grasped it. I don't
think I was at the point in time where I grasped
what was going on in the story. I mean, clearly
something has happened and he He's not the Adam
of Old, however, he's tending to a sickly father
who certainly doesn't go by the name of Randor,
which confused the hell out of me. Yeah. Yeah.
Um... But I... I just, I didn't... I think we're,
you know, I think honestly, once this whole Woodsman
thing happened, I pretty much checked out and
I started, like, I... Read it the first time
and I went back and I reread it before we recorded
this But it's one of those things where I was
so lost in the beginning of something like what
is going on and then you know as he Wants to
leave his home to find I guess find his destiny
or you know the world is calling to him You have
each of these issues Each of the five of the
six issues has It's him versus each of the evil
warriors pretty much. Yeah So it's you know,
it's kind of like a battle, you know where the
first five rounds is him versus the lackeys and
then the sixth round obviously Is him versus
his uncle? Really refreshing to finally see Adam
a little more of a badass. Oh Yeah, no, no, I
completely agree. I just wish she had a pink
shirt and purple pants. Yeah The design hit a
nice balance because obviously with the old filmation
he was just he man You know, like what 15 year
old looks like a beefed up 29 year old guy and
then with the 2000 X he looked more of a kid
but There was there was a different definite
definite difference between the Adam version
the he man here He's definitely Adam, but you
can see he meant in him without the physique
Yeah, exactly it's yeah it's it's basically taking
on the style of the the differences between the
2002 Adam and the 2000 yeah it's it's not just
he is one animation model that is stock and all
you do is you rip his shirt off and rip his pants
off and he is a furry loincloth on underneath
because that's Essentially don't get me wrong.
I love the film Asian show I'm doing a podcast
and on a different podcast on the film Asian
show reviewing every episode. So trust me I know
but really you break that transformation scene
down as cool as it is It's basically him in a
furry loincloth. That's all it is on it It's
kind of like Superman wearing his suit under
his Clark Kent disguise or that, you know, it's
same thing pretty much um so we get this whole
fight with beastman and it's really cool I love
the beastman design and you know Adam is shocked
that beastman even knows what his name is and
who he is and whatever else and I like it I think
it's cool I I think it's nice that they're actually
writing beastman competently yeah let's face
it beastman Even in the 2002 series wasn't that
competent at all Well, it seemed like they they
wrote most of the evil warriors a little more
violent dastardly I mean obviously Beastman is
gonna be the the huge one that stands out because
he's always portrayed as a weakling and someone
a cow a cow or beneath Skeletor's heel Yes Yeah
What do you think of Skeletor's design in this?
Um, I like with most of the designs. I didn't
have that huge of a problem I'm at they they
all still represent what we know and love about
the characters without deviating too far from
what we know Whereas things were like 2000 X
they kind of Pushed it a little too far. I mean,
we still knew who they were but it's this isn't
what I remember looking at these That's definitely
He -Man, that's definitely Skeletor, that's Evil
-In, that's Trapjaw. They look a little different,
but I know who they are. Right, yeah, exactly.
And the first issue ends with Beast -Man going
back to Skeletor, having failed to defeat Adam.
And the next issue, it says, the fate of Tila.
The first issue, I liked it, but on the reread
of it, I enjoyed it, I thought it was cool, but...
you get the sense of something horrid is going
on here and that'll come more into play in the
next issue because I just I lost my crap when
I realized what was actually going on because
I was like and we'll get to it but I was like
I don't know what's your overall opinion on the
first issue um I mean we don't see too much but
it definitely sets up the structure for everything
else to come so it's like oh give me the next
issue give me the next issue yeah exactly exactly
so we're gonna dive into issue 2 after this I
guess I should take it easy on you Adam after
all it is your birthday don't do me any favors
Tila so we're getting into issue 2 here and Guess
I'm just not paying attention to these covers
cuz it took me a while while I was reading the
the actual issue I didn't realize the cover is
trap -jaw Really? I just glanced at it at first.
I don't know It was a Cape pirate or something
Yeah, trap -jaw could be a Cape pirate, you know,
I guess so this one And this is where it confuses
the hell out of me that something major has happened
on Eternia because strange voices are coming
from Castle Grayskull and come to find out that
Skeletor has essentially taken over Grayskull.
What the hell universe are we in? It just, I
don't know. Yeah, I mean it opens up to this
really Well, it's it's clearly Darth Vader inspired
scene where he does a forced chokehold on Beast
Man It's like it's cool, but that's that's a
little too on the nose Yeah, yeah, it's It would
have been and I know they're going for a serious
tone here it would have been funnier Or it would
have been less dramatic if they had done the
Schwartz joke. So we've got Skeletor who has
apparently taken over Grayskull. And then we
have Adam traveling in the desert by himself.
And he meets these riders who basically attack
him. And take him back to the village. Yeah,
they introduce some really interesting beasts
and races in this series. Yeah, they do. It's
very, very interesting. Now, this village is
your standard middle of the desert type of village,
you know, something where I don't want to get
too stereotypical or, uh, terrorist. It just
reminds me of some Middle Eastern village is
really what it does. um and then come to find
out the lord and master of this village is chronos
or chronus or trap jar or jaws from james whatever
the hell you know the story so far everybody
knows between last issue and this issue both
Beast man and trap John know who Adam or know
Adam's name and he's like, hey, how do you know
my name? I have never met you before so again
the whole thing where you know something is going
on here and Skeletor's whole deal is bring him
in dead or alive and the first thing I think
of is 500 ,000 dead a million alive Here's something
really interesting I noticed about trap jaw and
at least in this iteration Normally every other
version we see of him He always has some sort
of device on his hand when we're introduced to
him in this issue I mean, he'll change his hands
out. But for the most part he has a human hand
and it just transforms whenever he wills it to
So he basically has Organic web shooters. Yeah
I don't mind it. I think it's cool because they're
what they're doing is they are combining the
the personalities and the traits of Cronus and
and and trap jaw so he's not like If you look
at the 2002 series when that happened he went
from being Cronus to being trap jaw This is kind
of like in the middle of that I like it. I think
it's cool. I love the art in these books. It
just I really really enjoy love trap jaws design
Because his his jaw it in certain places It looks
metal and in other places like when they do a
side view it almost looks like it's a beard Yeah,
yeah, it does It's so still strap trap job You
know and then we've got Adam wondering why why
did I grab that sword? I'm a woodsman, why wouldn't
I grab the axe? As he's fighting Trap Joe, there's
this one panel. I guess Trap Joe lifts this giant
rock that Adam's hiding behind, and there's the
shot of, I guess it's his head, his shoulder,
and his arm. And there's this weird lizard bug
metal thing that's crawling down his arm. that
we only see in the shot and then his hand transforms
into it almost looks like a laser axe whip thing
but they don't explain what this thing on his
arm is yeah it's only seen in that panel yeah
that's weird that is so weird i don't know maybe
it's a matrix thing maybe you know the bug crawling
into neo's stomach Sorry Still brings back creepy
memories. I know I freaked the hell out when
I saw So basically Adam defeats trap jaw and
with the Help of bikini clad blonde Tila He escapes
Well, yeah I am not a fan of blonde Tila. I only
like her as a redhead. Every time I see her as
a blonde, it just really pisses me off. you know,
at least in the cartoons and stuff like that
there. And I agree with you, Redhead Delia is
so much better, but, and I think the reason why
I don't like it here is because of the fact that
in some of their close -ups together, they look
like they could be brother and sister. Yeah.
That's like, and I know that's kind of the relationship
that they've always had in any medium. Like,
there's never been a comic or An episode of any
of the cartoons saying that Adam wants to date
Tila there has never been that because they do
have that brother -sister kind of relationship
with each other But it just it looks too weird
to me. Yeah, you're right. It's just just strange
So good they've always made this point especially
in the film Asian cartoon But I never thought
it was conveyed well enough that Tila has it
said that Tila has a sharp tongue and is quick
to act on her in any other iteration that they've
had her But in this comic run, you definitely
see that. Oh yeah, most definitely. She has so
much of a sharp tongue and she is so ready to
just go gung -ho and do it. You know, issue two,
I like it. It's continuing the story. I like
how they're introducing each of the characters,
that they're taking... instead of... like an
issue one instead of having us meet beast man
and You know They're basically shining a light
on each individual evil warrior that they're
going to use in the series And that's what I
love about it with this one would trap job. I
love it that it's just It's just trapped. It's
just like having an episode of whatever the cartoon
is doesn't matter if it's filmation or 2002 because
I'm sorry that 90s crap does not exist to me
It's just like having an individual episode with
the like he man versus those villains and I absolutely
love it Any other thoughts you have on issue
two? No, no, that's it All right, we're gonna
move on to the next one what was that beast man
So issue number three. This is where Keith Giffen
takes over full -time as writer. I don't know
what was going on at DC Comics at the time of
this release. This came out November of 2012.
I'm not sure if they, like if, I assume they
planned to phase Robinson out and have Giffen
take over because that's what happened but I
don't think the the books have suffered because
of it I think they've actually gotten better
and I don't see the story like it's so weird
to me like when they'll say ooh a new creative
team starts in X number issue and first of all
I'm thinking okay well if you're gonna have a
new creative team why are you gonna have a new
creative team telling you know sure a new creative
team can take the story in their own direction
but they still have to keep in line what is already
you know what I mean it's kind of like it's kind
of like if I wrote the first 20 chapters of a
book and you wrote the last 10 Work with what
we already established Yeah, you know so the
cover for this one is he man once again because
he's in all of these covers which basically ruins
the reveal It's basically He -Man with a dark
figure in the sea. Oh, like we didn't know who
that's gonna be. Well, starting with issue three,
they start moving over to more like a traditional
painting for the covers, and I prefer these covers
far more than the first two. Yeah, no, I agree.
I love the cover. I think it's awesome. but yeah
you're right it's it's it is very different I
mean they're they're fluid between the three
of them but this one the colors are more I guess
give more pop to it yeah so this one starts out
where the last one left off with came in and
Tila on a boat as deck swabs Notice I said deck
ladies and gentlemen not the other word. Yes
And this is exactly the scene that second page
with the two of them Third third panel of well
technically fourth panel down with the two of
them looking at each other blonde and blonde
That's exactly the page that I thought. Oh, hey,
they're twins Well so far in the story they've
they've kind of broken the mold and Adam is kind
of seen as competent for once. Yes. I don't know
if it has to do with the writing change, but
starting an episode, or issue three, we start
seeing Adam fall into the old habits of him being
really whiny. Yeah, oh yeah, exactly. It's Paul
and Luke Skywalker. I want to go to Toshi Station.
It's murders. Fight of that size couldn't get
into space was deep into and so it then transitions
back to a Skeletor controlled castle greyskull
where he's having dinner And he's got all of
these people so right like First of all, I have
never known castle greyskull to host anyone like
outside of like he man And, you know, like, there
aren't just commoners inside Castle fucking Grayskull
people, there just aren't. Why does it look like,
in that second panel, where he's sitting at the
table, why does it look like there's one person,
a mother and a child, and then another person?
Ooh, in, I think, the beginning of the second
issue, um, this woman, as he's walking down the
hall, she looks at him, or, as he perceives as
wrong, and he turns her into a statue. These
are all gray. Okay, yeah, okay, yeah, I gotcha
So yeah the whole time I was I was wondering
who the hell is he talking to? And of course
we find out that it is the sorceress of greyskull
now. We didn't mention earlier that Zor or Zohar
or however the hell you say that stupid bird's
name has shown up with Adam and Tila And now
we find that the sorceress is his prisoner. And
she's not looking too good. No. She almost looks
older than the chick that played her in the 87
film. At least in that third panel on the opposite
page of the Batman Judge Dredd collection. Yeah,
she looks pretty battered. She looks like, yeah.
She is crying blood. yeah that's not good I love
the design on her though I think it's really
really cool even though she's in immense immense
pain and then we switch back to the boat with
Adam and Tila and the captain who looks like
oh god what the hell's his name from X -Men oh
yeah At least he didn't put the helmet on this
time. Friggin' first class. That's the only problem
I have with that movie. The Magneto helmet on
Kevin Bacon's head. to lose my shit this was
one of those moments at the end where he comes
in you see him in the red and then there uh then
the Thanos moment oh my god dead silence in the
theater when this happens i'm in the last row
i jump out of my seat and scream bloody murder
i i i literally almost collapsed And I was the
one driving on night, and I told everyone you
have to give me minutes. I can't stand up right
now So the villain for issue three is none other
than Merman yes, that's right Merman of course
as if we couldn't tell by the cover yeah, but
he man on a boat and He gives this awesome introduction
yeah, he does Where is it? Forgive my deplorable
lack of manners. I am the omnipotence first son
of the ocean lord master of the depths Absolute
monarch of the seven tides the singular wonder
in grand presence Nauticus Aquaria merman the
first charmed Yeah, I Looking for the line where
He says I think it might be on the next page.
I'm looking for the line where he says Prince.
Because both Trapjaw and Beastman have just called
him Adam. Merman pretty much gives it away and
says Prince Adam. Know this, Prince. You will
die never knowing. And then the next page...
Teela gets snatched up by this sea creature and
the spla - the I guess you could call it a splash
page it basically just has an asterisk and it
has a note asterisk let's just call it language
quite inappropriate for a comic book and let
it go at that don't get me wrong I think that
was funny I think it was cool but there are times
when you can use damn or hell or no like I'm
obviously not f -bombs or you know really really
bad curse language but you can usually well that
they do later on yeah well it's it's numbered
in dollar sign but yeah so the tentacle monster
has Tila oh no who's going to come to her rescue
only there was a sword around I was a sword around
yes Uh, and basically Adam versus Merman. Um,
Merman basically socks him right in the mouth.
Oh boy. Very interesting battle between, like,
cause we've net, like, in the filmation cartoon,
I've seen Adam do some stuff, cause I've watched
the first 45 episodes of 130. You know, I've
seen him do some stuff, but I've never actually
seen him do battle. And I know in the 2000X cartoon,
Sometimes he will But like that's what I'm loving
about this this miniseries is that he's It's
all him. He has to be the one to do the fighting,
you know, he doesn't have a magical mystical
Sword to pull out of his back at all That's what
happens when subconsciously, you know, you're
human yes, yes, I love the Love the close -up
face shot of Merlin Merman on the on the next
page after the boat explodes. I think that's
cool and creepy and just all kinds of evil So
the boat explodes battle over I Love how I'm
glad I went back and I got these after they got
released because it would have killed me to have
to wait like a month It just would. It just absolutely
would. Issue three, I liked it. I thought it
was great. Merman has awesome dialogue throughout
the entire issue. Adam and Tila, they're starting
to get on my nerves. At least how they interact
with each other. You can really, in this issue
specifically so far, you can really see Tila's
quick tongue. Any other? What are your other
thoughts on issue three? I thought the writing
for merman was fantastic because again He's another
one of those evil warriors that doesn't get his
due However, I thought his does his actual character
design wasn't as successful as the rest of them
I Mean they gave him a tail Not a fan of that
Though he has some really cool. I don't like
fish fishmen hordes, which You know, they don't
look like him, like I've seen in some of the
other comics. They're all different types of
weird marine life. Right, right. I enjoyed issue
three. I thought it was really, really cool.
And we are going to move on to the next one after
this. Soul Swear Skeletor! Alrighty, issue four,
cover. Wow. This so far is my favorite out of
the covers. Wow, you've got Skeletor's face,
which looks creepy as all hell Evil in and he
man man -at -arms and Tila in the crystal orb
Wow, I love this cover I I just love this cover
artist Yeah Yeah, yeah pop my hand. Yeah, he's
he's a great artist He's very interesting how
he does the covers, but at the same time at the
end of the podcast we will Talk about why I have
issues with with him I actually ran into a friend
of mine about it the other night, but a couple
weeks ago but no Issue four the cover is just
like and this is why you know People are like,
oh, comics, those are for kids. Oh, comics, those
are for geeks. This cover here, and I'm sure
it is with any other classic cover, say Batman
Year One or Dark Knight Returns or whatever,
any classic book, I'm sure. This cover to me
is pretty much a painting. If you took off, obviously
you take off the proof of purchase, you take
off the... the numbering in the in in in in the
dc to take off the master's logo and it's just
beautiful you know yeah i would love to have
a print of that oh yes i would love yeah and
uh... so issue four starts off with uh... a day
at the beach in boxer and bikinis yes it's called
bikini teal of her reason Yes Her boob looks
like it's just gonna pop right out I guess eternity
has a different sense of gravity than we do on
earth Apparently so So basically they're on a
raft and and she apparently told him to make
oars So that he can use to sail them to this
volcanic island because Teela doesn't want to
do crap. It's like filmation Teela all over again,
holy crap. Oh man. Now the art's different this
time around, right? Yeah, it's different but
it's still the same. Instead of having Pop Mahan
and Philip Tan on it together because that's
last issue was Philip Tan was the head artist
Roy Jose and Ray Snyder so this issue is when
Pop Mahan just comes in and let's see Pop Mahan
it says Pop Mahan and Philip Tan but it's it
lists them Like pages, I guess. Like different
pages. So, interesting. Well a lot of these characters
are, at least in this issue, they're very expressive
in the lips. Yeah, they are. Especially the mustache.
Mustache of doom! So we still have this whole
spell thing going on here. They get to this island
and of course, like I said, the cover pretty
much gives it away. It's going to be Adam and
Tila versus Evelyn, who has man -in -arms as
her sex slave. Is it said that she's her sex
slave or just a slave? No, it's just a slave.
I just threw that in there. I love Evelyn's design.
I think it's really cool. It's pretty much a
combination. The way I see it is it's a combination
of filmation and 2000x. I'm thinking um, what's
your name from Sleeping Beauty? The Evil Queen?
Oh, yeah, Maleficent. Yeah, I don't know I know
I was getting confused with Snow White and the
Huntsman there for a second, but yeah. Yeah,
no, you're right. Yeah, she does kind of look
like a purple version of Maleficent. And I just
love how she can communicate with Skeletor through
a hologram through her staff. Yeah, she seems
to be the only evil warrior who's not intimidated
by him. Because the other ones, you know, we've
readied each issue and, oh, you know, they're
really badass, but they only act... out of fear
of having to face Skeletor, because once they
wind up talking with him, they're groveling and
hunched over and don't know what to do in front
of him. He might kill him. She's standing up
to the man. Yeah, I really like this redesign
of her personality. We'll later find out she
is a masochistic nutjob. Yes, yes she is. And
then we see Skeletor talking to a disembodied
head who's kind of looks like Hordak. Yeah I
think it's it I believe it is supposed to be
Hordak, but that's just That's just super strange
to me because at one point he takes the head
and throws across the room Yeah, he picks it
up and throws it oh wow that's so strange I don't
like in the And the panel where he's holding
the head, his design, even though it's the same,
it might be the lighting and the shadows, because
it's basically a flash white fire background,
I don't like how they did, I don't like the shading
on that, I don't like how they did that, because
it basically makes him, it makes his body look
like it's gray, when obviously he's blue, but...
Right. I guess it's to basically show off the
power of the light of Hordak in the background,
I guess. I don't know. So we've got Adam and
Tila trapped. And then there's... And then there's
who likes to sleep naked, I'm assuming. Yeah,
I assume. Throughout this, since they've been
captured, she keeps asking if he is her father.
Yeah, in the... Well... With the issue before
this she says something like oh my father sold
me into slavery Yeah, and it's it seems like
she has some inkling of what's going on or what's
happened on Eternia But it's never fully explained
like does she know what's going on or not? Is
it something some conscience that some conscious
that is pushing her? And then Evelyn's big plot
is that they have to fight each other Adam versus
Tila And they're like, yeah, let's just escape
Is the cauldron the pit of flames and then when
she gets an arrow in the shoulder Yeah, and then
they do with all heroes fighting each other do
they fake it? Yeah, I love how they talk up about
faking it Like they're like, oh good. Just make
it good enough to where they believe so funny
I enjoy this issue for the fact that it's evil
in centric that she is one sadistic sob, but
Overall like the ending of this it's like Hey
You know Having the heroes fight each other.
Yay. I don't know. What are your other thoughts
on number four? That's that's about it. I'm a
dealin was great. And then I know it did this
issue ended kind of typical typical comic book
II Well, it ended that way because of the fact
of the whole, you know cliffhanger thing because
of It did end on a cliffhanger and I thought
that was cool because I was like ready to pick
up the next issue immediately as soon as I finished
reading issue for but It just kind of had like
If they had, and we'll get to this here in a
second once we take a break, but if they had
the first page of issue five as issue four's
final page, I think it would have been better.
Yeah. Yeah, you have a good point. I think it
would have been better. So let's take a quick
break. We'll get issue five after this clip.
Not a music lover, huh, Ramman? Okay, how about
something with more pizzazz? Alright, issue five,
the front cover. Man, Gringer must be hungry.
Yeah. Again. Is this the biggest time we've,
or is this the first time we've seen Battle Cat
so freaking huge? No, he was big in the 2000X
cartoon. Yeah, he was big, but he was, like most
of the 2000X, they were kind of slimmed down.
Yeah. He's just, oh, you beat the hell out of
him. Like, 2000X designs are slimmed down for
the humans and the character, like those kind
of, no, no, no. Battle Cat, compare 2000X Battle
Cat to Filmation Battle Cat. 2000X is bigger.
But, and I think that is where this comes from,
is the 2000X, but it's so, like, I want prints
of issue four and issue five's covers. I really
do because, oh my god, this cover is awesome.
You've got the sorceress, you've got the sword,
you've got... I'm calling him Cringer at this
point because I don't see his... I know it's
probably there, but I don't see the red. I don't
see the saddle, and obviously he doesn't have
the mask on, so I'm just gonna call him Cringer
at this point. And of course, you know, you got
He -Man. I love this cover. It's absolutely awesome.
And I've looked at this cover before and I've
liked it, but now that I'm really paying attention
to it. This is phenomenal Yeah, it just is it's
absolutely phenomenal just that shot of the sorcerer's
face with the sword right between her eyes Centered
the whole image. Oh Yeah, it's just great. It's
just absolutely amazing and what I love what
they did with this is they took If you look at
any of the other ones He -Man and the Masters
of the Universe is huge on all of the covers
on the front because that's the title of the
book. You got to have the title of the book,
you know, and we'll talk about this with issue
six, but with the other previous four issues,
they've basically drawn around the logo. This
one, they shrink the logo and put it up in the
right hand corner. I love that. I think that's
amazing. I think that's great because obviously
you don't want the logo. to envelope the sword
in her face. That's just ingenious how they put
that together. Absolutely love it. So this one
starts off with Adam going over and going to
be set on fire. Or is he? I will say so far and
I will say this at the end of the podcast. Issues
five and six are my favorite out of the six of
humanity series because we're finally getting
to point of what the hell is going on here so
they have the fight they both fall down the rabbit
hole I guess you could say you have men in arms
kind of coming to here and there and basically
talking back to evil and I like that I think
that's interesting I think it's interesting how
all these characters are trying to remember stuff
Obviously the evil warriors already know but
all the good guys are trying to remember stuff,
and I just love how it looks Seeing the two of
them in in a in a panel shot. I think that's
just amazing And then there's this long winding
staircase Yeah staircase goes on for days and
Sadly sadly Believe Skeletor kills the sorceress
Or we find out later Yeah, well Yeah, cuz I just
now realized going back reading this that this
is the lead -in to what happens later like Yeah,
I'll see what happens later yeah, yeah, I'll
say that the other show basically he kills her
and just leaves her there on these panels. Go
ahead. Even after Adam and Tila escape, Eveline
has to report back to Skeletor and, again, unlike
the other evil warriors who are cowering in fear
of him, she's like, hey, you know, I failed.
You know what? Burn in hell anyway. Why don't
you do it yourself? Yeah. Yeah. The next panel
after the whole burn in hell thing when they're
going down the staircase and they get to the
great seal That's just what I'm calling it cuz
that's you know Well, it looks like Tila is starring
in a rap video because Her panties are pretty
much almost falling off her ass And it doesn't
even look like she has a bra on I can see the
bra strap Like it almost looks like she's naked
Actually, we skipped one really crucial point
of the story Skeletor incredibly pissed off runs
into the dungeon where sources is being kept
and He's like why am I still failing and it turns
out we know why he's failing and why Adam and
Tila kind of know what's going on because The
Sorceress, she has not talked up until this point
because she's been hiding her conscious in Skeletor's
memory. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's an
interesting way to do it. I did not hide in plain
sight. I was there if you knew where to look
where. A pleasant memory. You so rarely revisit
such moments. Yeah, a pleasant memory would have
been before you get his face burned off. So,
like I said, we've got pretty much a naked Tila
and shirtless Adam at the Great Seal. What's
behind the seal? What's behind the seal is the
sword! Finally! You'd think they'd have a better
hiding spot for this. Well, it is at the end
of a very, very long staircase. And I would think,
oh, you know, if the Sorceress is gonna hide
in Skeletor's memory, they could at least hide
this somewhere equally as competent. Another
dimension! Maybe someone else's memories! Yeah.
I just love how it combines, uh... 1992 Aladdin's
lamp and the sword in the stone Because if you
look at it at that at that panel after they get
in and it's the sword in the distance It's obviously
it's sort of the stone thing But it also looks
like that giant staircase or it kind of looks
like the whole thing from Aladdin where he had
to you know, go all the way up to the top and
and Basically get the lamp I Know people know
how to draw swords and stuff, but I never thought
in my wildest dreams now keep in mind I have
not read any of the old like the original comics
Like the mini comics like this. This was my first
introduction to Masters the universe in comic
form I just love how they're able to replicate
all these designs like the sword Skeletor's Havoc
staff I just love how they're able to keep those
so classic while still allowing for character
design to be slightly different. That's pretty
much what they did with the Thundercats. They
changed everything but the sword. The sword was
changed a little bit, but... Yeah. So, Adam is
gonna basically go for the sword, except... Uh
-oh. Happy Kitty! Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wow. And he
punches him right in the nose! That's not supposed
to work. Last time I punched a cat in the nose,
it didn't go chud. Yeah, I know. Not at all.
Oh, wow. Of course, the next panel is Battle
Cat versus He -Man. Not He -Man, I'm sorry. Adam
and Tila. and then after that basically man in
arms and everybody else comes in and I assume
he's there to help them I assume he's made up
his mind and he's going to help them because
it doesn't look like they're gonna be able to
go back to Evil Inn Adam makes a break for the
sword while Cringer is pretty much going to paw
his his head off That would hurt I don't know
where Adam gets the courage to this Fight this
giant fucking cat. Yeah But again, it's one of
those things where at least in my mind Because
Adam deep down knows something is wrong You know,
and it's that kind of thing the last panel before
the page where man -at -arms comes in there's
that that shot of Adam pulling on the the tufts
of hair on Cringer's head and he's got one squinted
eye and the other one's bugged out and his mouth
is open it's a very derpy face yeah it is and
I love how he sputters stupid way to die mauled
by cat and then we have uh the power explodes
The power of grayskull I have the power and He
-Man is revealed I Love the final page in this
I love how they did this art. This art is so
awesome How they did all the villains? Well,
they did men in arms and Tila all the villains
and You know all the henchmen I should say His
father who was brown hair again Yeah, it was
brown hair again And then Skeletor at the end
Come to me and bring you fools with you last
time. I took your memories this time. I will
take your lives There's an awesome shot But yeah,
this is a damn awesome shot of Skeletor and says
next issue he man what more needs to be said
The only thing I question is that with these
shots of the evil warriors. How do they know
that? the power sword has just been reached there's
no like blast in the background that they can
see right but think of it as a wave um think
of it as a as a film dissolve like you know how
um trying to think what would be a good example
um i'm trying to think what is a damn good example
of this there's like if someone casts a spell
on something that's evil and then someone writes
it there's somehow like a tremor in the force
yeah pretty much that yeah but no um trying to
think there's there's several cartoons that do
this where something is wrong throughout the
entire universe and then when it gets righted
there's a like a reversal It's kind of like stuff
goes... I don't know how to explain it, but I
do agree with you. It's kind of weird how they
all know, but you would think that they would
have all known that the plan has been foiled
because they all knew the plan in the beginning.
Granted, you know, brown -haired, randor -looking
dude might not know, but the villains, they should
have all known as soon as he grabs the sword,
and that was the whole point of Skeletor wanting
him dead. So he couldn't go get the sword because
Skeletor's opinion is the sword is what has the
power and We'll find out next that's not the
case Issue five thoughts Just that last panel
with Skeletor's bring it bring it bring it bring
it. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, so let's go ahead and get
there. I need you to accompany me to Castle Grayskull
immediately Castle Grayskull that broken down
you'll understand when we get there quickly ladies
and gentlemen It is the climax of the story he
man on the Masters the universe number six I
feel like such a damn fool You know exactly where
I'm going with this I feel like such a damn fool
because it took mr. Ados Baron here to Point
out to me that the cover is a mural I Did not
put it because I'm used to fold out covers or
you know something like that I'm not used to
something I'm used to ads being on the back of
comic books and not used to it being a mural
and oh my god like they really like Saved the
best for last you've got if you're if you're
opening up the book and not looking at what's
in the actual book But you're looking at the
cover. You've got evil in beast man triclops,
trapjaw, gray skull, the sorceress, and he -man
versus skeletor. Somebody needs to find me this
digitally. I want a jpg of this entire cover,
not just the one page, not just the other. I
need to find this damn image because Holy crap,
I want this on my desktop as my wallpaper because
this is just so So friggin cool and it even has
Burger King randor at the upper right corner
Well, it looks like they took this or I think
with the exception maybe Evil Lynn They took
the evil warriors and made them a little more
classic looking on this cover. Mm -hmm Trapjaw
still has that really pronounced spiky lower
jaw, but triclops almost with the exception of
a couple extra designs, he almost looks exactly
like the old figure. Yeah, yeah. I would say
with the exception of his eyeball, because his
eyeball kind of reminds me of the... in 2000X
he had blue, red, and yellow. The three eyes
were different colors for the different powers
that he had in the 2000X cartoon. But no, as
this miniseries has gone on, the covers just
keep getting better and better and better. My
favorites are... One, four, five, and six. You
know, one just because it's that classic, you
know, He -Man pose in front of Grayskull. Four,
because it's Evil Inn and Skeletor. Five, because
of it's basically Cringer wanting to chomp on
He -Man. And then six, obviously, because of
this giant battle. And it's just absolutely amazing.
Somebody needs to right now stop listening to
this podcast Go find us. I'm actually gonna search
for this after we're done here I'm gonna do a
google search and see if this is out there somewhere.
I want a jpg of this entire cover I don't like
I said, I don't just want the one page because
like I said before I didn't even notice it until
you pointed it out to me At all, but it's absolutely
amazing Well with it unfolded and if you look
to the direct left of Eastman There's what it
looks like somebody else Yeah, and I see it the
top of a mouth and a snake tongue What I presume
above beast man or if you look oh yeah Right
Like right by trap jaws weapon right? Yeah. Yeah,
that's Yeah, you're oh wow that could have been
Cobra Khan. Yeah, you're right Or it could have
been yes, sir, whoever tongue -lash or somebody
so basically the story picks up where we last
left off and Apparently Evelyn will not have
her mood further darkened by bad manners She's
really power trippy in this. Yeah, especially
this one scene. Yeah, that power is going in
her head right there. And of course, the title
of this one, The Power. He -Man has arrived.
The spell has been broken. And again, for the
second time, Skeletor throws the pumpkin hordak
head. He throws it out the window. Yeah, it looks
considerably different this time. It doesn't
really look like hordak. No, it does it looks
like a hordak style jack -o' -lantern without
the hordak bits. Yeah It's kind of like if you
you know Took a figure and put it in translucent
red So this giant, you know battle is upon us
and Skeletor and his e warriors are planning
and the Masters and their forces are planning
and Yes looking like right after he throws the
head out the window and Beast man is bowing behind
him as he walks away. Is he wearing pants? Is
who wearing pants Skeletor or beast man Skeletor
Let me look. When he's bowing and he walks away...
He's got eternity in bell bottoms or something.
I'm not walking away, I'm strutting! Why is Skeletor
wearing pants? Holy crap, you're right. That
looks so strange. Some say they make my ass look
good. oh my god wow that's that's crazy so you
have all this battle plan and and basically I'm
going with he -man on this because it makes sense
you don't take the entire army of Skeletor because
that's what he's gonna expect you go it alone
and if you need the entire army you send the
bird after them but apparently Battle cat or
Cringer or whatever because they don't act I
don't think that do they actively state which
personality is no And they don't they just giant
green tiger it this the shot of him talking to
the other heroic warriors Aside from he man and
Tila. It looks like they've all remained true
to their original designs You have a Roboto in
the background, you definitely have the old King
Randor, Moss Man, Ram Man looks almost exactly
the same. Yep. Yeah, the only difference between
like... Did this happen before or after the Burger
King toy came out? Because, um... You got chief
furry pants in here too. carnivorous or carnivous
or whatever his name is the randor i The randor
looks just like the original friggin classics
toy that they put out completely He's got the
damn staff and it looks just like the freaking
original king randor masters classics toy They
put out before they put out the actual filmation
version. I I still hate the burger king randor
design. I just can't take it I just can't take
yeah. Yeah, but yeah, you're right. The rest
of them pretty much have Yeah, Man in Arms has
the classic helmet with the mustache. Before
that, there was another scene where he had the
visor from 2000X. I think it was last issue.
At one point, I did see him with the battle mask
visor from 2002. I love how they're doing all
these different homages. I think that's great.
I think it's great using the different designs.
It doesn't take away from the story, and it doesn't
take away from the art at all. And hey, who's,
um, why is Shredder in this book? Why is Shredder
at Castle Grayskull? On the page opposite the
arrow ad, um, when it shows Castle Grayskull,
on the right, it's very top panel, there's a
guy carrying something that he... He's got some
helmet and mask on, looks just like Shredder.
Oh, yeah. And you've got Skeletor and Evil Ant
and bickering like an old married couple. Wait
that happened in the bios Or did it? Yeah, I
don't pay attention to that toy company crap.
I love this shot of Beastman Skeletor and Evelyn
on the balcony looking over Waiting just waiting
for this battle. You can almost feel it. It's
powerful. Oh, yeah. Oh Yeah, it's it's amazing
the one where he's like It is Skeletor he seeks
the other wretched infant will be on his boundaries.
So be it it ends today I love the ends today,
like, insert panel. His face just never looks
scarier. It just hasn't, and it's awesome. And
we have a full -out splash page of the battle.
Battle Cat has his mask and... Sheila's on a
unicorn. Wait, where... Oh my... No, that's not
a unit. Yes, it is. Holy crap I thought it was
a gazelle with a horn on what the hell people
come on with all the homages that they've been
doing this I would have expected maybe like strido
or something like that or Yeah, yeah, yeah strido,
but see that's the thing like in the dream sequence
in the very first issue that we talked about
today Adora slash Shira is there. So why isn't
she there now? I took that as being Tila No,
let me go back really quick and look at that
first issue. She definitely has like the Cheela
brah. Adam... Skeletor... But she's... I could
have sworn she was somewhere. Yeah, you're probably
right. But why would she be holding the sword
of... See, that's what threw me for a loop here,
because you've got He -Man... Man -in -arms,
Stratos, Sorceress, and you've got all the evil
warriors that are pictured. Oh man, I didn't
even see Panther in the dream sequence. Holy
crap, I love that. Skeletor's riding him. I didn't
even notice that originally. But no, she's holding
the Sword of Protection, that's why I thought
it was She -Ra. I didn't take that as Sword of
Protection. It's got a jewel in it. Yeah, well,
there's some sort of circular... Design on it.
I mean if sort of he it looks exactly like its
original counterpart I would expect the sort
of protection to look exactly the same Yeah,
that's that's true. So back to issue six here.
We have this giant battle Tila riding a wind
of Swift There's a very bloody panel where it's
just almost very I mean there is blood spraying
towards her face, but they almost bring beauty
to the Flow of the blood as she's running or
just the action of her cutting through the scene
Yeah, yeah Oh, yeah, it's very It's got somewhat
of an anime influence. I can tell that in certain
bits of it, but yeah And then we have the the
whole More battle between Skeletor and human.
I love that shot opposite the Katana ad or It's
Skeletor now. We find what happens in sorceress
She's she's beheaded yeah, she's beheaded, but
she's also be deaded in So she's dead And the
battle continues, rages on, and He -Man and Skeletor
have this whole argument of whether it's the
sword or whether it's He -Man. They have this
whole thing of He -Man has the power and the
sword is the actual weapon of the power. And
he even says, I am the power. He just channels
it through the sword. Yeah, he just channels
it through the sword. He basically strikes it.
Oh my god. Yeah, that's That's a beautiful bloody
image of Skeletor. I know that sounds Macabre,
but I say oh, yeah, look at that panel breaks
the side of his jaw. I know It's just just amazing
Tila acts asks is he dead I? He meant says I
I'm going to say yes. Liar. I don't like He -Man
holding the Havoc staff. That's a little strange.
Yeah. But, uh, interesting. So, you know, He
-Man continues to hold the Havoc staff. Skeletor
basically has no mouth. He's crawling for his
life the bottom of this pit Yeah, yeah, yeah
at the bottom was pit where we see the pumpkin
head hordak again Oh What um we didn't mention
let me go back to the right page where the Masters
or we'll call him the Masters Have met up with
each other in that pub Oh, yeah, is this before
the battle? Yes. Oh, yeah Tila says I'd say it's
two dangers What if he puts another whammy on
you and then he man goes or goes not here to
betray us this time? Yeah I Read that nose like
wait what orko betrayed them That's and again
folks you gotta remember at least for me The
only orcos I know are Filmation and 2002 and
I really disliked the 2002 orco. It's one of
the characters. I do not care for from that series
Probably the only character I don't really care
for from that series, but yeah, you're right.
It's like What the hell is going on orco betrayed
them? How the hell did that happen? They don't
explain Hopefully it'll come up so the The battle
pretty much ends Skeletor looks like he's a lie.
Oh, no Hordak basically resurrects him or does
something with him. The head talks to him and
Skeletor is crawling and almost begging and the
skull says as they phase out of the scene and
it is time to you come to know me as more than
a minion and he's been transported to this scene
of I guess it's Eternia? No, it's gotta be Despondos,
it's gotta be Etherea. And we have this shot
overlooking this throne that's being held, or
at some point held up by these lava cat beast
things, and we see this robed hand, this robed
blue hand, which one would assume is Orko. And
I took it as the skull was Orko all along, not
Hordak. Really? At first, I obviously thought
it was Hordak, and then until we get to this.
Well, the Skeletor attorney, as much as I desire
it, it is not yet time for you to die, now that
your cursed nephew has it within him to see you
dead. But there are others. The Teela wench comes
to mind, who would gut you in an instant with
little thought given to the consequences. And
it is always about consequences, no? Thus, I...
Yeah, this is really weird like why it Because
the first thing on this page after I read it
that I saw was to be continued Question mark.
What do you think at the end at the very bottom
and I'm thinking oh? so that at first when I
first read I'm thinking oh, so this is Hordak
and This is setting up the events of what happened
in the new ongoing that it's currently going
on which we'll talk about at the end of the podcast
But yeah, no you're right it It was orko. Oh,
why I Don't I don't get I like it. I think it's
cool. I think it's great. It's Kind of crappy
that they left us on a cliffhanger but overall
I really enjoyed the the miniseries I think Think
it was very well done even with the art style
change I don't think the writing changed that
much because let's face it James Robinson was
really only on the first issue And then while
he was on the first and second issue and then
Keith Giffen had taken over after that I Don't
know your overall thoughts for issue six. I love
that fight scene Yeah, some instances it felt
a little short but just that shot where his jaw
gets punched right off yeah it was it was so
so amazing so so beautiful we are going to take
a quick break and then we're going to come back
and talk about some other masters comic stuff
and then we'll probably close the shot after
that so we'll be back after Yes, that's right.
We have traveled to Eternia to enter Castle Grayskull.
Join Optimus Solo and TFJ Mike as they find themselves
telling tales of Eternia. We cover all things
He -Man in this 45 episode long podcast. You
can find us on iTunes and www .geekassradio .com.
By the power of Grayskull, we all have the power.
Coming to Grand Rapids, Michigan on September
21st and 22nd is Grand Con. Gaming and Comics
Convention presented by Celebration Cinemas.
Join us in playing or chatting it up with fellow
enthusiasts in a community that understands your
passions. Get lost in the adventure of your favorite
role playing game. Admire costumes and art from
vendors and attendees. Meet the creators behind
your favorite mainstream and independent games
and comic books. Check out unpublished games
and sneak peek at things to come. Alright folks,
we are back and we are going to give final thoughts
on the miniseries as well as talk about some
other He -Man comic related stuff. I, after rereading
it a second time and really giving it like Like
I said earlier in this episode, when I first
saw Adam as a woodsman, I'm like, done. I just
don't even. And I pretty much skimmed every other
book after that. I didn't actually read it the
first time around when I first bought them. Because
I was like, Adam as a woodsman? No. The second
time around, before we recorded this, I read
all six issues. I read them for the story. I
love the art. I think it's great. I think it's
an amazing story. Now that you point out that
that's orgo that possibly could be or I'm like
flabbergasted and want to know what the are they
doing? I loved it. I thought I thought it was
great. I think as I said earlier, issues one
through three are pretty much all set up, even
though it's awesome seeing Adam face the villains.
I just bite by issue four. I was like, okay,
Let's get on with this. Issue five and six are
my favorite out of the entire series. What about
you? What are your final thoughts? Like you,
I love the whole thing. Though the one aspect
that's like burning, burning in the back of my
head is that they don't explain how all of this
got set up in the first place. Right. I mean,
up until issue six, we're led to believe this
was a mini series. Yes, you know, it's gonna
continue with the ongoing But so far in the ongoing
they haven't explained how all this started Now
the ongoing it seems to me that it's a whole
new continuity. It doesn't even seem like yes
I know it's the same writer and the same artist
because it's Keith Giffen and pop Mahan Doing
the ongoing But it like the ongoing starts with
I believe Skeletor dead and the Sorceress dead
and Hordak is going to invade Eternia. Yeah,
I thought it was just a continuation of this.
See, I don't after reading this and seeing and
like actually looking and paying attention to
that final page on issue 6 of the miniseries,
I don't think so because as you pointed out,
that's a blue hand. That's not a white hand or
that's not that's not Hordak's hand. It's just
not. I don't know. I originally thought that
that was what it was going to be. It was that
the ongoing was going to be a continuation of
this, but it seems that it's a whole new ballgame.
Okay. I'm loving the ongoing. Have you read the
second issue yet? Oh, yeah. Okay. I have not
yet got it. I'll probably buy it tomorrow. What's
wrong with you? I haven't been by my comic shop
yet. Oh, uh. Yeah, I'll talk to you about it
off air, if you really want to read it today
without having to go to your comic shop. I know,
I'm definitely going to buy it. Don't ruin it.
No, no, no, I know, but... So, yeah. Alright,
the other thing we're going to talk about here,
because I have to talk about this a couple of
weeks ago, because this will air a couple of
weeks from when we're actually recording it.
As we're recording it, the other night an interview
came out on heman .org. with Popmaha and The
Artist from the new Ongoing and the original
miniseries. I have actively avoided any kind
of spoilers with The Ongoing. I've avoided any
kind of interviews. I've only seen like the general
vague answers like Keith Giffen has given for
the writing. I generally don't read artist interviews
because I can look at the art and I can say whether
I like it or I don't. I don't, you know, I don't
need to know. what the artist's intentions were.
I can see what the intentions were on the page.
So I generally don't read comic book artist interviews.
I don't read animation, you know, you know, animator
interviews. I just don't. But I figure, okay,
the ongoing is going on. I'll read this interview.
DNA or not DNA The Crap what the hell's the name
of that stupid thing? The disclosure stuff not
NDA. That's what it is non -disclosure agreement
because this interview on human org Is just crazy
It just is his answers are nuts Basically, he
says that Like the person asks him what thought
process did you go through when? redesigning
some of the characters a Redesign of a character
is tricky the new design should make some sense
capture the essence of the character is visually
pleasing and exciting after some good research
I usually pick out some characteristics that
speak to me and emphasize and use it as a base
where the design wants to naturally go. It's
organic in approach, but one I find very pleasing
and satisfying. Um, with Motu, I usually do a
few versions and send it out to Mattel and get
a cool redraw from one of their supremely talented
designers or artists that ties up where I was
trying to go with the design. So basically, and
okay, don't get me wrong, DC Comics is publishing
this, but it's basically Mattel's property. It's
basically a license deal, okay? He's basically
saying he draws one thing, sends it to Mattel,
and they give him what they want. It's basically
like, I'm a puppet. I've, you know, just watch
season five episode of Angel Smile Time. Basically,
somebody's got their hand up his back. This is
why I don't like reading some interviews. There
was another question in here About adora, where's
the adora question See skimpy Tila, okay It sounds
like a toy guru answer yeah, it pretty much is
Yeah, yeah here it is With the Sparra we're seeing
a side of the character. Oh here it is What are
your thoughts on the Sparra slash Adora from
what I understand? Mattel provided the idea for
the characters new design. Did you bring anything
to the table in terms of the design? I Love Adora's
new look. This is his answer. I love Adora's
new look, but I wasn't involved with her design
you're a Fucking artist. How can you not be involved
in the design? Did they just send you a fucking
sketch and and and say to you draw this is that
really all so basically To quote chasing Amy.
You're a fucking tracer. That's all you are Seriously,
I I'm loving the story. I love Keith Geffen's
writing rolling two issues into the ongoing.
I absolutely love the ongoing so far but I will
never ever read an interview from this artist
ever again because the dude is just a yes man
or a no man whatever you know non -disclosure
as far as non -disclosures can go as far as he'll
go I just I don't think it's so much his fault
but it's it's Mattel's because it's their big
boys property of the last 30 years and they want
their hands in the pot as much as they can But
that's fine, but his answers to the questions
it seems like They should have I don't know Like
I I agree with you. It's it's Mattel's property
and they licensed it to DC for a comic because
let's Who have has Mattel always been with DC
with the licensing for the comic? Um, no wasn't
they have star comics that was Marvel? Okay,
okay What I don't understand is, why not, I know
this is going to be more money and Mattel doesn't
want to bleed any money, why not have, don't
get me wrong, I love the writing, I love all
this stuff, I love the ongoing, I love that DC
is doing it, but why not Mattel have their own
company for, you know, it's like, I don't know,
it just seems like a whole big shill to me. just
is and as far as the armor oh my god people are
up in arms about oh he man has new armor design
you know what that's for they're gonna make a
freaking toy out of it eventually i mean you
know there was a question online some somewhere
about oh why is he man getting more clothes and
tila is essentially going to be naked half the
time because that's The way that they want to
go, I guess. I don't know. Overall, miniseries
loved it. I'm loving the ongoing. Absolutely
awesome. I'm dying waiting for the... Even though
I read a bunch of other comics every month, every
month I am dying to read the next ongoing issue.
It is that damn good. We're only two issues in
and the story is so powerful. It's so amazing
and so awesome. If you grew up like us on Filmation
or if you've seen the 2002 cartoon, You can see
influences of that in this book of both of those
But other than that the story is something we've
never had before and it's absolutely amazing
What I love about this is that they're finally
allowing the story to advance Yes Filmation it
was just it was kind of a one -trick pony Then
you had new adventures 2002 it was a reimagining
of the of the original but it just it just kind
of retold the same thing in a different way I
want more development. I don't see stories over
and over again No, I agree Well, if Cartoon Network
hadn't shit the bed with it, it would have had
a season 3 we would have had All that cool stuff
come in but Cartoon Network. Yeah, it's Cartoon
Network. Alright, so You got anything you want
to promote Das before we close out? I started
doing toy reviews finally for toyworldorder .com
in addition to the segment that I am part of
the David Duvall's Toys and Collectible podcast.
You also do their intros. Yeah. Every time I
listen back to that now, it's kind of grating
on my ears because I, at least in my opinion,
I sound a little better doing that. I was like,
oh, damn it. You know, I'll probably wind up
just rerecording it and seeing if Jason will
swap it out. Yeah. Yeah. but yes we will be covering
more once the ongoing really gets going as you
know listeners of the pull bag we record we will
record a podcast on four issues of whatever book
it is or you know Like with superior spider -man
we record every four issues for that. So with
the ongoing we'll record every four issues I
don't know if it's gonna be dos and I doing the
ongoing or if it's gonna be myself and someone
else doing the ongoing We haven't really plotted
that out yet But there will be more he -man comic
coverage in the future here on the pullback Do
you have a Twitter anything people want to contact
you with or anything like that? You know, which
would or do you I'm not a Twitter guy. I just
have my Facebook Just search a DOS Baron Then
my my good friend Sven Kingsley. He has his own
Facebook If you're into a mustachioed entertainers
with pompadour's Swedish pompadour's then go
check it out We just shot a promo for his appearance
at the Philadelphia Comic Con That should be
in two weeks. So You can always look up YouTube
DOS Baron channel and I have some of that stuff
there. Oh Cool. Awesome Alright, that's gonna
do it for this week's pull bag join us next week
When there's going to be some epic discussions
going on I'll just leave it at that keep reading
those comics There are several ways to get in
touch with us and leave feedback for the show.
You can visit the website, geekcastradio .com,
where you can comment on the episode and all
of our different podcasts. You can rate our show
on iTunes. Be sure to leave us feedback. Call
the voicemail line, 502 -526 -5821. Please remember
to tell us the show you were leaving the message
for and your name. Become a fan of us on Facebook
by searching Geekcast Radio Network. You can
send us an email, feedback at geekcastradio .com.
Follow us on Twitter at Geekcast Radio. So until
next time, unleash the geek in you.
No chapter markers for this episode.
Hosts



