The Pull Bag

Masters of the Universe Origin Stories: He-Man, Skeletor & Hordak Review

July 3, 2013 1:24:10 EXPLICIT
The Pull Bag Masters of the Universe Origin Stories: He-Man, Skeletor & Hordak Review
0:00 1:24:10
100%

About this Episode

Mike and Kevin dive into three new DC Comics origin one-shots for Masters of the Universe characters. They discuss the He-Man, Skeletor, and Hordak origin stories, exploring how these comics expand the backstory of the 1983 Filmation cartoon series. Featuring guest Octavisuno, who's experiencing his first comic book podcast appearance and bringing a fresh perspective to these tales of Eternia.

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 Check out unpublished games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. You can get

all this and more at GrandCon. For more information,

please visit www .grand -con .com. The Pull Bag.

Join us as we dig out our latest comics and discuss

them with the rotating panel of the GCRN crew.

So sit back and enjoy this week's Pull Bag. Hello

and welcome to The Pull Bag! This is episode

22, I am your host TFJ and Mike, and holy crap,

ladies and gentlemen, making his The Pull Bag

debut, someone that has been with us for a very

very very long time, someone who at this point

probably hates podcasting, someone who... loves

television, was never a comic fan at all, so

this is gonna be really interesting to hear what

his thoughts are on our topic today. Mr. Octavisuno,

hello sir! Hello sir, I am here, I am making,

I'm appearing on a comic book podcast? Yes, yes

you are. How did that happen? Well, it's He -Man,

you know, you're my fan. I don't even know the

last time I read a comic book. Besides well if

our man of steel episode you've never read a

comic book. I don't think I I mean I think I've

maybe like looked at it like Pages here and there

some graphic novels some transformer stuff But

yeah comic book has been a while Yeah, so this

is gonna be really interesting cuz like sometimes

what I'll do is like way back in episode 14 of

the show when I had eight ass Baron on Did the

like the intro was kind of like hit how he got

it basically? That episode was a combination

of his origins in the comics and us actually

reviewing the 2012 Masters the universe miniseries

that DC did Here we can't really do an origins

episode with you because you just stated you've

never really you've read a graphic novel here

and there but You don't You're not a comic book

guy. I just never have had the time to get into

it. Then again, you're too skinny to be a comic

book guy. What's that? I said, then again, you're

too skinny to be a comic book guy. That's true.

No, I'm just kidding. I have lots of stuff to

read and on my list of stuff to do and comic

books are just way down, down, down, down. I

have about, oh, I don't know, 40 or 50 Star Wars

novels to read before I get to comic books. I've

been piecing piece by piece putting together

a collection of all the actually King I don't

know if you want to call him cannon or licensed

or whatever Star Wars novels Expanded universe

no no just all any Star Wars novel basically

it goes from all different time periods But I'm

piecing all that together first and then once

I have them all I will start reading from the

beginning chronologically through all the novels

and are you okay piece -by -piece collecting

i guess yeah so uh... so that's not that's on

my reading list uh... but that's not a lot yes

uh... i had to send these uh... these these issues

to kevin digitally uh... appreciate it Yes And

I've already written reviews up of these so I've

done written reviews. I've done well I think

the he -man one I did spoil it a little bit,

but the Skeletor and the hordak one Are spoiler

free for the written reviews, and I figure yeah

write a spoiler free review And then do a podcast

and spoil the shit out of it so I'm spoil things

Yes, it's always fun to spoil things So yes,

we will be talking about the three origin of

One -shot issues that DC has has been putting

out over the last couple of months It's gonna

be really interesting because I know that over

on Our other podcast one of the other podcasts

that we do on Tales of Eternia We have been begging

for the cartoon to give us backstory, which it

has never done to this point Little bits and

pieces, but... Right, right. Little bits and

pieces, but this is like... The way I see these

comics, specifically the He -Man and the Skeletor

one, is it's the backstory we didn't get in the

cartoon series. Specifically to the Filmation

cartoon series, because Tales of Eternia is all

about the 83 Filmation He -Man show. We are going

to take a quick break, after that we're going

to come back with Masters of the Universe Origin

of He -Man. By the power of Grayskull! I am the

power! Alright, as I said before, Masters of

the Universe Origin of He -Man, it is written

by Joshua Hale Fialkov, I think that's... How

his last name is supposed to be pronounced? I

don't know. The art is done by Ben Oliver. The

cover is He -Man holding the power sword and

looking at himself in the image. What do you

think of the cover? I like the cover. I think

having He -Man, obviously being its origin of

He -Man, so obviously we need He -Man. I think

having the sword is a good idea. I think him

looking into it and seeing that reflection is

kind of good as far as getting inside He -Man

a little bit and trying to, you know, see that

this is a serious, complex, complicated character.

I don't quite know how I feel about the amount

of blood. on the sword. I do like the placement

of his chest piece and how that fits onto the

sword. I just don't know about the blood. First

of all... It seems weird to me that there's a

lot of blood on the on the more towards the handle

of the sword here Yeah, and it just seems weird

in general to see blood there I kind of would

well there are droplets if you look up above

the way But it seems like there's a lot down

here and I would probably prefer this if there

was no blood but I guess it's setting the tone

that this is a serious and and You know not your

kid friendly version of human, I guess Right,

yeah. This was originally on the DC website.

I think it's still up there on DCcomics .com.

The solicitation that they have up for this,

and I'll put the link in the post, is this image,

but he's blue and his hair is basically Faker.

So I'll have to show that to you later. But no,

it's very cool. It's very interesting. It's very

simple. It's not, you know... It's basically

the origin of He -Man and what do we always think

of when we think of He -Man? We think of that

that chess piece that that He -Man symbol that

H shield thing and and the power sword I do like

that. It's completely white other than that and

there's nothing else in the background Yeah,

yeah, it's very very very cool We open it up

and The story to this point is Basically, Adam

is, I assume, trapped. We see a shadow of Skeletor.

Now, this is gonna be interesting for us because

I've never really thought this through. And we

can also bring this up multiple years down the

line when we get to our other Masters in the

Universe cartoon show. Didn't real I don't know

I just it skipped it must have skipped a beat

in my brain or something because Skeletor is

his uncle I've never written like I've never

put that together because Keldor and randor are

brothers mm -hmm I Just when I when I read this

I was like holy crap, right So you've got a nice

shot. You've got several nice shots of the power

sword. You've got you've got Adam there Basically

trying to reach for it and we open up to a beautiful

splash page of because on the page previous is

I have the and then on this splash page He said

he yells power It's just I guess we see a formation

there from Adam to human right in front of Skeletor

pretty much. Yeah Well, he does well see that's

the thing. He does Skeletor in in this story

Skeletor knows he has to obviously he sees it

because on the first page He said he says good

riddance nephew. So he knows that that's Adam

under the rocks and then he knows Adam, but he

doesn't necessarily know that He man as I wouldn't

think at the beginning Right, but see that's

the thing is where that first page he he knows

he doesn't know that like His line here is no

how can it be I am the next to wield the met

the power sword I almost sort said the master

sword that's a legend to sell the weapon But

he's as you said he sees Adam transform right

in front of him so we automatically know Right

now he knows Adam is he man? Yeah, but then he

says who are you right? So there's a little confusion

because he acknowledges Adam He sees him and

maybe he's not putting two and two together that

same that they were just the same person and

now he's asking He man who is he? And then it

just starts and then obviously we have a lot

of different flashbacks flash forwards throughout

this whole Book which to me is a little bit weird

at times as far as why they decided to do it

quite like this, but I guess you just have to

pay attention and read carefully and piece it

all together as far as which time you're in at

what point. Yeah. Well, see, the way I looked

at it was is that it's the beginning is like,

this is what's happening now. And then the scene

here on this next page with the palace and the

king and queen's bedroom. Is you know like six

weeks earlier six months early, you know, it's

like this is the flashback But on this page here,

I love these colors. I love these blues and purples

Yeah, and the shading just the shading in the

in the shadows like the shade it's so simple

but it's so amazing what Ben Oliver did with

the shading on the windows and When he when Adam

says you are scaring me father mother That that

that panel right there, but I don't know that

shading is just oh well done So he's searching

for his parents And I guess he's not necessarily

seeing them Yeah, but then he does I don't know

this that whole section is kind of confusing

to me because he's searching for them It looks

like they're in their bed He pulls the covers

off and says gods of Eternia, and then there's

a picture of them. I don't know if that's them

like petrified? I don't know if that's them.

They're frozen. There's some sort of spell on

them or something. Yeah, and then we have Skeletor

again asking He -Man, who are you? Joke from

above. You know, some creation of the sorcerers,

etc. And he comes right out and says that he's

He -Man. Yeah. And then they kind of have a little

battle. I love that they're not even showing

your Skeletor's face yet. Oh, well, they show

it on the next panel there, but... this page

here this where he's asking him this i love that

purple background and just the way that they're

both in shadow and battle on the next page you

have how it's you know skeletor cloaked right

and then you that's the i've seen many creepy

designs of skeletor before but this by far has

to be the creepiest That's pretty good. Facial

design of Skeletor. He's basically taking it

to He -Man at that point. Yeah, he's pretty much

kicking his ass. And then it's kind of another

weird, jarring thing here, because we go from

Skeletor... Well, we basically go from Skeletor

to, you know, battling He -Man, then we go flashback

again. So this is him after seeing his petrified

parents, and he's trying to figure out what the

heck is going on, and now him as Adam runs into

Skeletor, and he wants to know who he is and

what is he doing here. So apparently Adam at

that point doesn't know who Skeletor is. And

you notice the difference in the facial features

between Adam and He -Man? Oh yeah. Ever so slight.

They did a good job with that. Skeletor's design

on the next page. Ah, the young Welt managed

to escape my power. So it was a spell that...

Yeah, and then he does say that... A spell or

a stone spell. Basically Skeletor is Medusa.

Right, and he definitely acknowledges that he

knows it's Prince Adam, etc. So... I think that's

an interesting thing because now we have Adam

basically at his mercy Because he doesn't have

the power of He -Man yet because we're flashing

back Yeah, so he doesn't have necessarily the

ability to turn into He -Man. So he's basically

Like I said at scale towards mercy and that's

kind of an interesting dynamic because obviously

throughout watching the history of this franchise

We've never seen Adam pre He -Man where he couldn't

battle Skeletor. Where he couldn't whip out his

sword and turn into He -Man. So it's a very interesting

dynamic to completely see Skeletor having the

upper hand against Prince Adam. And he basically

wants the sword. He says, show me the sword of

King Grayskull and I will restore your parents

and let them all live. If not, perhaps I will

wear your skull as a crown. Yeah, um the weapon

you seek is hair I love how the power sword is

just some is just relegated to being some old

antique versus Having it in the bowels of greyskull

or at the tower of grace it like I love how it's

just in the palaces That's not the that's not

the power sword though Well, it looks like the

power. No, it does look like it and he tries

to pass it off and Skeletor basically says you

think I'm a fool and then Prince Adam tries to

use it to attack him and Skeletor just crushes

it and breaks it into million pieces. Oh, yeah,

you're right. Okay. But again, it's one of those

things where like as you're reading this you

think and then you're like, ooh. Skeletor just

crushed it. Wow, but because it does look like

it. Yeah Then there's an interesting panel where

it's where Skeletor's got Adam by the throat

and he says I'd been told you never trained He

says I haven't and then Skeletor says then you're

a natural So there's something there about him

having a natural ability to to fight and to already

maybe be predestined to become he -man eventually

yeah and i i love that like i love that i can't

tell you how many times in the in the filmation

series were 40 something episodes into that show

over in tales of attorney and i just it bugs

the crap out of me i know adam has to be the

bumbler in that cartoon show because that's what

it was back then and that's the story that they're

telling because he man has to be this all powerful

but I've always enjoyed it more when Adam shows

great feats of strength. Well, and this talks

about it a little bit. When we get there, we'll

bring it up. But they do mention him being this

weakling and cowardice character and why he is

that way. That next panel, though, on, I guess,

I don't know, according to my thing, it's like

the 11th page or whatever. But it's just. an

incredibly done panel. Number one, you have Skeletor's

just his feet basically towering over Prince

Adam who's cowering down on the ground basically.

And this is Skeletor then again coming and basically

saying that he wants the power sword. And I love

it. Prince Adam says, you are a monster. And

then there's a panel just with his hand in his

face where he says, you don't know the half of

it. And I thought that half of the panel is just

incredible. two of my favorites and sells of

the entire comic book or frames or whatever you

want to call them. I just, I love the art in

this. The art is amazing. I mean, these panels,

these pages, each one of these pages could be

its own painting in my opinion. Like if you took

the speech bubbles out and the narration bubbles,

took those out and just had the images, I would

love to have any of this stuff oversized hanging

on my wall. Using and then we get our first hint

that basically Skeletor Has a deeper connection

to the royal family than we've ever been exposed

to before As he's recognizing things and pointing

stuff out and then kind of we kind of get into

the history there where they're looking at this

tapestry And then he goes into some origin stuff

here where he talks about the legend of King

Grayskull and how he forged the power sword,

how he fought off the hordes of Hordak, and all

from the decrepit castle of his. And as a boy,

Skeletor says, I thought it a fairy story. So

then we get kind of this hint that he was around

for some reason, and there's something more we

want to know. Yeah, and Hordak looks creepy in

that image. Yeah. The top panel. And at first,

I remember when I first read this, I was like,

wow, gray skull looks weird. Now, looking at

it again, I'm like, oh, I know why it looks weird,

because the power sword's embedded in the front

of it, in the ground. It makes it look like a

mosquito face, not a skull face to me, just the

way the sword is. And so then he basically...

Takes the tapestry down and the power sword is

kind of basically uncovered Yeah, and then we

hear Skeletor saying that it's his destiny and

that he has gray skulls blood in his veins And

then he suffered humiliation pain And so we're

really getting a little bit into Skeletor too,

even though obviously this is origin of He -Man,

but we're getting hints to this deeper story

with Skeletor here. So that's an interesting

page. And then it just completely shifts. We

go from this Skeletor and Prince Adam confrontation

to basically a Don't know how you want to describe

this but Prince Adam and what we'll eventually

see is the sorceress have a have a connection

here Where it's like Prince Adam is basically

teleported as far as his mind and soul, I guess

to Castle Grayskull and That's when the sorceress

basically comes over What is your thoughts on

how the sorceress looks in shadow I like it I

think it's great I thought it was interesting

the the on that page where where she's saying

I am the sorceress I have kept watch over Castle

Grayskull until the day you came that the that

is a shadow of the filmation design It's it's

just so cool. Yeah, and then on the next one

you get actual a little bit more Look at her

now on that first panel where she's just looking

at Adam I really do like them like the look there

And that's kind of where she says that basically

your Your soul or your mind has traveled here

your body must do the same But for now ensure

Skeletor does not take the power sword and then

she says your power sword So that's kind of showing

the connection there between Prince Adam and

the power sword and that it's destined to be

his And she says that's your you know, no choice.

That's your destiny When King Grayskull left

this mortal plane, he warned of a war between

two of his own blood One will bring destruction

the other will fight it back. So that is a very

revealing cell there Very real. I love her design

over Also as far as saying that they're both

Of King Grace calls blood and then that's her.

Yeah with her wings spread out and good lord.

I Do like the blending of like that. It's almost

like it's almost like one of those sports illustrated

swimsuit issues where they have the swimsuit

painted on Yeah, but then there's also a feathery

look to it that kind of Lends itself to you know

her form. Yeah The only thing I'm not a hundred

percent sure on is the color of her lips I don't

know if I like the the purplish dark Well on

the close -up. Yeah, but like you can't notice

them on the far away No, not on the far away

shots, but because when it shows it close like

that it almost reminds me too much of like an

evil Lynn look So I don't know about that, but

everything else about her. I like Yeah, no, I

love the the design when she's Saying that you

have no choice when her friends when her wings

are spread out because this is essentially a

2013 Reimagining of what filmation source or

I mean, it's blitz her design is blue orange

and white This is exactly what? Filmation would

have looked like and then we have one more very

revealing statement there where it says and only

you Prince Adams son of King Rand or descendants

of King Grayskull nephew of Perhaps you're not

quite ready for that yet I know! I was like,

wait a minute. So obviously the second time that

they've hinted at the whole nephew connection

between Adam and Skeletor. It's just so cool.

I love reading this issue. This issue is just

so cool. And then it gets into what you're talking

about. Then we get another scene and, holy crap,

the picture of her with the... Zor head Page

that is crazy Like that looks perfectly done

again I don't like her lips but everything else

about that is awesome and then it gets into that

part where where we were talking about right

before About why Prince Adam it says, you know

He always was scared of your King Randall was

always scared that this day would come he let

you grow weak and scared He let you spend your

days and nights as you pleased and basically

explain why he's always been kind of this cowardice

weak individual even though he had this natural

ability to wield the sword etc. That's an interesting

uh two things i like how her one version of the

one picture of herself blends into the other

picture of herself Mmm, and how we're booting

her hair I guess you can call it her hair or

headdress whatever you want to call it blends

into that close -up of her Although I'm not quite

sure exactly what she's doing in that perch I

don't know if she needed to take a timeout for

a bathroom break or what there but I swear look

at that she If her hand was between her legs,

like, you know, three fingers on the... I swear,

it would be Spidey's pose. Basically, and then

she talks about the destiny that he will become

He -Man, and that he must save the world and

destroy Skeletor, etc. Yeah, it's just... This

issue is just... The look on her face is crazy.

And I like how it blends down into the bottom

into kind of like a nothingness. Yeah, it's just

so good. Her eyes are just like... I don't know.

tortured. Very good look there. And then we go

back to the halls where Skeletor is still owning

Adam. And it seems like, I don't, what is going

on with the sorceress at the bottom of that page?

Cause that's not, that's not Adam. That's her,

isn't it? Or is that, I can't tell. As far as

what? The bottom of the page. I don't know. I

don't know that bottom shot, that very bottom

panel. where the face is screaming. That looks

like, it doesn't look like Adam's face. The face

is screaming. The bottom of the page where Skeletor

says come to me, the very bottom. Oh, that's

just Prince Adam under the... Is it? Yeah, that's

Prince Adam under the rocks and whatnot. I don't

know, that does not look like... Looks like he's

wearing sorceress lipstick That's just him being

tortured still before and then we get to where

he was spots the sword, right? We're going back

to the first panel again Where he's under the

rocks and the swords out there and we see his

hand then on the sword sword and We kind of the

final page is the beginning, right? I love this.

This issue is so well written. The art in it,

the drawing, the colors, everything is so well

done. The only thing we really don't get a conclusion

to is what the hell happened to his parents?

His parents are still apparently in stasis there

and and you know, we do know because we've seen

him in the first few panels He does grab the

sword. He come becomes he man. He starts basically

battling Skeletor But but really the last thing

we see of that is when Skeletor Is shooting him

with that electricity? or electric bolts and

he's kind of in pain and that's the last we see

of that fight yeah so that's as far as we go

up to because the rest of it is all the flashback

yeah so we don't know what happens with that

fight either between that first fight between

Skeletor and He -Man yeah um as far as the designs

go I'm so glad that They did not make Adam have

a purple vest or a pink vest. I'm so glad, like

I'm so happy that his vest, like, I love all

the colors in that issue. That issue is just

amazing. Every single bit of color that's in

that issue is just popping. It's, there are times

where, there are times where Skeletor's face,

there are a couple of closeups on his face that

It pops, but it's so subtle, it's just scary

as hell. Yeah, it's definitely a very cool art

on that one. Yeah, very, very awesome. Overall,

how did you like this? I mean, I had never really

thought of anything as far as all this family

stuff So I mean I do like that there's a connection

between Skeletor and and the royal family makes

it so he's not just this like weird Alien being

that we don't really know where he came from

We'll get more into that obviously in the next

issue, but I do like seeing the whole reason

why Adam's so weak and how he first gets the

sword for the very first time and becomes He

-Man, because that's something we've never seen

Adam pre -He -Man, so it was kind of nice to

see that, like I said, that dynamic where he's

confronted with Skeletor and he can't do anything,

because he doesn't know he has the power yet.

So, good episode, or good issue. Good issue,

yeah. No, it's amazing. I love all the story

elements. I hadn't, like, even a couple of years

ago when, I don't know, there was probably a

week and a half difference where you and I had

simultaneously, individually, gone through the

entire 2002 cartoon series. And even back then,

it didn't hit me until reading this origin book.

You know, I know... In the 2002 cartoon series,

it says that Keldor is Randor's brother. It didn't

even hit me back then that Skeletor is Z -Man's

nephew. It didn't hit me until this and I was

like, oh wow. Yeah, I never thought of Skeletor

as Uncle Skeletor. So all right speaking of Uncle

Skeletor we're gonna get to his backstory right

after this All you will taste is the bitterness

of defeat Keldor. I think not And the name is

Skeletor Up next we get the origin of Bonebrain,

that's right Masters of the universe the origin

of Skeletor once again written by Joshua hell

fiel Cove again if I'm saying that last name

wrong I'm sorry the art this time around is done

by Frazier Irving and it is It looks like Skeletor

is in a test tube or a bar a bottle you would

find in a laboratory is really what it is I love

this image. Yeah, this one instead of Masters

of the Universe and the Origin part at the top,

it just says Masters of the Universe at the top

and we have the Origin of Skeletor down towards

the bottom. But completely different style here,

not quite the simplistic good guy white background

that we got with He -Man. But what's cool about

this, and we really have to talk about, is that

it gives us our only look at some of Skeletor's

henchmen. Evil in you get trapjaw. You got triclops

and then get I don't know why I don't know why

teal is there I'm assuming that's Tila and he

man He man above evil in I assume that's who

that is Don't know it looks like some blonde

check Well, it looks like a guy, but I can't

a hundred percent say but but at least evil in

Trapjohn triclops. I think trapjohn triclops

look really cool. I'm not sure I'm a hundred

percent sold on evil in I'd have to see that

in all in a full color design To make a judgment,

but I do like the looks of trapjohn triclops

And I like that there all these images are coming

out of Skeletor's eyes here they've work is sometimes

the the master's logo doesn't it's it's just

there some it's like you know you look at the

human one of the kind of blends into the sword

uh... and i'll talk about this uh... in a little

bit we get the heart act but with this issue

they've really like it's the message universe

logo sticks out but you look at that trim at

the bottom where it's not just It's not like

slapping a sticker on a toy box or a toy packaging

where, hey, here's the name of the stuff. It

just, it's blended into the design so well. Absolutely

love it. And we open it up and we see this creepy

full page panel divided up into four different

panels and we see Skeletor narration. or keldor

narration but um... yeah he's getting his face

off is what he's getting here ladies and gentlemen

where's John Travolta and Nicolas Cajun you really

need them right? yeah I kind of wish that that

image had a little bit more look of the keldor

that we were used to seeing in the 2002 version

But I think he's supposed to look he's supposed

to be younger. He's supposed to be still a child.

So yeah, that's yeah, I think that's true and

yeah, he really hasn't been that person yet,

but uh It basically says the first the first

line of this whole book is it and so this is

the death of Keldor And then we do get the family

line here first son of King Mero brother to King

Randor So we get the whole family tree here.

It's King Mero who has Randor and and Keldor

And then obviously Randor has he man slash Prince

Adam. So we got the whole family tree there We

get to know that he was a scientist a general

and a scholar Didn't know the whole I mean, that's

kind of interesting to see his not human but

his pre skeletor Personality as far as what he

was Yeah, I didn't know he was all of those things

I mean he's the the keldor personality is For

he's a he wants to conquer Eternia. That's well,

you see he wants the throne he was Recording

him the obvious heir to the throne He's deemed

a half -breed bastard child of a king And subhuman

and then kind of goes into his ego there He wants

to be called something else killed or the mighty

killed or the destroyer killed or the king So

we're immediately given this thing that there's

something about him that's causing them to look

at him as a half -breed or as a subhuman so we're

kind of waiting to see what that is and of course

we're also seeing his face come off here so we

have that well you know this whole half -breed

thing think about it um randor must have been

uh sleeping around or not not randor miro miro

must have been sleeping around because Yeah,

that's what we're kind of waiting to see what

exactly that's all about. Yeah, yeah. So then

it kind of juxtaposes all the names that he wants

to be called with. Keldor the Fallen, Keldor

the Weak, Keldor the Liar, Keldor the Betrayer.

And then it says, I will make this right, I will

fix my legacy. So it kind of gives you that,

kind of like what I talked about when we were

talking about General Zod and Man of Steel here.

This, yes, he's the bad guy. Well, you get that

human element that he's not all 100 % bad to

begin with. You know what I mean? It's human

type of situations that are creating this monster

out of someone who really didn't have monstrous

intentions. He just wants to be considered normal.

He doesn't want his blood... Jeans etc to be

costing this he wants his legacy to be a positive

one But obviously it's gonna get thrown off course

as he tries to strive for that Yeah, and I love

that the flashbacks are in black and white well

black white and green Yeah, and and real quick

though right before we get that as his face is

coming off we see him put the put the hood over

Yeah, that's a cool picture, and that's kind

of in the initial origin of him wearing the hooded

Cape there And yeah, then we go into a flashback

of King Miro's village and we see Randor and

Keldor running around. They make sure to signify

which one Keldor is by having his face a nice

Skeletor blue there. This whole thing of that

he's a half -breed. Yeah, and then we have one

of Hordak's men coming in and basically taking

Randor. That's an interesting look, too, to Hordak's

man there. It's kind of a badass man. He needs

a name. He needs to be a character. Well, if

you look on the next page where Keldor is fighting

for his brother, he's fighting for Randor, and

he attacks the guy. And it looks like... Does

he hit him, or is he... He hits his arm. Yeah,

he hits his arm, but it kind of looks like...

Dude is tied up a little bit. Look at his face.

What does his face remind you of Darth Vader?

When his mask is taken off No, that's what it

reminds me of No, I was gonna go with that. I

was gonna say destroy a little bit there too

a little bit. Yeah Yeah, and basically randor

is trying to tell keldor not to not to keep fighting.

You know, we don't kill So we have that going

on and they basically get this guy and then Tie

him up and take him to take him to the king there

to be interrogated And then we have this kind

of juxtaposition of the current Keldor Saying

that he needs to find Randor. So he's on a mission

as he's having these flashbacks. He wants to

find Randor for some reason Yes for some reason

That never gets explained at all. We'll get to

that though Well, and then it sets up the whole

thing that Randor, he sees this vision of Randor

and it's saying that, you know, basically that

this was Miro's vision was for Randor to rule.

See, I thought that was Miro. No. Yeah, I don't

know. I got it. I got it. But that Randor should

rule and that Keldor should be his advisor. And

then Keldor's saying, but I'm older. And he's

saying... I Asked on your behalf brother, but

you your gar blood And we have no idea what that

means I mean obviously it's in reference to his

half -breed into his you know a subhuman thing

that he is not a full -blood like randor is but

I don't know what gar stands for at this point

yeah, and basically It's held or being again

put in this position where he's not good enough

for anybody I just can't get over the... I wish

people would draw Randor in the 2000x style and

the 2002 cartoon style because I cannot get over

this Burger King style. Yeah, Randor looks terrible

in that. It's not just this, ladies and gentlemen.

Honestly, it's not. It's the freaking toys of

him. It's everywhere I see Randor today in 2013.

He looks like the Burger King. They could be

friggin' related. I don't like that style. Even

in black and white. I mean, look at that first

panel. His face doesn't look good either. He's

smiling like a friggin'. Like, I just had a couple

of whoppers. Come on, Keldar, you can't be king.

You're gar blood. Gar! Yeah, it just doesn't

look good. I don't like it at all. And then they

basically have Keldor, current Keldor, looking

down two paths, one of which is his younger self

in Randor and Hordak's man going the one way

and then there's a darker path and he says, no,

I'm not ready to follow that path, not yet, referring

to the one the kids are going down, I'm assuming.

Cause he then goes down into this other one by

himself and starts talking about his destiny.

And then he's like, got this thing going into

his neck. Yeah. And he's apparently reciting

some type of spell and talking to Hordak. That

got weird right there. Oh, that is him that says

that. See, I thought that was... Yeah. So I don't

know what this thing is that's coming out of

his neck. Well, this is the connection... This

is the way that they apparently established the

spell connection for... Keldor to talk to seem

like this is the yeah This is like the first

part here where where we hear Hordak say who

dares? Oh, it's Keldor son of Miro brother of

randor and then this is congratulations on your

ascension and Then they kind of he's he's Kind

of playing to that thing with Keldor of his inferiority

complex But that is saying that this is not their

first first conversation because he says the

old fool made randor the king just as you said

he would lord hordak yeah and he says i'm impure

so apparently they've had conversation before

and they knew this was going to be coming and

hordak's just kind of teasing them a little bit

he's you know no you're not a pure you're better

than them you're better than any um all this

other stuff so and it says i'll help you claim

what's yours boy what do you think of hordak's

look in this one It's creepy as all hell and

that look will return in future issues in the

current 2013 ongoing series. I don't like that

look. It's interesting, I'm glad it's not...

It's too alien. It's what? It's too alien. Well...

And it's not how he looks like in the Origins

of Hordak. No, it's not. But I assume... And

we're jumping ahead of ourselves. He looks like

a gremlin in that bottom panel. Yes, he does.

That's was not civilized. No, that's not civilized.

Can't we all just get along? I love gremlins,

too But Hordak's design I would think at this

point the reason why he looks like that and we'll

get to this in origin of Hordak Is because this

is Alright, I'll just say right now and we'll

say it later the origin of Hordak which we'll

be reviewing after this takes place one thousand

years before Adam was born. So, if it takes place,

if Hordak's ascension to where he is in this

issue came a thousand years before any of this

happened, you would think that here, Hordak would

be an old man. And that's kinda, he looks like

an old ass shriveled up alien. Yeah. That's true.

So then we get, uh, Kalador still trying to kind

of find Randor and it seems like he's kinda lost

and stumbling around. He sees his younger self

again, so it's almost like the whole frickin'

Christmas carol here where he's watching himself.

It's a wonderful life, I could never get past

the title. Then he goes, it's time to accept

your fate. There's only one master, I'm the master

of my own fate. Have you noticed the whole time

his face continues to burn off? Yep. He's getting

more and more and then he falls and it seems

like he crumbles into a bunch of pieces in that

one picture, I don't... Yeah, his his cloaked.

Yeah. Wow. I don't know what that was all about

And then it's I don't know this is just weird

Because then he has a conversation then then

Keldor is basically dead I don't know how young

Keldor dies or no, this is when he actually dies.

Okay, I'm with you now Yeah, he's been stumbling

around because he's been dying and whatnot and

then he finally dies Right. And then he has a

meeting with Death, who looks strangely like

Skeletor. Yes, yes, he does. And he basically

says, you've crossed over. And he's all upset

that he's dead. But then we go back to him laying

on the ground dead, and he gets up. And he's

like, I must find Randor again. Skeletor zombie.

Skeletor zombie, yeah. So then we get the whole

front. confrontation between King Mero where

he is basically saying that, you know, it's all

about King Randor. He's showing a lot of favoritism

and just basically ignoring Keldor, which obviously

isn't good. And then we finally see the actual

Randor and Keldor looking at each other and Randor

seems concerned. Randor looks terrible, by the

way. Again, he's still concerned. Even in the

muted reddish -pinkish background, he still looks

like crap. And he's somewhat concerned for him.

He wants to get him to a healer. Keldor's saying

it's too late for that. Then Randor asks him

why he betrayed us. And he wants to set this

right. So just like Keldor before wanted to set

his legacy right, now King Randor wants to set

it right for him. And then... It's interesting.

Between this because we kind of have this whole

conversation and even randor says, you know a

gar can never You know Be the ruler And they're

kind of sitting down talking to each other and

it's talking about unfair blah blah blah And

then Keldor shows him his face Yeah, that's creepy.

Yeah It will get an intentress I must have your

blood, it is key. This is where I check out with

this book. Honestly, like, they don't explain

this at all in the writing. So he stabs him,

gets his blood, and says, and then it's interesting

because then he says, we shan't meet again. Wow.

Well, as what Randor knew him as. Still I don't

like and randor no I don't I don't know if his

reaction is because he realized something that

the writers aren't telling us or If he's screaming

out no because of his because of his brother,

but it seems as if randor knows something about

this The Skeletor needed his blood that like

it's yeah, we don't know why he needs his blood

It all goes back to the bloodlines and everything

else, but he is does have a bloodline so he needs

pure blood Maybe I don't know what he needs the

blood for it's not really explained So then he

goes back to Hordak and basically says you know

tell Hordak I've done it He looks like he's defeated

there because he's sad that he just stabbed his

brother and whatnot Then we have alien Hordak

just looks ridiculous He has that Frankenstein

Put some glasses on him. He could be the brain

gremlin right there And that's basically when

he turns in turns him into and then we have the

whole Star Wars moment where he says rise my

apprentice And then we get the final thing where

it looks like Skeletor and whatnot. I just have

to say overall Looking at this one versus the

origin of He -Man The design writing coloring

artwork in the origin of He -Man is a thousand

times better than it is in this one I'm sorry

the guy doing the human one just had it we like

you said before like the colors were popping

the everything all the different schemes that

were going were good everybody looked good in

their design Sorceress he man Skeletor and everything

everything looks hokey in this one well, it's

because of the black and white transition for

the The press like from the present to the past

that's I don't like that I think it's just more

so in the good like you have that initial frame

which is Keldor's face starting to burn off.

That I don't mind. After that, though, the faces

on everybody just look silly. The faces on Randor

and Keldor as young children look silly. The

faces on Randor, no matter what age, look terrible.

Well, Randor, when he's very young, he looks

like Adam at certain points in the black and

white stuff. I think Hordak looks silly. I think

all the flashbacks look amateur or childish.

The only things that ever look good are the faces

on Keldor as his face is burning off and then

there's that one scene where where Keldor as

a seemingly a not a child and not a full adult

more of a almost like a young adult when he's

visiting death. Those scenes are probably the

best that's probably the best page of the comic.

Right, oh yeah. When they show him laying down

and when they show him his cape it just looks,

there's no detail, there's no shading, there's

no, it's just like this figure walking through

and I just don't like it. I don't think King

Miro looks good. I don't know. This is not visually

pleasing like that first one was. I I still like

the art in it I just wish we had like what really

brings this down for me and really only it's

only gonna bring it down one star really because

I because I've never seen a Skeletor story like

this I mean we've seen the 2002 cartoon where

we saw his you know his face burned off by a

deflected poison in a battle but like I really

do like the art in it, and I think the art in

certain places, yes, you're right, it does suffer

from the whole transition from reds and purples

in present day to basically black, white, green,

and red in the past, and that's not a good transition,

but overall, I still very much enjoyed it. If

this was, I don't know, if this was the only

episode, only comic book issue that I saw and

I hadn't seen the human one, I probably wouldn't

have read anymore. I mean, I don't mind the writing

of some of it and whatnot, I just am turned off

to the whole style used by this artist. Alright,

we are going to get to the final issue of the

day, the origin of Hordak, after this. Alright,

the last issue of the day is released a couple

of weeks ago. Masters of the Universe, The Origin

of Hordak. This is written by the current writer

of the... Keith Giffen took over the miniseries

last year, I think at issue 2. He started full

-on writing for Masters and issue 3 of the miniseries.

And he's currently writing the new 2013 ongoing

Masters of the Universe. So he's the writer.

Keane and Roblish are the artists and colorists.

What do you think of the cover here? Definitely

happy that it doesn't look like alien Hordak

that we saw in the origin of Skeletor. This is

more so how I want Hordak to look. I've definitely

shown him a badass and I was definitely excited

to see who he was covering over. Yeah, now that

I've read it, I kind of... Well, even before

I've read it, looking back on it, I should have

known. Yeah, I saw that and that's immediately

what I thought. I was like, ooh, Hordak and Zodak.

Just by the helmet, I should have known. And

I never really placed the connection between

their names either, Hordak and Zodak. Like they

have the same ending, there's a connection there,

and I never realized that. Well, now Zodak, I

don't know if it's in this one. There's always

been two different spellings for Zodak. It's

either Zodak with a C or Zodak with a K. And

I forget, we'll get into it, but I forget off

the top of my head what... Which one this one

is Hard world one. Oh wow not one thousand hard

world one million years before the birth of Adam,

so When he's an origin of Skeletor Reason why

he looks like brain gremlin from her once too

is because he's really oh, yeah, but I guess

my problem is is that I don't see this turning

into that. I don't see the connection even if

you do age them. And just because I'm exposed

to all the other stuff from before, Skeletor

and Hordak always coexisted in the same time

frame looking like they did that we're used to.

So it's just kind of a little disconnect there.

But yeah, we definitely are brought into this

whole battle. We see that there's some type of

apocalyptic war going on here, or actually that

has just ended, it seems like, where not only

Hordak's people, but all the people have basically

been wiped out, except for Zodak and Hordak.

I need to make a correction myself. It's not

Roblish, it's Scott Koblish that does the inks.

on the cover to me at first, like at a distance

when I looked at it, it looked like an R. But

yeah, no, and the title of this one is Devil's

Do. And yeah, so we basically have Zodak surviving

this onslaught and realizing that Hordak also

has survived in these, basically trying to put

together what the reasoning for this is, what's

going on, what's... you know, to come of all

of this, where is Hordak, and he's basically

just searching around for and trying to come

to terms with what the heck just happened. Yeah,

no, I gotta ask, because when I wrote my spoiler

-free written review of this, I had to read this

twice and look at this panel multiple times,

this full -page battle shot. Because I thought

that the thing on the left hand side, I thought

that was Horde Prime's hand. Yeah, I think it's

supposed to be just a random hand. I know, but

like, but it is a hand, right? Yeah. It's not,

okay, I just wanted to make sure that I realized

it was an actual hand. Yeah, it's just a fallen

person's hand, I think. Okay. So we get, yeah,

like I said, just getting up, stumbling around,

seeing the devastation and trying to come to

terms with what the fuck just happened. Yeah,

pretty much and then out of nowhere. It's like

boom There is Hordak Yeah, I don't like the design

on zodiac in this on his face on that on that

next panel On the the next page lower left lower

look Yeah, that's the first close -up, and I

don't really care for that either makes him look

like a superhero It doesn't even look it looks

like his jaw is gonna fucking fall off people

It really does it's just yeah, they shouldn't

really mess too much with the originals The originals

are like a so badass looking that you really

didn't need to change it much So kind of wish

they wouldn't have What's interesting once he

finally gets to confronted there with and with

Hordak there and Hordak's basically trying to

explain that That he's the one that caused all

this he's the one that influenced zodiac to do

things and his people and zodiacs like wait a

second We have barriers so people can't mess

with our minds our minds are closed to your vile

But apparently Hordak is powerful enough to even

influence. He's changed all that Yeah That's

no moon, right? So Hordak's basically saying

that he's the one that caused all this. He was

the orchestrator between, you know, all of this.

He's the puppet master. He's pulling all the

strings. And Zodak's like, wait a second, millions

of Horde are dead too. And he's like, not dead,

transformed from energy. Were they born as matter

and do energy, do they return after death? And

then it's basically saying that he ate them all.

Yeah. I swear, this is almost like... Keith Geffen

is really emulating Joss Whedon here. For the

audience and for you too, as well. Kev, you don't

know this because you don't watch the show. There's

a show that Joss Whedon did that is called Angel.

There's an episode, there's a whole arc in season

four where Angel has to fight this old demon

who, in order to survive and keep her shape,

she eats people. So this is pretty much the same

thing here. Yeah. Um, just I can't, I'm sorry.

Like listeners have to understand that I read

this after reading this came out after the first

two issues of the current ongoing and the current

ongoing is just amazing. It really, really is.

So I read this after the fact of those first

two issues and because of the way that this was

released and I get to say, I do not like Geffen's

writing in this. I wish I could say otherwise

that I did, but I just, like I said before, I

had to read through, I had to actually read through

this story. This is definitely the most abstract

and confusing one out of all of them. It's so

friggin confusing. And basically we have Hordak

saying, millions died and I gorged for myself.

I took what they so carelessly cast away, their

energy, the souls, the raw essence of creation.

And they're all with they all are within him

and all of them consumed to serve my ambitions

And then he he's saying come to me zodiac and

fulfill my final prophecy and zodiacs like final

prophecy and zodiac says there will come a day

when the old God shall pass from the realm and

the avatar of all that is good shall do battle

with the avatar of all that is evil and So will

the fate of the universe be cast? So it's basically

setting up bender when you really need them basically

setting up this whole good versus evil thing

So yeah Well, then it does it does set up a little

bit because then zodiac does You know, basically

who knows the beast better than zodiac who has

fought him to a standstill countless times over

countless millennia So obviously they have a

history there, but then it's interesting because

then it says no more I am NOT my brother's keeper

So basically, Zodak and Hordak are brothers,

people. And the only reason that bugs me is because

we already set up the whole He -Man and Skeletor

family relations. So now we're going to have

Zodak and a Hordak B family. I mean, I get it.

Their names are similar. And then they both do

have the whole legacy of always being around

longer than all the other characters that we

know about. And then we have Hordak holding the

skull and it says do you see father? Do you see

what has become of the son you spurned? Who you

cast away Yeah With righteous rage he comes vengeance

incarnate So there's something that happened

similar to what happened a keldor where I mean,

I don't know who's head he's holding there. I

don't know who Hordak's father is Don't know

either, but there's a similar thing where he's

spurned and cast aside just like Skeletor was

Yeah, so a lot to be explained there And then

there's another another talk of the here's another

line with the brother and the father here This

is you know whose face will he see should he

be the one to strike the death blow? The much

beloved brother or the most honored father So...

Is he saying that he's Zodak's father now? I

don't know. I'm so confused. I've read this book

three times and I'm still confused as all fuck.

Yeah, I know. And then it says, he comes to anoint

me, father, by his blood shall I be coronated

master of all, master of the universe. I don't

know. I don't know. Honestly, the very next page

is really where I kind of was kind of like, oh,

that's kind of cool design. Yeah. It's the very

next page. The appearance of leech. The freight

zone. They mentioned the freight zone. Yeah,

I mentioned the freight zone. So I'm negative

this whole good or evil. I'm not a hundred percent

sure what family connection I mean, I'm thinking

they're saying zodak and hordak are brothers

But then they're talking about a father who they

don't really get to So It's just too confusing

it's and then zodak calls it like a couple pages

ahead zodak calls him brother, so It's just Reading

this again makes my head hurt, people. It really

does. I kid you not. I'm gonna have to take some

ibuprofen right now because it... Just reading...

What was Keith Geffen thinking? Don't get me

wrong, people. I like him as a writer. I like

what he's currently doing in the ongoing. But

this is the strangest story in comic books that

I've read since I've been reading comics since

last October. This is by far the strangest tale

ever Yeah, and then they basically have another

confrontation where they call each other brother

It's like blood to blood as it was meant to be

as it was foretold good against evil in my image

brother The universe shall be remolded in my

image And then zodax like a god is that what

your monstrous ego has led you to delusions of

godhood Not a god the god madness divine madness

brother And then it says, mine is the power of

millions sacrificed to my glory. Lives given

that I should know this moment. No weapon can

harm me. I still hate Zodak's design. All these

Hordak's close -ups, Hordak's design looks amazing.

It looks like a combination of the filmation

face with the 2000X black and white or even the

toy design. From masters classics or the original

motu line on page 15 those odak in the bottom

right corner. Just looks stupid When he's all

beat up. Uh, yeah, yeah, that's that's where

I said Yeah, what I almost look like he has a

looney tunes moment on the very next page top,

right? And then and then it said this is coming

from zoda or from hordak now speaking of zodiac

He says you were always the impetuous one the

first act the last to repent so certain of yourself

so dedicated to your ideals so easily manipulated

uh... and saying he's been defeated by so that

multiple times he learned and learned uh... but

in the same that basically zodiac is here again

over confident and never learned anything so

that's interesting and then he wants him to join

him yeah we'll talk about this page for a second

because uh... fan of the geek cast radio network

Patrick Moore on Facebook pointed this out to

me and I didn't notice this but you look at the

bottom bottom left very top that is a bat symbol

and the way that the cape looks it looks like

Batman's cape bottom right which page after he

says join me yeah one where he's saying reject

you reject you I expect no less. Very bottom

of that page, bottom left. Well, that's always

been his symbol. No, no, no. I know. I know it's

always been Hordak's symbol, but look at the

bottom right. Yeah, that does definitely look

like Batman's satellite. That's Batman. Now,

the reason why I think that they threw this in

with this art, because this was released on June

5th, I believe, June 5th or June 12th, the reason

why that the Batman shadow is here, is because

coming up later this year, they're going to do

DC Universe versus Masters of the Universe in

the comics. Yeah, but as far as the red bat looking

like thing, that's always been Hordak's thing.

I know, but it's not... It has been, yes, you're

right. But not in the way that it's designed

in that it looks more like a bat logo from Batman

to me than it does the Hordak. Bat logo, but

you're right. I don't see that but I definitely

do see the silhouette as far as Batman's and

shadow That's definitely Batman's fate or head.

Yeah shadow type thing. Yeah And shadow so then

he wants him to join him and zodiac says that

he rejects that So Hordak kind of basically walks

away and it says in the beginning there was Hordak

Let the rest of Hordak's testament be written

blood by the power of darkness incarnate. I have

the power Yeah, I don't like that at all I mean,

I think it's kind of cool that they reused the

line, but it just, this whole story, it just,

it's so weird. It's just like, I don't understand

what Geffen was going for here, because in the

current ongoing, without spoiling it for Kev,

because I know he wants to eventually read it

once I send him the stuff digitally, but in the

current ongoing, it's... it's so different from

what this is and i almost wish i didn't even

pick this issue up i really almost do i wish

i never picked this up um the art is very cool

except for the fact that zodiac looks like a

baby with a helmet on. The design on Zodak, it

just, it's so god -awful. I think with comics,

at least, I mean, obviously I'm not a comic connoisseur

or whatever, but as I view it, I kind of have

to view them separately. Like, I can rate each

one art against each other, and then I have to

rate each one's writing and story against each

other. I can't because there seem like they're

completely separate things like you could really

like the story and what's being said and not

like the art or Really like the art and not like

the story Yeah, see that that's where I come

in. Let's see here outside of zodax design I

really like the art with hordak and the backgrounds

and the whole purples and reds and blacks and

I like all that The story is just god -awful.

It really really is It just is, and it's just

so bad. The designs though, the designs outside

of Zodak's design, the designs are great. It's

just a completely different style. All three

of them are completely different styles, which

is kind of weird, but I guess with being just

single shot origins they can do that. Yeah, they

can so Are we doing overall thoughts on all of

them? We will in a minute any other thoughts

on Hordak's issue I mean, I like seeing his background

and that there's a zodiac Hordak connection I

don't know how I feel about this whole family

brother type thing and what the father thing

issue is and there's a lot of stuff not Completely

explained, but I know they can't explain everything

but there's just some stuff that happens. Are

you like what? Yeah, I don't I don't like the

zodiacs design But everything else visually is

fine. Not necessarily the style that I would

choose to be a fan of. Right. But I'm not anti.

It doesn't like turn me off like some of the

style of the second one did so. All right. So

we're going to take a quick break. You're going

to hear some ads and some other stuff and we'll

be back after this with final thoughts and ratings.

50 years ago, a little old man brought his little

blue box to a junkyard, and now, Doctor Who is

a cultural phenomena worldwide. Join the Geekcast

Radio Network and Markhu42's Hooniverse as we

review Doctor Who episodes past and present,

discuss the Doctor's friends and enemies, See

where the doctor's been, where he is, and where

he's going. Sit back and grab a jelly baby and

join Markhu42's Hooniverse. It's the ride of

this and every other lifetime. Fantastic. Allons

-y! Hello, pop culture connoisseurs. Do you gain

a dark sense of peace when the guilty are punished

by a violent vigilante? If so, maybe you should

get some therapy, and then subscribe to Punisher

Body Count, the net's best podcast concerning

all things Frank Castle. I'm Dane Lamont, and

my co -host Jake Williams and I cover the good,

the bad, and the hilarious on The Punisher in

comics, movies, and news. Do you like chummy

co -host banter? We got that. You want kick -ass

guest interviews? How about Mike Barron and Tom

James? You want carefully considered in -depth

analysis? Good luck with that. Punish your body

count. twice a month on GeekCast Radio. So let's

say you're looking for a podcast of your favorite

80s comic books, G .I. Joe, Transformers, Ninja

Turtles, He -Man, etc. Where are you going to

go to find this? Welcome to Star Joe's Podcast.

I'm your host Ryan. And I'm Chuck. That's right

everybody, we're the Star Joe's. We host a podcast

called Star Joe's Podcast. where we talk about

your favorite comic books, your favorite toys

of all the 80s properties. Star Wars, G .I. Joe,

Transformers, Mask, Thundercats, Voltron, you

name it, we cover it. If it's in the 80s, we

will cover it at some point. Yes, so what you

want to do to find us, you can go to iTunes,

you can go to www .starjoes .com. And remember,

the Force will be with you. Because knowing us

is half the battle. 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.

Are you looking for a weekly dose of gaming news

in retro? And check out Off the Cuff, available

Fridays on GeekCast Radio Network from the producers

of XRG. New name, same ****. I think this is

where I make my exit. Alright, so we are back.

And for final thoughts and readings, we're gonna

start with Origin of He -Man. I had written up

my review of this, and I did write a spoiler

-filled review of this. Before we had the GCN

rating system zero to five stars With half points

in there as well. I wrote this up before that

was in place, but I'm gonna give it five stars.

I think it's Outside of some of the story elements,

which I I think in my case or nitpicks. I really

enjoyed the story I mean, yeah, we don't get

a real answer as far as What How that battle

and how his parents came out, but I I really

love it. I love the writing I love the art. It's

just amazing For me, it's the best of the all

out of all the art and all the visuals and design

We have it's the best that we saw out of these

three Story wise it's the best out of the three.

So it's definitely the superior issue out of

the three, I will probably land somewhere in

like four and a half. I'm not going to say that

it's perfect or anything like that. It's almost

perfect. It's close. It's four and a half out

of five for me. Yeah. For Origin of Skeletor,

if the story didn't just let it, like if the

story had explained why they need Randor's blood.

Would have enjoyed it really more when I wrote

the review up of it My reading was four stars

really liked it because I really did like it

I did enjoy reading it when I was reading it.

Yes. The art is kind of eh here or there What

about you for me? It's the second best story

we got out of the three Not quite as good as

what we had with with the human one But but I

dug most of the story of a few issues here and

there but nothing major I think it's the worst

out of the the artwork and the design and the

visuals and all that stuff goes I really didn't

like it at all. I think a lot of it looked amateur

as far as how it was drawn the attention to detail

and shading and shadowing and texture and edging

and stuff like that wasn't there. I thought Hordak

looked retarded, as did King Randor, as did King

Miro, as did all the flashback scenes except

for the Hordak's man guy. So I think the visuals

really brought it down for me. I'll probably

give this one like three out of five stars. Yeah,

that's what I give it to three out of five. It's

just it's barely passing You know now that we're

analyzing it and I can look at the art a little

bit more clear and everything else but Hordak

I I don't know I think for me With the Hordak

issue. I'm almost gonna have to go against what

I read it which was three stars barely passing

in the written review because It's just, the

story is so convoluted, you don't know what the

hell is going on. Hordak and Zodak are the only

two characters that we've ever heard of that

are even, it's basically their story. But it's,

it's their story a million years before anything

we ever knew, so obviously Skeletor is not gonna

be there, you know... The story suffers because,

for me, it's... unnecessary pages upon unnecessary

pages at times it's it's so many pages and the

information that we get in the important part

doesn't add up like for me there's there's they're

not telling us enough in the amount of pages

they used to do it I don't need to see panel

after panel of zodak stumbling around I don't

need to see panel after panel of Hordak trying

to convince zodak or you know this whole dialogue

between the two I need some more important information

or some action or Something and it just seems

like a drug a little bit. It was the worst story

out of the three Yeah, it was the worst story

and some of the art on zodak specifically is

just horrendous It really really overall though.

I do like the art better than the Skeletor one

uh... so uh... i like the skillet even though

there are issues with the skillet or uh... i

really liked the only reason i say that is because

i like that at least it looks like it was a little

harder to draw and to come up with there's a

lot of detail and like uh... especially what

they did with hordak uh... i really like how

they designed him on that third one and it just

seems like Even though it's a lot more going

on and it's more typical of what I think of when

I think of comic book art, and I'm not saying

that in a bad way, but it's more typically that

style, it seems like, in the ones that I've been

exposed to. It's not my favorite style, but I

like it better than kind of the blandness that

I saw in the Skeletor one, but it's still the

worst story. Yeah, and because it's the worst

story I'm gonna have to go against what I wrote

I originally rated the hordak issue three stars

which on our rating system is barely passing

I have to take it down to two stars I disliked

it going back and reading it again before we

recorded this I The story I cannot follow it

I don't understand it half of the dialogue is

just because it's set in quote -unquote olden

times it just It's just it's a bad example. I

mean, I don't know this guy's writing at all,

but the other two issues In much less words much

more was conveyed Yeah, exactly. And this one

there's a whole lot of words with a lot less

being conveyed and that's just boring to me I'm

gonna give it two and a half Just a notch above

yours, but but still the worst if you combine

them all like the human ones the best for me

And then there's parts of each of the other two

that are better than parts of the other two.

Some parts are better, some parts are worse,

but I think overall the story of the Skeletor

one raises it enough compared to the artwork

that I slightly prefer on the Hordak one. Yeah,

yeah. I would say that the He -Man one has both

amazing writing and art. Skeletor has great writing,

but art's spotty in places, and Hordak has terrible

writing and amazing art. It's yeah, I just don't

just don't get it So reading these are you interested

in seeing what is going on in the current ongoing?

I mean, oh, yeah Do you want to read more of

masters? I have no I always like I like all things

masters So I want to be exposed to all of it

eventually Just a matter of working it into my

schedule and catching up with stuff Yeah But

yeah Alright, well, where can the people interact

with you online? The best thing to do is to tweet

me at Optimus Solo. If you actually put me in

the tweet, I will see it and I will look it up

and I will read about it. Otherwise, you can

find me stumbling around GeekCastRadioNetwork

.com or BehindTheVoiceActors .com in the forums

or in comments on different pages and whatnot.

Stumbling is the key word there, folks. For sure.

Pizza delivery people aren't supposed to be drunk.

You can find me at TF2 and Mike. You can also

follow at Gatecast Radio on Twitter and in the

end of the show we'll have Steve give us the

full contact info for the network. So I have

no idea what's coming up next for episode 23

on the pull bag. No clue. As I've said many times,

I said it in episode 19, I said it in episode

20 and 21, we are working towards, in the coming

months here in the pullback, having theme months

where we will do four episodes, or five, depending

on if it's a four or five week month, we will

do four or five episodes on a specific character,

whether that be Batman, Spider -Man, Masters

of the Universe, Transformers. uh... whatever

it is in the future we will be having theme months

in addition to the current coverage that we do

because the show is all about current comics

and uh... these are fairly these origin books

are fairly current are a couple years old uh...

we will be having uh... back issue classics uh...

in the coming months and years and that's when

we'll go back and do some older stories and stuff

like that so uh... you can find us in itunes

and all the other good places online and until

next time keep reading those comics we will talk

to you later you just heard the latest episode

of the pullback gcrn's comic book review podcast

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 grade 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're 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.

Share This Episode

Hosts

Back to top button
>