He-Man: The Eternity War Issues 3 & 4 Review

Welcome to the pull bag Join us as we dig out

our latest comics and discuss them with a rotating

panel of the GCR and crew So sit back and enjoy

this week's pull bag Hello and welcome to the

pull bag this is back issue classics this is

back issue classics episode 50 so in the regular

numbered episodes are up to episode 136 and this

is 50 so we technically have 186 podcasts for

the pull bag not counting the origins and all

that other good stuff I'm of course your host

TF2 and Mike joining me once again is the Skeletor

of the pull bag Yeah, that's right. We have a

desperate back and we are going to be going over

and Discussing he manned the eternity war issues

number three and four as we did with numbers

one and two So that's what's going on there.

How are you? Mr. Skeletor? I'm extending my back.

Oh, this is the wrong What's going on with you,

but nothing too much just working on a lot of

projects How did your Joker run go? Oh my god,

it was fabulous You know, you pulled it off right

when you look around the convention floor at

the end of the day and 95 % of the garbage scattered

around the floor is yours Next thing you know,

you'll be cosplaying as Templeton the rat from

Charlotte's web So this gave me a lot of really

good ideas of what to do next the when I go to

another convention and how to terrorize people.

I was gonna say garbage pail kid. Or Oscar the

Grouch. That'd be kind of cool. It'd be hard

to pull off though. Walking around in trash can't

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and trinkets and cool items and geeky items all

that good stuff So we are here as I said to talk

about he man the eternity war numbers three and

four and I'll say this right off the bat the

eternity war series It goes back and forth for

me, and I don't like that The first two issues

we had set up with he man and the horde and all

that stuff continuing over from the 2013 ongoing

In issue number three, it's the She -Ra show.

Quite literally. There's absolutely no mention

whatsoever of what is going on with He -Man,

with Man -At -Arms, with a dead robot, with anything

that we've seen in the first two issues. There's

no mention of anything. She's with the Sorceress

at one point or another with Tila, but it's essentially

her quest to find the Eye of Chrono. I don't

like them not even showing one page or one panel

as far as what He -Man is doing. I just don't

like that. I like to think of it more of like

a serialized series. And you know, if you equate

it to like a cartoon, you know, if it's a multicast

of characters, you might not focus on all the

characters at once this, you know. And I'm not

saying I wanted, I'm not saying I want issue

three to be All but human is the first or i'm

just saying a mention of him in passing would

have been fine Like you know like tila as the

sorceress or as whatever she is now the goddess

whatever she could have said Oh, well he man's

off doing this you know she could have said something

but it's like they completely ignore to me Issue

number three is them almost completely ignoring

the fact that he man is even there. I mean, I

like the story in issue 3. We open up with She

-Ra and the Wind Raiders and Stratos fighting

a battle against, well, is Stratos? Yeah, Stratos

is there. I was gonna say, I thought that was

gonna be a spoiler, but he's there in that panel.

And then we cut to a night before, with Tila

giving her the mission of finding the Eye of

Chrono, and apparently the Power Sword is now...

What could it be it's a it's a jewel detector

or something It's a it's a pke meter folks for

campus is what it is it's I I Don't know I I

just see Like so one of the situations where

they just oh, let's come up with a new power

for this now Mm -hmm. Yep. And, you know, Shira

and Tila have some back and forth about, you

know, Shira's like, oh, well, you know, anything

else you'd like to tell me at the last possible

minute, and Tila's very remorseful, oh, I'm just

now learning my own power, and blah, blah, blah.

So she goes to the Sands of Time. and they engage

the horde and the battle is epic and awesome

and we get the line for the honor of Grayskull

which they had to put in there somewhere because

it's not like the... Pop Mahon and Mark Roberts

are amazing artists and colorists but it's not

like they can sit there and put the transformation

in and she's already turned into She -Ra anyways

so they got to throw the line in there somehow

some way What do you think so far of the story

as we've progressed to this big giant splash

page in the art? I like the idea that my thought

of how it might be a serialization of everything

I think Dora as she or has been a little underutilized

at this point and this is their chance to let

her shine and I think they do No, they do and

all the the little Easter eggs of characters

and whatnot that start showing up like Voltaic

Was a nice touch You know I Optimus all and I

are just in the middle and we're like one third

of the way through the Shira series cartoon reviews

So you'll have to remind me Voltac was he in

the series? I believe he was Okay, so he's probably

in season two most likely then because that's

one of our biggest complaints over empowers the

grayskull series is we're reviewing Shira and

Kevin's like well I remember all these characters

being in here and we're a third of the way through

the series and none of them have shown up and

they very Barely reused frost or they've used

cast a spell a few times, but so it's a it's

a slow burn I love seeing all the wind writers

in this. That's awesome Pop mahan can draw a

wind writer like nobody's business. I mean, it's

awesome. It's so cool So as I said Dan Abbot

on script pop mahan on art mark Roberts on colors

You know, so you get that you get Voltac against

Stratos now they did Use a different version

or different design for Stratos here. This isn't

the classic Filmation design. This isn't even

the 2002 design. What do you think of Stratos

is designed? I'm not too keen on this one I think

they had used this design in the past and either

the the preceding comic So he he's one of the

avions but I'm little confused as to does his

race actually have the blue feathers on their

forearms or is this some sort of mechanical monstrosity

there they're never they never quite explain

that yeah he looks like he's wearing a gray Fox

on his shoulder pads there I don't know I he

kind of looks like a cross between Stratos and

Oh, what was that random fan figure they had

done up, Mattel? Oh god, um... Spectre? No, not

Spectre. The other one. The blue guy. The one

that's supposed to be the Superman of the He

-Man. The laser lamps? Yeah, that's what he kind

of reminds me of here. At least with his mask

and stuff. So then we go to the Horde ship where

we have Catra and Scorpia. I think it's the best

part of this issue. Yes, they both look great.

They they keep the banter between them to form

from what you remember. See, this is the thing.

Like I said, we've been watching the cartoon

and we see a lot of like we're on Oh God, we're

31 episodes and we're 33 episodes into Shears

cartoon series. So like I said, we're a third

through the series. We've seen a lot of catra

and I because I don't count. The five parter

I don't count secret of the sword or the sort

of sure or whatever you want to call it I don't

count those first five episodes because that

was supposed to be our introduction So I I expect

to see all the characters there, but every episode

after that I've seen we I think I've seen we've

seen Scorpio like four times in the last 20 some

odd episodes which is crazy But yeah, no seeing

them here is great and it seems like their designs

were pretty much untouched Yeah, pretty much

The only thing I'll say on Scorpia is and again

It could be that I don't remember seeing her

that because I haven't seen her that much in

the cartoon Her Your rearrange part of her helmet

and you Make it poof out like an ear muff and

she can almost be the princess will be evil princess

Leia of this series Yeah, I can do that seriously

So they are aiming at Shira and they have a great

great exchange here Because Katra is like and

with them no less than Shira herself Shira he

man's girlfriend I presume That reminds me of

a line that that That comedy line there, it reminds

me of something that Keith Giffin would write,

not Dan Abnett, but I wanted to laugh at that.

So we have this battle with them. And also it

goes back to Stratos and Voltak as well. What

do you think of Swiftwin's design here? Well,

it matches with She -Ra's where they They keep

intact the elegance of her design, but give her

more of... She's a little more imposing with

this armor. Swiftwind has this armor, I guess,

underneath his chest, which considering they're

in battle, it seems a little more fitting, because

that's an easy target for a horse. Yeah, because

in the cartoon series, all it is is like a purple

bodice underneath him, for the most part. Yeah,

Katra and Scorpia are easily the best parts of

this issue. She'd already be dead if you hadn't

gotten my way. I just love these battle scenes.

And all's I can think of is when She -Ra jumps

off Swiftwind is just the way that it's drawn.

I know it's her coming down on the ship, but

it just looks like Team Rocket blasting off again.

It really, really does to me. I don't know why,

but it just does. Where she jumps down, and it's

the big skroom. Yeah. In the cartoon, it was

always implied she was powerful, or they show

her doing powerful feats, but there was no oomph

behind it. But in this one panel, and in this

entire issue, you get that sense. Oh, absolutely.

She feels like a force to be reckoned with. See,

that's one thing, you know, where 30, 31 years

are moved from the She -Ra series at this point.

It's 31 years ago this year. So looking back

on it, 31 years ago, Lou Shimer and all them

at Filmation, they they showed she were doing

stuff, but they could never show she were doing

like battle stuff like this, like what she's

like. This whole Karun thing is like she just

destroys. this ship. It's just absolutely epic

and awesome. I really really dig that. So they

end up retreating. She then they're still at

the sands of time so the battle ends up retreating.

They're still at the sands of time and she tells

the sword to show her Apparently the sword is

sensing something so she sticks it in the ground

and The sands of time give away their secrets

and we see what do we see the temple of the Sun

I Was not expecting to see this Like I know this

is a part of attorney and lore. I know this is

you know, this is you know, that they had this

in the He -Man series and stuff, but I just,

there's so many things in this series that I

was not expecting them to put in this series,

and I'm glad that they did. Yeah, I mean, I think

with some of the earlier issues, when the original

series got off the ground, it felt like, oh,

this is Mattel trying to shoehorn some of their

products into this, so, you know, we can associate

one -on -one and, you know, oh, well, this is

where this character shows up. I better buy the

toy. It's become less about that and more about

the world in which they inhabit. Yeah. And we

then have a fight between She -Ra, Catra, and

Scorpia. Because she reveals that she used to

be Despara. Yeah, I love that line. Despara?

She was Despara? That's twice enough reason to

kill her! I loathe Despara more than anything!

So you finally have Catra and Scorpia agreeing

on something. And then they get the crap kicked

out of them. Die, Despara, die! Also, I can think

of his Galvatron. It's a pity, you Autobots,

die so easily, or I might have a sense of satisfaction

now. Asphorbia gets her tail broken off, and

all I can think of is like, should, okay, the

tail's off, should I get a napkin and a cup of

butter to dip that in? Wait, you eat scorpion?

Scorpion? Lobster? It's the same thing, right?

No, it's not! I always thought it was! No! I

mean, she does look like a lobster, but I mean,

come on! And there's too much blood anyway. Oh.

Yeah, they could have never done that in filmation.

Never. Oh my god, look at - Wow great job on

that art Mahan and Roberts that's just epically

evil and and oh and of course that's taking the

sting out of it Busting score brands such a bad

pun and then we get catra turning into panthar

I'm sorry not not panthar. I swear every time

in the show. I've seen catra transform into a

purple cat I'm like when's panthar gonna show

up and mack that already? Oh Talk about bad puns

Oh boy, so we get the battle between catra and

shira, which is interesting and Looks really

really cool You know she shira calls for gray

skull to protect her she defeats catra and then

Mum raw from the 2011 Cartoon Network Series

shows up. Oh wait, that's Hordak. Okay. Oh, that's

who it was. I Mean come on look at that. That's

how the issue ends. We have Hordak appearing

and Look, it's I swear it's Well, it kind of

makes sense now that I mean this issue came out

a while ago obviously, but Looking back on it

now, especially with the news of Mattel having

a certain line now from LJN and all that and

Kenner Like it kind of makes sense if they throw

a Hordak Mumrah kind of looking thing in there

Is there any reason that he's in this armor now?

Because the last issue they they show him suiting

up and he kind of has the original outfit and

then all of a sudden it's this monstrosity Maybe

to fight them because they all I mean between

Shira and Hime and they all have new armor I

mean the swords are new the I Don't know I like

this issue. I do I like all the Shira stuff.

I like all the aetherius character stuff I don't

dislike any of that. I love the art. It's just

I like I said before I wish that There would

have been some line as to what the hell he man

is doing What's going on with that battle some

tissue? Yeah, something to connect it because

it just I mean I Agree with you on the serialized

style But even serialized stuff has connectors

at some point so What did you think overall for

issue three I'm really enjoying the story that

it's starting to tell. I always like She -Ra.

This is nice to see her in real action with some

real stakes, even though they're not necessarily

her stakes. Just the splattering of her enemies

across the sidewalk. Cat nip and lobster tail

for dinner people. That's bad, I know. Alright,

for me, out of zero to five, I'll probably give

this issue a three. I really enjoyed it. I didn't

enjoy it as much as the first two, but I enjoyed

it. What about you? I'd give it a solid four.

Alright, issue number four. We start off with

the cover of what looks to be almost the traditional

power sword, not the souped -up version that

she actually has now. And it's basically a giant

mirror with her and Hordak in it. What do you

think of this cover? I like this kind of blood

red energy flow. I mean, at first, if I don't

pay enough attention, I don't realize it's the

reflection of the sword. I just think it's kind

of like an opening in time and space in which

you look into their battle. Yes. All that's missing

is a red TARDIS. A giant red police box. That's

right, people. It's a shattered glass version

of Doctor Who. And before we go too much further,

when you saw the issue three cover with her and

Swiftwind versus Catra in the Horde vehicle,

I thought that was really cool, putting Swiftwind

on the cover. Yeah, it's so dynamic. Yeah, it

really is. so we open this one up as always Abnett

on scripts Mahan and Roberts on art and colors

and It's basically Shira versus Hordak and we

then get Stratos leading the the Wind Raiders

against Hordak and Hordak basically just Dispatches

them with one fell swoop There's a lot of blood

in that scene. Yeah looks to be blood He has

the power of the blood of grayskull at the moment,

so I guess it's plasma energy blood splattering

thing All I can think of is that stupid plasma

energy chamber from g1 season 3 from rebirth

so as I said we've got Shira versus Hordak and

she uses the term I am Shira and it's obviously

in the classic Shira logo which I liked I just

don't feel like she would say I am your doom

though Yeah, even though she even though she

is this this I don't really want to say this

but I'm going 20 Even though she's this roided

up version of Shira I just don't feel like as

a heroine of the Masters of the universe. She

would say I am your doom It seems like verbiage

more for a villain. Yeah, but that little Shira

splash it kind of takes me out of out of the

moment and I I mean, I guess since you mentioned

it's more of a villain term, she was Despara

for a while, so I guess I can kind of see it,

but just seeing it with her being in the She

-Ra outfit and all that is just a little weird.

So we then go to Mount Zor with the snake men

and He -Man and the sorceress and Mendoor. They

couldn't - I am Mendoor, please insert suture.

Does he really say that? No, I was going with

the bender thing. Oh, okay. I am Bender, please

insert girder. Jeez. Oh, so we have him healing

Ratlore, because apparently Ratlore is injured.

So is this Mendor the same race and or tribe

that zodiac with a K is I believe Okay, I don't

know Dan Abbot if you listen, let us know let

us know in the comments And Is it this one To

a king No, it's not see I thought this was the

one where they ask about How long has it been

since he was actually Adam and not he meant that

happens to wish you was not two wishes ago Oh,

yeah, that was man -in -arms. That's that's right.

I get this seems confused so you've got This

medical I'm just waiting for dr. Bones to show

up Seriously. So we got Ratlore talking about

King Hiss and the fact that he doesn't follow

He -Man because it is... because it is the Will

of the Goddess. He follows He -Man because he

chooses to, and apparently King Hiss never gave

his subjects a choice before. Aw, best of friends,

even if he sheds all over the place. Yeah. So

the doctor and he man kind of Go their separate

ways we get to Tila Because apparently he and

Tila need to plan the next move and we see this

kind of a classic Castle gray skull. Yeah Kind

of it's before Hordak disillusioned it into his

own image And then we get back to the Hordak

and Shira battle. And he basically says, I am

the very power you fight so hard to protect.

This battle is pretty awesome, but he does basically...

Is it her blaster like I can't tell if it's her

blaster his but is there the way the panels are

set up? They're doing this sword fight with each

other and he's got his sword raised above her

head and her sword is coming up from basically

Like under his stomach and the next thing there's

a giant shot into the temple of the Sun and she's

laying on the ground So I assume he hit her first.

Yeah, I think he swiped up and she yeah Okay

She then goes and searches for the Well, we don't

get there you just yet, but she she lands in

the in the temple of the Sun we then cut back

to Mount Zor and She listens kind of being mopey

again, yeah, yeah, and I still and I'm gonna

say this every episode we do this Take off the

Iron Man pants he man. Come on. This is not new

adventures. Damn it I mean, that's what it feels

like But now he now he has a cape We just remove

the chest plate and just paint a giant s on him,

please seriously So she shows him the age of...

She basically explains to him... Aquarius? The

age of Aquarius. No, the age of Apocalypse. That's

what it is. Because she says something about

the age of Horakoth, or whatever it is, or Herokoph,

or whatever. and he's like horokoth what the

mother goddess is the source and heart of all

creation she is the fire from which our universe

is born the last relic spark of creation now

rages in the forge of greyskull that is what

you are fighting to protect but can any one man

truly claim the goddess's light as his own and

she goes on to tell him how the snake men see

serpos in in it and then the horde sees horokoth

and It's this giant age -old war. Yeah, I really

like this explanation of power or the deities

within this universe, where it's just pretty

much each side's interpretation, where in some

cases, people might not be wrong. It's just they

may do bad things under that name. Yep. Pretty

much. And apparently, Hardac. Oh, no. They've

turned Hordak into Starscream. He sees himself

as the chosen one. No one thinks that, oh, was

it a chosen one to, like, you know, bring balance

and whatnot. Clearly you don't think that's one

of the twins. Yeah. Not just twins. I think it

said someone within the Horde ranks. Clearly

I think they're talking about Adora. Yeah, pretty

much. I mean, she is the... She is the Princess

Leia to He -Man's Luke. I mean, come on now.

Isn't that where they got the original idea?

They're in the caverns. Do you see that little

Granamir insignia? Yeah, that is... If he shows

up... Okay, so I've read the... like i said when

we first started this last time we did one of

these with issues 1 or 2 i've read up to issue

12 there's only 15 issues of this series so i

really hope they were able to squeeze him in

instead of just this insignia oh god it would

be so awesome to see granamara in this comic

and he -man basically says we will beat hordak

whatever it takes And Tila says, Mount Zora's

ancient destiny meets here in all its aspects.

It has been a place sacred to all races. This

door, you can feel it calling to you. Yes, what

lies beyond it? What will it take to defeat the

Horde? And that door comes back later, because

we then go back to the Temple of the Sun. And

She -Ra is searching for the Eye of Karo, and

she finds it. All I can think of is the Simpsons

yoink. That's all I can think of when Hordak

shows up. Mine, I think. No, yoink. Yoink could

have been a better line. So we get more of a

battle sort of with them. Not really. Hordak

just lets out one powerful burst and pretty much

slays her. This blast, this art is great, but

this blast of his... Look at the detail on it.

Yeah, he eviscerates her. Yeah, I mean, the detail

of this upward thrust, the energy of the power

of greyskull that flows through his sword. Look

at the purple bits spray of bl - Oh my god. Such

good art. Such, such good art. So he has the

Eye of Chrono, uh, until a giant purple blast.

Skeletor... Returns! Ha ha ha ha! Claim what

is mine! Yeah. Uh, and... Yeah. Um, and basically

he tele - what? You conniving bastard. Yep. He

uh, he basically says that he doesn't need to

fight Hordak. And he uh, he just needs to escape

him. And he takes Shira and the Eye of Colonel

and escapes. Ah, no damn you, I'm sorry. As much

as I like Hordak and I like his evil, Hordak

would not curse. I just, that's just one thing

in the writing I don't particularly care for.

I mean, I curse all the time, dammit, but I'm

just saying that some of these characters I just

don't think should be using curse words. So Skeletor

has both eyes of Grayskull. The eyes of Grayskull

are mine. A triumph child, child. And She -Ra

is not exactly speaking. Nah, with a couple punctured

lungs, I don't think she'd be able to speak either.

Yeah, and we have an image of him saying, don't

die on us now, my dear. And we have shadows in

his background, and it's pretty obvious who the

shadows are. And then we have the open panel

of Evelyn, Beastman, and Trapjaw. With Skeletor

saying, not when we have a world left to save.

Okay, I'm sorry I was not expecting to say he's

gonna save the world So the world goes to hell

then how is he gonna rule it Yeah, that's that's

true. It's very very true Alright, so issue number

four, sir. What are your opinions? Like I had

said, the deity explanation, and now we kind

of actually have a backstory for why all the

Horde has the Bat Insignia, because that's what

they worship. So that's something I never really

knew or paid enough attention to. So that was

a nice touch. I will always take up a chance

to see more Skeletor. I mean, it's it's not the

classic design so much. It's not Oh, yeah much

off the beaten path because he has this weird

Especially in the last page this ethereal type

ghoul with the the eyes and the flowing tattered

cape Yeah Yeah, he um, I think he man Always

I remember the battle where he man this is in

one of the other comics that we talked about

a while ago where He man basically knocked his

block off like a rock -a -sock -a -robot and

essentially knocked his jaw, his bottom jaw off,

and that's where this design comes from. They're

going to fast remedy that soon. I'm not gonna

tell you because I want you to be able to explore,

but I do know that the more classic design is

coming. Just the way that it's done is very,

very interesting because I wasn't sure this was

ever... the way Abnett and God who is the other

one Rob David is the original story writer the

way that they write in how Skeletor becomes more

of a man I Never thought I'd say that in one

sentence is very very interesting so Alright

folks, I think that's gonna do it you got anything

you want to pimp out? Well, if you have any listeners

in the Philadelphia area, April 17th, I believe

it starts at 3 p .m. I am part of the Five Minute

Follies Cosplay Cabaret Act. I will be doing

another joker schtick. I'm one of many acts in

this for the afternoon. I believe they have a

Doctor Who, some other magicians, but it's gonna

be downtown Philadelphia. I think it's the Radisson.

So you can always check that out at 5minutefollies

.com. Awesome. All right. As I said earlier,

folks, use promo code TBV at www .lootcrate .com

slash gcrn for $3 off your first box. It's 20

bucks a month for the boxes the current special

that they have They're gonna have exclusive items

from labyrinth labyrinth harry potter history

channels vikings and uncharted 4 And of course

they get the t -shirt and loot pin to help equip

you for your adventures This box closes on april

19th at 9 p .m. Pacific time so join the quest

and check it out If you want to check it out

like I said go to that link Unleash the geek

in you and all that good stuff make your greatest

game in the comics And I have no idea what's

coming up in the pullback folks. I'm just not

sure I'm playing it week to week and and all

that stuff I know I've got stuff I want to get

to and all that but just things are really up

in the air because I'm really focusing on the

104 days of summer, 104 podcasts for 104 days.

My buddy Michael Wilson and I are doing a daily

Phineas and Ferb review show. We are crazy. Yeah,

we are a little crazy. Godspeed. Yes, yes, absolutely

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