DC’s First Masters of the Universe Digital Series

Welcome to... The Pull Bag. Join us as we dig

out our latest comics and discuss them with a

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 112 I am your

host TfG and Mike and today we head back to Eternia

and of course joining me this time around is

Skeletor They really should have hired you for

those Honda commercials, dude. Yeah, maybe they

should Adas Baron, how the hell are you? Not

too bad on this Fall Eve. Yes. Well, we are...

nine days away from Halloween, so... I'm going

so fast. Yeah, pretty much. So we are going to

dive back into the world of DC's Masters of the

Universe, and we're not going to get to Eternity

War just yet. How much of Eternity War have you

read at this point? Is it Maternity War? No.

Event Eternity War. Wow. How much of it have

you read so far? I think the first two issues?

Oh my god. They've already released up to number

ten now. I have my work cut out for me. Yes,

you do. So the last episode that we did was the

final of the 2013 series, issues 13 to 19, which

is the Blood of Grayskull storyline, which was,

oh my God, nearly nine months ago. Oh, that was

a while ago. Yeah, it was January. I was such

a young man back then. uh... it was january of

this year of twenty fifteen here's the thing

folks before we dive into a journey war in the

upcoming months and whatever how long it lands

they have no idea how long that that series is

going to last i mean the twenty thirteen series

lasted nineteen issues and before that the series

leading up to that and attorney war the first

twenty twelve series one six issues The original

Masters of the Universe digital series was only

eight issues, so I'm hoping Eternity War will

go on for at least 25 or 30 issues, but who knows?

It's DC after all, and it's Mattel, and if, you

know... We have a new toy out. Quick, add them

to the cell. Yes. Something like that. So I thought

it would be nice to... To go back to the beginning

and to DC's first eight -issue mini digital series

and review those, and these are smaller, they're

only 20 -page issues, so they're half the size

of a normal book, and I figured we could just

do it all in one lump. Before I suggested this

to you, had you ever read this? Actually, I had.

I did when they first came out. Was that two

or three years ago? Something like that. I know

I downloaded them off of Comixology, but I wasn't

sure if I read everything. Well, it turns out

I did, and I was just revisiting these after

God knows how long. Yeah, see, for me, I had

never read these before. I started out with,

yeah, these came out June 23rd, 2012, was issue

number one. I had started with the ongoing. and

then I went back to the Six Issue mini -series,

the 2012 Six Issue mini -series, and then I had

gone and done the Origins things with Kevin on

here, and then we jumped into the 2013 mini -series,

and that was my introduction to DC's Motu stuff,

and I knew of this series because Kyle Higgins,

one of my favorite writers, wrote at least two

or three of these things, so I knew of the series.

I just never really got around to getting into

it. I think I had read the the six potter when

went back and read this mmm, okay Yeah, what

I'm finding now is I wasn't sure But DC really

set themselves up because It's pretty much a

straightforward continuity from this all the

way to what we're doing in it in eternity war

now. Yes I didn't realize that that was going

to be the click People I only really expect continuity

like actual good continuity based stories out

of IDW. I'm sorry DC You and your continuities

are not exactly my cup of tea but I think going

back and reading this and starting this here

before we get into attorney war is a good thing

and I Just can't wait to get into it. So let's

dive in with issue number one. I'm terrible diving.

I kind of belly flop every time I go 30 and I

don't know how to dive. So this one is all about

Sir Laser Lot. Yes, Sir Laser Lot. Wasn't he

a toy guru toy that had to be, oh no, that's

right. That's, well duh, that's why John's is

writing this. Wow. Now I'm gonna give you some

background on him, which I think helps the character.

Okay, because I know you know, there are different

factions of Masters fans We're all mini comics

or all cartoons some of them in between or some

2000x. I'm the type that If there's a new toy

out and he's not on the cartoon and I know nothing

about him I have nothing to gravitate towards

and then once they're on the show. Oh, okay.

I have some sort of connection now I'm more invested

in this figure which when I had that 2012 12th

30th anniversary such a figure subscription and

yeah, I sold him off because he was kind of boring

This comic gives them a little bit of a Yeah,

I like them a little more even though I've only

seen him in this Yeah, I've only seen him in

this and the toy obviously as well For the creative

team on this, we have Jeff Johns on writing,

we have Howard Porter on pencils, we have John

Livesey on inks, and Cary Strachan on colors.

I'm not a Johns fan at all. I have actively avoided

half of his comic stuff. One of the things, and

one of the reasons why I avoid a lot of the stuff

is because he's the guy that wants DC to shove

Hell Jordan down our throats. And I grew up with

Jon Stewart and Kyle Rayner and all that kind

of stuff on Justice League and Justice League

Unlimited and Kill a Wog and all that. I don't,

unless it's the DC animated universe movies like

First Flight, Green Lantern First Flight, or

Emerald Night, I could give two shits less about

Hell friggin' Jordan. Yeah, he's he's not the

most interesting I'll definitely take a John

Stewart over hell So that's the creative team

The story opens with two boys running from the

Beast Men I mean there's more than just one Apparently

and apparently these Beast Men are actually intelligent

unlike the one Especially the first page here.

I feel like it's harkening back to his beastman's

origin when I forget a hundred percent what the

origin was on the back of the card But I think

it had or is it had something to do with a legion

of beastmen See I remember these types of characters

from the cartoon, but they were called something

else they were The ones with the horns They were

always in shadow there that they hated the light

it was kind of like oh god. What the hell's their

damn name? None none none necro beasts They were

in the 2002 cartoon I think yeah, and I think

they made the oversized figures for them that

came with a club and everything yeah Yeah, that's

what it is shadow beast. Thank you There you

go these remind me of them a lot What I kind

of and I'll say this as we go along through each

of these issues what I kind of don't like about

this series is that there is Continuity and there

isn't continuity like yeah, I mean this story

itself is a standalone. There's nothing There

might be something closer to the end, like with

the whole continuity with Sir Laserlight and

the skull and all that at the very end of the

issue, but these two brothers? Yeah, we don't

know who they are. I have no clue who they are.

Like, I was expecting, like, something like,

this is Duncan and Rendor as kids, because later

on in, I think, issue five or... I don't know.

One of them we get a randor story that's based

on you know how he was prince and how he became

king and all that So we'll talk about that in

a little bit, but like these two kids. I'm like

what the hell are these guys? Seriously So we

go through here the beasts are chasing these

kids and we come upon a guy Who has no helmet

who has a glowing red chest? The red lanterns

is he a stone protector is he one of those? Maybe

it's maybe it's sir Patrick Stewart one of the

stone cutters from the Simpsons Boy so we see

this knight as as the brothers call him and he

says he's not a knight and he essentially Do

love the line where he says stay back and the

guys are like us or them you I will say Howard

Porter's art and the coloring here is great The

shadow is done with the beasts and with with

how yeah the glow and all that. That's awesome

I noticed that especially the first shot that

we get of him where it seems like His forearms

and his biceps are nothing but veins. It harkens

back to so much 90s artwork It's almost sickening.

Yeah. Kind of reminds me of when the Hulk tears

his clothing a little bit. Or maybe he's just

got some spider webs on his arm. Yeah, it's weird.

Something like that. Yeah, it is very weird.

So this quote unquote night saves these kids

and we find out that they, you know, their village

burned to the ground. And he does some vicious

stuff to these shadow beasts. Oh my god. I love

how this entire sequence has been staged Yeah,

very almost, you know, he's got a a lightsaber

nightstick almost but it's a mace Yeah a lightsaber

mace. Yeah Star Wars episode 8 are you listening?

Like the wind do Oh god. Oh boy. So, they tell

him that, you know, their village was burned

after King Grayskull's death, and that their

family burned as well, and they have no home.

They call him a knight, but he's not a knight,

and he takes them back to his... cave? Room?

Something inside a tree? Don't ever remember

caves having doors like this I Don't know I'm

not nitpicking here folks. I'm just saying it's

a Shire door Yeah Well if you go back a couple

of pages to where Where you ask you know go home

when we can if you look at the upper right hand

corner does something look familiar at all to

you Yeah, mm -hmm. It's car from the jungle book.

Well, I'm Especially the way it's resting on

that stick. Yeah, it looks like one of the snakemen

staffs Snakemen staffs or it could be well we

kind of Figured out what what the Havoc staff

was originally made for so that that's out But

yeah, I know it does look like one of the snakemen

staffs. That's kind of awesome Again I'm still

loving the art here. It's really really cool

And, you know, of course one of the stupid kids

is like, is that your helmet? Stop. Don't touch

anything. And one says, you're a knight, you're

Sir Laser Lot. I thought Sir Laser Lot died with

King Grayskull. I should've. And he goes into

telling them the story about the skull, and we've

seen this skull before. Indeed we have. Ew. It

ended up being Horde Prime in DC Universe versus

Masters of the Universe when Orko went dark.

Dorko. Yeah, Dorko. I like this story. I think

it's cool. It's not my favorite out of the eight

here, but as we close out the issue here, we

see, you know, purple coming out of the skull

and... I see the skull, I see the past, the far

past. And what are you thinking as you're reading

this, the end of this here? The reveal? Yeah.

Well, there's also the mention of Spector, which

kind of turns you off immediately if you're a

classics figure collector. Yeah. But... The one

thing that kind of bothered me is you're briefly

introduced to this character and I could be wrong,

but other than maybe like background appearances,

he doesn't really show up in anything else. We

get some introduction to him, but I feel like

it's not enough. And his background's still a

little too spotty. Or it's like, oh, this is

your only shot at him? Well, it was kind of half

-assed. Yeah, and this is probably right around

the toilet. Right around the time that the toy

was gonna be released or had been released so

I Mean like for me. It's like okay red skull

turns giant purple. It's like hmm This is a you

know to you know taste a rainbow kind of moment

with Skittles and stuff and then of course we

have Skeletor Merman and Evelyn and Beastman

Skeletor has no bottom jaw at this point. I Don't

think he does or unless it's in check The the

the final page here where it shows Skeletor yeah,

it shows him really weird because his jaw didn't

actually fall off until he man destroyed it or

whatever the hell later on after this so I'm

Kind of questioning that could just be the shadowing

because he's yeah kind of has the upper mandible

Side jaw pieces, yeah. Yeah, that could be it.

It's That's one thing about the art here is that

I don't really particularly care for is the way

that the end shot is on Skeletor Evelyn looks

decent merman in Batman Yeah merman just I don't

know he looks like a ninja turtle meets Batman

Ladies and gentlemen coming the end of this year

TMNT meets Batman in IEW and DC Comics first

ever crossover. As long as it's the original

Turtles, that would make some sense. Well, it's

the... I'll talk about that later with you. Alright,

so the first issue ends with the evil warriors

with Skeletor. You got Trapjaw there, Beastman,

Evilin, Merman, and Skeletor standing over...

Oh, you even have Triclops. I didn't notice him

before. Beastman looks like Mr. T I pity the

fool Standing over sir laser lot in the skull

overall this first issue It's okay, but they're

throughout the rest of these micro issues There's

no mention of why they brought him to the present

at all. I mean and he doesn't show up at in any

piece He doesn't show up in anything after this

issue like the only reason why I can think they

brought him to the present is because hey you

have a Well, I can't even say you have a piece

of plastic on the shelves because Well, yeah

a gimmick, but I mean I can't even say that he

has a piece of plastic on the toy shelves because

let's face it Mattel toys haven't been masters

toys have been on shelves in 30 years They're

all online now My only guess that jam in his

chest could be one of what we come to realize

later Because I think the the running Thing which

would will address soon enough. Yes. They only

want eyes Yeah, it looked different than the

way they use the eyes later. So I'm not sure

On a scale to zero to five, I'm gonna give the

first chapter here from Jeff Johns and Howard

Porter I'm gonna give it a two out of five. I

I'm Two out of five on the TCR and universe rating

scale people and I'll put this in the article

or in the show notes stands for disliked it,

but The only reason why I dislike this first

chapter is because it doesn't do anything It

gives us a glimpse into certain laser lot. It

gives us a little bit of his background. And

then it gives us the evil warriors. And that's

it. There's nothing of substance here. It was

probably just a means to sell this, the idea

of this figure to the rest of us, which even

though I got rid of them, it. I forged a little

bit of a connection. I mean, yeah, I forged a

connection, too. I mean, I never had the toy.

I never cared about the toy because, I mean,

the toy itself is like, hey, let's put Superman

in a knight's helmet. Yeah, whatever. All right.

Chapter two focuses on men at arms. It is written

by Kyle Higgins. Penciler is Pop Mahan with colors

by Carrie Strouching again. I did not know Pop

had done stuff this early. Like, I knew he was

on the 2013 series and stuff, but I did not know

he was this far back in the series. And going

through it, it becomes apparent, oh, hey, I recognize

this artwork. Yeah, especially with the whole

man -at -arms thing. Which, man -at -arms in

that panel that he gets revealed in where he

says, but there's a reason they call me man -at

-arms, the full panel here. I don't know what

it is. He looks filmation based, but he also

looks 2002 based a little bit. And the crossover

is, I don't know, it's kind of maybe it's a stance

that just I don't dislike the art. I don't dislike

the character design. It just looks a little

funky. Yeah, I mean, it's in reimagined sort

of reimagining these characters, other than how

it looks like he's a shotgun over his shoulder.

That's because he does. In terms of updating

him, I think it did an okay job. Everyone always

fears redesigns because nothing is practical

anymore. As we go to find out later in the issue,

he's almost like Batman. Yeah, pretty much. Pretty

much. He's almost like Jim Gordon Batman right

now with the armor and the suit and everything

else more or less than Yes, and the mustache

of course So the sorceress needs Duncan's help

and she tells him about the eyes of chaos and

chrono and that they were originally the eyes

of grayskull and Feuding tribes ended up banding

together stole them from the castle. So it's

When I see these two panels here where she's

saying the eyes of Grayskull it is until two

warlock tribes banded together and stole them.

The one on the left and the one on the right.

One on the left is with the eyes, one on the

left is without the eyes. All I can think of

is Metroplex in Starscream's Ghost. My eyes!

Somebody stole my eyes! Well the one with the

jewels and since the jaw bridge is dropped he

looks so aghast at something that his eyes are

bugging out of his head. It's a Looney Tunes

moment, folks. It's like Wile E. Coyote just

falling off the cliff again. So, apparently in

the story, as the tribes separated the eyes,

neither had true mastery over time and space,

because Chrono is time, Chaos is space, I believe.

What do you think of the sorceress's design here?

Not a fan of it. It's like a fur disco outfit.

It's like a four. It's like a fur porn disco

outfit. I mean It's like and don't get me wrong.

I love pop Mahan and his art, but it's one of

those things where it's like this is 2012 people

Would you not need a sorceress looking JLo famous?

Oscar dress and that's what she looks like in

this in this big old panel. You can almost see

right under her navel Don't they do that with

Tila when she gets the Snake powers. Yeah. Eh,

what are you gonna do? I don't have a problem

with it, I'm just saying. It's like... It's...

I don't know. I guess they really needed to bring

in the male readers at this point. Like they're

not all male? Well, you know what I mean. I read

it for the articles. At this point, that's all

you can read it for. anyone that gets that joke

thousand geek points for you so we go through

the story here and the sorceress needs Duncan

to go and retrieve the one of the eyes chrono

or chaos or whatever and he has this cloaking

technology which sadly it looks cool it looks

amazing but sadly does not work not a wizard

wizard warlock masters of magic yeah and I don't

know why that and you you would think is the

way I view this at this point is he's got some

sort of he doesn't have the he doesn't have a

robot like scouring around his head but all's

I can hear is friggin When it says cloaking,

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, all I can hear is fucking skeets

from booster gold in my head. Yeah, exactly.

I do dig the drop down mask thing. I do, that's

awesome. That is very cool. It makes him look

more I don't want to say snake -like but by the

time all this scene is like we all we've always

known Duncan he has had the green and orange

armor for you know 30 or more years now at this

point and By the end of this issue Because of

his damage he looks more like a snake man than

anything else from the under Whatever the the

bodice under the armor is I guess Whatever So

he finds the eye and it's attached to a scepter

and all's I can think of is home and Captain

Schmeck I shush you Please tell me you've seen

home. No, I haven't What's wrong with you? Oh

my god, that movie is awesome If you want to

see Sheldon Cooper in a really funny animated

alien role watch home people So they actually

the the wizards and warlocks catch him and A

fight ensues, and we get them saying, how do

you think you're actually going to get out of

here? Oh, well, obviously I can't fight you,

but I'll just destroy a hole in your castle.

Just blow a hole in the wall. And that vehicle,

is that supposed to be a wind? What the hell?

Yeah, I don't. It must be something original.

It has to be, because it's not a Wind Raider.

It's not a Sky Slit, obviously. it's not point

dread or whatever's supposed to be attached to

the castle greyskull thing um i don't know so

the explosion happens man in arms gets away with

the eye uh gets in his uh new adventures uh spaceship

i'm sorry that's the only thing you look at the

panel where he's swinging out like tarzan to

to well no it's the friggin skyhook from the

dark night you're right he is batman yeah um

we get back to gray skull and he gives sorceress

the eye and she's like oh well let me heal your

wounds and this is what um the end page here

is what i was talking about where his his under

part like where his um where his ribs are and

where his rib cage is on his sides that looks

like snake armor to me yeah i definitely see

that Overall, what'd you think of this one? It

was decent. Um, you know, it's kind of cool to

see Duncan on a covert mission Mm -hmm. So I

mean we know what he's capable of but just showcasing

a little more that was neat Yeah, there's that

shot where it says later and you see castle to

grayskull and if you Take that shot and compare

it to the shot where she's kind of giving you

the backstory of how it was years ago There's

a noticeable difference. I was almost remote.

The first shot was almost reminded maybe the

prototype of the toy maybe possibly but wait

was grayskull out that early no i meant the 2012

prototype of the original toy oh the okay the

original toy i was gonna say wait a second wasn't

the new grayskull like in the last two or three

years because this later shot is you know kind

of just the face facade and then the two towers

are kind of dilapidated and falling apart yeah

It's a little crazy Overall, I liked it as a

Duncan story. I thought it was interesting. Like

you said seeing him on a covert mission I think

I would have been more interested even though

we kind of get the story in the 2002 cartoon

I would have been more interested to see them

adapt For his or like for an origin for him how

he came about as you know You know friend to

rain I mean, I know we see that later in the

Randor story But like how he came to be, you

know Tila be his daughter and all that and I

mean I know we know that from the from the sorcerer

story in the 2002 cartoon But it had just a bit

nice to see it in in comic form For me This one's

hard. It was better than the first story. So

I'll give it a three and a half out of five,

which is liked it What about you? I'll agree

with you on that He kind of just walks out of

there like a boss. Yeah, he kind of does. I'll

heal myself, woman. Yeah. It's magical mustache

powers. I'll heal myself. I don't need you, Alfred.

So chapter four, chapter three I should say,

is written by Mike Costa. Don't you mean Disney?

Because clearly this is the Lion King. Yes. Issue

number three is all about Battle Cat. It's interesting

to go through here and see how much the editorial

staff has changed in DC's digital universes over

the years, because I don't know any of the editorial

staff names. but this is all about battle cat

this is the first Mike Costa written story and

I know a buddy of mine Ender at Ender hates on

Twitter he um he's not a big Mike Costa fan at

least not with the transformer stuff so every

time I see my cost his name I just hear his voice

in my head is like oh cost and give me a break

but actually the battle cat story was actually

done pretty well and It's a theme that actually,

the story structure part of the theme here actually

resonates throughout the rest of the issues because

there's at least one or two other stories that

follows this same kind of structure. It's, I

don't know, it's weird for me to see Battle Cat

narrating or to hear him narrating because I,

not even that. It's it's not even that it's just

I think it's because Obviously filmation is the

only place that battle cat and Cringer ever talked

at least in cartoons and Well, I love Alan Oppenheimer

and his battle cat and his Cringer I Just can't

hear that here with cost is writing because cost

is writing it like Hulk speak. Yeah another guy

Hmm. Yeah, it's just crazy. So we have battle

cat talking about war salt and blood and meat

and we see man -at -arms T. No, that's not Tila.

That's Shira. No, it's Tila. Oh, it's Tila with

Shira's sword No, I don't think we get it. That's

us. We get a glimpse of it in the the Shira If

I know and she's got the tiara Know but that's

what I'm saying like look at this panel here

where it says meet and you look at the full panel

and it's battle cat jumping over merman and You

got he man in the background with his sword You

got Tila holding a sword with a jewel in the

center of it. It looks like the sword of protection

I'm just saying that's what it looks and yeah,

she could be wielding it. I Don't know why but

okay, but I think all She shows up in a couple

of these issues. I think it's all Tila. I'm Yeah,

it is. Because She -Ra is nowhere to be found.

Um, so we have Battle Cat in there reading this,

and... I dunno. I don't wanna just be down on

Kosta's writing, but, like, the first, um...

Until we get to the part where he says, uh, it's

my song, Song of the Green Tiger Clan. Like,

until we get to that, the whole first part is

like, give the other characters something to

say. I understand the story is coming from Battle

Cat's point of view, but at least have Merman

throw in some watery quip or something. Or have

Tila, even though I hate when she opens her mouth

half the time, have her say some witty comeback

or something. I think since the theme is a song,

the whole issue is... like a lyrical movement

and to keep it in his perspective, giving them

dialogue might break that sequence. That's true.

So we get to the flashback of how Cringer grew

up or, you know, whatever. And it's all over

Lion King. It's so obvious. I know. But see,

here's the thing. When I first saw this very

first panel with With the the father tiger going

against the father panther. I'm like hey, it's

Cringer versus panther. That's awesome, and I

realized oh wait That's not Cringer because Cringer

doesn't have red stripes And Cringers a little

kitten at this point I Love I don't know about

you, but I love this point of view. I really

do like it's and you're right. It is online king,

but I swear In the same where he said in the

panel where he says powerful father safe place

and you have the bottom part of the panel here

With all of them. Well, I'm like, okay. Where's

Colonel Hathi? Like seriously, this is jungle

book elephant style people except with cats And

the whole time I'm thinking about this I'm like,

oh my god, he's You know, these are cats. He's

talking about safe place, soft place. All I can

think of is soft kitty. From the Big Bang Theory.

Sorry, folks. Your thoughts so far on Little

Cringer? It serves a purpose. But after this,

it starts along with one of the other issues.

It kind of takes every backstu - Because throughout

the different iterations most of the backstories

with some of these characters have stayed the

same and now this one specifically changes it

Yeah So basically what happens is is the panther

clan I guess I guess you can call them that I

mean that image of them Coming up and just the

lightning and all that where it says without

warning. That's just an awesome panel They come

in they slaughter the green tiger clan Sorry,

they slaughtered the green tiger clan they You

know scar kills Mufasa You know everyone's away

Simba runs away and go to Matata I do love the

panel as as Cringer is running away the the full

scale panel with his eyes and him running and

then the Panthers I guess they're called the

Panthers. I don't know. Yeah Kosta didn't give

him a name. I just assume it's the panther clan

the purple purple tiger clan or whatever. Oh

I just love the way that that that visual is

with him running away on top with his eyes and

then the lightning with the purple cats. That's

just awesome. I Love with the artwork how much

they're able to show him a moat. Yeah. Oh, absolutely

Because there's only so many times in filmation

you can see this Cringer scared face. Yeah it

be original so we get you know him saying fear

and he says that oh in the face of his father

he you know there was something else and lo and

behold here comes he man so I guess that's what

all the lightning was earlier I didn't think

I didn't think of that now I didn't think of

that when I first read this but all the lightning

that was shown earlier I thought it was just

lightning I thought it was just a stormy night

It was just to emphasize the panther clan, but

now that I see he man in the background, I'm

like, hmm. Yeah, because I thought. Cringer's

backstory was that Adam rescued him as a cub

and then they grew up together and he said he's

a big scaredy cat. Then they get the powers.

No, he he gets the powers as a cub and grows

into a full size cat. Yeah, but Adam's already

and yeah, and somehow as he's growing here. somehow

a red saddle and mask just appear out of nowhere.

It's like, you know, I mean doesn't anybody believe

in, you know, sewing costumes anymore? I know,

I do it half the time. I mean, not all of us

can, you know, be Michelle Pfeiffer or Selena

Kyle with, you know, hello here and hell here.

Hello there and hell here. That's what it was.

But we see we see Cringer grow up we see him

become battle cat and we see him basically take

vengeance on the the purple cat clan And the

You know, I like the characterization that Costa

puts here because this is characterization We

know between the two personalities of Cringer

battle cat one is you know fears everything the

other one fears nothing The one thing that I

questioned was that this is He -Man's first meeting

with him. What qualified him to get these powers?

Other than, you know, he takes one brave swipe

at this pack of Panthors. Yeah. Usually you have

to build on that. Well, these are mini issues.

I mean, they are mini stories, so it's... I know

they're probably not going to do any more of

the actual origin one -shots like they did with

He -Man, Skeletor, and Hordak, but I would love

a full -on definitive origin story for Cringer

slash Battle Cat and even Panthor. I mean, Panthor

is the most underused character in the entire...

Well, there's probably more, but I mean, as far

as like... When I think of He -Man and Skeletor,

I think of Battle Cat and Panthor and... You

know, I spent four years over on The Powers of

Grayskull, Tales of Eternity, reviewing all 130

episodes of He -Man and the Master's Universe

from the formation and there may be one or two

episodes with Panther in them. That's a damn

shame. Come on, he's a giant purple Panther.

I'm a sucker for purple. Yeah, exactly. So we

go back to the palace and we're back to him being

Cringer and we see a guard At first I thought

that was Mechaneck, but it's not It's just some

guard where Cringer's like oh if he if he draws

he draws a sharp steel claw then I will run and

We just see the fear on him and lo and behold,

enter Tila, because I know that's not Queen Marlena.

She's stuck on Earth, I think. How clothed Tila

is for once. Yeah. It took me a minute to realize

that was her because she was so heavily clothed.

Yeah. She kind of looks like... She almost looks

like Batgirl in that a little bit. I don't know.

So they go back and they're sitting by the fire

and that's how it ends. And I'm like, wait, what?

You would think that Prince Adam would come in

here, not Tila. Yeah, you would. I don't know.

I love the art. I love seeing Cringer's origin

story, but I hate the way Costa wrote it. Yeah,

it could. It could have been much better, so

I think I'm gonna have to go back to a 2 out

of 5 on this one. I'll do that. For issue number

4, this is the story of Randor, and it is also

written by Mike Costa. Well, boy. We have Eric

Nguyen on art. Tony Avena on colors This story

is about a monster and the better men who came

after it so This is a weird story for me like

I don't mind the story seeing randor as a warrior

I love that part about the first episode of the

2002 series. I thought that was great, but What

he's fighting and who he's fighting and how it

doesn't make that much sense and then there's

the twist about the title It yeah, it makes absolutely

no sense whatsoever so they're they're fighting

these beasts randor and Duncan and Apparently

there's some virus going around something that

infects all these for you say I thought it's

I guess this leech Like character that were introduced

in the first panel it sucks, you know, it sucks

your drive, but then it kind of turns you into

a zombie or This plague that they're talking

about is a completely separate entity which and

I'm guessing leeches patient zero, maybe Yeah,

maybe I Guess this was before leech joined the

horde. I don't know unless it's one of many leeches

Yeah, probably there are usually thousands and

millions upon millions of leeches out there So

this story has the two friends fighting each

other, not fighting each other, but fighting

these leeches off and trying to save the people.

I like the art. I think the art's cool. I think

it's nice seeing the attorney and guard kind

of uniform armor helmet thing. I thought that

was cool. This is very gritty swamp thing. light

vibe to it. Very Swamp Thing. Who was the artist?

Because the new 52 artwork for Swamp Thing looks

a lot like this. Could be. So this is all about

Randall learning that prowess alone doesn't guarantee

survival on that that some are defended by fate

and you know man -at -arms ends up getting hurt

and you know he's like oh here's the antidote

take it and save you know however many people

as you can and Reindar comes to this giant bridge

how were they able to get the antidote in the

first place I don't know it doesn't explain that

Because it seemed like this was a new entity

they were fighting off of, and then now all of

a sudden, here's my magical antidote! From the

good people at Tylenol. It just goes back to

show you that Man -at -Arms is Batman. It's like,

here, third utility belt pocket from the right

people. It's like, be prepared for anything.

Be prepared? Oh, sorry. man it's gonna be a bunch

of lion king jokes in this episode folks so randor

comes to this uh very long bridge going over

to the mystic mountains where apparently they're

a bunch of houses floating i can't tell if they're

floating or if they're it looks like they're

built into the side built into the side of the

mountain yeah monastery yeah um so he fights

randor fights the monster again He goes on and

says that he gave the last of Duncan... The man

hadn't been fully drained. I gave him the last

dose of Duncan's antidote. He'd live. Duncan

would live too, though he was never as strong

as he was after that. He began to focus more

and more on armor and weapons, designs to our

great benefit. they don't tell you is the twist

at the end where you know Randor is now the Burger

King because let's face it folks if you look

at Randor in that panel where he says because

the price was dear, dearer than they will know

that is the Mattel King Randor figure That's

the design of the figure with the blue cape and

the red thing with the gold crust and the Burger

King looking beard. I mean, that's the design.

Teela's looking like a dollar General Ho again.

I'm sorry. Oh, it's only 30. Oh, it's 32. It's

sweltering 32 degrees in the square father. I

know we're going back to the beginning here,

folks, but I still can't. I'm so used to the

red hair. I hate the blonde hair on her now.

I just... Yeah, I'm a sucker for redheads, so...

Every time I see blonde, she'll... No, no! But,

yeah, he was able to save one, but had to sacrifice

this entire... monastery, town thing, but...

I guess he left it and he just cut the bridge?

Or did he kill them all? I don't... I'm trying

to see. It looks like... It looks like he cut

the bridge. So essentially there's no way, unless

you're in a sky sled or wind radar, there's no

way to get to the Mystic Mountains at this point,

I guess. But he says that it is the will that

grants power. It is will that grants power, the

will to do the unthinkable. But it only looks

like he cut them off from the rest of eternity.

It doesn't look like he just killed anybody.

I don't see him. You know? Yeah. Because I guess

if he sliced them to bits, they would probably

come back again? Yeah. Know what's really other

than just cutting that bridge what's preventing

them because you know if they fall down and injure

themselves They're just gonna keep crawling all

the way down and then Infect everything else

So that's another Mike Costa story folks We've

been accosted with a terrible story I swear man

I don't even want to read Mike Kosta's Transformers

run after reading the two issues that he's written

here. I mean, seriously. It's, oh god. I just

don't, like, he gets it, but he doesn't get it.

And, you know, here's the thing. I know that

in the beginning, certain things from the 2013

series, Mattel had influence over, and Mattel

obviously has influence over it all, but, like,

there were, like, I remember that, I remember...

And Pop, I'm sorry for saying this, but this

is what I thought of you at first. I first read

an interview with Pop Mahan from some website

when the 2013 ongoing was going to start. And

he was just being a yes man. He was like, oh,

well, whatever Mattel wants, I draw. And it's

like, what, there's no influence of your own

here? It's like, do you not enjoy these characters?

Whatever. And I think that's the case here with

Costa. It's like... He's writing for the Mattel

storyline, and that's fine, and he's giving us

characters that we know, but there's just no

substance. I mean, I guess the end product on,

I guess, the message he was trying to send is

heavy. Heavy was the crowd and all that, but

to get to there was a loose story. Very, very

loose story. For this one... Gotta give it a...

Because at least it's a random story, but the

art is fantastic, but the writing sucks. So I

guess I'll give it a two and a half out of five,

which two and a half is barely failing. The cons

slightly outweigh the pros. While the negatives

aren't overbearing, they are far too plentiful

to make it worthy of a recommend. There may be

certain redeeming qualities that are worth your

time. However, the end product leaves you wanting

more. So yeah, two and a half out of five for

me. What about you? I was going to give it a

two, but the way you described your 2 .5 ranking,

yeah, I'll go with that. But there were some

nuggets that you could pull out of there, and

it wasn't a complete failure, but there was a

lot to be desired. Absolutely. So we go to issue

number, story number five. Elin City. All about

Elin City. It is written by Kyle Higgins, the

art and cover were Mike Henderson, the letters

were Desi Cienti? And the reason why I say the

art and cover is because there is hardly any

color in this story. It's Sin City. That's all

this issue is. See, I've never... This is gonna

shock people. This is probably gonna make you

drop your microphone. I've never read... Drop

it first. Yes. I've never read nor have I ever

seen the movies for Sin City. I have yet to get

to that point in my comic reading. And I didn't

understand that at first. And I'm like, wow,

this is really lazy on DC's part not getting

a colorist. But now that you point that out,

I'm like, oh, OK, now this makes perfect sense.

There are those little specks of color which...

Little specks of purple. I think with the original

comics, red was the thing that you gravitated

towards. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a story of a

guy who meets a girl who Just how he looks doesn't

gel with the look of Eternia He just kind of

looks like a dude in a long coat. Yeah, he looks

like The character we're talking about is Nullar

Black, or Block, whatever. He looks like a really

fat Han Solo. I don't know, he looks - It's like

a mix between Han Solo, Chris Pratt, and what

was it? Was it Decker? Was that the name of Harrison

the Ford character in Blade Runner? I think so,

yeah. I was also gonna say he looks like a really

skinny, not skinny, but in the face he looks

like a really young Fisto, even though I know

he doesn't be, I know it's not Fisto. Yeah, yeah,

I can see that. So, uh, basically this is a quote

-unquote love slash betrayal story, folks. We

have Evelyn in disguise. Julie, no! It's not

your mother, don't go! Duh. Friggin Courtney

Cox. Well, is she in disguise? I mean, I know

she's oh no, okay No, she's in disguise because

at first I'm thinking well, maybe she changes

her hair No, this is in the same content. This

is sort of running current with the series and

her hair is definitely white then Well, her hair

here is black and long for the most part And

long yes, but when she eventually reveals herself

to him when she leaves his bedside we see the

traditional evil in at least they added color

to the sex scene when she changes and we get

all the bright and purples and tricky and whatever

else and we see her with her helmet so I'm not

sure if they intended the hair to be white or

if they intended it to be black it really doesn't

matter honestly So this is somewhat of a Romeo

and Juliet kind of story, I guess a little bit

even though she's the betrayer instead of Romeo

What are you thinking so far up to the point

where she eventually reveals herself well at

first it's We were revealed that it's evil in

But then the way they kind of keep this relationship

up, it's one of those situations where, hey,

let's make one of our evil characters sympathetic,

which I'm kind of tired of that. I just want

them to be evil for evil's sake. Yeah. But then

that changes again because you question everything

in the last panel or two. Yeah. Well, the thing

is, is that... And even, you know, I'm a huge

fan of Kyle Higgins, loved him on Nightwing,

Batman Beyond 2 .0, all that stuff, and what

he did with his own series, Kyle and stuff like

that, so having his style be the writing for

this issue, I liked it. I have no problems with

the writing, it's just, I don't know, I think

we got more than we bargained for with this because

it's setting up bits of the story that come up

later. Because the whole point of this is she

needs, they need a human, someone non -magical

to go in and steal the Eye of Chaos or Chrono

or one of the damn eyes. Okay, so after she reveals

herself they go to the next page and there's

a shot at the bar and there's a TV playing. When

do you ever see a TV on Eternia? Never. It completely

takes you out of the story just like I felt.

his wardrobe, even though everything's kind of

in black and white. I mean, see, here's the thing.

I think I don't I don't think this is the writer's

fault. I think it's more the artist. But the

way they portray this is Eterno City is like

this city of the future, even though we haven't

really traveled in time all that much. I mean,

we traveled from King Grayskull's time to the

present where it's King Rando and all that. But

like. You wouldn't have a TV in a bar on it.

Wouldn't even think a bar on a tourney it would

really look like this looks exactly But yes,

it's that world is a mixture of sorcery and technology

but In regards to entertainment. I I don't picture

that being an option Yeah, no, not at all. I

I just can't picture snapper car giving us the

attorney in news So they they talk about being

happy and together and knowing it wouldn't last

and he asks her to run away with him and she's

like well Skeletor he'll never let me go I'm

bound to him and this is where she tells him

the way to actually get unbound from Skeletor

but this is part of her trickery because she

gets him to steal one of the eyes of Grayskull

And then she essentially destroys his life She

essentially kills him well the I don't think

we've mentioned that they yes, they need a non

-magic user and a human but they have to get

into Castle Grayskull and The only way he well,

it's the castle at first, but it seems like it's

the back entrance through Eternia, I'm not sorry

not the royal palace and he has I don't know

because it's the castle at first and then it

is the recreation thing yeah I think it's a museum

yeah maybe but he has knowledge of this because

he was a former attorney and guard attorney and

guard yeah yep this is why I'm kind of wondering

why this story was told first and then the trap

jaw story because the trap jaw story and the

story intertwine with each other so we get you

know we get his outgoing monologue where he's

like when most people think of eternal city they

think of money they think of prestige they think

of power they think living here makes them matter

too bad it's all lie Evelyn returns to Skeletor

and he does have a full face thank god only black

and white I guess could bring it out because

the other art kind of sucked She has the eye,

she gives it to Skeletor, and he's like, oh,

what are those things? And I guess they're all

things from when they were in a relationship

or whatever else. Oh, nothing important. And

she basically kind of whisks them away, and we

see the mystic mountains? Yeah, I was a little

confused by that, because I understand what the

emotion they're trying to pull out of you. but

one would typically think it's a picture of the

two of them together or a picture of him. I don't

know the significance of the content in the picture.

I think what they're doing here is they're trying

to tie these stories together to this point where

We mentioned, you know in the randor story We

mentioned the mystic mountains because that's

where he was and he cut the bridge to the mystic

mountains So I think here they're trying to keep

up that facade because it's mentioned later in

the trapjaw story Or is this? Pieces for her

to plot against Skeletor because that could be

that's the location of the other eye Hmm could

be it was it was all really confusing Yeah, it

was very very confusing Issue number five I like

Kyle Higgins writing I got used to the art after

a while after I noticed that there was a bit

more color even though it is mainly black and

white but I did enjoy the pops of color here

and there I give it a three and a half which

is liked it according to our scale three and

a half like it issues are certainly prevalent

but so are these successes typically there is

one specific area of extraordinary achievement

for me that's the color or a multitude of quality

moments that make the negative aspects relatively

easy to accept the failures are not necessarily

glaring and are often a byproduct of design Though

the difficulties one encounters hold your enjoyment

back from reaching its fullest potential. What

would you give this one? I'm teetering on a 1

or a 1 .5. Whoa! Okay, okay, okay. Like I said,

I don't like how they always have to make a villain

sympathetic sometimes. The artwork was glaringly

pulled from Frank Miller in Sin City and even...

the use of the hints of color. It was incredibly

distracting. I did not like this one at all.

Okay, just to give people a example of what these

ratings mean to our GCR and universal rating

system. If you're giving this a one and a half,

a 1 .5, that means it's terrible. The positives

are few and far between. It is an abundance of

failures, including one or two specific areas

that are overpowering disasters. The areas of

success are minute in their effectiveness when

compared to the product as a whole. If you're

going to give it one star out of five, That is

hated it has several areas of extreme failure

that aggravate you to your inner core Only one

or two areas can be considered achievement But

those areas have relatively little impact on

the overall experience while it is not a lock

for worst of the year It is surely in the running

Yeah, let's go with a one Wow Okay, wow, all

right ladies and gentlemen This is the first

time in The Pull Bag's three -year history that

anyone has ever given a comic a one. Okay. Good,

I'm a history major. Yes, you are. Moving on

to issue number six. This is an orco story. Now,

okay, I see everyone leaving. Come back fully

rewarded. This is written by Jeff Parker. The

artist is Chris Google adi Letters are done by

Darren Bennett. The cover is done by Dan hip

And we start off with he man and battle cat fighting

It's a nice interpretation I like it I think

the sort of power looks like crap though What

You know you start at the hill and you work your

way up and then there are all these weird dents

not like Battle -worn dents, but it looks like

a specialty knife It looks like a letter opener

Ronco Showtime sword of power Right now in the

next 30 minutes, you'll get 60 additional knives

And the pocket fisherman What about so is this

sword one of those said it forget it kind of

things? For orca haters, I'm short Castle grayskull

is glowing green there's some kind of spell going

on the sorceress is doing some kind of magic

It's a powerful vestige of the forming of our

world. When you brought it back from the battle

at the fortress, I saw a chance for a magical

triumph. To have it in the chamber of Castle

Grayskull creates powerful focal point. I enchanted

it to re -channel mystic energy, deplete the

power that evil forces can use, and keep it all

for good. My plan was sound. It could not fail.

Unless a foreign object or creature corrupted

the spell. Hey sorceress check out where my new

quarters are gonna be Oh Orko His presence made

the spell unstable to safety. It's going to boom

Wow So that's what Krypton looks like exploded

all green and stuff where ends the reality of

Sunder Yes, exactly Is everyone well? I sure

am sorceress and lo and behold the 2002 orco

design makes a comeback sort of I didn't realize

Until I'm looking at it now. He his feet His

legs they're in shadow, so you it's hard to make

So or go is bigger than everybody else we have

a chibi he man And I wasn't you transformed Dwar

and Sorceress. Yeah. I will say this for this

issue. This issue is a lot of fun. It is. I know

everyone hates Orko. I get that. But I only hate

Orko when he really screws up to the point where,

well, this did almost destroy the universe. But

the way he screwed up here, it makes the comic

and the way the storytelling is really funny

and enjoyable. Because at this point, when we

start going through the rest of this, It's nothing

but parodies. Yeah, and it changes panel to panel.

Even within the panel, it changes. Yep. Grayskull

is under siege. Skeletor's forces have reached

our walls and we're compromised. Boom. I love

how Trapjaw has a candy cane for a hook. And

apparently everybody was changed. And yeah, Trapjaw

has a - I just now know, yeah, wow. It's like

if Mickey Mouse or I guess the Sorcerer's Apprentice

meets Dr. Strange, everything is changing. Pretty

much. And Panther actually speaks, which is,

I think, a first. Wait, does he? Yeah. Panther,

stop lo - Ah, Panther, stop looking cute! Can't

help it Skeletor. I feel suddenly lovable. Oh

Yeah and burps he looks like a He looks like

a hot pink or magenta Kirby. Yeah, he does his

little arms and By that I mean Kirby right back

at you folks not Jack Yeah, not Jack. No, I don't

think Jack Kirby could look at that lovable as

much as we all love King Kirby I don't think

he could be that cute So as this story progresses

we encounter various changes and changes and

changes. We have a Batman appearance. From the

man in arms and then... No, that's Manny Faces.

Yeah, because man in arms is beneath him and

each arm and leg is different. His one arm is

the thing with a super soaker. That's awesome.

his other arm is a it's got a slingshot then

he's got a claw so he's kind of roboto -like

you've buzzed off in the background don't mind

me I'm just a little bee yeah just a little bee

kind of reminds me of that Jerry Seinfeld animated

movie Bee Movie Don't worry gang or a man will

defend Castle Grayskull and we have a a Dark

Knight returns Dark Knight returns light inference

jump. Yeah We have Captain Hook Skeletor. I think

that was supposed to be spongebob Maybe yeah

because yeah Yeah, because yeah, but that's yeah,

it is supposed to be spongebob, but He's got

a hook for a hand and a peg leg. It's Whatever

Merman Merman might be the best out of all of

them. I think man -in -arms as a as a fish dick

Just sitting there with his eyes squinted. Oh,

what have I gotten in myself? And then we have

the traditional drawn just 2d stuff At least

we're not underwater anymore, but I can't look

side to side You know what they say about the

physics and attorney if you don't like it. Just

wait a minute. I Can't probably find Skeletor

like this Even though they've they've lost a

third dimension he's Skeletor seems to have put

on a couple dimensions around his waist Yeah,

you know all those You know, if he was a little

bit more purple here, like his cloak and his

hood and all that, I'd be like, oh, he's a part

of the purple cobras. I noticed all the scribbling.

with you know it looks like a toddler drew these

and yeah he's got the little muscles and it has

an arrow pointing that says hero and the stress

marks and then you go to Skeletor and he's got

stink lines and it's like bad guy boo boo boo

boo boo boo boo fan thorn battle cat yeah gunker

kitties and a funny thing about battle cat here

is he's drawn away his The way the art moves

around the image is it's like the drawing that

Rafiki did in the Lion King, I swear to God.

If you just rotate the image a little bit so

he's like not, we're saying so he's horizontal,

it would be the same thing as Simba in the Lion

King. So she says the Mordog skull is becoming

more unstable. Our whole existence may soon implode.

And then we get to Pagmai. This I was not expecting

but this is awesome is pretty cool If it all

ends I'm at least going out with the high score

not if I eat you before you power up trawling

I Mean honestly, could you imagine any other

character in this universe being pac -man then

Skeletor? So awesome it changes again to Calvin

and Hobbes Which is pretty cute with Skeletor.

He he's basically a kid in a hoodie I Don't okay

I know I know of Calvin and Hobbes and all that

I know of the two characters count But who the

hell is orco supposed to be like he's just supposed

to be orco in that style I guess I'm assuming

I then because I know he man and Cringer battle

cat or whatever you're supposed to be Calvin

and Hobbes So yeah, I don't know anything about

the ancillary characters if there are Oh wait,

and Man in Arms is a snowman in the background.

Yes, yes he is. And then we get, you know, Orko's

like, cough, it's getting worse, it must be har

har har. It's Stinkor's world, you just breathe

in it. And Castle Brace Skull is just a cardboard

box. Think this is the first time we've seen

stink or in the comics since the 2002 animated

series I thought he shows up in the background

Well, he might oh, yeah, but but with an actual

line Yeah, I know I don't even have a nose and

it hurts So source, you know toucan sorceress

is like, you know follow your nose Leave the

battle and come back to the tower. Why does it

look like she's got a man hand? She's supposed

to be a puppet. She's got it clearly in a man's

hand. Yeah. But it looks like a Toucan Sam puppet,

except it's more blue than Toucan's usual colors.

Oh, if you destroy, I temporarily have the power

and you destroy the skull and everybody's back

to normal and Sorceress's boobs are hanging halfway

out and everything else. Yay. Everybody's back

to normal, but Orko's like, but they're still

fighting. Yes, good and evil in constant struggle,

the way of the universe is restored. It's a pretty

good show anyway. I love the close -up of Orko

at the end. Just watching it with his - with

his fist on his chin, his non -existent chin.

Yeah, it's like, hmm. Um, I - Simply for the

references, simply for the parodies, I loved

this issue. This issue really had no real story.

It was just meant to be a fun one -off, I guess.

I think it had no right to be this good. Of the

seven, no, eight, this is my favorite. This is,

it's probably my second favorite. My favorite

will be coming up here in a little while, but

I dug this. I thought it was great. So on this

one, 0 to 5, what would you give it? A 4. OK,

a 4 is really liked it. The overall quality is

very high and surely to be a positive experience

for all those that partake. The issues that are

there are impossible to ignore, but also predominant.

also not predominant enough to have a large impact

on your experience. Returning to it in the future

may allow you to forgive certain problems, may

also lead the discovery of new ones." See, here's

the thing about this, and we wrote this universal

rating system a few years ago, people, so it

may or may not need to be updated, but I think

most of the descriptions hold true stuff. I'm

also going to give this a four. I loved this.

I know, as I've said already in this podcast

episode, not a lot of people like Orko stories.

No, this was an incredibly playful episode, or

issue. Issue, absolutely. The artwork mimicked

that feeling. Yes, Orko is Orko, but we're not

treated to the same, oh, man at arms got another

bucket of water dunked on him, or there's a piece

of eggs. No, he... He's screwing up elsewhere,

but in more of an original way. Mm -hmm. So issue

seven. Oh, did I ask you what you would give

it? A four. All right, a four. All right. Issue

number seven, second to last issue, is Trap Jaw,

written by Kyle Higgins. Art by Mike S. Miller.

Colors by Tony Avina, again. Letters by Deron

Bennett. This is my favorite out of the eight.

I love this. Because we never, in the history

of MOTU, one time in 30 -something years, have

we ever really gotten the origin of how Trapjaw

became Trapjaw, which was in the beginning three

-parter of the 2000X series cartoon. So... This

is another one of those stories that alters some

of the backstory. It does alter some of the backstory,

but... And this is that story that I mentioned

earlier with the battle cat thing. that and with

the randor thing this is another story that follows

that same kind of plot line where and this is

actually connected to the evil in story so because

the events that happened here are what led up

to evil in destroying black or block or well

whatever you know whatever so um we have cronus

uh talking to luna And Cronus is essentially

a thief or, you know, not a thief, but a techno

-thief or something. He's a techno -criminal.

He wants to make money off of different tech.

And we see one of the eyes of Grayskull. And

he basically tells the guy, it tells the guy,

if you want this ion cannon, keep that in mind

and give me something I can sell this week. Or

the cannon goes to someone else. I love the internal

monologue here with trapped with with Cronus

for you know, aka soon -to -be trap jaw and We

come up to the attorney and guard and they're

like, you know If you're serious about pulling

a job black, this is the one their bosses are

moving the gold next week So it's a gold heist.

Yay And we have Cronus dealing with the attorney

and guards they are all in on it and Things go

horribly wrong to say the least for him For everybody

I mean really because you know blacks not there

doesn't show up these two other guards that are

with them I Thought their names were different

from the two guards that run into black in the

evil Lin issue Because it seemed like they had

a grudge with him because of something that went

wrong and this seems like it, but I don't think

yeah the same names well that story well wait

well the story was written by Kyle so maybe they

are this I will have to go back and check and

double check it if you want um you know he's

like it's Nolar he's he's there come on we gotta

go something was wrong we all knew it we just

didn't know how wrong and oh no no no no no his

nipples are blinding they're they're very distracting

you know if he was wearing a skin tight rubber

suit everyone would be complaining about he -man

bat nipples at this point i feel like the shot

of he -man the color is wonky well the whole

outfit is wonky yeah i'll give you that it he

he looks okay he's got the traditional h or the

traditional gold thing crest to Symbolize an

H for He -Man. He's got the power sword, which

he's holding at the side So we can't really see

like how accurate it is to a real, you know the

filmation sword And then he's got you know, Randy

Macho Man Savage's, you know championship belt

around his waist and I'm like really seriously

He -Man works for the WWE at WWF now, really?

This was that first outfit they gave him in the

Sixth Parter I think yeah So, they all realize,

oh no, it's He -Man, and He -Man jumps at them,

they fire, He -Man grabs, go ahead. Well, yeah,

this scene seems almost a little too brutal for

He -Man. Yeah, I mean... He takes Cronus' gun,

breaks it, Cronus goes to run away, he hurls

the gun at him, and breaks his jaw off in the

process. Well, because the gun fires. Oh, I thought

he throws it and it hits him the face. Look at

the panel. Look at the panel where he throws

it and look at the next panel. It fires. There's

a green shot right to his face. Oh, I thought

that was just a strike effect. Oh, maybe it is.

I don't know. It looks like, eh, it's up to interpretation.

I think what they were going for here with the

art of throwing the gun, they were going for...

Actually, you're right here, because the next

panel where we see his jaw missing, his skin

is already green in the face. Okay, you're right.

Yep. So, my thing here is with He -Man throwing

the gun, they were going for a, oh my gosh, Batman,

what are we gonna do now? Don't worry, old chum,

I'll throw this Batarang and it'll just bonk

him on the head and it'll be alright. i really

think that's what they were calling for here

and sadly it um... backfires quite literally

you know it seemed to have rolled over and yet

you notice the uh... the tools in his pocket

or his belt that are hanging out of the ones

that he uses later on for his arm attachments

when we get to that scene that'll be a little

different i thought something else is going on

there so maybe you can explain that to me but

We leave Cronus, he has a green, so I guess,

you know, I guess Jeff Dunham was right, when

you choke a smurf, they do turn green. So Cronus

is left, you know, no job, bleeding out of whatever's

left of his mouth and face, and his face is all

green while his hands and everything else are

still blue. And he goes on to say, by the time

I made it back to the cave, I could barely stand.

I'd lost too much blood. And we get to the tools

part, and we get to the part with all this. And

see, this is the part that kind of confused me,

because I wasn't sure you mentioned his tools.

And in this transformation scene, it doesn't

look like he's repairing himself. It looks like

something mystical is. He could barely stand,

so he makes it back to the cave, he leans on

the table, loses consciousness, which knocks

over this vial of nanites. Oh, okay, the nanites,

okay. That's what, okay, I got it now. Seeing

the shot that the weapons, the tools on his belt

are... Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, or what the

nanites grabbed, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, or what

the nanites assimilate to become his weapons.

I love this. I love these panels though. It's

I mean they look it looks it's very shocking

You know in the one panel where they're Basically

reaching into his tongue and all that where you

can see his green hair underneath. I'm like,

hey, it's Rio pachinko Not as green as purple

hair, I'm sorry Rio I told you to put the mask

down It's showtime synergy yes exactly um so

we see him again where he's got his green face

his blue body and his purple hair i really wanted

to see like as the rest of the issue progresses

here he goes to snake mountain snake mountain

looks okay typical 2000x design yeah yeah i don't

know i just wish i had like a full -on splash

page of Snake Mountain itself, but whatever.

So we see Skeletor and Evelyn and brings him

the picture of the eye and says I can get this

for you and you know, Nullar Black and I want

him to suffer and this is where it ties back

into Kyle's Evelyn story earlier. The one thing

about these panels with Skeletor and Trapjaw,

well first when Trapjaw first wakes up in the

cave and everything, Still wanted to see his

job before he actually put it like I wanted to

see his face like I I'm usually not that into

the whole guts and gore and blood and all that

But I kind of wanted to see what he looked like

before he eventually puts the jaw on So we get

to the know our black scene the kiss and the

betrayal from Evelyn trap jaw look well Cronus

looks on and this is where we get the picture

of the mountains thing with the houses because

that's the other location of the eye and we go

on he only goes on to say if and if he has both

eyes of greyskull he'll be able to wipe he -man

off the face of eternia and i'll be out of my

revenge send the sorceress a message and he's

going to basically um betray skeletor for now

And he says, you were right before, Luna. It

is all about the long game. And the long game

is what Trapjaw is made for. Wow. So he spits

nanites now? I guess? It's a very commanding

panel. I almost think the panel where he's putting

on his red helmet is a little bit more commanding,

but the imagery of him... spitting out the nanites

is really friggin' cool. Yeah, because he has

six rows of teeth like a shark. Well, I don't

know if a shark has that many, but that effect.

And then these bloodshot eyes looking right at

you with his Magneto helmet. Hey, at least he

looks better than Kevin Bacon in a Magneto helmet.

Yeah. First class, you can kiss my ass. All right,

so for the trap draw story, what are you going

to give this one? I guess I want to give it a

3 .5. I enjoyed it, but at least for me, I can't

distinguish if this new backstory, I liked it

more. I think the original was that he fails

on a mission and Skeletor beats him within an

inch of his life. which goes to show how more

of an effective character Skeletor is, but this

isn't a Skeletor story. I'm not sure which one

of them I like better. Between the, because I

don't remember the Skeletor story. Between this

and the 2002 cartoon series, I think this is

a more engaging story than him just having the

The vile thrown on him or whatever whatever the

hell happened. I it's been a while since I've

seen the 2002 series For me I'm gonna give it

a four out of five. I really enjoyed this cuz

it's not often we get a trap -jaw origin deep

origin, and because this ties back into the Evil

In story from earlier, because like we said,

that story kind of felt like there was something

else going on, and this is what it was. I almost

think that the Evil In story could have been

told in issue six, basically just flip -flop

them, but whatever works, I guess. Alright, so

final issue for issue number eight of the Masters

of the Universe mini -series from DC Comics.

The final issue is written by Mike Costa. The

artist is Drew Johnson. The colors are done by

Catherine Leno. The letters are done by Cidia

Tempo -Fonte. I guess that's how you... Tempo

-Fonte. Whatever. I don't know. And we start

off with aetheria you are under arrest in the

name of hordak and we see a holy shit desparra

I thought they only introduced her with the Okay,

let's see this was what pisses me off about DC

and Mattel When the 2013 series was about to

start they're like, oh my god she was back, but

she's not she was she's desparra and If I had

read this before, obviously, all the other stuff,

I would have been less shocked than I was when

that came out. But the fact that she was originally

Despara from the very beginning, like... Well,

it's pretty much the secret of the sword origin.

She's just more vicious and has a new moniker

and costume. Yeah, and I mean, don't get me wrong.

I don't mind that. I like that. I'm saying that...

because I like her eventual transformation from

Despara to Shira in the ongoing series and all

that like we've already talked about in the 2013

series but to find out that it goes back this

far I was like oh because they made such a huge

deal out of it when they were promoting and doing

stuff for the whatever it's just a little thing

for me I'm not gonna take away from this this

issue from it and she's going on and on about

power and how so so few have it and she's uh

pretty vicious but she um gives pause when a

child is about to be hurt because she's having

memories from the past after she slaughters flutterina

yeah flutterina is that really her name yeah

i think that's her name you want the wings oh

huh yeah you're right wow i do like the dispara

costume at least. It looks pretty cool. Kind

of looks like the actual costume, not the helm,

but the actual... it's kind of a cross between

symbiote Spidey and Catwoman. All I can think

of is Mr. Sinister. Okay, that too. Yeah, I can

see that. So the spar returns to Shadow Weaver

and at this point in the mo to series Hordak

is not back. He is still some otherworldly purple

Fascination whatever the hell from his 1 ,000

year old story from when he and zodak fought

a thousand years ago or whatever the hell so

But I do like seeing Shadow Weaver again Thoughts

from user it looks like well There's the shot

of her on the hill and the cloak is a little

open from the waist down, but you don't see anything

Which is kind of neat Yeah, and then there's

the close -up and then Despair takes the mask

off and they're talking about her dreams and

I Don't like the look of her with the helmet

off Yeah, the the black mascara the the the the

football makeup is kind of ruining it but That

eventually changes over time. I I don't even

I know it's adora, but it doesn't it doesn't

feel well obviously doesn't feel like her There's

just I don't see it. Yeah granted. She her hair

is really short, but yeah All this missing is

a bow cut so she and shadow weaver have some

story you know some you know more interactions

she's like focus your mind my darling ignore

these distractions you're a force captain and

um you know shadow weaver is like did you hear

that my lord i hear all she is beginning to remember

again in these dreams and we see a very um weird

looking fright zone image and supposedly that's

hordak through the gate or something where are

they taking all these slaves into spondos I think

so yeah just killing them or enslaving them further

I don't know it's not like they have you know

a magna beam charger or something it looks almost

like an incinerator yeah it's what it does look

like I don't like the art on the horde trooper

though. The horde troopers look horrible in this.

They look like Robocop rejects with bat red bat

symbols on their chests. I mean seriously. The

the front two the shading almost looks like they're

smiling. Yeah. This was a story of the Pringles

man before he was the So she's you know, wait,

is that bow? Yeah Whoa She gets distracted again

it's not the whelping chambers. I remember it's

softer a place a gentle place and See, this is

the thing with the as much as I love the comics

all you got of you I wish some of the panels

were done better. I wish this panel here between

her and her the sparse out of her face and bow

and her Actual side of her face and her and Adam

was actually a full page Spread than just split

up by two panels There was a little child there.

I think I have a burl nope clunk you're out And

shadow weaver then removes everything all the

memories and when your mind is clear your path

is clear and We get more fighting Think I like

the sparrows interaction with Tila more than

this part of the origin This fight scene where

her mind has been cleansed once again these background

characters that she's fighting they've they've

been given a lot of distinctive qualities that

you don't see in a lot of At least up into this

point all these masters background characters

because I'm looking at them and it makes me think

Okay, am I missing something? Are these important

characters from something else that I haven't

read? I don't think so. I think she's just slaying

slaves. I think that's... Well, might be part

of the Great Rebellion or something. I don't

know. I don't notice any... There isn't someone

with, you know... Purple outfit and pink hair

here. I mean, you know, there's no glimmer. There's

no Queen Angela There's no hung to the harpy.

So yeah, I don't think they're anyone in particular

Yes, the amount of the attention to detail that

was given to them It makes them look as if there's

they're more important than we I think they are.

Yeah It goes on to say in my dreams. There is

the beating of wings. My dreams confirm that

I'm on the right path. I know it nice sunset

What was the best thing about this? Nice sunset.

Well, I mean, it is a nice image. Nice sunset.

She goes on to say, in my dreams, I know it.

Those wings will carry me towards something,

my destiny. I can feel it. And we don't actually

see what the wings are, but we see the power.

And to be continued in the pages of He -Man and

the Master's Universe, which is the 2012 miniseries.

And we see a giant Zora wing with the Sword of

Protection. Well, at least they got the sort

of protection right it's even got a blue jewel

in it too Because everywhere else in the stories

coming up or the stories to follow this have

red jewel I like the final issue. It's probably

costas best writing on the series And that's

saying a lot folks Since costas writing on the

series is kind of sucky all around What would

you what are your final thoughts and ratings

um I get in terms of What we've what we eventually

are given with her as to Spara and the other

issues It's definitely not my favorite, but I

think it does a better and more concise Attempt

on explaining her back right her background in

such a short amount. Oh Absolutely, because I

mean they they kind of rehashed them what we've

been given in this issue in the ongoing, but

it felt a little more confusing. This is very

quick to the point, but we understand what's

going on. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's really

what this is all about. What would you rate it?

Zero out of five. I'll give it a solid three.

Yeah, I'm right there with you. Three. And for

those not knowing, three is essentially called

barely passing. Like I said, I'll put the link

to the Universal Rating System so everybody can

see it in the show notes. Overall, I'm glad we

went back and did this before we started Eternity

War, because Eternity War essentially picks up

from... It ignores issue 19 of the 2013 ongoing,

thank God. It essentially ignores that. It picks

up from where 18 left off, where it's the end

of the Blood of Grayskull storyline, so... Very

awesome. I enjoyed this series. We're gonna take

a quick break, come back, and close the show

after this. Hi, this is Abby Collins and you're

listening to the Geekcast Radio Network. It's

action. It's drama. It's comedy. It's Decian,

the superhero webcomic. Decian's got superhero

antics and sexy girls. Read it now at Decian

.com. D -A -S -I -E -N dot com. 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

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. The Powers of Grayskull series will

cover every episode of all four Masters of the

Universe cartoons. Join Optimus Solo and myself,

TF2 and Mike, as we tell tales of Eternia, discover

the myths of Etheria, become Masters in space,

and finally Masters of Grayskull. We'll have

a commentary on the Secret of the Sword film

and a few other special episodes. You can find

this 125 episode long podcast in iTunes and on

the web at GeekCastRadio .com. By the power and

honor of Grayskull, we all have the power. I

hope I didn't miss anything exciting! Alright

folks, that's gonna do it for this episode of

The Pull Bag. This is episode 112. Coming up

next week is episode 113, which is going to be

our Halloween episode, where we're going to have

Angel Masks, which was a little one -off mini

series kind of thing. And we're also going to

talk about Mars Attacks Popeye. So that's gonna

be interesting. This episode actually comes out

on October 21st, 2015. October 21st 2015 was

the day Marty and Doc went into the future, and

this originally was going to be the Back to the

Future number one review, but sadly due to time

constraints and some other things we had to change

it up. But we went back to the future of the

property. Yes. Next Saturday night, we're sending

you back to the future. I enjoyed these little

one -offs. I think, like I said, the Trapjohn

one is my favorite, followed by the Evil Inn

one, the Orca one, and then the She -Ra one.

The others... I could take them or leave them.

What about you? I definitely enjoyed these the

second time, or as I went back and read them.

With the She -Ra one, it felt a little superfluous,

even though I think that really should go to

the orgo one Because everything was on Eternia

everything was kind of tied in with the jewels

and then a she were story or a Despair story,

so I felt taken out Yeah, it didn't really give

like a straight ending like if they had to like

if hordak had somehow tied like if they like

if they tied the Kidnapping of the twins into

something with the jewels Right that would want

Absolutely would've. Where can the people interact

with you online, sir? I'm the most active on

Facebook. Yes, I sound like an old codger because

sometimes Twitter is just... Most active on Facebook?

I don't want to keep things contained to 144

characters. 144? They bumped it up four characters

now? See, I'm that... I could have sworn they're

gonna eventually do away with that or bump it

up to a hundred and say I don't know whatever

Yeah, Facebook Adas Baron Twitter Ados Baron.

You can see a little more of what I do on my

website, www .adosbaron .com. And if you want

to find some of the videos I've done which contain

voiceover demos, character work, such as some

of my own creations, things with Dr. Doom and

toy reviews, you can go to YouTube and search

the DOS Baron channel. D -A -S -B -A -R -O -N.

Two words. Awesome. Awesome. You can find me

at TFG and Mike on Twitter. I do have TFU and

Mike the fictional character fan page on Facebook.

I usually don't at this point, you know, I've

been on Facebook a number of years now and I

basically use it as a promotional tool than anything

else. I mean, I interact with friends on there,

but it's like friends that I have been podcasting

with for X number of years. I don't generally

add everybody to my personal Facebook. So, um,

but Twitter is pretty much where you can find

me at Tfg would Mike you can follow the pull

bag on Twitter at the pull bag and you follow

at geek cast radio on Twitter as well Like I

said coming up next week. We're gonna have a

Halloween episode after that will probably be

the back to the future episode and after that

Hopefully transformers last stand of the record

is if I can get team angel together again. I

don't know those Those girls are off running

around doing a whole bunch of stuff. So There's

a whole running gag. I started doing crossovers

with the under base, which is a transformers

comic review show it's like a secondary podcast

in moon base 2 and Amy Nicole and Heather at

one point were like, oh well, you're our Charlie

and I'm like Hello angels, you know, so there's

a whole running joke over there on that on those

episodes. But yeah, the pull bag is back We are

gonna be doing a whole bunch of different and

interesting comics coming up uh December is supposedly

hopefully going to be Dark Side December where

we review a multitude of Star Wars comics including

the four -issue mini -series Journey to the Force

Awakens which ties events from the end of Jedi

into the Force Awakens because the Force Awakens

opens December 18th 2015 and Fandango exploded

yeah so Make your great escape into comics and

we will catch you next time! Call the voicemail

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