He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2013) Issues #1-6 Review

Skeletor help someone? Oh, brother. Silence,

you little bag of wind. 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 83

see what I did there folks It has been a while

since this guest has been on the show And it

has been a while since we've talked about he

man and the masters of the universe welcome a

das baron hello, sir Yes, mr. 8s Baron is now

a theme song rock star as it were if you want

to call it that Because he is he's very bored

with his own life That's singing out of my ass,

so I wasn't really taking it seriously Most singers

don't take singing seriously these days. I mean

have you heard Justin Bieber and Lady Gag Me

and Billy Vanilli had more singing chops than

half of the acts of today anyway Anyway, we are

here to return to Eternia it has been such a

while now Here's how the Masters coverage in

the pullback goes you and I did the 2012 mini

and then optimus solo and I did the origins origin

books He -man Skeletor and Hordak. We'll talk

about that here in a minute because Hordak's

origin Kind of ties into what's going to be happening

happening in this on in the 2013 ongoing And

then now we're up to here and the Masters coverage

will be coming in more and more and more as we

go along because Das is the He's the mo to guy

at this point for the show Okay, so I as I I

don't know it's been so long since since my buddy

optimus so and i did the origins episodes i like

the human and skeletal origins i hated the hordak

origin here a lot of people hate it and it first

first of all the events of it take place one

thousand years before the birth of adam well

you know it sets and sets up this whole thing

with with hordak and zodiac and i love seeing

zodiac i think that was awesome i love that but

just the the whole tone of it it just didn't

didn't really It didn't really grasp me that

the way that they were you know the way the story

was gonna go with Hordak where he's he's been

alive or quote -unquote alive for over a thousand

years and and he's no longer human and he's this

you know, basically this this unflocked moss

man type thing now and it just It's too friggin

weird. What were your impressions? Well, I mean

you You can briefly talk about He -Man and Skeletor

if you have thoughts on those and then go into

Hordak. I have not read those two in a while.

Really? I'm looking at my Hordak one across the

room right here. So if you want to give me a

second, grab it so I can flip through it. Yeah,

sure, go ahead. I'll revisit it. I like the art

in it, but it wasn't anything that was super

spectacular. I mean, one of the things... We

all know Die Hard Masters fans are Die Hard Masters

fans. I'm a fan of this stuff. I didn't get into

it until I was much older. So if they start changing

things, I can give it some leeway. But then again,

if something's awful, I'm not going to defend

it. I remember when they sent the solicitations

out for this. The first thing that popped in

my mind when they showed the covers was like,

ooh, that's kind of stylized Kirby artwork, so

I'm naturally drawn to it anyway. Again, it is

very bizarre. I have no problem with the art.

I have a problem with the story and how it's

written. I believe that one was written by Giffin,

and Keith Giffin, I love his writing. I love

his writing on Masters. But that one just, the

story is just too strange for me. It really,

really is. So the 2013 ongoing, what were your

initial opinions when you first heard that they

were gonna start an ongoing? It's finally nice

to see the Masters back on. Comic panels because

God was the last time that 2002 stuff. Mm -hmm

My Concerns interests were okay. Let's let's

see where they can take this Mm -hmm because

it's been around for over 30 years, but they

seem to only have been locked in With the same

characters and kind of the same They don't veer

off from what we've already learned. It's just

kind of a constant rehash of everything that

we've seen so far. So I was just interested to

see what they would do with it. So far, it hasn't

been much. I'll just put it like that. I mean,

slightly different things happen. Looks have

been altered, but nothing. Yeah, we'll talk about

the altering of looks and... all that stuff.

Overall, I've enjoyed it for the most part. I

am not one, and people who listen to this show

along with this podcast a long time will know,

I am not one that enjoys a writer change. After

these six issues, issues seven to, I think we're

up to fourteen now currently, Issues seven to

fourteen are written by Dan Abnett. I have nothing

against the man. The only thing I ever read from

him I think was a Punisher. I think it was Punisher

year one or one of the Punisher books he wrote.

I forget what it was and that was a long ass

time ago. I have nothing against him, but I need

a strict continuity of writing style and form

when I read stuff. Absolutely. And it just...

Don't dislike when we get to eventually because

As I said the Masters coverage will be continuing

here in the pullback when we get to that arc

the what lies within arc after this I Don't dislike

a lot of the stuff, but there's like little stuff

There's there's ways that he has the characters

say stuff that just doesn't make sense to me

at all So I think without any further ado we

are gonna let Let a battle cry out and then we'll

come back with issues 1 and 2 of the 2013 DC

Comics ongoing He -Man and the Masters of the

Universe. We'll be back after this. By the power

of Grayskull! I have the power! Wait a minute!

I know you don't enjoy this, old cat, but there

is a quest for us. I know, but every time I turn

into that battle cat, you get me into some kind

of trouble. I'll make a deal with you. I'll go

with you, but as Cringer. Maybe I can bring some

common sense to this quest. Alright, my feline

friend. When you change your mind, be sure to

let me know. all right folks so after you heard

the classic battle cry there we have issue number

one now issue number one i know i i don't have

it pulled up but i don't want to have to search

for it right now i know this had multiple variant

covers and one of the variant covers was shira

on swiftwind um way to blow your load D .C. Well,

it's not like they were hiding identities of

characters from any of us. No, no. Well, most

of us know. I mean, you know, I mean, they pretty

much told us from day one. The core cover, the

main cover has the now classics He -Man and the

Masters of the Universe logo. They actually just

added a He -Man and this is basically the Mattel

Masters of the Universe without the classics.

Under It logo. I like that. I think that's cool.

We have Daspara aka Hordak looking chick, Battlecat,

He -Man, Tila, Man -At -Arms. What do you think

of this main cover? I really like the artwork.

It's realistic looking. I mean, you know, He

-Man's jacked and the way the art is represented

the new He -Man outfit doesn't seem to look like

much of an issue Chela on the other hand Yeah,

that's certainly a battle -ready outfit Yeah,

she's about to fall out of that Yeah, pretty

much I like how the power sword looks in He -Man's

hand. I like this outfit And we will talk about

the constant changes to this as these six issues

go on. But I absolutely love this cover. I love

seeing some of the other variant covers. I might

be able to put the variant covers in the post.

I honestly don't know where they are right now.

I know I have them somewhere on my computer.

We start out with the first title, Desperate

Times, and we are in the city of Eternos. That

doesn't look like the palace. Well, it kind of

looks like the palace, but... Yeah, they made

everything much larger in these issues. Yes,

they did. And writing is done by Keith Giffen.

Art is by Pop Mahan. Colors by Catherine Land.

Letters by... I cannot pronounce. Cida. Yeah.

The covers were done by Ed Benes and Randy Mayer,

variant cover done by Terry and Rachel Dobson.

I'm looking at this first page. In the bottom

left -hand corner, it appears to be the classic

toy version of the Attack Rack. I could be wrong.

Yeah, a little bit. No, you're right, you're

right. A little bit. It's too far away. That's

a cool nod so So we have the opening to eternal

city and then we moved to the interior where

man -at -arms and Adam are arguing and man -at

-arms is saying Tila basically takes after talking

about the sorceress the Apple did not fall far

from the tree. Let me tell you that And yet you

kept it from her the fact that sorceress was

her mother As did you, that was not my tale to

tell. So, the big thing with this first issue

is that the sorceress is dead. That's something

that we've never really... In the cartoons in

the mo... Well, the one movie. In the three or

four cartoons in the one movie, we've never seen

the sorceress, like, pretty much all the way

dead. But our... Our suspicions from when we

did the 2012 mini are confirmed. This does take

place right, so they are in the same universe

because in that mini, I believe, is where Skeletor

killed the Sorceress. Yes. So, I like that. In

that mini, it gave all the fans, you know, blonde,

battle warrior, Tila, and now we go back to the

classic red. Yeah, it's like, oh, what you gonna

do when you're done with your mess? Oh, I'm just

gonna go home and dye my hair. Maybe I'll shop.

Maybe I'll play with my poodle. What do you think

of the art here? Well, obviously it's different

than the cover. It seems like there are moments

where Tila's expression changes, where she's

flipping her head around. It has a very anime

influence Yes, it's not deliberate where it's

not Entirely noticeable if you're not examining

the hell out of it But it's it's apparent to

me and just switching back and forth and that

is a little distracting Yeah, the The suits that

they're wearing which are these I don't know

what you would call them royal ceremony We like

mishmash of military and suits, but they're still

gonna wear shin guards at the same time It's

it's an interesting take on Adams get up in but

we usually never see man -at -arms outside of

his classic costume So that's a little new and

refreshing and he almost looks like he's wearing

Batman's utility belt Yes In that tie that very

first panel where he says Tila takes after her

mother. He could be a dark net returns Batman

It could be. I am kind of happy that they're

going more for a 2002 look with Adam as far as

his outfit being maroonish red and black versus

as much as I love the classic purple and light

purple. I would love to eventually see that in

this series just as an homage. And Geffen's writing.

Geffen's writing reminds me so much of the 2002

series. Yeah, it definitely does. Father, daughter,

Adam, what did you do to your... Do you not want

to go there? Well, it certainly suits your temperament,

second warning. Oh, she's gonna get him. Uh,

she, um... I think this is the first time ever

that I have really enjoyed Delia. I cannot stand

her in the in the filmation series. The 2002

series she was a little bit better but she was

still annoying. She wasn't in New Adventures

was she? It's been so long I don't even remember.

From what I've been told I think she appears

once or twice. In the cartoon, or in all the

cartoons, they always talk about how... Quick

she is and to To react but they just tell you

that you never quite see her doing that This

is one of the first times where you see her speak

that way and act that way. What's your parent?

Yeah And Adam goes don't give me that look I

haven't said a word yet That reminds me the royal

rooster there's a royal rooster there is now

you'll never see it coming I Love the the comedy

in this between the two of them really really

do So we turn this the page here and we see you

know King randor making a speech about the sorceress

because they're basically At the sorceress's

funeral and we have a giant age in the middle

of the palace very familiar semi -familiar age

well, it'll be a It's it's a seed light buried

in the past to tell the tell about the future

because that's the same age that shows up on

a certain weapon later So, they're all gathering

for the funeral. What do you think of Randor

making this speech? Going through these issues,

I'll mention it later, the way they write his

dialogue seems to change a lot. Sometimes he

see you know he seems like you know he'll talk

like a king But then he'll have a very Shakespearean

essence about the words that are coming out of

his mouth now He's sounding like a priest at

a funeral rather than you know a friend and a

confident so Yeah, and then this is the first

of many costumes we see him in Yeah, they kind

of got well the next page where you've got Which,

I guess the little black dots around the speech

bubbles are meant to show us that they're whispering

to each other. On that next panel, that second

panel, you've got him looking like the Burger

King. I will accumatel every time that I see

that stupid original randor figure. Also, I can

think of as the damn Burger King. Well if we

go back at page at the bottom underneath There's

a shot behind Adam mad at arms and Tila where

you see kind of the B and C list characters So

you have Decker carnivous Roboto Stratos in looks

like a military top and then you see Ram man

who is just so squat You just see the top of

his head. Yeah compared to the rest of them I

love that. I think that's amazing. And then we

get... And then we get Adam saying... I think

it's an ancient dialect. It means she of the

flaming locks or something like that. She hauls

off and hits him. It's all right. He's just overcome

with grief. You know how sensitive he is right

Adam there there I love how she plays that off

Okay, so I guess we are at Castle Grayskull because

there's thunder in the background yay And then

Tila is very impatient she's always been very

impatient, but she is super impatient in this

it still does not Have that arrogant tone that

she had in filmation now. I'm not gonna sit here

and You know talk bad about Linda Gary's voice

acting She was an amazing voice actress just

the character of Tila in that show I just cannot

stand her and every time she opens her mouth.

It's like Yeah So she asks how long is this gonna

be in man -at -arms says King Randall does love

a good speech that long, huh? So we get to oh

Here's where the invasion comes from you get

to basically Yeah Yeah With a father and two

sons and I Couldn't tell you was they hit two

sons until he said they had two sons because

the one certainly looks like a girl Yeah And

then we see huh if they are all this fragile

this Romans as good as ours we see des para Well,

let's go back and mention that there's this explosion

and it charged the hell out of them. It's kind

of graphic It's very graphic And then it cuts

to the splash page of just bar and the four troopers

and the father who is most of his hair burnt

off and scarred and crying you see that I Guess

the yeah corpse of his son Yeah Yeah, yeah, he

does have a very manly look to his face, so that's

definitely a male You see you see the spar and

you see the horde troopers the horde troopers

and the splash page look Awesomely just oh my

god. Yeah, I don't think I've ever I Don't think

I've ever seen them that well. They look like

a rag -tag group of suit up football players,

but in a good way Yes exactly So, you know, they're

going through battle cries because that's the

whole thing with this the story is that Where

does Spara and the horde are coming in? They're

all technology. Where is Eternia? Eternos is

all magic So she gives them, you know the orders

and ways to conquer the you know the entire planet

and and We get to the fright zone And where Hordak

says how I envy you disparate has been Eon since

Hordak last saw a conquest a testament in your

faith in me a gift from a loving father to a

deserving daughter Do not make me regret my generosity

that my life for you The way they depict The

Fright Zone is something we've never really seen

before. It looks like this fiery, post -apocalyptic

city, kind of Fist of the North Star meets Lord

of the Rings. It kind of looks like Apocalypse

from Darkseid. True, yeah. Definitely. But then

we see Hordak in this weird... God, this... HR

Geiger s monstrosity, which is kind of wired

into the room Yeah, and I don't know what the

world is going on here Well, you got to remember

if you go back from the origin of Hordak and

read that That's a thousand years before now.

So He's not human anymore. He's a thousand and

something years old and He's this machine Yeah,

he's basically an evil robocop. He's basically

the Ed 209 of the Masters of the Universe universe.

I'm just looking at this. I would think this

would be a design more fitting for Prime. Yes,

you're right. You're absolutely right. I guess

it's more corpses sewn into this mound that is

him. Yeah. See I think I would have wished that

to be what the story was a little bit that the

Hordak origin was Horde Prime and That this became

Horde Prime and we would still have Hordak but

yeah, I mean it's I like what they're doing.

It's something different. I mean We've never

seen Hordak like this before granted. I don't

much care for the design and the look but the

the story is is is interesting uh... so disbar

says you know stuff about the technological level

and hordak tells her that they use magic and

he says you will present you will present your

conquest because failure is not an option do

not think yourself above my wrath we get to See

we go back to palace and a palace open to Tila

stripping for no apparent reason in front of

everyone I Mean yes, I realize this is a comic

book in comic books tend to have a specific male

audience, but come on Yeah She And no one is

nobody bats an eye no And they're all wearing

the same gold boots like you'd think that they

would all wear different ones But then how did

she get her pants off with why keeping the boots

on? Did she have pants on or a skirt because

in that top panel where it's all four of them

It looks like a skirt not pants, but yeah, you're

right. It's like leggings of some sort I don't

know. I don't know why she feels the need to

strip right in the middle of everybody or why

she like Why can't she just wear her armor as

it was in that top panel, I have no idea. So,

the whole story here is that she doesn't give

a crap about her mother. She didn't even, you

know, man -in -arms kept it from her that the

sorceress was her mother and she's talking about,

oh, one less mage, that has to be a good thing

and... You know and Decker says that was interesting

my apologies Decker when she starts running her

mouth Reminds me of you a bit of you Duncan now

that was uncalled for When did we ever really

seen him run his mouth that way? I'm sure it

could have been oh when you were younger you

were yeah in pertinent youth, but Look about

him now says that Now see if she had her armor

her breasts and her stomach would not be crushed

by that bookcase correct. She wouldn't So a giant

explosion happens fire spills in This I guess

bookcase air conditioning unit something whatever

it is is basically crushing Tila So And cursing

she curses a lot Yes, she curses a lot. We get

to no quarter, they surrender or they die. We

see a nice page of D'spara and the Horde invading.

And then we get to the classic split -up scene.

However, there is a twist here, okay? So let's

go through this like we normally would. uh...

save some for me is she serious as a heart attack

duncan most of the masters are still here question

mark uh... all of them are get them organized

layered defense first we hold then we push back

decker you go with him and you don't worry about

me defend the city and if eternos is under attack

one of the rest of the ternia and he pulls out

the power sword uh... Don't think about it, focus

on the now. By the power of Grayskull, I have

the power! First of all, I love how they used

the classic power sword in the beginning of the

story. I just love that. Absolutely love that.

It's an overwhelming splash page, but in a good

way. Very much so. It was like, oh, you get the

small panel at the bottom of the one page and

then BAM! There it is. Yep. There it is. Now

Hordak had Orn Despara of the, you know, the

giant energy signature. You know, and she says,

where? This reading, it's off the charts. Where?

And then all of a sudden Tila shows up. I knew

you'd be up here How did you you need a room

to do that hole? I have the power thing a lot

of energy comes into play there. So Finally,

we don't have to worry about the fucking secret

anymore Pretty much everybody knows. Yeah So

the first issue Basically, you know so they get

to the point where so who are we killing take

your choice gray skulls Bane? Who are they they

are your masters? One just the line. It's just

who are we killing? Yeah, do you normally hear

that master's biology? It's oh, who are you going

to do a judo throw and try disarm? This is a

very different masters as far as This is like

Man of Steel 2013 version of Masters of the Universe.

But not quite as boring. Well, and the way I

can understand it, the Horde Troopers, I don't

know because I haven't seen any of them with

their helmets off, but the way I understand it

is the Horde Troopers are robots. I think they

do address them as robots. Okay, so I can see

that, you know, killing the Horde Troopers isn't

going to be that bad. So we get to Despira versus

He -Man. She says, my father was right to be

concerned. You should take your lead from him.

Does this father have a name? Do you? Talking

to her? Kill her! What am I saying? Big Lunk

won't hit a woman unless she bleeds him first.

Oh my god, I love this so much. It's so awesome.

Finally a proper battle. Or at least a one -on

-one battle that isn't just Skeletor. And then,

of course, her mask just happens to fall off.

If she's designed for battle, why would the mask

so easily fall off? See, that's the thing. Yeah,

oh, yeah, it does it does because he does linger

We'll see Skeletor Skeletor is gone. Yeah, and

that's that's a good and a bad thing I think

you know not starting with with with Skeletor,

but I like how the overall continuity is gone

so far and then we get the The reveal that this

para is adora possible it can't be sexual feelings

i knew it you know to be true well wasn't that

interesting next issue sister act um overall

the first issue i think that it sets everything

up nicely i think that I don't think this series

is good for new readers if you haven't read some

of the other DC stuff that they've done, like

the Origins, Three Origins issues they've done,

like the 2012 miniseries, because it does have

a strict continuity. But, as someone who has

already read it and has enjoyed it, I was so

pulled into the first issue. The art is great.

I love the snarky writing. I really love it.

I thought that was great. What about you? We

always eat snark. I'm always kind of drawn to

that stuff anyway. If you go back to that transformation

scene where I was saying you see the sword and

then you see him and BAM! If you remember the

filmation and even to some extent the NYP one,

you never got the... You could grasp the power

behind the transformation that was coming into

him. It's like, oh, you know, I have the power.

Here's some sparkly glitter and some flashing

lights. But now here, it's like he looks like

a mountain and it hits me in the face when I

look at this. Oh, yeah. But that's a good thing,

though. Absolutely. And finally, the introduction

of Adora as a horde captain. treated as it should

have been, or at least character -wise. Yeah.

Because when she's introduced in Secret of the

Sword, it's, oh, well, yes, I'm serving my father,

Hordak, and, you know, I don't realize I'm serving

evil, but it's really apparent, and just if she's

serving an evil that severe, you'd think some

of that personality would wear off on her. It

did a little bit in secret of the sword it didn't

as much because we all knew it was and wasn't

gonna last But then again that was like near.

Oh my god secret of the sword is nearly 30 years

old Next year 30th anniversary of She -Ra and

secret of the sword. Oh boy Yes, we are old ladies

and gentlemen. Well, it freaks me out more once.

Oh Batman the animated series is 22 years old

So so well just think of it this way this year

is the 75th anniversary of Batman. Yeah, that's

yeah. All right, so issue number two The cover

has adora de spara with fighting he man You have

trap job merman beast man Evelyn and i assume

the other arm at the very top is supposed to

be triclops i don't know i can't tell because

the logo is in the way if i was looking at this

without without the the writing on it i could

possibly figure out that it's triclops at the

top probably is um but of course i like this

they they don't even make an appearance in this

arc yeah that's that's the funny thing that this

cover is kind of This cover is kind of a lie.

I mean, it's a nice cover. I think it's awesome,

but it's pretty much a lie. Not only that, this

power sword's kind of, uh, dingy. Well, it is

under Evelyn's chin, and it is designed a little

bit differently than what we saw in the first

issue. That power sword won't last though, sadly.

so we open up and we get past past imperfect

as the story title we are at Eternos Palace Adora

who's Adora until now I thought she was just

a figment of my imagination she looking imaginary

to you and Adora is shocked all to hell Tila

because apparently they know each other's states

you know now that i'm looking back on this i

i didn't really make i didn't want to make this

reference but i'm going to anyway this is this

whole thing with adora and tila is kinda like

um... mel gibson and danny glover in maverick

when danny glover comes in and robs the bank

that that mel gibson scared that that maverick

is supposed to be borrowing money from and they

You know, Mel Gibson pulls his little western

-wear bandana down, and they stare at each other,

and they're like, Do I know you? Nah. That's

what this whole thing reminds me of. The art

is amazing in this, though. I love that stamp

that she's wielding. It's just... It's glowing

red with God knows what. Mm -hmm Absolutely,

you know her knew her only as a dream See imaginary

friend. What did I tell you enough? I did not

come here to talk Apparently not dare I ask Slaves

ask only how they can better serve Yeah, she

says stuff about slaves and servants a lot in

the first half of this Yes she does. Here's Grace,

will you just gut her and be done with it? You

should heed your woman's advice. Woman? Mine?

Mine? Teela? No. Do against one. Is that how

it's done on this realm? She's right. Go sit

in the corner. Make me a sandwich. So basically

Teela takes over. Mm -hmm. And is easily disposed

of. Yes, very much so. She's no match for Daspara.

And the entire palace falls. I mean, it's just

a crumbling building. Rather quickly, you don't

see much of the other Masters and Eternian guards

just protecting it. It's all of a sudden, oh

wait, the entire palace is on flames. So did

they even put up a fight was it a sneak attack

oh It wasn't a sneak attack. She said in the

very first issue. We want this we want them to

see us coming Because we are horde and we are

legion Oh that was smart at least trying to land

on their guys And then we have and Pretty much

an inexplicit butt shot on the next page there.

Thankfully it's mostly covered in fur. I'm not

gonna comment on that. Okay, deep breath, stop

reacting on a gut level and get it together.

Heads up! I should have blown her from her perch

on the way down. Is she always so shrill? You

care enough to risk your life for her, yet deny

she is your woman. That makes you either very

noble or very foolish. So we basically have Despara

versus He -Man. Again, my hand's art is amazing

on this. I'm loving this. surprise attacks. The

way she falls on Despair's back, it almost looks

like she cracks her ankle. I can't look at it.

Yeah, she does. Yeah, she does split her eye.

Oh yeah, that would explain that I carry off.

Yeah, because Stratos comes in and... Slips her

away. He's like, huh. she must have he must have

chosen the short straw but but but but but but

but but but but but but but but but but but but

but but but but but but but but but but but but

but but but but but but but but but but but but

but but but but but but but but but Suicide or

perhaps. I hope that will be choose to be merciful

neither enter battle cat who it looks fantastic

My god, he looks so great. I think they didn't

do anything to change him. He looks exactly no

He looks oh my god. He looks so awesome, and

he basically um laws the hell laws the hell out

of her face Quickly old friend to gray skull

and woe be to any of you stand in our way And

she is left bloody and scarred. She, uh... Her

scars are just... Yeah, pretty much. She doesn't

look like her mother now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we get to Grey Skull, and, uh, we get... Thus

starts the many, many insults on Brock, possibly

my favorite Master's character, and that would

be the much lamented... But there is a good explanation

to why she does it though. I will say, they do

explain stuff a lot. They do explain stuff very

well here. be have dire consequences. You got

that right. Yeah, so our ankles healed and the

two jumps attested and of course we're treated

with a fantastic panty shot. Yes, yes we are.

Then enter King Durandor in the fur. It's his

first costume change to the traditional or an

alternate take on the traditional action classic

vintage figure. Yep. He still looks like the

birthday king though. Yeah. Shave his beard,

give him a mustache, and bam, there you go. Filmation

right there. And so King Randor is gonna make

another one of his famous speeches. Yes, he loves

to do it. So he starts talking and talking and

talking and... But we do get some revelations

for this we said He says The foe is that merciless

the foe is that relentless does this foe have

a name if only so we can curse it as We send

his minions or whatever the hell His minions

to whatever hell that will have them hordak the

foe's name is hordak hordak? preposterous They

were led by a woman not a vampire creature of

legend Yep Seen it with your own eyes. Have you

I was one but I Was when but a child near abducted

by one of his minions so it seems like he would

history of this He was what well see this is

what this is what you kind of missed if you go

back and read the the He -Man and the Skeletor

origin. In the Skeletor origin, that is when

Randor as a boy was nearly kidnapped by Hordak.

That's why I said this all kind of ties together.

He's always trying to capture the descendants

of Grayskull. Yeah. Excellent. Hungry. So we

get to... Another explosion page. Yeah, they're

writing in this really interesting crab -looking

contraction. Yeah. Absolutely. The masses are

hungry and comply into masses. Resistance? Isolated

pockets. This might interest you. And we flip

to the page and we go, what am I looking at?

A substantial gathering of attorney enforcers.

The hold is called Castle Grayskull. Grayskull

as in King Grayskull, but of course So they basically

head there And we get They did that did they

explain yet about scar on her face or is that

a couple pages later? That's might be a couple

pages later might be in the next issue So, we

get back to Grayskull and... Like I said, everybody

knows the secret. Even Randor knows that He -Man

is Adam. Well, I'm looking at this library, I

guess. I can assume it's some sort of library

shut inside Grayskull. Grayskull's always been

depicted as this dungeness, dilapidated building,

yet this library is pretty substantially built.

And on the outside you see these girders and

whatnot so it seems like they're renovating it

of some sort They probably are renovating and

I mean it is an old -ass castle Yeah So they

have a conversation He says we have no choice

but to deal with the reality which we are presented.

We have been presented with a new Addition to

our reality or should I say an old one reborn

You said you were taken almost taken and I would

have been if Keldor hadn't been there to fend

the creature off Keldor Skeletor Skeletor saved

you Skeletor was yet to be but that is a story

for another day It's interesting yes Yeah, see

that's that's the thing it That's why the story

is also tied in is because of The stuff that

happens with randor and keldor when they're kids

the stuff that happens to Adam During his during

the he -man origin. It's it's so so well connected

and another bunch of Yeah, that's that's true

she comes flying in they've sent an emissary

God, all I can think of is, I am Archer, emissary

of the Golganites. It's always interesting how

whenever Despair is depicted in these panels,

she's always in these grand stances compared

to all the other characters. Oh absolutely. She's

basically chewing the scenery with her stances.

Ram man isn't as short as I thought he was gonna

be he's about on par is what he's normally his

normal size is I think I think just in that earlier

panel in the first issue it was the way the panel

was laid out that he can only see his head but

oh he's like a torso and head shorter than everyone

else that's true so the one thing about this

panel I don't know what's going on here I do

know what's going on but He man says had to be

her you've met you could say that You presume

much coming here on Unbidden even as a project

Not you him But I am NOT King. I don't think

that matters to her hear her out And she basically

goes on to say Simply put surrender and they'll

all live we are the superior force we will prevail

They am I to assume the offer doesn't extend

to me She says well caught you and I will fight

to the death will we Slaves obey their masters.

I will command. I will command it of you I am

to be your slave to what do you owe such an honor?

I had all healed but for this one only blood

will will wash it away. So she she has healed

somehow Her scars from battle cat except for

one Maybe magical fix that it was technology

Yes, maybe it will Of course, you know, she's

just bitching and moaning and Of course, Teela

comes in and with this... scary and... Her lips

are very pursed and she's making these ridiculous

gestures to mock her. And of course, Mossman

and Stratos are in the back talking about how

these scar actually makes her look better. Look

at her eyes. That's kind of awesome right there.

So we get to the final page here and he means

like measure a friend day I think it's time I

heard that tale not much to tell let it be the

let me be the judge of that Charming picked up

on that. Did you hard to miss and? Then at the

end of the thing Randor sees her and he says

Marlena Next issue teal his tail trust us you

won't want to miss this one Issue two, I like

it. It's continuing on with issue one. The art

is amazing. There isn't anything in the art that

I dislike. Okay, well, I will say that maybe

one thing with the power sword constantly changing

and not being the classic like what we saw on

the first issue kind of bugs me a little bit,

but it's not gonna matter that much anyway because

it's gonna change dramatically in a few issues

anyways. Second issue, I enjoyed it. I think

they're pulling us in, they're pulling the new

reader in with what strange tales could Tila

have to tell us? What did you think of the second

one? Yeah, you know, it continues it every once

you get to issues two and three of a lot of different

comics things just kind of get bogged down with

exposition and things drag on but this seems

to be pushing along quite nicely. Absolutely.

So we are going to take a quick break, and we're

going to come back with issues 3 and 4 after

this. Alright, we are back. Issue number 3, and

issue number 3 is... Oh wow, I never noticed

that before. Holy crap. You know how they I don't

I don't know if you're a baseball fan But you

know sometimes they'll cut certain images into

the grass at baseball fields like yeah way Parker.

Oh, you know What's the stupid Phillies? Whatever

you know what I mean. I didn't notice that the

grayskull Yeah, I never noticed that before I

didn't notice that and I didn't notice the Machines

in the background other than the little hover

I noticed the machines in the background, but

I never noticed very skilled. That's so awesome

and we have all these horde troopers coming to

the Coming to the forefront and we open up and

we get to Tila's child. Yeah, Tila's child. So

she's still blonde here. Yeah, maybe like a strawberry

blonde Yeah so she's telling her tale I take

it you remember that I didn't have many friends

when I was a little girl you got two things wrong

one I didn't have any friends and two you were

never a little girl so I mean it's pretty apparent

in these panels that she was a tomboy yeah but

at the same time what she grew into doesn't quite

gel with that I mean she kind of has the mouth

but If she's that much of a tomboy, I don't quite

understand why she's dressing like she does now.

Well, I don't think that's necessarily character.

I think that's potmahan and the editorial. I

think that's them giving us the eye candy because

they want us to like her. And like I said, this

is the first time ever that I've enjoyed Tila,

not because of the fact that she's wearing skimpy

clothing. I mean, I enjoy that. Obviously, you

know, I mean it's because of her character that

I'm enjoying her in in this I am in this ongoing

So I love line here where she's talking about

her past. I used to prefer hanging around my

father. Anyway, kids my age gave me gas It's

a little strange I even as a little girl she

has a full utility bill Now is it something she

made herself possibly? She's got a fake sword.

Yeah, I'm wondering if there are web shooters

in that utility gate So we get so what I do like

is how they they kind of distinguish the the

monologues where hers is red and Adams's It's

a little yellow. I can see She goes final warning.

Sorry No, you're not. Anyway, there I was, wishing

you would die in a riding mishap. I said I was

sorry. When I hear this giggling from the Gideon's

Bloom Arbor, a girl's giggling, as far as I knew,

I was the only little girl in the palace. Well,

maybe you, attitude -wise, you knew. I'm going

to let that one pass. It was her, that Dispara

creature. Creature? Well, maybe not then, but

now definitely. So apparently, Adora and Tila

were besties as children, but it was some weird

magical thing that, you know, Tila chalks it

up to being an imaginary friend and... They don't

quite explain it later on, do they? Not really.

They don't really explain how Adora was even

there. I'm I'm not sure So we get back to present

day and Then one day she just stopped coming

with the passing of years. It wasn't a far to

jump to imaginary friend You don't miss her.

I didn't say that. I just said I grew up. Okay,

and now she's back Yeah, now she's back. I do

love the art here with the two of them him standing

in her kind of drink batman on the ledge pose

yeah pretty much oh god can you imagine that

that that scene from um oh god you said batman

i wonder when i was like all i can think of is

now um you're a warrior princess i'm a rich kid

with issues lots of issues she just crushes the

the rock like next point Oh wow, that is Reba.

I didn't notice him earlier, huh. So we get to

the next page. I don't suppose you remember anything

that might give us an edge. What, like she's

afraid of spiders or heights or like that? Anything

that might help. No, nothing like that. Yeah!

And the next show is to scare the crap out of

everyone. Our forward defense perimeter is in

motion. They're on the move! Feckless neck strike.

Beckless neck -stretching ultra -pollitron little

warning next time. Oh wow. How do you warn someone

that you're going to spread the alarm? That's

right, I'm talking to you, mech -a -nuisance.

Wait. Wait, wait, wait. That's okay. So yeah,

that is Roboto next to He -Man, right? At the

bottom of the page? Yes. Yeah, he - Okay. That's

an ugly, ugly design. No, I - Somehow, for some

reason, I thought it was Mechaneck again, but

then, anyway - He has this weird, like, Lord

Zed -looking feel to him. Yeah, pretty much,

yeah. And then, of course, anything fun to stink

or. The stink or creatures you go creatures grace

do not bring him up in front Tila you think she's

got problems with neck and neck I Really wonder

how they're gonna if they ever really have him

show up. I wonder how they're gonna have that

done What do we have here it's Castle Grayskull

and it's mine So we get to Grayskull and they

have all these tables and battles drawn out and

Grayskull really lives up to his name. It's no

longer green and is actually gray. Every time

we've seen Grayskull in the past outside of this

comic, you know, it's always kind of been isolated

and there's just been steps leaning up to the

mouth. Now we have no jaw bridge, we just have

this massive opening and the castle itself is

embedded in this giant canyon. Yeah, it's a little

disconcerting to me that there's no jaw bridge.

I mean, as much as I don't, you know, necessarily

want them to... mimic filmation, but it would

make sense if there was an entrance to have it

close up. I mean, it's not like the damn, you

know, giant tiger head of the Cave of Wonders

where the entire castle is gonna sink underground

after it closes. Then you got like the double

-barreled castle cannon which is a million times

bigger than it used to be. Yep. I think it's

to scale, though, for what this series has to

offer. Is that Tila, right? How did she, we,

my guess would be she jumped. Jumped from that

height? And that's pretty much all it says on

this page, which is... it's kind of a weird page,

honestly. I think because... It seems like it's

just there to show off. the surroundings of Grayskull

and setting up things that are going to happen.

Yeah, no, I know. It just seems a little strange

how the art's laid out on it. And Render has

a new armor again! Is he? Yeah. This is... Wow,

he... Wow, he changes... He changes outfits more

than Padme and Leia would have just had make

him. Yeah. I was gonna make a Beast Wars joke.

Man, Optimus sure learns a new body fast. What

do you expect? He changes them often enough.

So we get to our common sense. You know the thing

tells us not to jump off of. I climbed, okay?

There's all kinds of juts and ledges sticking

out of this chunk of stone. What have we got?

Movement of... of what and for what purpose unknown

troop movements maybe they're massing for an

assault uh it's not organic so we can assume

by that line it's not organic we can assume that

all the horde troopers are robots um we get to

um whatever happened to the 12 hour grace period

That's the deadline for the first assault they're

moving to soften us up for the first assault

That's certain. That's what I do Good enough

for me robotics Roboto spread the word everybody

digs in we don't know how bad this initial barrage

is going to be bad very very bad Creators grace

I'm so sick of that line as much as I love Giffen's

writing. I'm so sick of that line right now Sweet

eternity and Jesus, you know after the double

page of the Trinity war ad Get inside and pray

and pray gray skull weathers it so they're all

running like everybody run There's this close

-up of Tila's face where you see that she has

black eyebrows, okay, so she's black eyebrows

But she's been blonde. Now she's dyed her hair

red. What is this girl's natural hair color?

Maybe she was born bald and she stayed bald all

her life and they're all just wigs. Oh, wonderful.

We have a giant explosion with Adora showing

up with a bunch of horde troopers. And Tila's

saying, oh, wonderful. It almost looks like this

one page might have been done by a different

artist. They seem a little slimmer. It honestly

might have been, really. She says, deal with

them, the girl is mine. The next couple of pages,

it's really apparent it's definitely a different

artist. But see, that's the thing. It doesn't

list. i'll go back to the currency here in the

beginning let's see uh... uh... yes it is a very

low it's problem and and and it's a very low

so yet it is different are that's a little crazy

uh... and not sure if i like that but uh... yeah

i know but Maybe that's why Randor changed outfits

again, because of the new artist. Like, I can't

draw that Burger King stuff, man! Just throw

a slab of Wonder Woman tea on him. Yeah, really.

Roboto, C to the King. Nice trick, why didn't

you just blink your entire army in here and be

done with it? Where's the fun in that? These

two have such tongues between them. Yeah, they

do. Robotics arm sliced off. Yeah for a bottle

And these again Tila is easily disposed of Yep

I Don't know how much of a warrior. She really

is honestly. Yeah, sometimes I question that

Not a very good one Huh Tila Tila's injured she's

I don't know she's gone Gone? That's Tila's never

-run -from -a -fight. Not that kind of gone taken

that a Spiral Woman took her. Unless I missed

my guess, that's what this was all about. Capitalized

on the bombardment to then why not take the King

or He -Man? Why Tila? We were never friends.

Friends? What does that have to do with anything?

Duncan, we'll get her back. See to the defensive

perimeter, we've got to assess damages. So basically,

Despara captures Tila, He -Man swears that he'll

get her back, and I don't know. I keep seeing

G .I., live action G .I. Joe rise of co - I keep

seeing Snake Eyes and Roboto. Yeah. A little

bit. Yeah, I can see that, too. The way the new

artist draws mad at arms, the helmet is just

a little... He's heavily armored to go out for

a nice afternoon stroll of rollerblading. 90s

rollerblading. Instead of the orange lines that

are on the helmets now, there's this orange lightning

bolt motif. It's a little crazy so We get back

to the freight zone again, and we finally see

her Yeah Stop and shut up shadow either. I almost

forgot that she was in this issue. Honestly.

Yeah, that's I think that's all you see of her

That's all we see of her for now. She shows up

later. Yes, and she five I think So Shadow Weaver

and Hordak Lord, what of the ones she knew as

a childish fancy to discover this this Tila is

real? Are you telling me you're raising her was

inadequate that you failed to instill in her

all that is of Hordak that you were less than

a mother to her? I did as I was charged. She

believes herself of the Horde Caution Cheryl,

Daspar is not of the Horde. Diminish her at your

risk I meant no offense, my mind is addled by

concern for the damage this Tila might do. Years

of conditioning, undone because of... A kind

smile, a hand offered in friendship, an act of

compassion. Randar's daughter is beyond all of

that. Despara is of Hordak. There can be no greater

honor. So they put a slight twist on the secret

of the sword origin. Yeah, well, I - I'm a little

confused as to since we see her as a child kind

of acting like a normal child would this They're

talking about Raising her up so were these things

slowly integrated into her being or At one point

they're like oh well this doesn't seem to be

working. She she's so pure of heart basically

that we're gonna mind -wash her and Cast a spell

and alter her because what you see her as a child

and what you see her now is Completely on the

opposite end of the spectrum. Oh, yeah. Um, I'm

not sure honestly I'm really not sure I guess

we'll have to wait and see So we get back to

gray skull and we get man -in -arms and he -man

arguing and or not man in arms randor and he

-man going back and forth you know and randor

says duncan will come around should he we're

talking about his daughter they couldn't want

well -made if irrelevant to our circumstances

tila is not irrelevant i forbid it it don't you

don't handle deception well you have every intention

of settling Sitting off after Teela, you are

needed here. Eternia has greater need of you.

As your king, I command you stay. As your father,

I feel your pain. For all the good it will do.

It could have gone better. If he is to be king,

he must learn that hard lessons are hard taught.

He knows I am right. So all of a sudden, He -Man

starts to hear voices when he comes to Cringer.

How is it that it's Cringer and not Battle Cat

when he is in the He -Man armor? Like, we didn't

see a untransformation scene for Cringer. For

Battle Cat, I mean. He nuzzles him and... Well,

you know, I'm gonna run to the hell out of here

anyway. Well So we have this mysterious voice

in this mysterious voice is pretty serious Yeah,

are you that anxious to throw your life away

out of love eternal? Yeah They're very open one

can be us, but it was coming anyway, so yeah

And the final page is it will take greater than

you possess to free attorney and greyskull knew

this day would come. Greyskull is mortar and

stone, you know better. We're treated to this

image that I guess is in his head of what was

to come of his costume. Yeah. And he walks into

the glowing light, and then he closes behind

him, and thus ends the issue. Overall, I enjoyed

issue three. It's still... I'm glad they're not...

They're continuing with one long arc. I don't

mind that it's a six -issue arc, honestly. But

I'm glad that they're not doing a different writer

every other issue. I think at the time when this

released, this was my favorite cover out of the

three so far that we've talked about. I just

think it's a badass cover. It's so good. In fact,

I have two copies of it. Actually, it was more

of an accident because when I'd go out and get

comics, I'd never exactly keep track of what

I have. Okay, I think I need to get this issue

and I have a couple double issues of Batman.

I have a double issue of this. You should really

keep track of that stuff. I know. I think there's

an online service. I'd have to go back and look

and see. There's an online free service that

actually, you know, you put all your information

in and it'll keep track of it for you, I think.

I'd have to go back and look at it though. I

mean, it's just more of an issue of me saying,

hey, I'm going to look into my box and see what

issues I have. Okay, I need to get those then.

Yeah, so do assuming what I have yes issue four

we have Written by Giffen art by Mahan, which

will I'll look at on the inside to see if there's

the other artists as well now issue four I Really

got mad at issue four not because of the story

but because of the cover because they had originally

it was solicited as a cover of D'Spara In her

her Hordak looking garb and I thought that was

a really cool cover but what we actually got

was He -Man's new armor Or I should say iron

He -Man It's interesting that he looks more like

Adam than He -Man on this cover Yep, very much

so Very much so and this is where the new sword

comes into play See what's on the hilt that golden

part. That's the giant H. I was talking about

in the very first issue Yeah So we start off

with Tila imprisoned She's wearing an overtly

long t -shirt to Presumed that she's in a nightgown.

I guess I don't know present potato sacks Okay,

then So we we get the two of them just for the

first like two and a half pages just staring

at each other and then and then Adora whispers

to her. I loved you like a sister and and she

walks away and we get Tila just looking after...

I like how they're doing the stare down thing,

but it's a little strange. If she loved you like

a sister, what other than, you know, her mind

being warped, what caused that to change? You

think they just eliminate that from her mind

in the first place? Yeah. Okay, so we get to

back to Grayskull. And it kind of looks very

formation like yeah, because it has that giant

gate in front of it In the story here, okay,

so we get pencils by pop Mahan and Axel Jimenez

the inks are by Mahan and Coral Martinez colors

are done by Katherine lino or leno so this isn't

all just pop mahan doing the work uh... but i

mean it still looks really good i really like

it i love how the horde troopers look on this

page it gives them more personality because there's

some of these where it looks like they're talking

to each other rather than just doing mindless

robotic stuff absolutely So we open up and we

see that Mechaneck is using his neck That's a

good way to get your head blown off You'd think

so wouldn't you so far? No one's as much fire

to warning shot I think they want us to know

how brutally outnumbered we are Hard to miss

tell me their siege ring must be half a kilometer

wide Barring a miracle. We're not walking out

of this alive. I'd appreciate it if you kept

that to yourself any word on Tila they haven't

displayed her body if that's what you're talking

about and Mackinac goes into this sob story about

how When he was a kid everybody made fun of him.

So Tila made her his Tila made him her bitch.

I mean boyfriend. Yeah So I guess in this iteration

he was born with these powers as opposed to having

his neck altered later on. Right. So I guess

you could say his neck is an organic neck that

stretches kind of like organic web shooters just

come out of your wrist. I guess. But then why

does he have the technology pieces built into

it? I don't know. I honestly don't know. So apparently

because of, you know, Tila standing up for him,

she's the only one that can make fun of him.

And he says, you know, she doesn't mean a word

of it. Which, again, Geffen is making me... I

really, really love the characterization of Tila,

finally, after 30 -something years. On the outside,

she just seems like this headstrong Russian to

battle, I have a mouth, but as it's slowly being

revealed in tiny bits and pieces, there's more

to her, and it's refreshing. Very refreshing.

We get to Meganek warning Man -Man -At -Arms.

Best Hunsum cover, sir. They're lobbing in another

barrage. You get the feeling they're amusing

themselves until an attack order comes down.

I try not to think about it. Boom! And we see

He -Man is on his quest into the bowels of Grayskull.

We see him with the classic more classic power

sword than what we've seen before I don't like

them Although this image of the of the he chamber

is awesome. They'll they look like giant stone

Martian Manhunters Oh my god. If only there was

a purple cauldron. All as I would say was, ancient

spirits of evil. RUN TO THE KING FORM! Yes. Uh...

Well, you notice the plank that he's standing

on resembles the sword. Yep. Yep. I... So she

basically gives him a little bit of instruction

and then you know she leaves him with this Prince

Adam of Eternia is the secret of Castle Grayskull

and she says You know what? You know what you

must do. See I couldn't really make that out

because number one my eyesight is too Bad and

number two. It's really small. It's very light

blue Yeah, yeah No, no, what so our Cercerus?

Why did you bring me here sorceress? You can't

leave me here like this, so Tila was right mages

are infuriating not exactly the word she used

but close enough So basically we see that and

this is something that I really loathe about

this series even when we get to the later issues,

issues 7 and 12, they will constantly, when he's

in the He -Man garb, just call him Adam. I love

it that the secret is not a secret. I absolutely

love that as far as... It almost seems worse

than the Superman thing, because at least with

Clark he had glasses on and his hair was a little

different, but this is so blatantly obvious.

Yes, very much so. very much so um and he says

um what does she expect me to do i failed smithing

am i to pretend there is not a siege so i can

can can what duncan should be here he understands

the intricacies of i am not here to encourage

you i'm here to see you prepared for what lies

ahead or worse than golly when you need them

yeah really um So we go back to the prison and

we see some guy trying to... Who looks suspiciously

like... I don't know what I'm trying to... Are

they tributes? Whatever those creatures are in

She -Ra, the cartoon. Yeah, possibly. Oh, you

mean the... Do you mean the wickets? Not the

wickets. He looks like an evil version of the

ones... Yeah. Yeah, I know which... God, what

do they call? Yeah, I think they're called the

us sprig and sprag and Yeah, what was the madam

Raz always has hanging around her? Yeah, maybe

possibly So we have these lines You know, he

says they're gonna break you hard pink meat think

you're a warrior you ain't nothing unless you're

told to be it Please please don't hurt me. Well,

all right. I got us a fast learner here I'm really

digging the art on this. It's really really cool.

I Just love the the way that this Ancillary character

is drawn. He's got the nails and he's snobby

looking. Yeah, absolutely. He absolutely is.

And we see... We see Daspara show up and she's

got... She's basically gonna run him off and...

And the Sparrow and Adora start talking, keeping

me as a pet. I prefer my pet's house broken.

Really, I'd have thought medium rare. So the

banter is still very much there. So we see through

the bars. Adora, don't call me that. What am

I supposed to call you? That's the name you...

You will soon call me master, not miss... The

really interesting thing is, because Despara

Adora always considers herself above everyone,

she actually sits down and squats at her own

level. Yep. Absolutely. So, we find out later,

but are things starting to come back? Does she

already know what's going on? Yeah, yeah. And

then she gets stabbed in the stomach. Yeah, that's

not good. Which is far less graphic than what

we've seen in previous issues. Oh, oh shit, I

never noticed that before. Um, but yeah, it's

uh, yeah, she stabs her in the stomach and puts

her helmet on. Unless getting, squatting down

was kind of to lower Tila's guard. Yeah, probably

and she says to the Horde trooper see that she

is days into her dying Yes, and then they are

changed again, you know We get a giant battle

scene with absolutely no banter no nothing More

battling more battling we get to once again.

There's a battle scene. Then you see a strike

of the hammer on the new sword battle scene strike

on the hammer battles back and forth yeah yeah

for a second there i was like wait wait why does

he have mjolnir yeah so let's see here a half

-hearted attempt on their part my liege meant

to harass more than defeat that is what i feared

and when they come at full force We will make

them pay dearly for every inch my son where I

was wondering that myself There's this really

nice panel is the ghost or just spirit of grayskull

Transposed behind him on top of T man. Yeah,

and Then they're in the word bubbles. They're

both speaking at the same time the same lines.

Yeah And we end with by the power of grease go

I have had snow Was this supposed to basically

be a new adventures homage Seriously, come on

You know, I don't often I don't often Say a lot

about a certain part of clothing like pixel Dan

does but Jesus Christ bring back the loincloths

I don't like Iron He -Man. I'm not a huge fan

of this, but at the same time I realize, you

know, with the toys, you know, you have Battle

Armor here, He -Man, Flying Fist He -Man, Thunder

Punch He -Man, this is, if we were back in the

80s, I think this would be far more well received,

because it would just be a new toy. Yeah. absolutely

so the final page we get the Sparrow walking

away and she says what's humanity Hordak is thousands

millions of years old he was around long before

humanity existed I still believe in two plus

two equals four what do you believe what do you

believe child question mark if he truly wished

to keep you as his Hordak should have never let

you come home next daddy issues Oh, boy. Number

four, I like it. The story is continuing. I love

the art, even though the art changes a little

bit mid -issue. I don't like He -Man's new armor.

It's not that it... It's not that, oh, my God,

it's not what I know, or, oh, my God, it's not

filmation, or, oh, my God, it's not 2002. I just...

I wish they would have made a different choice.

It's oddly impractical. Yeah, and the sword okay

the sword I will say I wish it was filmation

Yeah, like I I'm more a fan of this new sword

than the rest of the outfit Yeah So What other

thoughts do you have on the fourth issue before

we take another quick break? No, not a lot of

filler really Yes, there's a lot of Tila to spar

stuff, but it serves a purpose Yep, absolutely.

All right. So like I said, we're gonna take a

quick break and we'll come back with issues five

and six after this I Don't know what you're doing

away from snake mountain But you don't have to

stay on my account So we are back and issue number

five best cover of all six issues Well Not really

Talk about the same one with Shadow Weaver and

Shira. Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah, it's not really misleading

It's not a lie like cover number two was What's

it you know that the Shira get up makes no appearance

in this Well, no, but it's I think it's more

so to homage that they're leading us to The origin

of Shira at some point Because I are you currently

reading the current part of the series no, okay,

yeah, they They're going to lead up to it because

the current arc that's about to start is I think

it's called blood of grayskull and it The new

issues have the tagline, in the Horde logo, origin

of She -Ra. She still hasn't gotten the powers

yet? Well, issues 7 through 12, which we will

talk about in Pull Bag episode 93, they go to

Subternia. Ah. So, yeah. So, issue 5, what I

think that... Could it have been better if they

just used the... It's not a mask. What the hell

is that? The headdress? And maybe the old classic

Adora outfit? That might have been the red and

white Adora outfit. That might have been a little

better here. But overall, as far as a cover that

grabs you, it absolutely grabs me. It grabs her.

Quite literally, yes. So we pick up Eternia,

Castle Grayskull. It is the font from which all

missions flow, or magics flow, the essence of

Eternia, and by extension of the essences of

the universe. As the font is core to Eternia,

so is Eternia core to the universe. Yawn again

and I will have your mouth stitched shut. It

opens with this epic battle scene that there's

there's this cool little piece at the very top

where it seems like Half a dozen whore troopers

or so have picked up a ram man or just attacking

the crap out of him They're really stretching

him out. I Was really hoping to see him do some

bit like I was really hoping to see that because

when you hear When you see Ramman in the old

filmation cartoon his sound effect for his bouncing

is like a boy only owing and I was hoping to

kind of see that a little bit more but poor Ramman

Yeah, they are The Horde troopers are basically

destroying the Masters here It's crazy so they

start talking about 1 ,000 years ago in Hordak

and yada yada yada We get yet another epic battle

scene. Big ol' splash page. Yep, big ol' splash

page. You get Mossman, you get Randor, you get

Man -at -Arms. Oh, wait, there's um... I wanna

say Elephant, but Elephant. Why is this name

escaping me at the moment? Oh, I know what you're

talking about. Crap the firefighter Snouts there

we go And the title of the story is once upon

a time Geffen is on the script my hand is on

the art Katherine lano is on the colors So this

is this art is all my hand as far as the art

styling So there is Yeah, and sort of the back

and forth And, oh, there's Stratos. And the Horde

troopers have a couple of the Aeternian guards.

So we hear all this story about Aetheria. Aeternia's

dark mirror became home. Its people came to know

Hordak as Lord. Thus was I born to power thus

was I born to share Lord Hordak's craving for

vengeance Now do you begin to understand? and

Now she listens. Yeah, she's back in the cell

on the floor, but that's also because Tila is

just bleeding out everywhere So this whole opening

monologue was a Dora. And they had to pull a

Star Trek lag, didn't they? Now you know why

resistance is futile. Oh, Trekkies. Why do you

resist? And Tila just mumble, mumble, mumble.

It doesn't really say anything. Bet night guard

50 gold pieces I could get you on knees before

me Too easy. That's funny. Yeah at this point.

She just kind of play with her Yeah a little

bit Very awesome very awesome Don't know who's

greater the greater fool her for resisting or

me for trying to to what connect with her? justify

myself to her I've all but killed her the only

reason she's still alive is because I charged

the med -text to prolong her at agony What humanity

hordak is thousands of years millions of years

old? So this is basically a flashback to the

scene that was at the end of the last issue.

Her Her eye makeup consistently changes and it

looks like that scar got worse At least on it

doesn't look worse from the side But the panel

on that next page where it says where she says

the truth is as you would have had me believe

it No, the truth is you must come to know it

that top right hand panel the scar looks worse

yet on the Mid right hand panel where she says

withered and died. It doesn't look as bad as

it looks at the top. Yeah So that's a little

it looks even thinner the one beneath it. Yep

Maybe it's just the way that my hand drew it.

I guess So now he man is basically in the midst

of battle with the new armor and the new sword

and just the ration these Four troopers around

left and right And man arms is like I'd ask where

you got off to but the new armor is answer enough

It's a long story. It doesn't involve rescuing

Tila. Do you even have to ask? All right, so

we get to Stratos who I Can't That is a really

weird angle of Stratos. Yeah, it's almost like

he's flying and doing a backflip at the same

time It's almost like they wanted to give the

male viewers a crotch shot of Stratos. I don't

know why. This is an equal opportunity issue.

Apparently so. They're pulling back. We've routed

them. Why would they fall back? Their momentum

would have carried them through the first and

second perimeters. Try not to sound so disappointed.

Not all of us got new armor. Do like this man

-at -arms right here because he does have his

classic weapon. I think that's awesome in his

hand The panel where he says trying to sound

so disappointed Yeah, I was expecting to see

an art to see it in orange. So yeah there it

is. Oh, well Yeah, it's not orange, but at least

it's the sort of classic design So we go to not

disappointed suspicious that as far as not one

to walk away when there's still blood to be spilt

strategic strategic retreat you asking me you're

telling me a forge you found How did you discover

the forges whereabouts its existence zor? Sorceress,

but she's dead do mage's ever truly die he's

The man in arms. I don't know whether to be comforted

or disturbed by that. The new sword as well as

you have been busy. Uh, time enough for talk

later. Now belongs to Tila. And they're gonna

go after Tila. Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila,

Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila,

Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila,

Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila,

Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila,

Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila,

Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila,

Tila, Tila, Tila, Tila, And Adora is in Etherea.

And... Please see Queen Mar - I'm sorry, Shadow

Weaver. And she refers to her as mother. Yes.

So if she's mother and Hordak is her father,

is there this... Obviously they won't touch on

it, but has there been this farce that there's

some sort of relationship going on between Hordak

and Shadow Weaver? No. Um... No. I don't think

so Shadow Weaver in this incarnation it's kind

of like she's a cross between Driel and Morticia

honestly like seriously because she looks a little

bit like a trolling As far as her cloak on around

her head and her eyes and just the blackness

of we don't know what she looks like And then

obviously, you know Morticia had all the tentacles

instead of actual feet in the Adams family, but

So Despair goes back and she wants the truth

And Shadow weavers is telling her the truth,

what would you What would you know, child, who

am I? Had you not been taken, Adora of Eternia,

Princess Adora, if such as that means something

to you. There was no throne waiting for you.

The throne was your brother's to claim, your

twin brother. Eternia has little use for queens,

except for ornaments to dangle from a king's

arm. I don't know, but I don't agree with that.

Okay, sure in the old cartoon Marlena didn't

really do much But she was a warrior in the 2002

cartoon. Yeah, she was And we get some next page

we get some more story and we get some beautiful

shots of Skeleton. Yeah, he looks sweet Those

eyes Yeah, that armor that armor is awesome It's

Looks kind of battle -ready. It's kind of a flashback

to when the twins get stolen. Yep. It's kind

of a flashback to when Luke and Leia attempt

to be stolen. Oh, I'm sorry. Wrong continuity.

You know, every time I watch Secret of the Sword,

I cannot help but think of Star Wars, honestly.

There's a lot of that in Masters. Yeah. God,

that Villain's Month ad page, ugh. There's one

shot of Skeletor holding the infant, and it's

really vicious all the way. He's almost grabbed

it by the neck and kind of dangling it around

and throwing it in the Sorcerer's face. Yeah,

that's... Wicked. Very, very creepy looking.

So... Is it just me or does Shadow Weaver change

cup size to cup size panel to panel? I mean,

Helen, this is one panel where she says the sorceress

seeded you to save your twin. Had combat continued,

one or both of you might have been killed. The

prophecy was all in that panel. It looks like

she's fondling herself, really. The way where

her left hand is on the top left -hand panel

well even even sort of wicked Mutated sorceresses

need to go through a monthly press exam The art

on these two pages is amazing though the red

the black Hard act coming in and what I assume

is he does kill shadow weaver Yeah, the arm comes

in. Yo, dad! Yeah, well, I don't know. It's comics.

Characters never stay dead so long. Well, right.

But this is a little different than... This is

slightly different than mainstream DC continuity.

Because it does look like she does, yeah. Because,

uh... She just disintegrates. Yeah, she just

disintegrates. Look and learn, do not disappoint

me, dot her. It's kind of sad that Shadow Weaver

only showed up twice in these first five issues.

Here and back in issue three. Much like Evil

Lin with Skeletor, there's always kind of that

dynamic where they want to overthrow them. So,

you know, she could be back at some point. She

could be, yeah. We get back to He -Man and Mechaneck

and... They're searching for Tila. Because now

she's been taken to one of the horde camps and

she's been healed. And is no longer wearing her

potato sack, but a brown bikini basically. And

then punches the crap out of Adora. Yeah, pretty

much. She basically bitch slaps her. Your mother

gave me to Hordakker so he would have me believe

my mother, the sorceress, the who? I am your

king's daughter, taken at birth by... Whoa, whoa,

whoa. Before we get into that, you healed me,

right? I did, with help. Good to know you can

do that. She stabs her right back. Now we're

even so what is this all about my mother and

you being whatever I Think this marks the continuation

of a beautiful friendship next issue victory

I loved issue five. I thought issue five was

great. The art was amazing the story they are

putting such a twist on secret of the sword that

It it still retains the elements of the kidnapping

of hordak brainwashing adora but with hordak

being thousands millions but jillions of years

old it's so so much more interesting now i mean

do you think with shadow weaver because there's

this change of hers from evil to good it seemed

pretty quick so do you think by shadow weaver

quote -unquote dying it kind of broke all those

seals on her mind? Um, it probably broke the

seals, but it's more so she has to choose what

she wants to do. I mean, it's not like they could

have sent He -Man to Aetheria with, you know,

a jeweled, tilted sword. Right. And said, hey,

look into this sword, listen to the sorceress,

and... So the final issue is issue number six

that we're going to talk about today. This is

the final issue of this arc of the 2013 ongoing

He -Man and the Masters of the Universe written

by Giffen, art is by Pop Mahan, Axel Jimenez,

and Diana Eggea? Eggea? I don't know. The cover

is, you know, Monster Mash Hordak with He -Man

and Adora basically fighting against each other,

and she has dual swords. Yep. Is that supposed

to be a Skeletor homage? I don't know. It looks

cool. Yeah, it looks cool. She also has this

amazing Horde breastplate logo. That's awesome.

And then the markings under her eyes, of course,

have changed again. And her hair is slightly

longer. I would say it's slightly shorter, but

okay. Oh, yeah, it is a little different, and

so is He -Man's. He -Man's hair is a little different,

too. You know, if they rework this Horde armor

for her a little bit, she could almost be a female

Batman Beyond in Masters of the Universe. And

the title on the cover is Sibling Rivalry. In

the actual title of the story is Blood Ties.

So much for the element of surprise. I don't

know, they looked awful surprised to me. So did

we. Yeah, well, who expected them to have heat

sensitive motion detectors worked into their

armor? Okay, now, they say it's armor, but I

still believe these horde troopers are robots.

So do I. I don't know. Well, I mean, it's technology,

anyway. Yeah, that's true. So, we've got that

opening page, and this isn't really a splash

page, it's more of two pages with about five

panels, or eight panels total, I think, between

the two pages. You know, and He -Man says we

should have known that we know they're more machine

than man. Twisted. It's evil. yes they keep coming

there's no way out oh there's always a way out

on the bright side this may keep them too occupied

to attack gray skull now I'm wondering if this

is an editorial mishap here but he man says not

to carp on it I think he means crap on it but

I told you you should have stayed behind and

we see battle cat yeah battle cat is kicking

ass even your pet doesn't listen he's not my

pet he chose me not the other way around he's

never listened this is a really sucky rescue

rescue that's Tila's line Don't worry, I'm sure

she'll stick a few choice adjectives into her

greeting. Like she always does. Oh my god, this

is so awesome. So... The armor changes again.

Yep. And the Sparra is fully healed. She has

no scars from Battle Cat's initial attack on

her. Is that any way to say thank you for healing

your wounds? Or our wounds? Desparo wouldn't

say thank you for anything, Endodora. Too soon

to tell. So I... If her wound is healed, will

he use magic? Are the Sorceress's powers showing

themselves through her? I don't know. I do know

at one point later down the line we get to see

her as... Snakeman Tila With the with the snake

armor on so well now she's wearing bits and pieces

of port of this far as armor, so she looks very

Bad like ish. Yeah. Yeah, she does. That's a

little strange So, you know what happens to you

now now I fight that I fight and die, but this

time I fight for what I believe in, and that

would be you. Whoa, whoa, whoa, too much responsibility.

You're the only thing in my life that still sits

true, that counts for a lot. Get to the next

page, and we get Hordak basically throwing a

temper tantrum. He's finally shown himself. So

he's crossed over from... from aetheria yeah

that's a little I loved he was lying forgiving

God huh I wish I had a mirror so I could see

if we really look that stupid so we get to Hordak

says I Think it through, meet whom I do loathe

more than any sense or before, who stokes my

wrath greater than any other. Grayskull, the

man is dead. You think so? Or does he survive

if only by bloodline? And what if that bloodline

were fouled, made corrupt in service to his greatest

foe? I know you've lied to me. I know of your

deception. How does my knowingness suit you?

Why does the truth suddenly suit you? Because

you handed me Eternia, you conquered your own.

Yours was by the hand of Grayskull, legacy was

undone. No, it's not over yet. I do love the

close -up on Hordak at the bottom right here.

As much as I don't like his overall design, I

do like that close -up. So what was really preventing

him from showing up in the first place? I honestly

have no clue I I'm at a loss I really have no

friggin clue what was preventing him from showing

up at all so we get another close -up between

him and Tila and What of Desp Adora? I won't

leave her behind for you two. By all means, meet.

Take out the trash if you've a mind to. Hordak

has no further use for it. There's the charm

we've all come to know and loathe. So, He -Man

and Mechanex show up and Teela says, had to be

him. Hordak looks vicious on this next page like

yeah, I mean he man is going after him, but he

just looks like Ultimate demon spawn. He was

ready to stab him right in the eye that stance.

I wish he would honestly That would have been

awesome They've done everything else in this

story so far And Hordak's final line is Uh, Grayskull

is no longer a concern. I grant you your freedom,

and he destroys the entire castle. Yeah, you'd

think it never would happen, but... it happened.

Eh, I'm sure they'll find some deep, dark cavern

to find some deep mystical power to all of a

sudden, you know... Shh, wrong show, wrong show.

Wait, what? What? We're not talking about Zeo.

Oh... No, well, I mean, really, if you really

want to think about it, you know, all they have

to really do is find five keys, reunite five

lions, and then the castle will really be rebuilt.

Well, since it's crumbling, there are different

things protruding from it, so it almost looks

like maybe another building was coming out. Hordak

was building had another city coming from it

or was some of their Vehicles tearing it apart.

I can't quite tell Right, right. I couldn't tell

either on the next page we get The price of arrogance

the price of believing that Hordak would trust

his hordes To the bloodline of Grayskull, the

malign influence of the Fright Zone has spread

throughout Eternia. Hollow words, you know this

cannot stand. You may have won the battle, but

the war still rages. Eternia is mine. The land,

yes, but the people, never. And then we get to...

Mechaneck, we're doomed. For once I agree with

you, says Tila. And He -Man basically tells Battlecat,

run my friend, we shall meet you at point dread.

Don't tell me you have a way out of here. First

rule of man -at -arms, always be prepared. And

here comes the Talonfighter. That was awesome.

Yeah, it was pretty cool. That was really awesome.

I always loved the Talon Fighter. I'm hoping

at some point we will see more of Attack Track,

honestly. This is the only late use of secondary

vehicles so far. Yeah. Yeah, that's very true.

But I think it's fine. I don't dislike it. I

think it's amazing, honestly. It's a nice homage.

It's nice that they're incorporating classic

kind of elements. We get to... Point Dread. I

thought Point Dread was a piece on Castle Grayskull.

I guess in this it's a location. So So we get

to Randor and Adam talking and the girl, Daspara,

my daughter, returned to me? She's not ready

yet. There are issues she has to work out. She

blames me. She blames herself. Then she is wrong

too. She was misled. We were all misled. I could

have brought her before you, but it would have

been against your will. No, no, I'll not have

her meet me on her knees. What will she do? Whatever

she wants for the time, for the first time in

her life, whatever she wants. At least she's

withdrawn her oath to see me dead. Speaking of

which, how is Tila? Absolutely love that. She

just... She's got a ton. Oh, and Sheila's now

wearing armor. She's fully clothed for once.

Yeah. Awesome. And she has the tiara on. She

does? Yeah. Oh, at the very bottom. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. No, he let a door go you really think changing

the subject is going to do you any good I know

so she's she wants to find out more about her

mother and and and all that Which is is gonna

be interesting Then we get back to let's see

she is something isn't she she is a good friend

Good to hear she's after all betrothed to Adam.

I just hope there I just hope I'm there when

Duncan finally tells her now that ought to be

the Be quite a spectacle. So you've got mechanic

and Fisto Yeah, talking back and forth about

Tila and we is revealed that She's betrothed

to Adam and she doesn't oh my god We saw Fisto

What and like the first or second issue? But

I think so. Yeah, but he's wearing the same outfit,

but this is the first time he looks like Fisto

He has that burly kind of forest man Brawny type

guy Because the other one he looks oh, it's kind

of pretty boyish with a beard Now is the Stratos

that comes in or one of his people? He's what

this guy is the new outfit. He doesn't have a

the helmet or eyepieces or anything like that.

I see Fugitives in our own land as you think

it possible Every damn day. It wasn't a concern.

There'd be no Masters of the universe token I'm

not sure if it's supposed to be Stratos or not

I assume it is because we haven't seen any of

the other bird people and not only does he have

a new outfit, but the colors are kind of flipped

which is interesting nod to the toy yeah yeah

very much so so we get to a Dora who is on the

edge of a forest and she's kind of just sitting

there and all of a sudden it's good to see you

survive too and we have Cringer what's this now

not satisfied with nearly ripping my face off

Oh god, Cringer is Optimus Prime, give me your

face. Oh god, had a change of heart, have you?

This have anything to do with your master being

my brother? Creator's breath, but that still

sits awkward in my head. I know what you're thinking,

but no, your place is with He -Man, or the, with

THE He -Man, I have yet to find my place. Um,

and she sends Cringer on his way, I - I cannot

get over how awesome they've made Cringer and

Battlecat in this series. It's absolutely amazing.

I do love it. Really, really is. We get back

to the Fright Zone on Etheria. Eternia has fallen

to Hordakus. Soon enough, the power of Raysko

will be Hordak's to wield. A glorious moment.

Who in the hell is he talking to? That's what

I want to know. People at the bottom. Yeah. Well,

we see Katra and we see Moduloc. Okay, Moduloc.

All right. I was gonna say that's not Mantana

Yeah, we've seen these these kind of zombie people

what if those Things are what's inside the the

Horde troopers And they're kind of a mix of man

and machine Yeah, that's yeah, that's true could

be Well, they did say already that they're more

machine than man. But so I guess part of them

is a man and I don't know So I guess we're in

another flashback because we go back to the Gardens

of Eternia and we see Tila and Adora And Adora

asks her what did you bring this time? It's a

It's about two girls who become the bestest friends.

See, that's a picture of them there. Oh, they're

like us. Ew, they're not. One's all freckly like

and the other's got a big nose. I meant that

they're best friends. That's like us, right?

Right. Next, what lies within? Well, they show

Teal as a child here, and she seems more, or

she looks more like a redhead now. yeah it's

constant changes um overall I like number six

again I like all six stories overall I think

that's you know it's nice that the entire arc

kind of had a beginning really juicy middle and

then an end overall I absolutely loved it My

only concern is I'm really confused with Hordak

I just don't know what's going on with them We

don't know really what his powers are what his

deal is yeah That's true I Really don't have

too many complaints about the first six issues.

I think that It's an amazing start. It's an amazing

first arc. It takes Stuff that us longtime Masters

fans know and kind of flips the script a little

bit with it To make it a little bit fresh I Wasn't

expecting to have adora back This fast I was

expecting more of a gradual change rather than

just kind of like that well It is going to be

a gradual change, I do know that, but, like,

I was expecting less of her being revealed in

the first arc. I was expecting, you know, more,

like, Despara coming in and doing what she does

all the time. But other than that, I absolutely

love the first arc. I like what they did with

Despara, but at the same time, she felt a little

one -dimensional. What do you think of the other

characters? Have they kind of gotten them decent

as far as the story goes? I'd say so. The only

problem, again, they kind of spend most of their

time on the same five or six characters. It's

like, oh, here's Mecha Knight, we're just kind

of using him as comic relief every once in a

while, then we'll just throw other characters

into the background when we feel fit. Overall,

I'd probably give this 4 out of 5 stars. I'm

not going to rate the issues individually, I'm

just going to rate the entire story arc. As a

story arc, I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars. What

about you? I'd agree with you on that. I remember

the first time reading it through, it felt like

it dragged on more, but revisiting it, it's not

doing that. Absolutely. All right. I honestly

have no clue what's coming up with the pull bag

next. I know that we have some Transformers stuff

planned. I'm not sure if that's going to really

come to fruition right away. I will say that

coming up next we do have, hopefully, we will

have Transformers Mother Meets the Eye Volume

4 review later on. uh... we will have uh... some

after darks uh... pretty much the next few weeks

next between because this will come out sometime

uh... this will come out the third week of july

because we're recording around the first week

uh... this will be after that'll gonna be a lot

of transformers coverage uh... through august

kind of celebrating 30 years of Transformers

and then maybe later on we'll do some turtle

stuff and I'm hoping to find the seven issue

back to the future miniseries that was out for

episode 88 because we all need to go 88 miles

per hour at some point in our lives. Where can

the people find you online, sir? Well, the people

can find a little old me on Facebook under A

Das Baron, A period DasDAS. baron b a r o n Twitter

at a dos baron and then my website which will

have links to all of that as well a dos baron

comm which I Dedicate mostly to my voice acting

stuff. It's slow and getting off the ground,

but I finally have one So, you know demos and

whatnot Awesome! Alright, you can find me, TFG,

and Mike on Twitter. You can also follow at GeekCastRadio,

and follow me on the internet for work updates.

Make your greatest game into comics, and we will

catch you next time! You've just heard the latest

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