DC Universe vs Masters of the Universe Review

That's not helping Welcome to the pullback 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 pullback Hello

and welcome to the pole bag. This is yet again

another new episode of the pole bag. This is

actually episode 87 It all comes around to the

eighties ladies and gentlemen I am your host

TFJ and Mike and joining me once again for this

journey into Eternia is Edas Baron. Hello. Hello!

How are you Skeletor? Well that wasn't quite

Skeletor. And that's more like Skeletor! I need

me a Skeletor outfit at some time. Oh lord, um,

so it has been since... Wow, it's only been four

episodes. Well, okay, it's been a number of episodes

since you and I recorded, since I do a lot of

the back -issue classics and stuff like that,

but in the numbered episodes of The Pullback,

it's only actually been... 87 minus 83 is four

episodes, so technically it's been about... We

did the last one in July, so it's been about

two months. Like an eternity or an eternia. So

we are back. I'm hoping to do these a little

bit more frequently now that we've kind of gotten

the gist of what's going to be going on. Currently,

He -Man Master's Universe from DC Comics is in

the Blood of Grayskull storyline. It's basically

the origin of She -Ra. which I like that they're

doing that. After what we're going to be covering

today, we will be going What Lies Within, which

is the second story arc for He -Man the Master

of the Universe 2013, which is all about going

into subternia and dreams and darkness and all

kinds of weird crazy stuff. uh... from issue

seven to twelve of mass even messengers uh...

but a month ago since uh... since this episode

will be hearing in late september on a month

ago conflict resources puppy story because everybody

you know all these comic companies put out there

see i thought previews and solicitations were

for two months before the books hit brick -and

-mortar and online shops and everything else

well you know here it is you know August September

and we're four months away from December and

we already know what's going to be happening

to He -Man the Masters of the Universe from this

point I will link this article in the post, but

I'm going to go ahead and read it verbatim here.

According to conflictresources .com, IGN reports

that Dan Abbot and Pop Mahan will take on DC

Comics' He -Man franchise in December with He

-Man The Attorney -O -War. The series will replace

Abnett and Mahan's current ongoing, what we are

reading right now. Now I will say that Keith

Giffin really got this off the ground when it

started last year and then Dan Abnett took over.

I wasn't too thrilled with the writer change

because I like how Giffin writes the characters

a little bit more but I've gotten used to Abnett

writing it. Eternity of War will replace the

current ongoing. The story was developed by Rob

David, head writer for Master's Universe franchise

at Mattel's Playground Productions. This is the

big one. The epic. So much Masters of the Universe

lore and mythology sweeping together in one storyline.

He -Man and She -Ra, their allies, combine to

take Atternia back from Hordak in the war to

end all wars. And there are other sinister threats

lurking in the shadows. Abnett said via press

release, Did I say epic? I think I did. Twice.

And Pop is a genius. His art is amazing and he's

the sort of artist that writers long to write

for. I can't properly express how excited I am

about this book. Abnett and Mahan have already

made their mark on the He -Man and the Masters

of the Universe ongoing series with the duo's

current arc, The Origin of She -Ra, delving into

the origins of Princess Adora. Although DC's

November solicitations as of this news article

in August have yet to surface, it is likely that

the new He -Man and the Attorney of War series

will replace He -Man and the Masters of the Universe

number 20 when it debuts in December. I know

this is a I don't want to say a cash grab. It's

not a reboot. It's just a read night It's a renumbering

they instead of Continuing on calling it he man

in the Masters of Universe They're gonna call

it he man the attorney the attorney of war and

just number it You know back from number one

like I don't understand. I'm all for this new

storyline. I'm I'm currently reading the blood

of grayskull storyline with the sheer origin

of all that stuff, I'm loving it so far. But

I don't understand DC's need, I mean, I guess

it's to bring in new readers. I don't understand

their need to, and it's not just DC, Marvel does

this too. I don't understand the need to change

the overall series title, like retire this series

at 20 issues, and then start a whole new series

that might only go another 20 damn issues. eternity

war it it feels like there's a finite number

of issues that this can cover so maybe this is

just a way to close it out I'm not sure I'm not

sure either but we are here today to talk about

oh yeah we're here for another reason okay yeah

we're here for another reason we're here to talk

about the six issue miniseries that takes place

in between issues six and seven of the current

ongoing DC Universe versus Masters of the Universe.

You know, I can't... Excuse me, I can't help

but think that Mattel should have re -released

the crossover toys to fit in with this comic

line. Or, you know, they could have just done

the same thing, but since this is the new 52

era, just done something like that. Mean they

could still use the same You know DC universe

versus master universe and like you said just

make make a toy out of the new 52 Eric I mean

if if Scott Whatever his name toy guru Nihilic

night like whatever if they can make friggin

new adventures he man they can make new 52 he

man You know What were your first impressions

of this when you first heard about it um Kind

of a cash grab. I don't know how in -depth this

story is gonna be I'll read it to see if it's

worth my time Okay, so you weren't that excited

for it I'll say this The one thing that has me

had me excited for it when I first heard about

it was that it was going to be Keith Giffin writing

it Again, I have read him on Masters since the

2012 miniseries and through the first six issues

of the ongoing, which we already covered here

inside the pull bag. I like the way he handles

the Masters characters. I think it's great. You

know, no disrespect to Dan Abnett. What he's

doing currently is fine. I like it. I enjoy it.

But at first it was really rough for me to get

a hold and a grasp on Abnett's. Right there are

things that will be coming up when we do that

that episode featuring issue 7 to 12 that There

are things that he writes that come out of these

characters mouths that I just don't like he uses

old -timey English Yeah, it becomes later on

it becomes very apparent with characters like

man -at -arms, which just feels totally out of

character Exactly, but that's for later Yeah,

that's for later. The way we're going to do this

is kind of how we did it last time. We're going

to take a look at two issues. per little segment

here so that way it's not as taxing on us so

we're gonna take a quick break you're gonna hear

some sort of DC clip or He -Man clip I don't

know what kind of audio I'm gonna put in here

so we're gonna take a quick break come back with

issues number one and two after this because

this time I won't stop until you're just a greasy

smear on my fist let's go alright first up DC

DC universe versus master the universe number

one This one came with two covers that came with

a Masters cover and a DC cover And it says clash

of champions now looking at it from a distance

or you know how your eye wanders I read it as

clamp of champions clamp champions Yes, cuz of

clamp champ Where is he? He's like the only Master's

character not in the story. I love me some Clamp

Champ. I'm gonna have to look at it somewhere

else. I can't look at it in my folders here.

I actually wrote a review on geekcastradio .com

for this one. I was gonna write reviews for all

six of these issues. And I just kind of got lazy

about it. It's understandable. Well, it's because

I usually write the reviews. You know, I actually

wrote the first two issues. I'm sorry, I wrote

the first two issues for review. But issue number

one here had dueling covers. And I actually had

my buddy, TV's Mr. Neal, I had him basically

combine them for me so I could have one large

giant image of both of the covers. Just from

the artwork, is this an Ivan Rice, Ivan Reese

cover? I'll have to look. It says the arts done

by Dexter soy, but the cover might be done by

somebody else Let me look here in the issue.

Do you see a signature? Yeah Let me see here.

All right Letters It and Ed Benes and Randy Mayer

are the covers So it's and Ed Ben Benes I I love

that they did two covers for this depending on

which Franchise you're a fan of I just wish they

would as much as I normally don't like when DC

does Like strange covers like fold -out covers

and stuff. I almost wish that this was a fold

-out cover Because this is an amazing you put

these two covers together like like, you know,

Neil did with this image for me It's an amazing

battle scene between the two universes. Yeah,

I got the sense of real depth in this because

just the way it's layered absolutely so we start

issue number one on earth and all these weird

things are coming out of the walls and the ground

and they look like a cross like Skeletor rats

yeah Skeletor rats that I was gonna say look

like a cross between mousers and the rat king

rats but so we got that and We see that we have

a strange, somewhat young looking blonde woman.

Yeah, she looks like she's in her 20s. Doesn't

look like she should have a son that's in his

20s. 20s or 30s. And she comes upon the house

of John Constantine. We don't know who she is

right off the bat, but we go to Eternia where

the Horde is, you know, running rampant and He

-Man and the Masters are trying to save it. First

thing I'll say about this, as much as I love

Dexter Soy and his art stuff in almost everything

he does, I hate the look of Stratos here. Yes,

I wholeheartedly agree with you. As a matter

of fact, as we find out, or at least... To me,

these characters are constantly changing their

outfits. Now, I know He -Man got a new outfit

circa, like, I don't know, episode, issue four

or five, but it seems like all the other characters

are slightly changing their designs and there's

no explanation to it, and it's just leaving readers

like me and other people just totally lost. Like,

did I miss an issue? Should I be reading other

things? But yes, Stratos' outfit is... He's the

only one. Out of all of, like, okay, sure, I

had my big grudgements against He -Man's new

outfit when that happened in issue four of The

Ongoing, but by this time I just look at it as,

oh, it's He -Man as Iron Man without the helmet.

That's really how I look at him. I just take

into account, you know, people, oh, he's got

a new costume, wah, wah, wah. Well, how many

different variations, you know, we got like three

different He -Man figures in the original line.

It's just like a variant, so. Yeah, that's fine.

I I'm not gonna take a point off my rating for

this just because I don't like humans outfit

I might do it straddles cuz straddles is out

straddles just look strange to like it would

be fine if he if if Dexter had given him like

the 2002 look or You know even the filmation

look So we have He manned the masters. I love

the way again the way Giffen writes these these

characters and You know the whole thing is And

Tila this time we need a functional one we can't

interrogate scrap metal He was checking out my

butt the perv. I mean well, then don't put it

on for the town to look at it She's if she's

ready for battle. Why are her back her back and

her sides of her abdomen exposed? Yeah, true

You know, this is why I love Keith Geffen writing

these characters for Masters because it puts

a comedy in it and it puts a witty bit like I

Haven't seen witty banter between Adam and Tila

since the 2002 series. Yeah In terms of the comedy

it works better for the Masters characters than

it does for the DC ones. Oh Absolutely. I mean

well Batman and Superman always have comical

moments, but that's because they're Batman and

Superman So they're fighting the Horde What do

you think of the the fight here and all the all

the bantering going back forth Well, you know

again it was something that in the original series

and back in the 80s They kept telling everyone,

but you never really quite saw it, or the performances

didn't bring it out, but in these issues you

can clearly see it. Yeah, oh absolutely. So they

break into this box, and they free, lo and behold,

Evil -In. Did her skin color change again? Yeah,

she's back to being flesh -tone. Whatever I mean

Some consistency would be appreciated I mean

whatever Whether she's yellow whether she's blue

and white it honestly does not matter to me So

they they talk of Skeletor and what what's going

on with that and we go back to earth and we see

that this woman is telling them a story um and

uh and uh she says the other one says uh and

i would not have known of your coming were you

not uh a dire harbinger is that all right um

it's all right today i play the the gore crow

so be it and you know who i am then i know of

your need of uh if not of the need of itself

perhaps you might enlighten me I'd rather not

repeat myself. And this woman says, Skeletor

walks the earth. So until we get what she actually

says a little bit later, I pretty much already

picked up that this is Marlena. It's not painfully

obvious, but for fans like us and reading the

series to this point, And it's a blonde Marlena

this time. I, you know, I don't mind it. I mean,

it's... Tila dyed her hair. I mean, you know,

it would explain why Adora and Adam are blonde,

so... Yeah. But if she left Earth decades ago...

She should be old. Well, not only that, how in

the world does she know who John Constantine

is? Yeah. You know, that's just the one thing

I'm not too clear on with this story is that

not necessarily the time travel, but basically

this comes out later. I didn't want to go to

it here, but I will basically later on in issue

three or four or whatever when they're giving

Orko's origin and all that. It is revealed that

Queen Marlena got trapped with Skeletor on Earth.

Skeletor cursed her. She could never leave the

Earth again during the whole 2012 miniseries

when everyone lost their memory. So when everyone

lost their memory, even though Adam was able

to free them of that, Marlena was on Earth at

that time. They just figured she was dead. They

didn't know where she was. I mean, I love that

Giffen has brought her in. I love how he went

and explained where the hell she is instead of

just assuming that she's dead. It just seems

like the writing for her seems a little kind

of half -assed. Oh, no, we need to use this character.

Quick, come up with something. Skeletor has no

jaw. Yes, which is probably the only thing I

liked about his new design It's just it's so

over the top It's WWE over the top But you know

keeping continuity in in mind I like the fact

that they didn't include his lower jaw yeah,

I Honestly, you know they make reference to when

he man basically Slapped his jaw off. I honestly

don't remember where that happened That was the

the final fight in the the six parter the six

In the miniseries, okay Yeah, I remember that

now. Yeah, okay It's been so long between then

and now so it you know, it's kind of hard to

So we go to back to earth. We go to Salem, Massachusetts

where all witchcraft is handled We have Skeletor

and Black Alice. I don't know much, if anything,

on her. Same here. She's essentially, to me,

in this issue, or in this series, she's basically

a Harley Quinn for Skeletor. Yeah. That's really

all she is. She isn't some sort of mystic. But

that's the best that I know just reading this

series without having to look her up In she feels

totally unnecessary in this I mean if if Skeletor

is this grand mystic himself I I feel like he

could have carried this by himself Absolutely

So we see So we see Skeletor talking to this

dark master of his And this is gonna come up

later This is probably one of the best things

that came out of this series because they actually

did something with the character. Yeah And they

tied it back to a different master's character,

which is really awesome At least in my opinion

Well, if they if the listeners listen to the

six parter We're not really giving anything away

No, well this confirms this whole six issue series

here confirms what we thought of at the end of

the 2012 DC Universe DC Universe Masters miniseries

that that blue hand like this this series right

now confirms it and it gives you how that happened

and It's kind of sad it took them a year to get

to this but at least at least we got it We go

back to earth And We have Marlena Constantine

and this other woman. I don't remember her name

off top my head It might have been Madame Xanadu

or something or other. Possibly. I could be wrong.

The bottom panel here, Marlena says, magic is

a fact of life in Eternia. Here on Earth, there

are what, a few dozen active mages on the entire

world? The essence here is barely tapped. Earth's

font is a rich source of potentials near limitless

power. It always comes back to the Earth being

the center of the universe. Yep. And Constantine

pipes up and says that is why we're here why

I tolerate this Justice League dart can't have

someone getting too greedy now can we? Then you'll

help me nope We'll see to this you will see to

this you just be in the way going to Need to

know everything you know about this Skeletor

character before we can what? You lack respect

Know that you are addressing Marlena of Two Worlds,

wife of Randor IV. Warrior Queen of Eternia!

And she doesn't backhand him, she doesn't smack

him, she punches the guy. Does she punch him

or is that magic? No, she doesn't have magic.

She punched him. Okay. Maybe... Oh, I see what

it is. No, she did smack him. But, uh, it just,

it looks, uh, she smacked him with her left hand,

but it looks because her right hand is cocked

back. It looked like she was gonna just punch

him straight in the face. Um, and, you know,

uh, and he goes, I don't suppose it ever occurred

to you to lead off with the warrior queen of

Eternia? Oh, man. Absolutely love the comedic

moments in this. So the basic plot starting off

with this issue is that Skeletor is siphoning

off Earth's magic Marlena is going to Constantine

and Madame Xanadu to try to stop him Skeletor

has this mysterious dark master and he says And

yeah, I like this first issue. I think it's really

cool seeing all of these people come together.

And I do love how this ends. This ends really,

really awesome. Evil Inn, when we go back to

Eternia, we have a huge like two and a half page

discussion with He -Man, Tila, Man -At -Arms,

and Evil Inn. and she you know Tila says you

know she Tila curses because it doesn't show

but it shows the symbols she blindsided us she

was silent conjure poof and the next thing we

see is mom Adam you've got to be kidding me crisis

next on whichever earth this turns out to be

I thought that was awesome the first issue it

sets everything up fairly nicely I don't think

it's as heavy -handed as you do of them bringing

Marlena and I think it's more at least for me

personally it's more of hey we finally get to

find out what the hell happened to her because

it wasn't explained before I Remember for some

odd reason when before issue number two came

out The DC website did not have it had the solicit

for it, but it had a top secret image on The

thing for the longest time until it released

and then it's basically Skeletor unleashed And

he's got you know man -in -arms Superman Wonder

Woman Tila Batman and he man all at his feet

while he's trying to I Don't know breathe. I'm

not sure what's coming out of his mind emanating

power or something. Yeah For once I'd like to

see him try to say I have the power Well, without

a lower jaw, maybe you can't. Yeah, that's the

one thing. Like, he has no lower jaw. How is

he able to talk? Is it all telepathic? Well,

I mean, he has no lips, so how was he able to

pronounce anything to begin with? Yeah, that's

true. I mean, it's very true. N. And Dexter Soy

does his, does Skeletor's word balloons almost

as if they're an effect of everything. Yeah.

So it's like he's, like they're not, I don't

want to say they're not real word balloons, but

they're, they have more of, you know, like squiggly

lines around them and stuff like that. Issue

two starts off and we go back to earth where

Evelyn, He -Man, and Tila show up, which I don't

understand why man -in -arms did not get transported

with them. Because weren't man -in -arms and

strats right friggin' there when Evelyn transported?

Unless they went off to pee or something. Something.

Unless Battlecat had to go to the bathroom. So...

So we get, Mom, you're alive. Not for much longer

at this rate. And of course, Tila, less talking,

more killing. It doesn't think anything over

and just starts pulling out her gun and blasting

everywhere. How is she one of the leaders of

the Royal Guard? I mean, I like Tila in this

series more than I do in the Filmation series,

but yeah, I mean, she still has those bonehead

type moments. And the title of this story is

Justice Denied, and it takes the magic of both

Evelyn and Constantine to subdue these rat -like

creature thingamajigs. So yay team up We get,

let's see John Constantine says, ah yes your

queen there mentions some sort of storybook character

where you come from Which is funny considering

Eternia is as mythical to us as Oz and Shangri

-La Evelyn says I didn't recognize those names,

but you will find Lord Skeletor to be all real

I Think this is cool. You know he meant actually

being able to find his mom again I thought that

was you know a nice little thing for them to

do And you know we get the standard story that

we got in The very misfortunate Filmation episode

titled the rainbow warrior. We basically get

the same origin here where Marlena, as an astronaut,

crash -landed on Eternia. Randor found her, they

fell in love, and yada, yada, yada. It's only

one panel, so... Yeah, I mean, everybody knows

that. What are your thoughts on the art so far

for this one? Did it change from the first issue?

Not really. It's the same artist, it's still

Dexter Soy. There's a lot of it that invokes...

to meet a lot of the designs for Aonflux. Especially

when you see Evil in. Yeah, I can agree to that.

We go to the Justice League satellite and there

is an intruder. Superman's like, who could have

made it up here? Cyborg says. Maybe someone in

a ship or a teleporter, or in a ship, the teleporter

didn't activate, whoever it is, they're about

to be very, very sorry. And then Skeletor goes

into one of his speeches, which, you know, I

always pictured the 80s Skeletor voice. No, I

know, I know. I was really hoping that they would

do a Return of the Joker homage here. Oh, brave

new world that has such putzes in it. I was really

hoping that's what it would have said, but...

Oh, I am no shaker of spears, nor a rattler of

sabers. I am the doom of all who dare oppose

me. I am Skeletor. You do that amazingly well.

Thank you. It's like Brian Dobson. Yeah, it's

Brian Dobson, right, that did him in 2002. It's

like Brian Dobson is right here in the room with

us. Somehow that doesn't surprise me. It's a

very, very big pocket. So Skeletor shows up and

he basically... Tell Superman that you have two

weaknesses one is magic Or one is a green rock

and the other is magic and because your weakness

is magic that makes you my plaything That's the

way I look at Skeletor versus Superman is the

way I look at magneto versus Wolverine If you

look at that one piece where he's blowing them

away, it does have that very magneto feel to

it Yeah, it does well he is wearing a purple

suit. Yeah, especially the purple And As much

as I love Geffen's writing I don't like him I

don't like any of them I understand it's the

language of Aeternia, but I don't like them calling

woman of wonder and man of bats. Yay. It's a

little weird. I mean, I understand it's their

language and that's fine, but, um, yeah, a little

strange. We get back to Aeternia. And Roboto's

now in one of his, god, like, another dozen forms,

and now he's this giant tank -looking monstrosity.

Yep, and apparently they've upgraded him so he

can track signals. He's basically like Stell

from Green Lantern. They're just constantly updating

him. Yep. Oh, there's eyesore Stratos again.

Yeah. Oh, no, no, New Goblin Stratos. New Goblin

is so much better than New Stratos, though. That's

the sad thing. At least we know James Franco's

underneath that one. Yeah, that's true. Yeah,

like Even so well even Stratos in the 2002 series

had You know an open like I mean This looks like

it's fucking Deadpool not that there's anything

wrong with that, but that's what the mask for

Stratos looks like It looks like Deadpool to

me So they can track the signal and they do but

before that we We found that in the panel before

this that Batman enacted an emergency teleport

and got the hell out and He man and the mystics

with evil in Constantine and where the other

woman is I forget her name a Madame Xanadu or

whatever They arrive in the Batcave, and we see

the 1989 Tim Burton Batmobile is the only one

there. Oh, no, they're a couple. There's the

Tumbler in the back. Oh, it's, yeah, it's, okay,

but I'm saying, like, center stage, but yeah,

you're right. Yeah, the Tumbler's there, too.

Yeah, but any time we see the 1989 Batmobile,

it's a welcome addition. That's always a good

thing. That's right. I think they're making the

new one a mix of everything. Yeah. It brings

up a big debate as to why are there guns on the

front of this thing Maybe they have rubber bullets

I know but like even in the 89 batmobile where

it's still firing stuff out of it There are clearly

not guns on it at all times. It just it just

screws with that with Bruce's Rule just no guns

and no killing But it's just to have it in plain

sight. It seems to be a slap in the face Yeah,

but I do love the outfit Yeah, you like what

I do love the new costume though for the movie.

Oh, yeah So we get into the Batcave I love teal

is lying here. Yeah She's like, it's a panel

of the Robins and Nightwing outfits, and she

just mutters, let's get out of here. I think

he kills kids. She so does not know, Batman.

Oh yeah, the whole Scare Glow thing. Yep. I do

like that. Thought that was it as much as I don't

really have that much affinity for the toy the

toy looks cool And I know everyone loved the

Masters classics version of scare glow that way

because he glowed in the dark and everything

else But I just I had zero Zero connection to

the character neither do I he just looks cool.

Yeah And of course he man comes up with his big

honking sword demon big on What the hell are

you and how did you find the Batcave? I Love

seeing these characters interact. This is the

best thing ever. I thought this is so awesome

It seems like there's always someone who keeps

finding entry into the Batcave Yeah, what are

you doing in my cave? Well, Jesus Bruce, you're

the one who designed it. Why are so many people

breaking in? I do love how Dexter draws and colors

Batman here. Do you see any ashtrays in here?

Now explain yourselves. Just the way that he

looks. First you get John's little woman there

complaining about his cigarettes, and now you've

got Batman complaining about the cigarettes.

So we get to the point where Superman flashes

in with giant Skeletor looking smoke coming out

of his eyes and We can clearly tell that he and

the rest of the Justice League are possessed

Always with the possessions here, you know It's

interesting It felt a little predictable because

how else are you gonna write these characters

into Master's lore? Yeah, true. That's the way

any crossover would carry, you know, this character

meets that character. Well, how are they gonna

fight? Because we need them to fight at some

point. Well, mind control or sorcery or something.

Yeah, mind control. And then because of the mind

control... When He -Man kills Superman, they

think Superman is dead. And this so reminded

me of, um, the Justice League episode... Justice

League Unlimited... Is it Unlimited or...? It's

Justice... I don't give a shit, people. It's

called Justice League. 2001 to 2006. Five years.

It's just fucking Justice League. I know they

changed the title after a time, but... The Hereafter

episode... That's what this whole scene coming

up reminds me of, where Toy Man basically made

Superman go bye -bye, and everyone thinks Superman

is dead and they have the funeral and everything

else. So He -Man attacks Green Lantern and Flash

and all these people. Well, Flash, for one thing,

puts his hands on Marlena, and then He -Man's

like... You know get your hands off my mama Yeah,

pretty much And then superman's like you should

not have done that and this image I love as much

as I don't really care for new 52e man design

This image is Amazing with Superman standing

over him and him with the sword. I love that

image. Oh, yeah. Oh awesome We then get a two

page spread of He -Man versus Superman. I do

love He -Man's internal monologue. I think that's

really cool how Geffen worked that in. And he's

basically saying, hey look, you know, one life

versus a billion lives between our two worlds.

I'll make the sacrifice. And yeah, He -Man somehow...

Rolls his sword into Superman's chest. Oh, no,

he doesn't hurl his sword. He just stabs it because

I can see you can see his hand is still on it

I have to zoom in to see that. Yeah. Yeah, and

and Batman is like it ends with Batman. What

have you done? Well, there's that in the background,

I guess it's Skeletor's face which kind of foreshadows

what eventually happens. Yeah, I mean We know

at this point that it is that it is mind control

I mean, these first two issues, solid start to

the series. I like them. I love the art. There's

nothing... Okay, outside of Stratos' strange

design, other than that, I mean, the characters

that we're dealing with now between Batman and

He -Man and Superman and all that. I absolutely

love the art in these first two issues. Really

dig in the store like I wasn't sure if I was

gonna dig the story and dig how they how they

interact but It works. It really does. What are

your overall thoughts of issue one and two? I

Felt they well not my bit They could have condensed

this into one and a half issues. Mm -hmm Well,

it's more so the stuff when you introduce Skeletor

and they just keep cutting back to Him and Black

Alice and Constantine was down to do those could

have been really condensed at the felt. It was

a little more filler But I do like he man's you

know He'd with most superhero comics or any any

media interpretation of them There's always this

moral question that they bring up and then they

just go back and forth. What do I do? What do

I do? And they just waste so much time he means

like nope I will sacrifice these people for the

good of you know a million lives so and gets

right to the point mm -hmm yeah I mean he man

this the second issue shows that he man does

have a moral code basically flash attacked his

mom you know he and Superman fought you know

and he has this moral code and he's not he's

not an indecisive person once he is set on a

course of action he's set and you know not necessarily

consequences be damned but it's just one of those

things um i you know like i said i like the first

two issues i think they're they're pretty interesting

and cool um i think we're gonna take another

quick break and get to issues three and four

after this chance muscle brain i don't do things

for humanity i do them for me wait i will control

eternity all by myself not as long as my friends

and i are here to stop you Maybe not this time,

but I'll be back. Count on it! I don't get it.

Why doesn't Skeletor use his powers to do something

good? Orko, some people are just blind. They

don't know right from wrong. When I do something

wrong, Man -At -Arms sends me to my room. Too

bad it's not that easy with Skeletor. You know,

that's not a bad idea, Orko. It's not? Uh -huh.

Next time Skeletor does something wrong, we'll

send him to your room. My room? From what Man

-at -Arms tells me, your room is such a mess

that Skeletor would never find his way out. Alright,

alright, I'll go clean it up right now. Wanna

help me? Glad to, my little friend. Don't wait

for us. I have a feeling we're going to be a

while. Alright, here we go. Issue number three.

It is Wonder Woman versus Teela on the cover.

And for once, Teela is wearing more than another

female character. Yes, well, yeah, she kind of

is. She's got the leggings and the armored legs

and... Yeah, I like this cover. I think it's

interesting. I wish the covers were a little

bit better. I was really hoping for all six issues

to have double covers, honestly, to have, you

know, full spread wars on all of them. This cover

looks like it's part of something else. I mean,

you have to look to the other issues to see if...

No, I mean, I've got issue four in my hand. There's

no way that issue three and four could be together.

Issue, no, not even issue five and six. Issue

five and six possibly, yes, but issue three and

four, no. I don't know. That would've been kinda

cool though if they did that. Kinda like what

they did with that number six issue for the miniseries,

the wraparound. That would've been kinda cool.

Alright issue number three we get to Wayne Manor

Gotham City Good God they killed Superman You

can't kill Superman I didn't want to you people

attacked us Yeah, everyone just kind of oh my

god you killed him how could you you're so cruel

Pretty much. Yeah, but didn't that Reverse the

mind control of the other Justice League members.

Mm -hmm Yeah Because the whole point of this

issue is Batman is trying to get them to see

hey look Skeletor was screwing with your minds

And we have Evilin in Transformers the movie

2015 starring as Wheely Earth and water heed

my call fire jump into my grasp and wind restore

to me it just Every time I see any character

rhyming I always think of Wheely from Jing -Wan

I do like Soy's art on the image of her getting

her staff back. I thought that was a really cool

image. You know... Do you mean the one where,

as she's conjuring it up, or the one where she

has it in her hand and the perspective is kind

of skewed? The one where the perspective is kind

of skewed. I thought that was really awesome.

It's like this big grand conjuring scene and

then you cut to the next panel and Teal's got

a gun in her head. Yep, yep. You know, actually

the whole page honestly, I mean it looks so friggin'

cool. So they're in Metropolis because they apparently

teleport and yeah. We get to save for the moment

raps, but once word spreads about Superman's

death the entire world will hunt us Dun -dun

-dun They pause it right here. I think Mallory's

locked out outside. I have to get it. All right

cool 423 She get locked out. Yeah the the door

at the bottom of the stairs is acting at the

pest day or so. All right. Floor 37, continue.

So we go back to Wayne Manor and this is where

Bruce is trying to talk to all of them and, you

know, make them listen and saying that, you know,

can you remember why Superman attacked the Batcave

in your wildest dreams? Would he ever do such

a thing? Green Lantern says we're wasting time

here. We should be hunting down his murderers.

Yeah, they can't just run loose Well Batman,

are you coming or not? Get off my lawn Well,

everyone's grieving the loss of Superman and

then he pulls a Yoda and just kind of deteriorates

into nothingness Yeah Pretty much. Yeah, he basically

evaporates. Much like I was saying about that

Justice League episode where he basically disappears.

And is it just this page that the artwork clearly

changes? It's still Dexter Soy. Maybe he changed

the style of it. Maybe it's the way the angle

is. I mean Wonder Woman's outfit can... Yeah,

it's a little strange because if you look at

Wonder Woman on this page and then you look at

her on the front cover, her outfit on the front

cover is more metallic looking and here it looks

like a ratty piece of red cloth. I don't know.

I still think Batman looks cool though. Get off

my lawn. I remember when I picked this issue

up and I read that line, I'm like, yeah, I got

a screen cap that. Put that on Facebook. That

seems like a line for Kevin Conroy at some point.

Yeah, it really, really does. So we go back to

the House of Secrets where Black Alice is looking

at the news stories and talking about getting

broadband, you know, set up and everything else.

Skeletor says, I did not predict what would happen

when I set Man of Steel at He -Man's throat.

Oh no, did I not predict. My nephew is above

all things a warrior. He would not stop at nothing

to save both worlds. I knew his warrior's code

would ill serve him in this realm. When he's

been resurrected, is it just me or does he seem

exceptionally large? Yeah, he's I think it's

the way Dexter is drawing him Not that I dislike

it I think it's kind of cool But he is he looks

like he's six foot ten Two hundred and something

pounds. He looks like he's undertaker's height

Yeah, he massive yeah pretty much We go back

to Eternia and We see that man -in -arms Roboto,

Mossman, and Battlecat, and Stratos, who still

looks like Deadpool with wings, they're ready

to cross the void and go to Earth and see what

is going on. It seems like Battlecat is the only

one of these characters who has come out totally

unscathed from the costume designs. Mm -hmm moss

man looks so boring I Think they put a little

bit more work into swamp thing later, so I Think

that's kind of the reason why moss man looks

so boring But yeah, I mean moss man he yeah,

he does he looks really really boring Yeah, battle

cat is the I mean You can't screw with Battle

Cat. You can't screw with his design. He's a

green and yellow striped tiger. Well, he's a

green tiger with yellow stripes, and he has a

red helmet and a red set. If anyone screws with

that design for Battle Cat ever, the one thing

I hope at some point in this series, not this

mini -series, but in the series to this point,

We really need to see a battle cat panther fight.

We really do Great. That would be awesome So

we get back to yeah, they put way more design

in a swamp thing. Look at that at the bottom

left He looks way too creepy. He does he does

So I assume this is the yeah headquarters of

the Justice League dark, so this is swamp thing

and Deadman, Frankenstein, and I don't know who

that other woman is. Yeah, whoever else. They're

all arguing over what to do about the Superman

thing. Like, this is what I love about Masters

of the Universe is, yeah, sure, they have arguments,

but at least they know when to act. The Justice

League, any of them, whether it's Light, Dark,

America, Canada, United, Unlimited, whatever,

they all have to sit around and argue about crap

before any decision is made. Well, they're in

league with, you know, all these united governments,

so they have to tread very lightly. Yeah, that's

the other thing. Where's the government in this?

Like, seriously, did Obama not see, you know,

mystical people coming from across the expanse?

Come on, seriously? Well, he hasn't seen a whole

hell of a lot of everything else in his presidency.

What's, you know, missing out on mystical people?

Sorry. Not a fan Back to the story is that John

Stewart? No, that's the new Green Lantern. I

forget what his name is Simon Seaman or Simon

Baz Huh, okay unless it's how Kyle or John I

When it comes to the human Green Lanterns, unless

it's Hal, Kyle, or John, and even Hal to the

lesser, Hal is like last on my list. Unless it's

Kyle or John, I really don't pay attention to

the other human Green Lanterns. So, Man -at -Arms,

Battle Cat, and all of them arrive in Metropolis.

And of course, a battle erupts. You have... Hawkman

versus Stratos, who didn't see that coming. Green

Lantern versus Roboto. Green Arrow versus Man

-At -Arms. And Battlecat versus Martian Man -Hunter?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, we still need Panthor. We really,

really do. we go back to the house of secrets

and black alice is talking about she says so

this um partner of yours why won't he show himself

what's the story with that guy guy hardly begins

to describe what he is he was overlooked by everyone

even i failed to recognize his true potential

in him until it was far too late Now I find myself

allied with an entity who promises to help me

take a turn here from Hordak But we'll almost

certainly try to make it for himself try to take

it for himself an attorney is mine by right So

yeah pretty much we can assume from what Skeletor

says right here. He was overlooked by everyone

Well, it goes to the next page and it yeah You

know I can't do an actual orca voice because

that's modulated and everything. Yeah. And I

remember when this issue came out, along with

the Batman image, I also screen capped this last

panel because the name of this story is Dark

Orco. So if you take the arc out, his name is

basically Dorko. Seriously, Dorco, really? I'll

say this right now. I love the twist here with

Dark Orco. I do. I love the twist of, and we'll

get to it here in issue four, but I love the

twist that Orco is the villain, that Orco's emotions

are reaching their full potential, and he's not

the bumbling wizard we knew from filmation. or

the 2002 series that I mean he is actually doing

stuff that could change the universe I love that

they're actually Giffen is actually doing something

with orgo and that's that's amazing he's not

just the court jester anymore it it was what

I found more appealing of all these six issues

well I think it's at issue five that it goes

into it but yeah Yeah Overall issue three thoughts

It moves the plot along a little bit um, it just

kind of took its time just because the payoff

was the last panel, you know I mean you gotta

think I mean, this is six issues. So this is

six months out of the year That you know so this

is six months if you're getting this month after

month after month this final panel in issue three

is gonna hold you over until issue four comes

out I mean because I like I know a lot of people

online that said oh dark orco really seriously

they're going that route I know a lot of people

didn't like it and I know a lot of people don't

like the current series and stuff but I'm still

really, really enjoying it. There are certain

things that kind of bug me, but other than that,

I'm really loving it so far. Well, when you first

see this whole dark orco thing, you know, it

does evoke that really. But when we later go

on to see the whole explanation of that, it's

more enjoyable. Oh, absolutely. So issue number

four. This is where the art changes completely.

because this issue and the remaining two issues,

five and six, the art is done by Pop Mahan from

the series himself. So Dexter Soy only did the

first three issues of this series. So you're

going to see a drastic change in the art here

because it's Pop Mahan versus Dexter Soy starting

at issue four here. The cover is Zatanna, oh,

I'm sorry, Evil -In, because she's got the fishnet

song, like, hey, is that Zatanna? Evil -In, Teela,

He -Man, and Constantine, surrounded by the fire

of Orko, dark master of the universe. Dun, dun,

dun. We start this one off. with more news reports

about the death of Superman. So, you know, Superman's

dead, this would be kind of like a planet -grieving

moment, but other than the news report, you don't

see much of anything about it. No, not really.

Because he's not really dead. Yeah, but even

though it's fake, whoops, we gave it away. Sorry.

You'd think the ramifications for that would

Be more grave like oh, hey Superman's dead super

villains. Let's all come out of the woodworks

and you know take over the planet Well, that's

what happened in forever evil. So the judge the

entire Justice League was dead so I mean We start

this one off with at the Orkney Islands in the

United Kingdom. Orkney. Ha. Ork. Oh. Oh. God.

I hope it wasn't intended. Where's... Where's

Mork when you really need him? Yeah. Damn. So

Evelyn is trying to conjure up something. And

the title of this story is Worlds Collide. All

I can think of is that Power Man 5000. So can

I! I was about to say that. I might actually

throw that in here somewhere. Oh god. It takes

me back about 15 years. 15? I think it's older

than that, isn't it? I thought the album came

out like 99. Oh, okay. I could be wrong. Yeah,

you're probably right. Yeah. Wow. God, I'm old.

So Evelyn is trying to conjure up and find these

mystical energy siphons that Skeletor has planted

all over the world. You can't destroy them, but

she can track Skeletor through the use of them

while he's been using them. We then jump back

to Metropolis to the battle of Eternians versus

Earthlings. And now we have Green Arrow going

after Man -At -Arms, Stratos and Hot... Well,

no, it is still the same matchups. Roboto versus

the other Green Lantern, and... What the hell

is Battle... Oh. March of the Mountain Reactor.

I love this. I love this battle scene. I mean...

I'm glad BattleCat kinda has his legs crossed

a little bit, thank god for that. That's the

last thing we need to see. Well, he also has

a lot of fur. Oh god, you shouldn't have said

that. You're just putting more and more horrible

images in. I hope you have a lot of furry listeners.

Most furriest loincloth ever, BattleCat. And

if you think of panther he's flocked all over

So we see Colonel Steve Trevor basically calling

everyone in the Justice League because of this

battle and We see Wonder Woman You know Wonder

Woman answers this call and she's on her way.

She's gonna kill everybody's ass because they

killed Superman We go back to the Batcave and

something I was not expecting here To see Alfred

in this I really was not expecting to see Alfred

But Bruce is in the cave basically investigating

and doing his detective job and all this everything

else He figures out what actually happened like

you were saying earlier This is the point where

he figures out that Superman's body just basically

Disintegrated no dust no nothing. It just vanished

like it teleported Bruce doesn't say it teleported,

but it was like it teleported. Yeah We go back

to the house of secrets Where Where Orko is telling

Darkalis that her death serves a greater purpose

Earth is nothing but a sacrifice upon my altar

a mean towards my conquest of Aeternia I shall

remake Aeternia as I have remade Skeletor as

I myself have been reborn into the collective

As it is on my home dimension of the Tralla Little

bit take the out of that sentence there that

that is a little strange Keith Well, I don't

know by Trala. He it's just another term for

tra lends something this homeworld of tra lends

But I do like these pages because especially

once he unleashes his little army of Creatures

it it reminds me a lot of dr. Strange and especially

these creatures are very much like the mindless

ones and he's got a lot of fire so all i'm thinking

is Dormammu and lots of red and so you got me

there i will say that last issue when we saw

Dorco at the end the first thing i thought of

was Dormammu and oh okay where's Mordo you know

where's Baron Mordo So we see his his unleashing

and Black Alice says I'm gonna be around for

much longer Skelly, but something tells me neither

will you that's the first intelligent thing you've

said It's it's I don't know I mean sure I can

kind of hear filmations I can kind of hear Alan

Oppenheimer in my head, but I Don't even know

if I can hear Dobson honestly, I mean it just

Some of the language for Skeletor like when he's

mixing up the words You know woman of wonder

man of bats and whatever like I can kind of hear

it in my head But it just I don't know it. It's

just too weird for me. Yeah Way too weird so

we go back to Metropolis Hawkman and Stratos

are having a discussion Which is is interesting

that they they pitted those two together because

those were the toys Not necessarily saying that

that's why they did it here, but I remember the

two -pack for for Stratos was him versus Hawkman

So we get battle cat versus I assume it's Martian

Manhunter again. He's just shape -shifting into

some yeah constantly Lizard like see this is

why I think we needed Panther like don't get

me wrong. I like John Jones. It's fine and in

this battle it makes sense that he would be the

one to transform into some cat lizard like creature,

but I Just really want to see battle cat versus

panther. I really want to see that So we get

more fighting more fighting The art I mean I

noticed the change here because it is pop maha

instead of Dexter I mean, I still like it. The

art is still damn good Sometimes the cartoonish

expressions are a little out of place. But at

the same time I do like that. Yeah So we get

to get almost to the end now for this one where

they're back in Gotham and it's Deadman and Swamp

Thing and the Justice League Dark versus the

Masters. We see Constantine show up with Batman

and everybody else. And Man in Arms says, what

do you know of my homeland? Where are my daughter

and he -man? Still searching for Skeletor, I

hope, because he framed them for a crime that

actually never happened according to Tall Dark

and Creepy here. And then Batman's like, don't

confuse them, Constantine. All evidence suggests

that Skeletor set us all in each other's throats

and mad at arms, which is why we need to start

working together. Cheap work! Yeah! As he snatches

the cigarette out of his hand. We get it folks

smoking is bad for you And we come to find out

You know we get through through the monologue

here that Orko keeps possessions close to his

heart that he wants to keep secret And it turns

out Superman is alive You don't say Yep Superman

is alive next the story of Dorco I Will never

not call it that now. I mean it just It's just

too funny. I won't hold it against you Thoughts

on issue four it's definitely moving the plot

along like finally we well Anyone could see what

the answers were but okay good now the characters

are finally agreeing and they could stop their

petty squabbles. Let's get to the end So it took

three and a half issues of battling. Well, okay

Well two and a head took issue two and issue

three and issue four So yeah, well half of issue

four so two and a half issues of battling of

Masters versus DC It should have been one Yeah,

one big battle it really should have one big

giant out -of -the -way battle Overall issue

three and four all right for me. They're not

the best here I think we're gonna be getting

to the best in five and six so we're gonna take

another short break and Come back with the final

two issues after this I give the punchlines around

here. Got it? Alright. Issue five. DC Universe

versus Masters of the Universe. It is Superman

with... lizard, cat -like creatures scratching

the crap out of him. It's those things of Orko's

little dark horde. Yeah. The dark horde. Good

lord. Title on the on the cover is trapped in

Skeletor's grasp and Honestly, the best thing

about this cover is Skeletor's image on the background.

Yeah Honestly, if you know, I am a fan of Superman.

I'm a fan of several different versions of Superman

Whether it be comics television movies, whatever

except for that crappy 2006 movie Brandon Routh

worst Superman ever Honestly, if they would have

just left Superman off of here and just had Skeletor's

little face there be the entire cover, I probably

would have liked this a little better. Or even

just replace Skeletor's face with Dorco's face

and have Skeletor where Superman is. Yeah, I

could see that, but this after all is TC versus

Moe too, so they have to have one character from

each universe. Hey, wait a minute. Is that a

misprint? There's no way in hell. There's no

way in hell Power Man 5000 did the same song

twice. Oh, yeah. Issue four says the story title

is Worlds Collide, and so does issue five, but

it doesn't say like part one or part two on either

one. Quick, write your congressman. It's not

like anyone at DC Comics actually listens to

this show. Or continuity for that matter. Yeah,

that's a whole other discussion. We start this

one off with The House of Secrets where Evelyn

says, I gotta give it to Evelyn. She kinda threw

Marlena under the bus there. Her tongue is still

as sharp as ever, but the artwork for Evelyn,

at least in the face, is really soft or just

kind of generic. She doesn't have any anger or

expressions, especially in, I guess, the second

page. Yeah, I wish she was the white -haired

Vixen from 2002. I really do So We're in the

inside of the house and You can't really make

out that that's actually Alice because I don't

know if this energy is like siphoning her life

off because she looks really gaunt and like a

boy Yeah, I mean I mean, I can tell it's her

because of her lines, but as far as the way she

looks... I mean, she looks like she's 95 and

she hasn't eaten in 25 years. Like, no food,

no nothing, just completely starved for 25 years.

You know... Oh god, I don't want to say this

because I know people are going to come after

me for saying this, but... I'm not trying to

be cruel here, but she looks like what you would

see on those late night child... Infomercials?

You know what I'm talking about, right? Yeah.

Feed the children. Yeah, yeah, the feed the children

stuff. That's what she kind of looks like here.

I mean, she's... She's a little worse for wear

right now. So Orko says, Skeletor, you fool!

He -Man is right outside! And Orko says, I'm

not taking any chances when I'm this close to

victory. We have a Fallouche. And Evelyn says,

it doesn't look like one of Skeletor's spells.

And Orko sends out a, or Dorco I should say,

sends a massive world -spanning mind control

spell. Of course. Of course. And now that the

Masters and Batman and all the Allies are, you

know, on the same page finally, Constantine says,

Incoming, Struth, that's some bad mojo trying

to get in here. And he protects them all from

getting hit with the Mind Control. So strange

that how that one little blast can divert all

that energy, but okay And we see the call well

not the call we we see all of the other leaguers

being controlled we see Black canary, I assume

yeah Black canary killer croc black Manta firestorm

cheetah against new omak Yep, Blue Beetle and

Orion. Yeah, Blue Beetle and Orion. I do not

like Orion's design there. Yeah, I, you know,

I'm a sucker for Kirby artwork, so. I mean, I

like Kirby art. Don't get me wrong, I do, but

I don't like the colors is what I don't like.

Like, they can have the Kirby design, just have

the color, the red and white colors, or red and

silver, or red and gray, or whatever. So we get

to Adam and He says prepare yourself, there's

no telling how we'll be received lead on gallant

Prince or Should I say gallant dunce? Skeletor

I bring you a gift Dun Dun Eveline backstab no

Actually she does mystically stab him in the

back of the next page yes well no, Skeletor blocks

it though yeah, because he says stand down evil

and we shall need this fool if we are to stop

our true enemy yeah see his hand is right there

yeah so he does stop at him he does save his

nephew so that's that's interesting You know,

Adam goes on to say Teela was right about you.

But you, Skeletor, you bring the world to the

brink of destruction, and you expect me to believe

some other foe is behind all of this? Now, of

course I do, He -Man. And then we go to flashbacks,

and then this whole, oh, here's Horde Prime,

and... I mean, I like this. I think it's kind

of cool. that they worked Horde Prime into it?

Well, yeah, because in the original Six Issues

series, he's talking to that skull, but we don't

realize that that's the petrified skull of Horde

Prime. Right. Which is kinda cool. And that's

where in the Six Issues series that, you know,

at the end, obviously, we see that Orko has control,

well, we assume it was Orko, which it was, has,

you know, become one with the skull. Oh God,

this is a much better version of Kingdom of the

Crystal Skull. So we get the backstory here,

like you said, Skeletor says, Oracle of Trawler

would be wizard and unofficial mascot of Castle

Grayskull. He realized that I had found the Skull

of Power even before more powerful mages like

the Sorceress did. Despite finding him thoroughly

annoying, I always recognized that Orko had the

heart of a hero. Too bad for him that his spells

always backfired. First of all, I love seeing

regular Orko. Yeah. I mean, he doesn't look any

different. He looks like Orko. Mm -hmm. The only

real difference here with Potmahan is that his...

his mouth... Scarf looks like Donatello's bandana

from TMNT because it has the extra flowy kind

of scarf -like thing. I'm not saying it's bad.

I like it. I think it's awesome seeing Orko in

his original form. We find out that he... Skeletor

goes on to say, Orko's sauce to destroy the skull

of power. He got a face full of evil for his

trouble. Orko... absorbed the very worst of Horde

Prime, unlocking the mental barriers that had

always held him back. Now, was this before or

after everyone's minds were erased? I wanna say

before, because is he technically behind all

of that stuff that happened in the Six Issues?

No, Skeletor was behind the memory erase. But...

at the end... It was Orko that showed up, because

in this they explain that Orko saved Skeletor.

So, yeah, maybe you're right. Maybe it was Orko

the whole time. Yeah, probably was. Dude, I don't

know. It's been so long since I've read that

series. So we see on Traala that Superman is

trying to break free. And Ork goes like, hmm,

did I just reveal my weakness to you? No, of

course not. But he does. He does, yes, but...

So he's no different than regular Ork. Bumbling

off! Yeah, no. Um, we go back to Batman and Man

in Arms. And, uh... Um, are we quite certain

this cottage is the place? I'm sorry, that house

is not a cottage. That house is like the house

on Haunted Hill. Yeah. I mean... It's a mini

-mansion. Yeah, pretty much. Um, Batman says

it is a dimensional nexus. Undetectable by technology

means the Secret Sixer used it... used it to

hide out here. Wow, what the hell's up with their

faces in the lower left -hand corner? Oh, I know.

They look so horrible. They look so aged. Um,

and Skeletor comes out and says, hello, Duncan.

Um, those are, stand ready comrades, those are

returning as most dangerous villains and, and

the Queen? What? The Queen's alive? And, you

know, which is... Like this that Marlena is stepping

up here, but it's so weird seeing Skeletor be

the background to her It really really is when

she says lower your weapons man -at -arms Please

he's so big at this point. He is the background

Well, yes Yes, but like Skeletor is usually not

one to be one -upped on Yeah, and then just turned

to the hey we have to band together and fight

dark or go now and Well you get to the last page

and all the people who are mind -controlled show

up the very last panel at the bottom There's

a mind -controlled Joker He hasn't reappeared

in the Batman series has he? This was published

according to this April 2014 no he has not in

the in the core new 52 but he has been in several

other things he was in injustice year one uh

in injustice um the very first issue superman

kills him yeah um but uh no he hasn't resurfaced

so yeah maybe that's just a little nod i guess

i i don't know and i feel like as a whole this

is kind of a one -off thing Yeah, yeah, oh most

definitely I mean I mean it ties into the Masters

the universe more than it does to the DC universe

honestly exactly Which I think that was kind

of the point of hey, you know like you said earlier

It's kind of hey, let's let's do you know, you

know The usual DC universe versus master yours

because everybody wants to see that again, you

know My overall thoughts on issue five is I love

the reveal. I love the origin how orto was you

know trying to do the right thing and sadly he

Know boy node So he's actually he is the villain,

but he's not it's a we have to band together

and save him The funny thing is is he hasn't

shown up since no I guess he's just been in that

dimension where he picks Skeletor up. Yeah, maybe.

I don't know. So any final thoughts on issue

five before we get to the finale here? Here we

go! Final battle! Fight! Yeah, number six. Cover.

It's Dark Orko versus everyone. And we see Batman,

Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash,

He -Man. man -in -arms Tila Stratos looking like

crap here's where the artwork gets different

on every page basically not a fan of the art

in this one huh the first page it does have some

sort of consistency at least with Skeletor anyway

so at least they got that right Okay, one, two,

three, four, at least four different artists?

Um, yeah. Uh, yeah. Uh, yeah, uh, Pop Mahan is

on pages one to ten and seventeen and twenty,

or seventeen to twenty. Um, uh, Eduardo Francisco

is on eleven to sixteen. Veronica Gaylandi is

pages 1 to 10 and Rex Locus pages 11 to 20 At

least the colors are You know good. Yeah the

the art style is gonna change dramatically throughout

the entire book here, but So this is the end

battle. These are the end times and we Everyone's

outside fighting why they give Adam the chance

to go into the house find or goes to mention

which it turns out I'm in this dimension where

I'm gonna find or go note the dimension is or

go and he's pretty much walking on or go and

he says I'm probably should have planned this

out a little better a whole dimension to search

and I haven't even a clue or close keeping Superman

captive at least he hasn't detected me and good

thing I Good thing you, what, came here in the

guise of a plain old Prince Adam. Did you really

think that would keep me from sensing your presence,

or did Skeletor neglect to mention that I am

a god here? All I can think of is Jim Carrey.

All I can think of is God Skeletor from the movie.

I am God! All I can think of is Jim Carrey. than

a god am I. Was that too over the top? I can

never tell. I do like this page, though. I really

do like it. It's probably the best design for

Orko, the fact that Adam is standing on him and

just seeing it. I do really like that. He looks

like a giant tree stump coming out of the ground.

I think it's a really neat concept. Yeah, absolutely.

so Orko You know tries to capture him or tries

to capture Adam And he goes for Superman And

he says I'm not trying to escape. I know you

old friend and a treasure you claim you keep

close to your heart and he gets right there and

You know those magic words by the power of grayskull

I Really can't tell a difference honestly like

if you look at The page where he says I have

the power and the page where he says by the power

of grayskull I Really like his face doesn't change

at all Like I'm used to filmation I'm used to

seeing like a smaller Adam or a different like

okay If you look at 2002 because honestly this

series this entire series run from the miniseries

to now right now with blood a gray skull This

is more the 2002 kind of design thing for he

man and Adam and honestly I don't see like real

size change between the two of them. I mean Sure,

he gets a little more powerful, but Like, the

overall art design on him doesn't change. Well,

as He -Man, he's as big as Superman, so... Yeah,

okay. Alright, I don't know. So, he frees Superman

and they have to face the trolling army of demons.

Which they do. We then see... Because He -Man

says, um... Superman says kind of wish Kind of

starting to wish you brought some of my friends

and he meant says they have their hands full

back on earth and we go to Greece Egypt Cambodia

of all places and France and we see They're trying

to lot of these Yeah, they're trying to destroy

these these timepiece things and the these energy

things we have Stratos with battle cat Wonder

Woman Evelyn and Constantine Men in Arms, Lady

Xanadu and Black Adam or Shazam or whatever.

His costume looks black in Egypt, so I assume

it's Black Adam. And Roboto and whoever else

in France, because they're trying to destroy

the energy siphons. Everyone else is still fighting

off these things outside of the house. Yeah,

Batman's having this conversation with Black

Alice which almost reminds not quite but it kind

of reminds me of What was the? The episode where

Batman has to speak to one of their royal flush

gang members who's about to die? Ace yeah epilogue

was the flashback in in epilogue for jlu Yep,

yeah, that's really what does That's yeah, you're

right spot on there She's to undo all the mind

Warping and yeah, and and they're like wait that

that's not the master So, let's see so she's

undoing all the mind warps You know an orco slowly

threatens Skeletor, you know what I gave I can

certainly take away and Blabity blah blah blah

Just give us regular roll or go back at this

point as much as I love the the the character

twist with this Honestly, I would have been a

little bit more impressed if it was just Horde

prime himself So, let's see. Well, then, yeah,

Superman starts wielding the sword. Which brings

up another batch of issues since he's susceptible

to magic, yet this sword is clearly magic. Mm

-hmm. Yeah, and, um... And he says, you know,

He -Man says just, uh... Just don't say by the

power of gray skull by the power of what? So

at least they at least they do that and Superman

gets him close enough and he man then uses the

sword and destroys the skull And or go kind of

vanishes, I mean he kind of goes poof Yeah, I

mean he pretty much vanishes and so does Skeletor

everybody like Involved with all that and just

kind of vanishes and then it just kind of really

wraps up really fast Where we have good? Notting

an agreement, okay? You know we see Adam hugging

his mother and we see why she can't come back

and You know Adam's gonna promise to find a way

to get her back and Tila says, why didn't you

tell her about Adora? Well, that would be a little

cruel. That would just make her stay on Earth

all more heartbreaking. Yeah, pretty much. So

after they leave, the Mystics close the portal.

Superman says to Batman, so what did you think

of them? I thought they'd never leave. What do

you two say we go get - go pass that hole we

made in the mad cave? Don't miss the origin of

She -Ra starting in He -Man and the Masters of

the Universe number 13! Dun -dun -dun -dun! Because

as I said, this slowly took place during issues

7 through 12, which is our next recording that

we'll do for - for the pullback for that. Um...

I think we're gonna take a quick break. We're

gonna come back with final thoughts and rate

the arc overall on a scale of five to zero stars.

We'll be back. Now for a behind -the -scenes

look at Geekcast Radio Network's newest show,

Talking in Circles. So, Chuck, Greg, what are

you guys thinking for this week's show? Well,

Dan, how about we just talk about the things

that we've read or watched this week? We do reviews

like that every week, Chuck. how about a game

like factor fiction or the power of names those

are great and we're always coming up with new

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We cover media news, TV, our favorite geek products,

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get geeky with The Altered Geeks every Friday

on the Geekcast Radio Network. We are back here

inside the pull bag and it is time for our final

thoughts on DC Universe versus Masters of the

Universe from 2013 -2014. For me, overall, I

enjoyed it. I enjoyed the interplay between mostly

Batman, Superman, and the rest of the Masters.

Wonder Woman, she's all right. I wish her and

Tila had a little bit more of a fight, though.

I mean, they fought. Don't get me wrong, they

did. But I wish that they traded barbs a little

bit more, like some wordplay battle versus just

hitting each other with a stick. I like the art

overall. I think I like Dexter Soy's art a little

bit more than Pop Mahan's. That last issue, there

was four or five artists on it. That's too much.

Just to have one person do an entire issue and

that should be that. What was the reasoning behind

that? I honestly don't know. Maybe it was to

save time to get the issue out in proper time

or something. I don't know the reasoning behind

it. Or is it one of those fan initiatives like

they did with Harley Quinn? Oh lord. Twenty artists

on one book. Oh my god. I mean it was cool, it

was fine for issue zero, but thankfully they

went ahead and scaled way back for other issues

of that series. Overall, I'm probably going to

give this a 3 .5 out of 5, which on the GCRN

scale, 3 .5 out of 5 is liked it. Issues are

certainly prevalent, but so are the successes.

Typically there is one specific area of extraordinary

achievement or a multitude of quality moments

that take the negative aspects relatively easy

to accept. Failures are not necessarily glaring

and are often a byproduct of design, though the

difficulties one encounters holds your enjoyment

back from reaching its fullest potential. Yeah,

that's what I'm going with. What are your final

thoughts on the arc overall and what's going

to be your rating? Oh, I am flat out giving it

a 2. Oh, you disliked it, did you? Yeah, I don't

think there's any way I'm going to go back and

read this. No, I mean, yeah, this probably could

have been four issues Mm -hmm You know, you know,

it's a DC title, so let's tie it in with some

DC characters But I feel the same story could

have been achieved where they go to earth Where

you know, there are some light Incidents like

you don't have to fight all the characters like

oh wait, you know, we're here and oh we happen

to run in to these characters, you know, like

Superman and Batman. And in the end, they might

help us in some way to get this, to get to this

end. But, and then just the fact that we're in

this age of comics where everything, for the

most part, is just taken too seriously. Where

if you look, it was like two issues in the 80s

where they did the crossover between DC and Masters.

There was a funness to it. And I feel like that

could have still been achieved. It's all this

darkness just seems to bring everything down

Yeah, I mean it is very dark I'll give you that

and and I do agree honestly I think it would

have been better You know if you look at the

cover, this is six issues at $2 .99 an issue,

so that's let's see if I can 18 bucks You're

probably right yeah $17 .94 before tax so honestly

if they had honestly had just done two giant

size issues at say like $5 .99 a piece that'd

be 12 bucks you'd be saving yourself six bucks

yeah even two you know larger size issues would

have done well enough yeah i mean i i do really

enjoy the writing i enjoy the fact that they

gave us an explanation for marlena i like that

I like the twist with Orko because they actually

did something with Orko that wasn't just, hey

guys, my magic works on Tralla, but it doesn't

work on here, it doesn't work on attorney Essar.

Well that's probably my favorite part about it.

Yeah. Yeah. You just, you know, where is it,

where is Skeletor now? Where is Orko now? Yep.

Ready to find out. Yes. Oh, absolutely. Where

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

as orally, you can find me on the Facebooks,

at Ados Baron, Twitter, at Ados Baron. I don't

use Instagram or anything like that. But there's

the website, adosbaron .com, which is dedicated

to my voice stuff. In the near future, I should

be collaborating with the good folks over at

Geekfest Rants to... give them maybe a podcast

or two and some video stuff we're gonna be collaborating

on. Hopefully that will involve a Cobra Commander

performance of some sort. Oh, interesting. Interesting.

Yes. Alright. Alright, so next time on The Pullback,

ladies and gentlemen, I had planned for episode

88 to be the Back to the Future 7 issue miniseries

from hell, a long -ass time ago. I had... not

been able to find it. So episode 88 is going

to start our countdowns. We are going to be counting

down our top 20 favorite comics characters in

episode 88. I have no idea who's going to be

on the episode with me. At least two or three

different people will be on there with me. Coming

up in October, we will have two giant sized episodes

in week one. We will have episode 89 and 90 as

one podcast, the Top 20 Favorite Comic Series

and Top 20 Favorite Comics overall. And then

we'll have 91 and 92 together with Top 20 Favorite

Comic Writers and Top 20 Favorite Comic Artists.

And then week two of October, Das and I will

be back talking about the What Lies Within arc

from He -Man and the Master's Universe. That's

issues seven to twelve of the ongoing. And then

potentially, I might have to move this, might

have to change it. I think Ryan, The Uneven Flow,

and I are going to be talking about Gotham Central

in episode 94 and 95 as a giant size issue. And

then episode 96, 97 is going to be Giant Size,

where Joe Reed and I talk about TMNT Turtles

in Time, issues 1 through 4 from IDW, as well

as issues 37 and 38 of that main Turtles series.

And then at the end of October, episode 98 is

going to be Angel Smile Time. It's the... comic

adaptation from IEDW of the episode from the

series. And episode 99 is going to be Steve Megatron

and I in the fourth week of October for Batman

Beyond 10 ,000 Clowns and Batgirl Beyond. Week

5 I have planned since week 5 is Halloween week.

Episode 100 right now says the death and return

of Superman. I'm not sure if episode 100 is going

to stay that topic. But episode 101 is going

to be Batman the Long Halloween which will air

on Halloween. Nice! So that's what's going on

for the rest of September and October. November

is going to be Punisher Month again. I'm not

sure exactly what we're doing with that, but

it will only be four episodes this time around

instead of eight like it was last year. So make

your greatest game in the comics and we will

catch you next time. Orko, you've been asleep

in the backseat all this time? Yeah, I hope I

didn't miss anything exciting. You just heard

the latest episode of The Pullback, GCRN's comic

book review podcast. There are several ways to

get in touch with us and need feedback for the

show. You can visit the website geekcastradio

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until next time Unleash the geek in you