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So what did everyone think of Issue #2? I personally enjoyed it, but felt it overall wasn't as strong as the first issue. And nothing beats that horror take for me!
The first tale with Randor and Keldor reminded me of Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings. I wonder if that was a direct inspiration....
It was nice to see Jitsu as more of a mercenary and not an evil warrior though!
And the Man-at-Arms detective noir story felt like it could have been an idea tossed around in the Revelation writer's room, the way it mentions He-Man and Skeletor both gone after a battle, and Randor being upset with Orko for lying to him about Adam's secret. It's not quite the same setup but definitely has some similarities!
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I purchased a color comic and half the pages had no color. What a rip off!
If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success. -James Cameron
I purchased a color comic and half the pages had no color. What a rip off!
LOL but what did you think of it?
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It was decent overall. I found the first story the better of the two but It felt limited by its length. It needed more pages to tell it properly. It was good but not great. The Dick Tracy Man-at-Arms story I can do without. Give me more Sorceress and Zodac instead.
I would rate it a 7 out of 10.
If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success. -James Cameron
It was decent overall. I found the first story the better of the two but It felt limited by its length. It needed more pages to tell it properly. It was good but not great. The Dick Tracy Man-at-Arms story I can do without. Give me more Sorceress and Zodac instead.
I would rate it a 7 out of 10.
I had just mentioned to someone on Twitter that I too wish these stories had more real estate, especially the wonderfully horrific "Curse of Castle Grayskull", so I really get your perspective on that first story.
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My eyes popped out of my head when I saw Zodac pull out that gun. How is he going to make Adam suffer with that? That's going to make Adam dead! 🤣
🇺🇸 SNOUT SPOUT FOR PRESIDENT 🇺🇸
My eyes popped out of my head when I saw Zodac pull out that gun. How is he going to make Adam suffer with that? That's going to make Adam dead! 🤣
LOL!!!!
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@admin If he starts shooting next issue I'm gonna crack up! 🤣
🇺🇸 SNOUT SPOUT FOR PRESIDENT 🇺🇸
First off, I just LOVE that wormtongue analogy you made there, AJ! 😆 Also, we feel the same way about issue 1. I personally felt that it was a fair bit stronger than Issue 2, so much variety packed into a single issue. From a horror story to a comedy story, both with drastically different artstyles!
We had a gothic horror take in "The Curse of Castle Grayskull" (By far, my favourite story) I loved when Prince Adam becomes "The Horror", the design is so cool, like a Castle Grayskull golem and big ups to Mr. Seeley for making use of woefully underappreciated villians Webstor, Batros and (my beloved) Scareglow. IMO, I think these three suited the story's menacing, formidable atmosphere much more fittingly than say, the usual suspects of Beast-Man, Mer-Man or Tri-Klops would have.
I also really enjoyed "He-Man : The Lost", a hilarious and affectionate send-up of He-Man's more barbarian origins as seen in Mattel's original minicomics. "What is your name, stranger?" "Uhhh...when my people see me, the point and grunt 'He'......'Man', so....." and the "The Playbox......killer of time!" I also could not get enough of seeing all of the iconic MOTU vechicles, Mr. Seeley bless your soul! The man KNOWS his MOTU toy lore! haha! Even the art was funny, I loved all the sight gags, especially Cringer's thought balloons! and Sergio Aragones giving He-Man "big strapping muscles" but with skinny legs, Johnny Bravo-style! Haha!
Okay, so as for my thoughts on issue 2......I enjoyed the first tale "East of Eternos", the combined prowess of E.J. Su's clean artwork and Micheal Wiggam's rich colours made for a very pleasing comic. I love the shot in the last panel, where, along side Jitsu, "General Adam" returns as He-Man with the Power Sword in hand and stares down a rather startled Keldor. I personally wish that story was at least 2 pages longer, I mean....Randor had Adam go to Gretori to find the sword and at the end, Adam said that he believed his father had REALLY sent him on "a trial.....a test of his true nature", so did Randor know Adam was destined to wield the Power Sword? I wonder how Randor would have reacted to seeing Adam come back to the palace as He-Man, what kind of conversation would thay have had? How would Keldor have reacted? We never found out what happened to Captain Duncan, did he survive the fight with Naga Wani, did he live? Yeah, I just felt that story finished too quickly.
I liked "Man-At-Arms for Hire" for what it was, an enjoyable alternative take on our favourite characters and the world they live in. I mean, that is the beauty of the whole Masterverse antalogy series. This isn't the first time we got a noir story in Masters of the Universe, this story reminded me SOOOOO much of Issue 5 of DC's 8-part limited series of one-shots released back in 2012. (Has anybody ever read that one, it's a black and white "Sin City" style story that ALSO involves Evil-Lynn playing the femme fatale opposite a grizzled detective....who was also an ex-solider in the Eternian guard.....just like Duncan) Oh, and it also kinda gave me flashbacks to S02E04 of She-Ra "Roll with It", remember Glimmer's noir segment (what is WITH Masters of the Universe and nior anyway?! 🤣 Kinda crazy that we have THREE MOTU noir stories, don'tcha think?)
Yeah, it was fun. I love Duncan to pieces but I agree with you AJ, it did felt like I was reading an unused concept for Revelations. Unless I'm mistaken, didn't Tim also work on the Revelations prequel comics alongside Kevin Smith? Who's to say that Kevin didn't give him that idea for free? lol Also, I had no idea that Marleena was from New York, that's neat.
I think my biggest problem with "Man-At-Arms for Hire" is the fact that it did not involve He-Man whatsover, save for the times he was mentioned. Don't get me wrong guys, I LOVE Duncan and Evil-Lynn but wasn't the whole point supposed to be The Sorceress showing Zodac the different versions of He-Man throughout the multiverse? If he was simply doing this for fun and observe other characters throughout the multiverse, then I'm sure Zodac would have chosen to just watch the other versions of himself. (Remember at the beginning of this issue, when Zodac was looking in the multi-versal mirrors? Heck, I am a little curious to see the world of that femme-Zodac lol)
In the last story, Zodac learned nothing about THAT universe's version of He-Man because he didn't actually even get to see THAT version of He-Man at all. I think He-Man himself SHOULD have been the main detective in that story with Duncan as his partner, He-Man and Duncan NCIS-style! Or maybe just keep Evil-Lynn, can you imagine a team up of He-Man and Evil-Lynn? 🤣
@adoralovely I loved reading your deep analysis on both issues, very much! Every word of it! Thanks for posting these!
A couple notes:
I am with you that Webstor and Batros feel very under appreciated, and under utilized in Motu and I really would love to see these villians get a bigger spotlight one day. (Not so much with Scare Glow anymore though thanks to Revelation. 🙂)
I also wish East of Eternos was longer, but I'll go even further and wish it took the entire length of the comic (no offense to Man-at-Arms-for-Hire). I really think it could have been an epic story if it had the real estate!
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I personally really enjoyed both stories! My favorite does have to be MAN-AT-ARMS-FOR-HIRE though! Its super interesting seeing Duncan in the detective business with Evil-Lyn (Ms.Powers). I also LOVE the art style of the story as its my wallpaper and background of my phone currently. I did find it a bit confusing to show a Duncan story even though the reason the Sorceress is showing Zorac the Alternative Universes is because she wanted to show him why Adam should be He-Man.
TLDR; Love the story, Love the art style but maybe could work as it's own spinoff comic short
@princeofeternia thats a good point man. What good does that man-at-arms story do for Mister Z
@skeledog I KNOW! Sure the main story was Duncan finding He-Man/Adam, but then the story is about Duncan not He-Man so it just makes no sense really.
I wanna say that it would be a better story if Adam was the detective and finding Teela or his parents with Orko and Duncan helping him, that would make more sense since it will take place in Adam's POV, not Duncans
@princeofeternia I guess the premise is for Zodac to see how dark and unhappy Eternos had become with the loss of Adam / He-Man... but I still agree with your point. It is a little thin.
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I would argue that the comedic half of the first issue is better example to demonstrate your point. The Goddess handing He-Man a video game system after numerous weaponry fails to stop Skeletor shows the resourcefulness of the Goddess not He-Man. This forces me to enjoy the short stories on their own merits and not in the flimsy context they're selling us.
If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success. -James Cameron