Review – He-Man And The Masters Of The Multiverse
Review: He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse
Story: Tim Seeley
Art: Dan Fraga and Tom Derenick
Colours: Matt Yackey
Publisher: DC Comics
Published: 22 Sept. 2020
Introduction
This review is going to be difficult. Not because this is a bad comic. Quite the opposite. This is a very good comic. So good I am going to find it hard not to write anything other than my squeals and tearful laughter, much in the way a small child might express themselves.
Which is kind of the point really because I was probably three years old when the He-Man cartoon first aired in the UK. This comic takes me back to that happy wholesome place but with the added bonus of all the experience, knowledge, and cynicism forty years of life have given me. He-Man in one form or another has perpetuated himself throughout those forty years. This comic showcases most if not all of them. Including another happy place. Sometime in my early twenties watching the 2002 He-Man reboot in the late hours of the evening and again in small hours of the morning on Toonami.
Story
That self and my adult self love a multiversal story. This comic – for us at least given our prior comics reading – blends the best of so many multiversal or crisis events from other comics. There’s a sense of Morrison’s The Multiversity threaded throughout the title. There’s also a lot of Final Crisis moments in there as well. The premise itself is a bit like the Jet Li movie The One. A rogue version of Prince Adam/He-Man is traveling the Multiverse to steal the power swords of his counterparts. Tim Seeley also seems to drop in a few nods to Kirby’s Fourth World in the cosmology of the series. The biggest draw though is our Hero. Yes, this is a He-Man title but the central focus of the narrative is a certain Prince Keldor.
As we follow our unlikely – and sometimes kind of whiney – would be hero across the multiverse we visit or are visited by the various forms the He-Man franchise has taken over the years. Including a recent mobile game incarnation. Pretty cool, but you know what’s cooler? Visiting nearly every Skeletor as well. The interactions between the Skeletors and our prince play like master classes in villainy and the dark arts and you’d be forgiven for thinking the story is one of predestination. It isn’t. If anything the ending is a surprisingly enjoyable tribute to what might very well be the true power of Greyskull. The kind of message Grant Morrison would be proud of.
Art
The artwork – divided between Dan Fraga for issues #1-3 and Tom Derenick on issues #4-6 – is consistently astounding and perhaps I’m expressing something of a bias here but some of my favourite pieces are of course of the various Skeletors. A great deal of the evocative quality of the comic is through its artwork. Most of the Multiversity moments are found when we have various He-Men present. Each in their own unique aesthetic style. Live-Action Gritty He-Man alongside Mobile App Chibi He-Man alongside New Adventures’ Space Mullet He-Man. The way the art style of a particular era is reproduced as the continuing aesthetic of a single issue is of course another positive takeaway.
The cover art by Inhyuk Lee is really quite astounding as well. Another bonus is an insight into the series’ character design process. Series author Tim Seeley produces concept art that takes obscure characters or toys and reinvents them for this revolutionary epic. Showing a loving knowledge of the subject matter but with enough courage to take some really interesting artistic gambles.
Overall
Despite having been published alongside and possibly lost amongst the greater noise of another multiversal event at DC, He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse still hits all the right story beats. Couple this with an abundance of aesthetic quality and you have a decent mini-event in its own right. One that pays tribute to the rich and varied history of its subject matter, whilst also tipping its hat to some of the finer moments of the grander scope of comics cosmology and crisis.
If you enjoyed my review of He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse take a look at my reviews of some more recent takes on beloved childhood franchises?
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