He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #1
He-Man returns to comic book form, this time courtesy of DC Entertainment! I had no idea they had the He-Man license! Not only is the MAN back, but they're giving this storyline a very fun twist!
The story starts off with He-Man and his friends, the Masters of the Universe, fighting against Skeletor and his minions. Then the scene ends and you see that it was all just a dream in the head of simple woodsman, Adam. He gets up, goes outside and gets right to work, chopping trees. In the distance, over the treetops you can see the shadowed outline of Snake Mountain. As he works, Adam ponders over his dream and wishes it or something like it would come true to make the awful world of Eternia a better place to live. Apparently, Skeletor actually won and now rules Eternia with an iron grip. None oppose him because he has made all the heroes forget who they are and what Eternia used to be like. He keeps close tabs on Prince Adam, who now lives in a shack in the woods, cutting up trees and taking care of his ailing father.
Adam soon befriends a colorful falcon who comes to visit him while he works and his dreams continue until the point where he feels like he has to go find his destiny. He leaves his father in the hands of a good neighbor (State Farm?) and starts his trek through the forest. He soon gets stopped in his tracks by the hulking form of Beastman! Adam doesn't remember Beastman, but the monster warns him to turn around and go home if he wants to live. Adam doesn't turn right around so the orange beast jumps at him. Adam runs, fighting back feebly with his woodsman's axe. He is surprised by how well he's able to keep the monster at bay and wonders how it knew his name. After a few close calls he tricks Beastman, stabs a freshly cut tree limb in his back, and knocks him out with a punch. He is then more determined ever to find out what's going on in the wider world. The issue ends with Skeletor sitting in Snake Mountain with the wounded Beastman saying that Adam had to be stopped, dead or alive. Tell "everybody".
The good: I was SO excited to be reading a new He-man story, especially one with a totally new status quo. Skeletor is in charge, Adam is a lowly woodsman who only dreams of being a powerful warrior. This is fun.
The bad: I felt like they have a good story going here and they're rushing right through it! Beastman should have been the crap out of Adam and sent him back home a mess! Then, as Adam heals over the following weeks, his resolve to try again grows and he shows his inner character by braving his fears and trying to leave the woods again. Adam should NOT be able to defeat and knock out Beastman with a punch! I guess that was supposed to be awesome, but I thought it was out of character. Adam isn't really the wuss he pretends to be, but he's not a warrior either.
Also, the cover art shows He-Man in his classic Filmation gear. Inside the comic, all the costumes have been updated and not for the better. Everyone shown in any kind of fighting costume has random bits of chain main hanging off of them at weird places! Beastman has little bits 2-3 scales deep hanging off his arm bands and from his loincloth. Not enough to help as armor, just enough to look like something bought at Claire's in the mall. The dream shots of He-Man show him with a really long scale mail strip going down his crotch in front of his furry loincloth. I'm not a fan of the costume upgrades, but it's certainly not worth dropping the book.
Overall: This was a fun new take on what is possibly my all-time favorite character. For me, before there was Spidey, before there was Wolverine, before there was Batman...there was He-Man. I'm all in!
Things are heating up between Miles and his villain uncle, Aaron! They recently took down a mean thug called, the Scorpion together. Aaron (a.k.a. The Prowler) wants to keep the teamup going. Miles wants nothing more to do with his corrupt, manipulative uncle.
In this issue, Miles resolves to bite the bullet and tell his parents about being Spider-Man. He knows his dad will flip out, but he has to come clean. His uncle is using the threat of outing him to his father to blackmail him into helping him build a criminal empire. On his way home, Uncle Aaron intercepts him and gives him one more chance to change his mind. He's very persistent, so Miles tells him "yes" to get him to go away and Aaron tells him to meet him that night. When they meet later that evening, it's so Miles can tell him to go away and never come back. Aaron has some respect issues and responds by trying to kill his "disrespectful" nephew. The fight is a pretty good one. Aaron has no powers, but he is loaded to the gills with villain gadgets, the main one being sonic-wave emitting gloves, much like classic Spidey villain, the Shocker, uses. It comes down to a street brawl and Aaron is going in for the kill shot standing right above Miles when his damaged gauntles explodes, shooting Spidey across the street and burning his uncle to a crisp. Before he passes out, Aaron whispers, "Just...like...me..."
I'm not sure how Miles will respond to this, but i'm about ready for the storyline to move along. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed every issue of Ultimate Spiderman, before and since Miles has taken the lead role, but the Prowler thing has been dragging a bit. I'm ready for Miles to move past the shadow of his uncle and keep growing into the hero he was meant to be.
Solid story. Great art. Keep the Spider-train rolling!
At the end of issue 6, Cyclops had had enough of the government's superteam and decides it's time for "No more Avengers". The X-men go hunting and hound the Avengers from hiding place to hiding place. Some great battles take place, with Scarlet Witch being the Avengers' only Ace in the Hole, aside from Hope, who they can barely keep from the X-men. For some reason the Phoenix is susceptible to harm from Scarlet Witch, but she is easily sidetracked in battle, which they use to keep her off balance. While Tony Stark and Black Panther work to find a way to counter the Phoenix Force, the Avengers scatter across the globe, dividing the X-Men and using Dr. Strange's magic to make it appear that Scarlet Witch is everywhere at once. At one point they are retreating from Namor's group and Hawkeye ends up consumed in fire by Emma Frost, burned almost to death and captured by the mutants.
Back at Utopia, the previously solid Phoenix Five are starting to show cracks. Magik and Colossus are starting to talk a little crazy, the former saying that the Witch is "evil" and must be purged from the Earth. Namor and Scott yell at each other, Namor saying that they should just kill the Avengers, Scott saying he doesn't want to kill anybody. Emma then goes behind Scott's back and tells Namor where the Avengers are hiding, which she has NOT told Scott.
In a new plot twist, Iron Fist brings a kung-fu buddy from his secret city (read my review for issues 5 and 6 for more details) where they claim to know how to counter the Phoenix and prepare Hope to control it. The Avengers are making plans to evacuate Wakanda to Iron Fist's homeland when Namor attacks their base full-force.
This story has been getting better and better since Iron Man split the Phoenix into 5 pieces and it inhabited 5 X-Men. I'm a little leery of the answer to the Avenger's problem being magic kung-fu, but we'll just have to wait and see where this goes. I'm anxious to keep reading and the art has really taken a step up the last few issues thanks to Olivier Coipel.
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