Masters of the Universe #1

 

Writer: Val Staples
Pencils: Emiliano Santalucia w/ Enza Fontana
Colours: Val Staples, Kevin Senft w/ Shayanne Corbet, Mark Sweeney
Letters: Dreamer Designs
Covers: A) Val Staples, Emiliano Santalucia B) Drew Struzan
 
   Back again during this long weekend here in the great white Canada's. so im back again to do another issue of Masters of the Universe, this is vol 2 of the series which was done by Image Comics. This Story arc was called Dark Reflections. unlike the last volume this one would be my personal favorite and all the good reason to nit pick and tear it a new one. now i had some complaints saying "Troy! you grotty little nancy, you just finished a review on He-man why come back to it again as each time it will get old and stale." to which threw my packaged She-ra doll at there face in reply. I don't plan to do this series for every review only once a week. and do something new on the thursdays reviews. but enough time talking and now to the book!
 

The Story

 

     Right off the bat we are treated to a single page dedicated to skeletor. Which he dishes out a simple command in which by no means they could screw up what so ever. Kill them all. The first part and im going to say this now. its almost one big fight scene from beginning to end. I could end this part now to save some time and room for the review. but im not done.
 
      Those of you who remember my last review in the Masters of the universe vol 1 i mentioned how i was a fan of val staples writing. but here he takes a different approach, its like he spent time on the front lines of a battle field for a week and decided to Incorporate the idea of combat and tactics into the Masters universe. this is not necessarily a bad thing. in fact its nice to see some action once in a while. this makes me feel like im watching one of those high octane movies. getting back to the story though with all this action in the beginning middle and end and laser fire coming back and forth it makes me wonder what is the point of some of those masters being there who don't have some sort of laser rifle.
 

      We learn that the big character known as Ram Man spends little time on the shooting range. its like the juggernaut without the invulnerability, because since its a fire fight he is just parking his butt behind a wall and waiting for the hand to hand combat. and i can see why. the man uses and axe like its a hatchet. he would be hard pressed to find a gun that would fit in his hands. 
 
     Things only get worse for the masters as the no name or what i like to call Red Shirts start to get picked off and Beastman does a sneak attack to start up the melee combat. by this time Skeletor is inside a temple and decides to monologue to himself about his grand and glorious efforts to acquire more power. going into detail the purpose of this temple and the people who made it. 
 

      As I said there is a bit more now into Staples writing. as he took the scene from vol 1 where he-man gets his leg stabbed and then just prolongs that whole fight for this entire issue. there is talks of ripping of throats out, chewing on bones, breaking necks and two headed freaks. its like i just walked in on a rated 18a movie. He-man Shows up half way through the story after so many red shirts get their butts handed to them. 
 
   

Things start picking up until Skeletor comes back out and calls his men fools for not killing them fast enough. when time wise he was only in there for about 3 to 4 mins at the most. Skeletor gives the tactical retreat and takes off not before Teela blasts an object out of beastmans bag. Skeletor leaves a crushing gift and a lame joke. ahh good old fashioned skeletor always with the puns.  if there was an doubts, the masters survive thanks to the pretty pretty muscles of he-man. they gather up what they can and go chasing after skeletor.
 
 

Crazy Colours

 
      I figure ill start off in this section just with the penciling, so ill pick on Emiliano. The pencils seemed to be high in detail for this issue. i would not expect less from a man who draws Megatron. but this issue seemed strange as there was A LOT of detail but the image must have been reduced to fit on the certain sized page. so you can see some fine points but looks like it was crushed together. with great help from Fontana as back up. much of the world is fleshed out with great detail. which makes for the next part im going to talk about the actions so much better.
 
      Next thing ill go over is the colors itself. with the inks and colors in this issue it was very bright which matched the setting of the story.  the back ground was bright which made the characters darker colors stand out that much more. though like in Issue 3 of vol 1 i mentioned how in some cases they ended up sacrificing the background to focus mainly on the combat. this was another one of those cases. though the colours and scheme was bright, it was still great action piece to behold.

       Overall the action in this comic were well done. they added effects like blood and dangling bodies of the red shirts. some of their physics i question like how a staff can cut through a hand cannon is beyond me. but also many details which refer to either the movie or the classic toy lines. especially for those fans of the old show. you get little mini busts showing in the comic of some of the original horde members.
 
       The art itself was great to say the least. the images looked like they were compressed down to fit on the page as well as the background was not given huge amounts of details. so i would give the art a 4 out of 5. Though staples and santalucia are one of my favorite teams to work together. i think more could have been done over time. but still great art none the less.
 

Overrated Overall's

 
       Yay now at the end of this. we come to the end of this issue with a big sigh and and then a gasp, then easing back into the sigh. The issue is a heavy action piece for all of those who love a good action movie this would be a great issue. it builds up intrigue as well when trying to figure out what exactly skeletor has planned, or how it will fail.
 

       This issue left me with some huh? but mostly with awesome with a little shiver down my back with the details in the actions and fighting. if your a fan of the He-man series this is a good piece to pick up as part of the story arc. Vol 2 of the series has more action than most of the other volumes past and future. so if you like the action more than i do than pick it up. If your also looking to collect on variant covers i would suggest cover B with a repaint of Dolph Lundgren as He-man. ahh the 80's.
 
     Overall i give the comic a 3.6 not a 3.5. the art is great. but to me this is just a setup action piece and its okay. though this is my own personal score on this. i go back to what i said before and if you love action movies you will love this issue. its non stop fighting with a break here and there to get you to calm down and center yourself. Vol 2 of the series is one of the better versions which makes a great story to collect. so if you can get your hands on it i would suggest a read.
 
     Im out so ill see you guys later this week with my next review which ill keep as a surprise. Good Journey!