REVIEW: Masters of the Universe: Masterverse #3

3.55/5.0 Stars
Rating if the Book Were a Movie: PG-13

Creative Team 

Writer: Tim Seely
Art: Eddie Nunez, Claudia Balboni, David Rubin
Colors: Rico Renzi, David Rubin
Letters: Deron Bennett, David Rubin
Cover: Eddie Nunez, Rico Renzi, Claudia Balboni, David Rubin
Editor: Daniel Chabon
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Ratings 

Story: 3.8
Interior Artwork: 3.8
Cover Artwork: 3.8
Dialogue:  3.3
Mechanics: 3.2
Editing: 3.2

About the Book:

This issue starts off with Zodak and Sorceress in the middle of a fight, as the Sorceress is trying to prevent Zodak from harming Prince Adam in his variations as He-Man.

Reviewer’s Notes:

The cover art itself continues to amazingly highlight the story visually, showing the two stories, as one of them involves Tee-la, who has always been considered a warrior.  The other is yet another version of He-Man, but not necessarily one I recognized from the he-man lore.

The interior artwork continues the wonderful style from the previous books. and while the styles between the two sections of the book are different, the style in itself shows the characters, their feelings and actions perfectly.

This book starts off focusing on Tee-la as the Heroine instead of He-Man, while introducing him toward the end of the story, the whole story reminds me of a Conan the Barbarian type story, but it is very well done and a pleasure to read. The other thing the Tee-la story did was reference the previous incantations of the heroine and her powers, something that most He-Man stories do not address, the relationship between Tee-la and the character that she saves, who is essentially Beast-Man is different as well. Leaning more towards the tribal conan type story.

Another aspect of the Tee-la story that I particularly enjoyed was the references to She-Ra.  When She-Ra was first introduced, it seemed like they just wanted to cater to girls who may have liked He-Man back in the 80’s but the Easter eggs for that first story were a wonderful surprise.

When it came to the He-Man story I was a little concerned as it showed He-Man as pretty much a drunken viking type of character, and pretty much took the loss of his friends and the endangerment the character Teela at the hands of a rendition of Skeletor for him get out of his drinking frame of mind and actually do something significant.

This part of the story while good, I find in my opinion goes against the mythology of what He-Man should stand for.  Making him more like a blubbering strong man in need of a stiff drink and touch of a woman, what he truly seeks.  But then it does line up more with the viking mythology it hints at.

This collection of stories regardless is brilliant as they are presented. I love the combination of the artwork in the stories mixed with the overall story between Zodak and the Sorceress, as a child who grew up on the original show’s this just adds more to the enjoyment.

As your curator of the Historical Documents of the Imagination I hope you enjoyed your visit! If you enjoyed my review of this story please support the creators of this story!

May the historical documents of the imagination always inspire! Thanks for reading!