Saturday, March 4, 2023

On The Shelf: A messy Masterverse, and other stuff

 2022 marked the 40th anniversary of Mattel's introduction of the Masters of The Universe line of action figures and toys. This year marks 40 years since He-Man made his television debut, come September.

Dark Horse Comics, which has the license to do Masters of The Universe comics, released its new miniseries, subtitled, "Masterverse", and it's a jumbled mish-mash of comedy, drama, and horror.


It seems Zodac, the series' answer to Metron, Jack Kirby's scholarly New God, will be the central figure in the new series, but his story takes a backseat at the Sorceress sends him and readers on a couple of detours. The comedy part, saved for last, comes from the legendary Sergio Aragones, who draws He-Man and friends in his familiar style, perhaps petitioning Dark Horse for a meeting between He-Man and Aragones' own creation, Groo, who's approaching 40 himself.

The horror? Courtesy not only of writer Tim Seeley, but Artist Kelley (Along Came) Jones, whose Wrightson-esque stylings are more inappropriate. Seeley has done better.

Rating: C.
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Marvel Comics has announced that starting later this year, their adaptations of Alien, Predator, and the incoming return of Planet of The Apes will be under a new imprint as part of a licensing deal with 20th Century Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox), now a step-sister company to Marvel under the Disney umbrella. Planet returns in April with the new imprint. Newsarama speculated on Friday that the "Kingsmen" series could land at Marvel, too, but for that to happen, I think Disney might need to talk to creator Mark Millar.
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Just in time for the release of "Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania", which opened two weeks ago, Marvel decided that the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, would headline her own book, more than 60 years after her debut. The 5 issue series launched in January, with Janet teaming with her adoptive daughter, Nadia (not Hope, like in the movies) against an old threat. Ex-nemesis Whirlwind is like an informant, giving Jan some help along the way. I'm waiting for the trade, out this summer.
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Marvel will give their repackaged, African-American Nick Fury, modeled after actor and Capital One pitchman Samuel L. Jackson, a 1-shot special in May that reimagines a classic SHIELD arc from the 60's. So help me, the writers had better not have Fury ask, "What's in your wallet?".

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