Masters of the Universe: The Powers of Grayskull
Part One: The Legends Begins
Story by Scott Neitlich
Written by Tim Seeley
Art by Wellinton Alves
Colors by Michael Atiyeh
Letters by Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT
Cover by Eric Powell
Designer: Justine Couch
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 16, 2012
Cover Price: $22.00 (Only available with Thunder Punch He-Man from Matty Collector)
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Masters of the Universe franchise, Mattel and Dark Horse Comics are releasing brand new mini-comics, just like the ones that were included in the original toy line. Last year at the San Diego Comic-Con when these plans were announced, He-Fans, myself included, literally stood up and cheered. So, does The Powers of Grayskull: Part One live up to the hype? Let’s take a look…
Writer Tim Seeley brings us a brand NEW Masters of the Universe canon, one we’re not quite familiar with, based on a story by Mattel’s Senior Brand Analyst and Masters of the Universe Classics biographer Scott Neitlich. One of the best things about the writing is that it finds a way to bring everyone from all the Masters of the Universe incarnations into one solid story. All right, I have to take that back, nobody from The New Adventures of He-Man has shown up…yet.
Another fun thing about this story is that it actually makes some lasting changes in the world of Eternia. Dialog-wise Seeley hits it out of the park. When reading, you can actually hear the voices of John Erwin, Alan Oppenheimer, and Linda Gary saying these lines! Part Eternian history lesson, part set-up, part time travel adventure, and all action, there’s quite a bit packed in these tiny, eight pages. More I’d say than some normal 20-page comics. It’s a fantastic gateway into the world of The Masters of the Universe for someone whose not familiar with the property or someone who needs a refresher course on Eternia 101.
Wellinton Alves is a great choice for artist on this book. He gives everyone their proper Masters of the Universe bodies, but at the same time, makes each character believable and unique. The only problem is that, again, this is a MINI comic. I’m reading it on my computer so I’m seeing it blown up WAY more then the average reader will. I really wish it was a regular-sized comic, so that everyone would be able to see the detail that I’m seeing. Who knows, maybe IDW will publish an Artist Edition of this someday.
A lot of He-Man fans have been waiting for a new comic book since the MV Creations series ended eight years ago. In my opinion, it took WAY too long for another comic series to come out, especially since we’re getting multiple GI Joe and Transformers books every month. My biggest complaint about the issue would be distribution. You can’t walk down to your local comic shop on Wednesday and buy this. It’s only available with Thunder Punch He-Man sold through Mattel’s collector website, and of this writing, the figure is sold out. Hopefully, Dark Horse and Mattel will at least make this available digitally so that fans who missed out on the figure can at least download and read the comic. Because it’s Tim Seeley writing He-Man and nobody should be denied that.
