Masters of the Universe: The Lost Knight
Written by Geoff Johns
Pencils by Howard Porter
Inks by John Livesay
Colors by Carrie Strachan
Letters by Sal Cipriano
Cover by Howard Porter & John Livesay
DC Comics
Release Date: June 23, 2012
Cover Price: $.99

When reading Masters of the Universe: The Lost Knight, you get the feeling that if Mattel was still including mini-comics with their toys, this is the one that would be included with Sir Laser Lot. DC Comics will be releasing these shorter, digital comics every two weeks as a companion or supplement to its Masters of the Universe six-issue miniseries that debuted in comic stores on July 4th. And by the looks of things, we’re in for some GREAT reading.

I guess you could say this Geoff Johns guy knows how to write a comic. But, does he know how to write a licensed property comic? Guess what folks, all those DC Comics that he writes, at this point ARE licensed properties. And to answer my own question, YES, he does. Time/page-wise, he doesn’t have much to work with, as this comic is about 17 or 18 pages long, a little shorter than what he’s used to working with. And, to be fair, because of the digital format, most of the pages are only feature a couple of panels. BUT, what he DOES do is pack a TON of story into these panels.

DV8: Gods and Monsters #1 of 8
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Rebekah Isaacs
Colors by Carrie Strachan
Letters by Jared K. Fletcher
Cover by Fiona Staples
Variant cover by Jim Lee
DC/Wildstorm
Price: $2.99
Release date: April 21, 2010

I never read an issue of the original DV8 series, released in the mid 90’s, but I’ll read anything by Brian Wood, so I gave this one a try. The original series rode the wave of Gen 13’s popularity, and featured a bunch of morally bankrupt teens, and that’s about all I know about the original series. This new series keeps the original cast, but throws them in a completely new situation.

DV8: Gods and Monsters #1 opens as Gem Antonelli, aka Copycat, crashes onto a planet of Stone Age (or maybe Dark Age, it’s not really clear) era humans. She is the last of her team to arrive on the planet, the rest having already split up and disappeared. Only her teammate Frostbite remains to explain to Gem what has happened in the last few days. From there we see what the rest of the team has been up to, and it doesn’t look like it will be very good for those living on this planet.