He-Man: The Eternity War #6 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Dan Abnett
Art By: Pop Mhan, Tom Derenick, Mark Roberts
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: May 27, 2015

I Hope He-Man Doesn't Go Around Telling People That He Has A Child Inside of Him

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

It's time to get back to the Eternity War, where last month we saw some surprising shit go down and not all of it good.  While yes, we had Skeletor turn the other cheek bone and join up with team "good guy" against the forces of Hordak, but we also had Evil Lyn find out and she didn't take it too well.  Actually she took it as bad as she possibly could when she stole the Eyes of Grayskull and delivered them to Hordak and swore allegiance to the dark lord.  So yeah, there's some ups and downs going on in Eternia.  Hopefully He-Man finds out what he needs to find out to end the war because as we left that issue, He-Man with the help of the Sorceress was shown thirty years in the future where he had defeated Hordak and was now the King.  Let's get back to the future and see what He-Man has going for himself thirty years from now.  Let's check it out.

Explain It!:

So it's the future and instead of hover boards and cafe 80's, like I imagine all futures to be like, we see that this is the thirtieth anniversary of He-Man's defeat of Hordak and our King is walking the streets of Eternos, greeting the people, while his guard is surprisingly apprehensive........... More surprising is that his guard is Beast Man.  If that wasn't surprising enough even with there not being any flying cars or thumb print credit cards, it seems that the people of Eternia aren't really digging He-Man as their ruler and Beast Man actually prevents a citizen from assassinating King He-Man.  Ummm........... I'm just going to come out and say it, I don't think I like this future.  So after the assassination attempt, He-Man gathers his guard........ which apparently means Beast Man dawns his Battle Cat skin cape and they all ride off to Castle Grayskull to consult the seer.

Even within the walls of Castle Grayskull, shit is still treacherous as the seer can't predict the future and within the forge of Grayskull, the fires are raging out of control.  Now, He-Man believes that Orko and his rebellion are behind the change in the planet's attitude, but after another assassination attempt by Stratos and Rio Blast............ Who we then witness He-Man killing, we find out that She-Ra is the one behind the rebellion and that He-Man's own quest for control of the planet has corrupted the power and put the world in chaos.  After a quick battle, the sword of protection does what it was made for and protects the people of Eternia from corrupted power as we witness Adora cut down her brother and we all put our books down and shed a tear for the most fucked up thing that we've seen.......... well, since she cut He-Man's throat a couple of months ago because that was pretty fucked up too.  As we leave the future we see that He-Man's corrupted blood flowed to the alter of the Goddess, triggering the age of Horokoth and with it the end of everything.

In the end, He-Man ends his vision quest without one of those pesky peyote hangovers and Teela tells him this is the future if he does all he can to defeat Hordak and whether Hordak triggers it or He-Man in the future, the course he's on now will set the age of Horokoth into motion.  Luckily she gives him another path to walk and it's one I almost forgot that He-Man could take, since we haven't seen it in a long time now.  The reason that Prince Adam was chosen by The Goddess was to give humanity to his warrior persona of He-Man and since our hero has chosen to stay as He-Man, the power of it will eventually corrupt him.  So to save the future, He-Man takes his sword of power......... which is actually the sword of Eternity since he reforged it and breaks the sword becoming Prince Adam again because only Prince Adam can tap into the power of Eternity, which can prevent Horokoth.......... Yeah, I'm getting a little fuzzy on how all of this works but as we end the story, He-Man is gone and Prince Adam has come to save the day.

That's it for He-Man: The Eternity War and after this issue, the title finally makes sense to me.  I really like this concept of He-Man becoming corrupted if Adam stays in that form for too long because since He-Man is pretty much just power incarnate, it makes sense and makes me think of Can't Buy Me Love with Patrick Dempsey............ You know where Ronald becomes popular but only at the price of becoming a jerk and losing his real friends in the process........... anyone?  Well, it's totally like that.  I can't really say how breaking the sword of Eternity will help since Adam is the only one who can wield eternity......... but it sure as hell makes me want to keep reading so I get all the info.  This was just a really fun look into what could be and combined with the always outstanding art of Pop Mhan, Tom Derenick and Mark Roberts, this is just another example of why He-Man is one of the best titles that DC produces.

Bits and Pieces:

Shit certainly gets real here as we tip toe through the blood soaked tulips of Eternia's future with this glimpse of what the future could look like if He-Man does whatever it takes to defeat Hordak.  Another great story by Dan Abnett, who isn't afraid to get He-Man's hands dirty in order to give us one hell of a story.  While I can't say that I fully understand the path that we're on with this ending and how it will affect the world of Eternia, but I can certainly say that it has my full attention.

8.5/10