Art By: Edgar Salazar, Jason Gorder, Denis Freitas, Rob Lean, Mark Roberts
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: July 1, 2015The SkeletorPoint Paradox
The war rages on as the Eternians try to beat back the forces of Hordak and even though He-Man took back Mount Zoar, they're far from the end of this conflict. In the last issue, He-Man saw a vision of the future in which he uses any means possible to take down his foe, but the man he became because of it was one that rivaled the evil that he fought back. With this knowledge and the guidance of the Sorceress Teela, He-Man broke his sword and reverted back to Adam.....What this means for our Master of the Universe, I'm not exactly sure, but our heroes better come up with something fast because while this was going on, Hordak was given the Eyes of Grayskull from Evil-Lyn; who wasn't about to follow a Skeletor who decided to flip flop to the side of good. So yeah, bad times all around. Let's check out this issue and see if the tides can be turned and if our heroes have a shot at surviving this Eternity War.
Explain It!:
Our issue begins with Plan B. What's plan B, you ask, well since Evil-Lyn went and delivered the most powerful weapon in the Universe right at Hordak's feet, Skeletor figures out another way to hopefully take the dark lord down. Right at the edge of the light and dark sides of Eternia, atop a mountain surrounded by lava, lies the Well of Darkness........ and this well will be the point in which Skeletor hopes to take control of the war. We're given a little history lesson about how Hordak was trapped in Despondos during his siege of Etheria and the souls that were collected there were transformed into a vault of power that gave Hordak his power, but now that he's taken control of Castle Grayskull and escaped that dark dimension, the power waits for someone to claim it. Using the Well of Darkness, which is the dark bridge to Despondos that connects Eternia to Etheria, Skeletor plans on claiming this power. How does Skeletor know all of this? She-Ra certainly wants to know and I like to think that like the beginning of any great story, it started with She-Ra handing Skeletor a beer so he can get started.
Skeletor lays it down for us about how seven years ago, he helped Hordak conquer Etheria, but apparently that wasn't the power he was seeking. Old Skelly, wanted to take a cue from Huey Lewis and talk about the Power of Love. That's right all you non-believers, Skeletor was madly in love with Shadow Weaver, the woman who taught him about magic, but even though the love seemed to be reciprocated, Shadow Weaver was loyal to Hordak. When Skeletor is called into Hordak's chambers, we get a slight suspicion that Shadow Weaver might have sold Skeletor out, but it seems like everything turns out all right when Hordak presents Skeletor with the Havoc Staff, as a means to travel back in time to steal Adora away from her parents. Again, this all seems okay from what we've seen so far, but then shit gets real people. Once Skeletor holds the Havoc Staff in his hands for the first time, he's given a vision about the past/future. We see that Skeletor does go back in time and steals Adora, but the trip was one way and Skeletor would end up raising Adora as his own with Shadow Weaver; where eventually he'd crave the power he once had with the Havoc Staff before he time traveled back, depleting most of it's power and we find out that this is all an awful loop where Hordak defeats that Skeletor, who became deformed and the Havoc Staff itself is the skull of the defeated Skeletor from a future past............ Yeah, that's some shit, isn't it? With this revelation about the events that are about to transpire........again, Hordak sees no other way around it and tries to kill Skeletor. Luckily though, Skeletor now has the Havoc Staff and uses it to open a portal and escapes his execution.
In the end, we learn that Hordak has Shadow Weaver erase the memory of Despara, so she'll never know the father who raised her, but with the timeline fractured because Skeletor never went back and kidnapped Adora in the first place now, Hordak claims that with these actions, Skeletor has made himself into the Master of Death......... and who doesn't get a shudder of joy in hearing that? Now that story time is over, Skeletor readies She-Ra, Trapjaw and Beast Man to enter Despondos and we find out that the Havoc Staff itself it the key to the realm.
That's it for this issue of He-Man: The Eternity War and wow.....just wow. Dan Abnett can certainly spin a tale of Eternia........you know, if you haven't already realized that from his previous issues. This story is so interconnected throughout different timelines and altered timelines that it really comes off that Abnett is a true fan of these characters....... and I hope that's not just me doing that whole wishful thinking thing I do, but if he's not, he can really fake the funk like none other because he keeps cranking out awesomeness after awesomeness. I love time travel stories and incorporating it with Skeletor was so much fun and interesting because of the ramifications that his non actions will cause. Edgar Salazar is replacing Pop Mhan this issue and while I'm a Pop fan boy, Edgar did one hell of a job filling in and I hope that we get to see more of him in DC because his books seem kind of sporadic and because of the fine work in this issue, I hope he gets a title all his own soon. So really, top notch all around because this was an excellent story, depicted with incredible art. Bravo.
Bits and Pieces:
So much story! This issue comes off feeling like a full blown event itself in the plot that it brings us. I just imagine Dan Abnett sitting down to write, tightening his belt......for some reason and deciding to blow the reader's minds just in case they were questioning his power..... Yeah, Dan Abnett's kind of strange in my mind, but I'll go with it. An amazing story that fractures time itself and even though we have a guest artist on this issue, Edgar Salazar rocked it like he normally does. Why aren't you reading Eternity War already?
9.3/10
I love this series and I'm a big MOTU fan. I'm all for time travel and this issue was awesome but I couldn't help feeling dazed and confused as some of this paradox doesn't make sense to me. How could Hordak send Skeletor back with the staff if he never killed Skeletor to use his skull in the first place? What was he doing on Etheria serving Hordak seven years ago (in which his term of service lasted 5 years)? Adora was fully grown when Hordak was presenting Skeletor with the staff so how could he have no recollection of bringing her to that timeline and raising her? Lastly, how does she remain if Skelotor learns all this and refrains from delivering her? Great book but confusing as Hell. Oh well. Bring on issue #8.
ReplyDelete1. He had already killed Skeletor previously, but the events became a paradox when this Skeletor didn't go back in time to complete the loop.
Delete2. He was getting his magic knowledge on and escaping his fate on Eternia
3. That Skeletor hadn't gone back to in time to raise Despara.
4. That's the Paradox that fractured time and hopefully we'll learn the ramifications of his actions further in the storyline.
Totally bring on issue #8.