The Master of Eternity!
Written By: Dan Abnett, Rob David
Art By: Pop Mhan, Mark Roberts, Deron Bennett
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: January 27, 2016
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: January 27, 2016
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
Coming in really late for the review of this issue, which is crazy to me for how much I loved this series and the Masters of the Universe series that proceeded it. I don't know if I just got caught up in DC Superhero comics and forgot all about the sorcery and science world of Eternia or what, but it's time to finish off the Eternity War and find out if Skeletor is able to go all end of the Universe on our asses........ since there aren't many superhero books out this week. Also, in all honesty I might be on a MOTU kick again because my Man-E-Faces and Tri-Klops figures came in the mail today and I've been playing with them like I was five years old again. Good times. Okay, let's jump into this issue, where Prince Adam has shed his King Hiss-ness, has put out the fires of Horokoth in the Grayskull forge and has become a new all powerful He-Man. Let's check out He-Man and Skeletor's final showdown.
Explain It!:
Our issue begins with Teela just getting the shit kicked out of her by Evil-Lyn, since Teela's sorceress powers were tied to the Snake-Men, who have now all died since King Hiss made sure that they'd all die if he died............ which he did........... Damn, I love the Snake-Men and knowing that they're completely kaput is kind of depressing. With what seems to be her last words, Teela asks the Goddess for help and Zoar comes to her rescue, repelling Evil-Lyn back while Teela uses her magic to awaken a knocked out She-Ra so that she can finally get her ass back in the fight........ because really, she's been pretty useless for this entire Eternity War. Alright, we got our Princess of Power back in the mix and she knows that she has to destroy the Eyes of Grayskull if our heroes plan on having a chance in winning, but that would just be too easy. Skeletor isn't about to just let He-Man beat him in another fight so he uses his new powers to take command of the dead from throughout time and pits He-Man against Eternia's original heroes Vykron, He-Ro, Sir Laser Lot, Wun-Dar and even King Grayskull himself, while She-Ra is pitted against the ghost of the man who raised her, Hordak.
The craziest thing about the gigantic fight with the dead that our heroes are having is that we have something way more important........... at least to me, going on outside of the fight and that's Man-At-Arms going to his daughter Teela's aid and telling her that she's not allowed to die. I'm guessing that with the power the former Sorceress and Teela's mother had, she taught Duncan how to trade his life for someone else's and with that it appears that Duncan dies so that Teela can live. So many goddamn deaths going on in this series! I really hope that Man-At-Arms finds a loophole somewhere and survives because............. well, because I just love the character and I've already had my Snake-Men taken away from me. So yeah, our heroes' fight against the dead leads to He-Man raging the hell out that Skeletor would have the audacity to use the champions of Eternia as his personal puppets and we find out that since Skeletor witnessed his doppelgangers throughout the Multiverse being defeated by He-Man no matter what they did, he will destroy everything, even himself in order to finally win. That's some insane ass shit Skeletor, but luckily She-Ra defeats the ghost of Hordak and He-Man uses his power to declare himself the Master of Eternity and dispels the ghosts and at the same time as She-Ra destroys the Eyes of Grayskull, He-Man plunges his sword of power deep into Skeletor, defeating not only him, but his mad pursuit to destroy eternity.
In the end, Horokoth is dispelled in the land, the evil of Skeletor is overcome and Grayskull once again rises into the sky, creating a beacon of hope and peace throughout Eternia. He-Man once again becomes Prince Adam and we see that Teela is no longer the Sorceress, but she's alive so I'm okay with that. As our issue closes, She-Ra, Adam and Teela look on at Castle Grayskull as they wonder what comes next.
That's it for this issue of He-Man: The Eternity War and even though it's kind of a staple for He-Man and She-Ra to overcome their obstacle by simply yelling that they have the power, it kind of makes this issue come off really lackluster for an ending, especially after everything that we've dealt with in this series getting more and more intense. I don't know, I still enjoyed the issue because I'm a fan of He-Man........... Well, not the He-Man he became for this issue because he just looked ridiculous, but any He-Man at this point is better than none.......... and that's a weird thing to say since I'm reviewing this issue late and the series is already over. Really though, instead of a conclusion to our story, besides for issue #15 being the epilogue issue, this feels more like a getting things back to status quo story and it's just not what I wanted after reading this series for so long. The thing to really gush over was seeing the Preternia characters, but even that just felt like filler because they served no purpose than to extend the book by having He-Man fight them for awhile. The art though was as great as always and I've always been a fan of the colors of this book because of how bright and vibrant they are........... I wish I had more to say about this issue, but it really is just more of the same and because of it we get a really boring ending.
Bits and Pieces:
While I've enjoyed this series for the most part, I have to say that the conclusion to our big battle here comes off a bit stale since it's pretty much a repeat of any He-Man story, where our heroes overcome simply because they have the power. The book still looked great though and it was nice to see She-Ra finally getting into the fight, even if that too was short lived.
6/10
Eric, with all due respect, i believe that you completely missed out the point with this review. It wasn't that the heroes won, because they "just have the power". It has been a gigantic battle and it was needed a team effort to bring down Skeletor. Adam had to sacrifice his life in the previous issue, for defeating Hsss, and reborn in the Fires of Eternity. In this issue He-Man needed to distract Skeletor's attention from the Eyes of Grayskull, which amplified Skeletor's necromantic powers upon the souls of the dead, so She-Ra could attacked them and destroyed them, otherwise He-Man wouldn't be able to free the souls, and defeat Skeletor. And also your statement about "return to the previous status quo", sorry but this is wrong. If you have read the last issue you know that, and you can see the consequences of the War. Everything has changed, Eternia is devastated by the war, full with war refugees, Adam became King of a destroyed world, who is trying to build all over again. If you have read the final issue, which is perhaps one of the best of the series in my opinion, you would know, that everything has changed, especially with what happened to the Power of Grayskull, after Adam's decision in the last issue.
ReplyDeleteBut He-Man freed the souls and defeated Skeletor before She-Ra destroyed the Eyes of Grayskull and as for return to the previous status quo, I hadn't read issue 15 when I did this because I wanted to do this review before having any knowledge of what came after. For this issue it really appeared to me that we were just getting back to basics, which I will say that I was completely wrong when I do the review for #15
DeleteThe story is unfolding in a parallel way, but contemporaneously. She-Ra attacked the Eyes, while He-Man was engaged in battle with Skeletor, weakening their power and their connection, with Skeletor and the souls, giving the chance at He-Man to make his move. She-Ra destroyed the Eyes completely almost at the same time with Skeletor's defeat by He-Man true, but her interference and the attack on the Eyes begun earlier, and it was that change the tide in favor of He-Man. There was a reason of why Teela gave her remaining life force in order to bring She-Ra back, because without her, there wouldn't have been any final victory. And i agree with your review that Duncan's sacrifice was perhaps the most heartbreaking moment of the entire series. As for the status quo, since you haven't read the final issue, i wouldn't like to spoiled it for you Eric. You see that the story is intended to move forward, even if with no news about any future MOTU project, maybe we will never see it happen. But i would recommend you to read it, because it has a lot of great character moments, a final twist, and a last page, that as a MOTU fan, will give you a great satisfaction. At least i hope.
DeleteOh I read it right after I was done with this review, I just wanted to go into this with no future knowledge.
DeleteSo whose even still alive after all of this? It seems like alot of characters have already died off by now.
ReplyDeleteIt was a war for the fate of the Universe. And as any war it has its casualties. But for answer the question Hsss, Hordak and Duncan were the most prominent. Skeletor, Roboto are back, and Moss Man also hinted to return at the final issue. And with She-Ra returning on Etheria,i bet that Hordak would eventually return. But with the MOTU comic ended and with no news about a future series, i guess that we will never find out.
Delete