Writer: Tim Seeley
Art Team: Tom Derenick, Matt Yackey, Saida Temofonte
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 19, 2020
He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse continue on with issue four this month and for once this issue doesn't require a deep dive into He-Man lore to know the characters or setting. While I have been enjoying the series quite a bit, there still had been lacking the feeling that I'm always missing something, mostly to me because it wasn't yet centered on my 'version' of He-Man ... until now. I'm a relatively simple guy, so this was enough to get me motivated for a review I may have otherwise blown off because let's face it the 'taking care of kids is hard' excuse is an easy goto. Any way without more hesitation lets jump into good old 80's cartoon Eternia here and discuss.
The issue begins with Keldor, and the movie universe He-Man (Looking Down or LD for short), peeking through a vent in cartoon world Eternia debating their next course of action after repeatedly come up on the short end of the stick. The overall rosy outlook of this world has them frustrated after dealing with whats seems to be an unstoppable force in Anti-He-Man but the darkness is balanced nicely with Prince Adam/He-Man up to his old tricks ... the ones I enjoyed so much as a kid mainly.
It's not all fun, games, and Orcoween forever this issue though as we still have Anti-He-Man to deal with, and with LD He-Man ready to do whatever is necessary to end this threat once and for all, things get crazy. The main gist for everyone being here is for the 'Starseed', which is this issue magic item to be had, that was taken to this Eternia by Zodac for reasons we will discover more in detail later on. Long story short, LD He-Man wants to use it to stop Anti-He-Man, Anti-He-Man wants it to gain even more power, Skeletor of this earth wants it because he is a cartoon villain who wants things, you get the gist, its the hot button item of the moment and will start this issues conflict. So, of course, LD He-Man gets things started by knocking out an unsuspecting Price Adam beginning the collision course we're inevitably headed for.
As the Starseed is located everyone on the hunt converges at once leading to a giant battle. The power and anger within LD He-Man start to turn him to Anti-He-Man's side and as he tries to hold all this off Prince Adam and Keldor transport everyone to Skeletors Snake Moutain, which begins phase two of this crazy plan as Skeletor begins to do what Skeletor does. It all ends up wrapping around leading to a pretty interesting ending, and the first cliffhanger in the series that doesn't feel like the others that came before it, which is really a breath of fresh air the series needed heading into its final phase.
As a whole, the issue felt like a success to me getting me back on board with where this story is headed. If I had a complaint in general about this series I still think trying to explain all this multiverse non-sense can get too wordy at points here and in previous issues. I myself am just not a fan of multiverses and time travel storytelling in general, mostly because my brain explodes trying to follow it, and I find it becomes a bit of a drag on the overall general concept of what you're trying to explain. However, the action and characters end up pulling me through it all to even it out in a way I'm mostly able to look past that all ... but it is there.
The art capturing cartoon Eternia is excellent this issue, and while some transitions feel a little choppy, jumping from different viewpoints in the action, trying to touch on what all characters are doing, if you don't rush through everything happening it all comes together in a nice package by issues end. While I do think LD movie He-Man looks a little less Dolph Lundgreny here, which makes me sad, I do still enjoy his look, and like that he's been the point of view character for most of the series, instead of a generic run of the mill comic book He-Man (which I still love don't get me wrong).
Bits and Pieces:
Overall, issue four may be the most fun I've had reading this series since the first issue, which is a good sign as the series enters its home stretch. The trip to cartoon Eternia helped renew my interest and bring a little hope back into the series while supplying a few surprises along the way. The multiversal explanations are still a bit heavy at times, which bogs the overall story down a touch, but if you've been enjoying the ride so far I think this issue will settle any concerns you may have of it starting to feel stale and bring some excitement to the end journey.
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