He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse #3 // Review
The first two issues of He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse--while certainly not “good,” per se--at least had a certain amount of madcap fun to make them worth reading. The concept is easy enough to grasp--what if Into the Spider-Verse, but with He-Man and Skeletor--and the catalog of Masters of the Universe characters and iterations is deep enough and vast enough to supply the series with loads of ridiculous situations. Unfortunately, the third issue fails to even reach the pulpy heights of the first two.
In this issue, our heroes--the live-action film version of He-Man, a version of He-Man from an obscure mobile game, and a mirror-universe Keldor who has not become He-Man’s nemesis Skeletor--find themselves in the world of the 2003 cartoon reboot of the Masters of the Universe. As that reboot was somewhat self-serious, so are most of the characters that the heroes (and the reader) encounter there, making the issue mostly a grim bloodbath as the villainous Anti-He-Man lays waste to yet another world.
Writer Tim Seeley continues to demonstrate his encyclopedic knowledge of all things He-Man, making it clear that he understands the nuances of this version of the Masters of the Universe. Unfortunately, this issue just lacks the fun of the first two, and even one sequence that seems like it’s supposed to be funny only comes off as grim and dour.
Some of the art is by penciler Dan Fraga and inker Richard Friend, and the rest is by penciler/inker Tom Derenick, but it all seems an over-rendered, busy mess. Colorist Matt Yackey hits some heights, particularly in scenes between Skeletor and Keldor, but can’t really make the thing look any better. Letterer Saida Temofonte has some fun with various different lettering styles for various characters.
The first two issues of He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse felt like being a kid again and playing with action figures after eating too much candy and cake. Unfortunately, issue #3 feels like what happens when the sugar crash hits, and you and your friends just start fighting over the figures.