He-Man Eternity War# 2

 By Mark Rodriguez

Last time we had Hordak forge his own Power Sword and become even more powerful than he was already. There are also powerful gems out there called the Eye of Chaos and the Eye of Chronos, and it just so happens that Skeletor has the Eye of Chaos. He-Man, She-Ra and the Sorceress (formerly Teela who is also now leader of the Snake Men, if ya didn't know) decide to join forces, wage war and stop the forces of evil from getting these all-powerful gems.

The issue opens with He-Man on Battle Cat leading a huge army of Snake Men, all armed to teeth, ready to storm into Mount Zoar and retake it from the Horde come day break. Their main problem is the Horde's Orbital Disruptor.

Two nights earlier, He-Man and Man-At-Arms discuss this, and Duncan says he has a way to neutralize it with the help of one of the Horde's teleport devices he managed to obtained earlier. Man-At-Arms has Roboto prepared for such a mission. He-Man asks him what Teela meant when he said 'the Crystal Sea' earlier (last issue).

Duncan explains that when Teela was nine, she was determined to find out anything she could about her mother. Only Duncan knew her mother was really the original Sorceress and he was never allowed to tell. Teela went off by herself to seek the Oracle at the Crystal Sea for answers, but since she never found her, she was stranded in an island where she managed to survive all by herself for 90 days until Duncan found her.

Man-At-Arms says Teela is strong and loves Adam with all his heart. He asks him when was the last time He-Man turned back into Adam. He-Man says it's been a while but for now they are at war and he needs to stay strong for his people. Duncan says he's the strongest person he ever knew, and not just because of the power of Grayskull.

Back to the present, He-Man and the Snake Men charge into battle. The Snake Men attack the Horde's army of troopers, catching them off guard. Mantenna sends out more troops to stop them. Kobra Khan and his men spit out their venom, making it rain poisonous acid rain on the soldiers. Squeeze and Rattlor's soldiers break past the Horde's troops. Tung Lashor leads his army of dinosaurs to charge through. He-Man and Battle Cat fight their way through the Horde Troopers telling their men to advance.

Meanwhile, out in orbit, Roboto appears thanks to the teleporter. Not just Roboto, but Man-At-Arms is wearing him as robot armor. They set out to find the Orbital Disrupter and put it out of commission.

Mantenna calls for them to release Spydor. The giant spider monster attacks the Snake Men, and He-Man lunges into action, telling his men and he will take the beast down. As He-Man fights the spider, Mantenna orders to have the Orbital Disrupter aimed at him in case the monster fails.

Roboto and Man-At-Arms prepare to disarm the weapon, but it's starting to arm itself. They're also under attack by flying robot bats. Roboto got blasted in the arm, but he is able to destroy all the bats. Duncan and Roboto both know that this blast also damaged the teleporter, so even if they manage to sabotage the Orbital Disrupter... they won't able to go back home. They set the detonators up.

He-Man finished off the spider monster as the Snake Men cheer him on. He-Man says Mount Zoar is theirs, and they managed to strike first blood. In the sky he sees the Orbital Disruptor explode and he is eager to see Man-At-Arms again and thank him. However, in space, Roboto has taken heavy damage as he was caught in the explosion and his thrusters have failed. Roboto and Man-At-Arms fall towards Eternia, burning up as they cut through the atmosphere....

My opinions- 

This is super action-packed I'll have to say. This is the kind of savage 300-style war action you'd imagine when living on Eternia, not the kid-friendly He-Man gently shoving someone onto the ground like in the classic cartoon. He-Man just ripping that giant spider with his bare hands was just insane. This He-Man is NOT afraid to get in there and get his hands dirty. And he must have a strong stomach too. I don't care if I had the power of Superman, I'd just throw a mountain on top of it or something, I wouldn't drive my hands through its guts.

Seeing the Snake Men front and center was cool too and it was cool seeing them as He-Man's loyal soldiers, under the Sorceress' command of course. Mantenna makes some appearances there, mostly barking orders at his men. I like how they kept his strange mouth that the original action figure had.

I also noticed how they cleverly snuck in reference to one of the episodes of the old series. In 'Teela's Quest', she does go out to seek the Oracle to find out more about her mother. While in the episode she does discover that she was the daughter of the Sorceress, with must regret, her mother wipes her memory of this. Here it's a quick story from Duncan and in this version Teela was only nine when she ventured out, but it's still a cool tidbit for those out there that are paying attention and remember the original cartoon. People say this was one of the series' best episodes.

One thing that stands out in this issue is the notion of Man-At-Arms wearing Roboto as if he were Iron Man. Roboto has always been a stand-alone character displaying his own form of sentience. I wonder how he feels now that he's been turned into a space outfit? It reminds me of the Turtle comic where Donnie's mind is now in Metalhead's body, and he transforms into a boat and has Splinter sit in him and ride him. But it mostly reminds me of Iron Man. This was such a new idea, at least for MOTU standards, that I'm curious how it would have played out in different versions.

But now it seems it's all going to end for both Duncan and Roboto. What will happen? I'll soon see (of course with issue 9 out, I'm sure you already know, but don't spoil it for me) because with King Randor dead or missing for some time, and Teela forever stuck as the Sorceress as the real one is also gone, this series is not afraid to kill off characters.

And yes, Spydor was a toy as well. He was actually battery operated and could walk around. It seems he belonged to Skeletor, not Hordak, but it is possible that the Horde captured it whenever Skeletor was driven away.

 I remember the toy from seeing it in stores and stuff, but not if he was actually in any of the cartoon episodes. One thing I'm left asking myself with this issue. Where's She Ra?