By Mark Rodriguez
It looks like this yeah there's a subsect of Free Comic Book Day called Comics Giveaway Day, as we see some of the books this year have that logo on them instead of the FCBD one. For a good while now, the He-Man license has been passed from DC to Dark Horse. Based on the cover, it looks like this one will be based more on the original toyline than anything else. This book is good timing as there's a new He-Man live action move on the horizon.
"Telling Tales" opens at a social gathering in Eternos City, just a bit outside the walls of the Eternos Palace. Some women are scouting for potential suitors and one of them, named Emirelle, has struck up a conversation with Prince Adam. Emirelle was telling the prince a story about a milk maid, and now wants to hear about some of his tales of living in the palace and visiting different lands. Adam says he's a master story teller and has just the tale for her.
Prince Adam tells the story of when Hordak and his Evil Horde first arrived to attack Eternia. Having already conquered his own planet Etheria, Hordak now set his sights on this planet. His first stop was to attack Snake Mountain, home of Skeletor. Skeletor was a villain in his own right and was once Hordak's apprentice. After a rough battle, Skeletor and his forces lost the fight. Afterwards, Hordak tried to go after Castle Grayskull.
Hordak built one of his Fright Zones in the nearby wastelands. Eternos sent out Man-At-Arms, Teela and a group of warriors to fight Hordak. Hordak uses his powers to create an army of Horde Troopers. Luckily He-Man and Battle Cat came in to help defeat the army. However, both fell to the Horde's most dangerous weapon, the brainwashing Slime Pit.
Meanwhile, Skeletor wasn't taking his defeat lying down. One of his men reminded him of an exiled warrior from the long-lost days of Pre-Eternia. This warrior would have legendary power and an army of his own. Skeletor used his black magic to bring King Hiss and the Snake Men back to Eternia. King Hiss had also wanted to conquer Grayskull, so he wasted no time in sending his men after the Horde.
He-Man had to fight the effects of the Slime Pit. He used his sword to turn back into Prince Adam, which sets both him and Cringer free.
Eternos' warriors teamed up with Skeletor and King Hiss' forces to take down the Horde. However, as long as Hordak had access to Grayskull's power, he could continue to create a never-ending army of Horde Troopers. Prince Adam and Cringer found the Fright Zone. As Adam used his Power Sword to transform into He-Man, the large lightning blast destroyed the Fright Zone. Hordak and his men were defeated and forced to retreat. However, now with the Horde gone, King Hiss revealed himself to be a new enemy as he betrayed Skeletor. He-Men realized now they have a new threat to deal with.
Back to the present, Adam says the day was saved for the time being. Emirelle asks what the story has to do with him. Adam is unable to answer and Emirelle thinks he's mocking her over being a simple milk maid. Adam says the sun is coming up and he takes this chance to leave.
Back to the palace, Teela is chewing Adam out, asking where he was the night before. He was supposed to be guiding a visiting dignitary. Adam apologizes and says he got caught up with something. That just makes Teela angrier. She says when they were kids, Adam would say he wanted to be a big hero someday and asks what happened to that. Just then Orko flies in and says they have trouble.
Orko says a grazzler escaped from the royal zoo and when he tried to use his magic to solve the issue, he accidentally gave it laser gun horns. Teela turns to Adam, but he's already run off. Once alone, Adam tells Cringer that he related that story to Emirelle was a reminder. He should be careful what he wished for, because he just might get it. Adam's childhood wish to become a hero someday rings true as he pulls out his sword and proclaims... BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!!
Dungeons & Dragons
"Magefall" opens with a warrior overlooking a fortress in the distance. She monologues how good is a life, and evil is an excuse and her power stood between the two. Across several realms, she was once the balance. She leaps into battle against Mordenkainen, the archmage of the cosmic neutrality. The platinum lord Bahamut has sent her with his dread prophesy. She says there will be chaos and destruction not seen for 30,000 years with the archmage at the center of it all.
The warrior introduces herself as Radiant Zael, the Grandmaster of Flowers and Fist of the Dragon God. She offers Mordenkainen two options. The first option is for the mage to retreat and surrender his power. Mordenkainen refuses. Zael asks why he wants to be at the center of the world's oblivion when it is not even his world. The mage says it not his world but he has grown fond it. If it is destined to be destroyed, he wants to be the in the center of it all. He casts a giant magic symbol at the warrior and she is able to break through it. Zael summons magic of her own and tells Bahamut that the mage has chosen the second path.
A giant dragon made of magic flames is manifested and it swoops upon the mage. The mage is sent flying out of his fortress as Zael leaves. Zael survives this and calls out to Bahamut, asking if this is the best he can do. He grabs the ash that used to be his once mighty fortress. He says even if Bahamut sends a stranger after him, and even if all he was built has been destroyed.... Mordenkainen will push back.
My Thoughts-
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was possibly my first major fandom as a kid before the Turtles came along. The story was pretty much a recap which pretty much follows the story originally told in the actual toyline. If we go strictly by the toyline's lore, Skeletor and his crew were the main villains, until Hordak and the Evil Horde arrived. Then sometime later, Skeletor learned of the Snake Men thanks to Kobra Khan, but they had their own agenda.
The cartoons went a different route. Hordak and his crew were too new and the He-Man cartoon was already in syndication. So Hordak would become the main villain of She-Ra cartoon. Then the Snake Men were even newer, so they threw in Tung Lashor and Rattlor to work for Hordak on the She-Ra show. King Hiss was never in the show because I guess they didn't want two main He-Man villains on the She-Ra show while He-Man himself was stuck fighting Skeletor in his own show's reruns. The 2002 He-Man cartoon's second season was all about the Snake Men and if season 3 wasn't cut, Hordak would have been the main focus then.
The comic has a very 'classic toyline' feel, as the characters stick closer to the original toy designs without being too updated or stylized. The Horde even had those skull-faced crossbows that came with their action figures. The art is hit or miss with Adam and Teela, which Adam's face looking extra beefy... and I don't know what the hell is going on with Teela. She could give Malibu Comics Chun Li a run for her money in terms of bad art design.
I do wonder why Adam told Emirelle that story. Yeah, it was for our benefit, and also Adam says it's to remind him of how he once wished to be a hero and has now become one. In-universe though, it's still random story. "I hear you're quite the story-teller" "yeah let me tell you the story of all these monsters trying to conquer our world that are very real and are all still out there. That usually sets the festive mood". There had to have been a better way to do the recap.
The Dungeons and Dragons side was an interesting, though incredibly wordy read, mostly due to the characters' overly dramatic dialogue. This kicks off a storyline as the archmage Mordenkainen has survived this attack and is will be out for revenge. I wonder if Zael wil return and have a larger role.
Now that Dark Horse has the license, there have been several MOTU stories, with one being a multiverse story, one being a prelude to the Netflix series and now one being a prelude to the upcoming live action movie. Apparently a regular monthly series will be coming out more in line with the original toyline. I might look into that one.
We're also curious to see how the live-action movie will work out. Hopefully they don't spend too much of the movie on Earth.
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