Writer: Tim Seeley 
Artist: Dan Fraga
Colorist: Matt Yackey
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Cover Artists: InHyuk Lee, Dan Fraga, Matt Yackey
Editor: Michael McCalister
Publisher: DC Comics
He-Man has had his fair share of crossovers since becoming property of DC Comics, including team-ups with the Justice League, the Thundercats, and even a trip to the Injustice universe. This latest series ups the ante considerably by pairing He-Man up with … himself! Or rather, his selves, as a variety of different He-Men (He-Mans?) join forces to combat an inter-dimensional evil threatening all life everywhere.
Conceptually, He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse shares many similarities with another DC event, “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” where an all-powerful being feasted on entire worlds throughout the DC Multiverse. Writer Tim Seeley introduces a similar catalyst: an evil version of our hero from an Anti-Eternia, hell-bent on wiping out every version of He-Man in existence. Here is where the story takes a cue from Marvel’s recent “Spider-Verse” and “Spider-Geddon” events by bringing together a ragtag group of heroes (all of whom are different iterations of He-Man) to stop the bad guy and save the multiverse.
Much like the aforementioned team, the book itself is a bit of a mixed bag. The overall tone is all over the place with the story going from dark to silly to somewhat serious with little transition. The introduction of one of the new He-Men brings with it an abrupt shift in art that feels out of place. This particular character is clearly the “Spider-Ham” of this story, but his presence is more distracting and weird than anything else.
Seeley has some experience with these characters, and it’s obvious that he and the artistic team are having fun with this mini-series. Artists Dan Fraga and Matt Yackey show tremendous range in depicting a variety of He-Men and Eternias. The opening scene takes place on a version of Eternia that is clearly based on the original animated series, complete with those classic designs and a Skeletor that is equal parts threatening and silly. The lettering by Saida Temofonte is fantastic, and features subtle differences to differentiate the characters from various worlds.
Nostalgically speaking, there is a lot of fun to be had, particularly with the many references to the MOTU’s less popular canon. The inclusion of one such character is likely to cause certain readers to rejoice, while others may turn away in disgust. The scope of this series and the respect to the characters’ varied history is evident in the last page reveal, which is likely to be equally polarizing to long-time fans. Despite a few missteps, there is a lot of potential to this series, and I’m excited to see where it goes from here.
He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse #1
Credits
- Great concept
- Not afraid to take risks
- Pure nostalgic fun
Credits (cont)
- A bit derivative
- Uneven tone
