Not a lot of “He-Man” news on the site, as you may have noticed, but this one is pretty interesting.
As reported by IGN, the current “He-Man” ongoing will be relaunched this coming December as “He-Man: the Eternity War” (a play, I would assume, on Eternia where the series takes place). With series writer and artist Dan Abnett and Pop Mhan both staying on their current respective roles, the new series is apparently being developed in conjunction with Rob David, who is the head writer for the “Masters of the Universe” franchise over at Mattel, who licenses the property out.
DC has had the “He-Man” series since 2012, and David and Abnett both remark that this is going to be one of the biggest stories they’ve ever done with the character and the franchise. David refers to it as, “This is our Ragnarok, our Twilight of the Gods, the epic showdown He-Man fans have been waiting for. It’s He-Man vs. Skeletor, She-Ra vs. Hordak, Masters vs. Dark Masters – all fighting for control over Castle Grayskull. In the end, winner takes all. Who will become the Master of the Universe? Nothing will be the same after this.”
Licensed comics of this ilk are often judged in different ways by the fanbase. Growing up “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” was a much bigger part of our cultural lexicon than it is now, and the adventures of He-Man and friends has always had a more difficult time maintaining a sense of prominence in the current comic climate. It’s certainly not had the consistent and long-lasting effects of something like “GI Joe” or “Transformers,” for example, though there’s not too much reason not to generally speaking.
All that said, with someone like Dan Abnett on the series and Mattel apparently throwing their full weight behind the series, this could be very interesting. He-Man fighting Skeletor in a winner gets all deathmatch for everything? That’s a throwdown worth paying for.
“He-Man: The Eternity War” #1 launches in December.
