This article has been updated since its publication.
Via CBR, Dark Horse and IDW Publishing have announced He-Man and the Splinter Clan are finally teaming up in “Masters of the Universe/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles of Grayskull,” a four-issue series starting this fall. Written by Tim Seeley with art by Freddie E. Williams II, colors by Andrew Dalhouse, and lettering by Andworld Design, the book will see the turtles wind up in Eternia after spotting Shredder and Krang make a deal with “otherworldly demon-mage” Skeletor.
The synopsis elaborates, “It turns out, when you mix Utrom mutagen with demon magic, you get a nasty purple poison — and it’s brought Eternia to the brink of chaos. So, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey are teaming up with the Masters of the Universe to kick some blue bony butt. The only problem is… He-Man is missing in action.”
Seeley and Williams are no strangers to the characters, having worked together on “Injustice vs. He-Man and Masters of the Universe,” and separately on titles like “Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (which Williams created with James Tynion IV.) Williams disclosed a crossover had been developed when DC owned the He-Man comics rights in 2020, saying it “got delayed twice then outright cancelled over a year ago.” Mattel dusted off the idea for an MOTU Origins toy line that was launched earlier this year, also called Turtles of Grayskull, presumably opening the door again for this comic book pitch.
Williams notes, “Tim and I have been discussing potential plots and ideas for a few years, and he still surprised me with an even cooler (unique) way to connect these worlds, and reconnect and connect again… in this bending world hopping, time-skipping approach. This crossover has a long lineage — many of us fans have been bashing He-Man and the Ninja Turtles together since we were kids! And I’m honored and thrilled to draw it!”
Seeley comments, “As inevitable as a meet up between He-Man and the Turtles has felt, it took some time getting done! And now that it’s here, I have a huge pile of newly purchased figures and a bunch of pages for what is one of the most awesome comics I’ve ever gotten to work on. To say Freddie and I approached this Dark Horse series with some screaming-our-heads-off-style enthusiasm is underselling it a bit. I can’t wait until you get to read this.”
“Masters of the Universe/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles of Grayskull” #1 will be released on September 25, with a main cover by Williams, and variants by Stan Sakai & Emi Fujii and Alexis Ziritt. Head to the link to check those out, and Williams’s character designs until then. In the meantime, Dark Horse’s latest MOTU series, “Revolution” (a prequel to the last Netflix series) will continue to run until August, while IDW will celebrate the turtles’ 40th anniversary with various new series, including Jason Aaron and co.’s relaunch of the main comic, starting July 24.
