HE-MAN NEWSPAPER STRIP PART 7

"HE-MAN IN WONDERLAND" | "SHAKEN TO THE CORE" | "THE LAST SURVIVORS"
Story: Chris Weber | Art & Lettering: Gérald Forton
Colors by: Connie Schurr | Editor: Karen Wilson

We're back to the absurd with our next HE-MAN story arc, as Prince Adam and Cringer explore the royal library and come across the books Queen Marlene brought with her from Earth. Then while Adam browses through ALICE IN WONDERLAND, at Snake Mountain, Skeletor casts a long-distance spell on He-Man. The Sorceress appears and tells Adam to transform so that Skeletor's spell will be triggered and He-Man can overcome it. Adam agrees, and one "By the Power of Greyskull" later, our hero is sucked into Skeletor's version of Wonderland.

He-Man wanders around, meeting the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts and White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Doormouse, and so forth, eventually battling the Jabberwock as the queen's champion. The Cheshire Cat reveals himself as Skeletor in disguise, leading to the nightmarish sight of He-Man battling a giant feline with a skeleton face before triumphing again and returning to Eternia.

Honestly, this isn't as awful as the premise sounds. The beginning is a little iffy -- how does Skeletor know to create such an elaborately accurate Wonderland if he's presumably never read the book? But from there, it's actually kind of fun as He-Man wanders around on the same path as Alice. This seems like one I should dislike for it's weirdness, but unlike some past outings, Chris Weber executes that weirdness well, leading to an entertaining story.

THE UNBOXING - NOVEMBER 2018

I meant to have this up this past Sunday, but the Thanksgiving holiday weekend kept me busy, so here it is in an unprecedented midweek Unboxing!

Everything is digital this month, thanks to Amazon/Comixology Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales. First, from DC, I grabbed BATMAN AND ROBIN ADVENTURES vol. 3, NEW TEEN TITANS vol. 9 (which picks up where the Omnibuses I reviewed a few years back ended), TALES OF THE BATMAN: GERRY CONWAY vol. 2, and WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE vol. 1 and vol. 2. (Yes, I've gone out of my way to note more than once how much I dislike a lot of Grant Morrison's writing. I bought these books strictly for the artwork!)

Courtesy of Dark Horse, I grabbed USAGI YOJIMBO/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, which I somehow missed during the last Dark Horse sale, when I stocked up on Usagi books.

From Random House, of all publishers, I grabbed PELLUCIDAR: AT THE EARTH'S CORE, a comic I must assume was originally published at some point by DC, considering it's by Dennis O'Neil and Michael William Kaluta.

And from Marvel, I picked up WEREWOLF BY NIGHT: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION vol. 3. (This was actually part of a Halloween sale last month, but it missed the cutoff for the October Unboxing.)

That's it for November, for Black Friday, and for Cyber Monday. Next month we'll be back to physical volumes for a couple of books to close out the year!

SUPERMAN #19 & ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #442

“THE POWER THAT FAILED!”
Story & Pencils: John Byrne | Coloring: Petra Scotese | Lettering: John Costanza
Assistant Editing: Renee Witterstaetter | Editing: Michael Carlin
and welcome aboard to Odd-Inker: John Beatty

“POWER PLAY”
Scripting/Penciling/Co-Plotting: John Byrne & Jerry Ordway | Inking: Andy Kubert
Lettering: Albert de Guzman | Colorist: Anthony Tollin
Assistant Editing: Renee Witterstaetter | Editing: Michael Carlin

The Plot: (SUPERMAN 19) A spacecraft lands in the river near Metropolis, boiling the water. Superman arrives at the waterfront soon after and chats with Maggie Sawyer, then heads under the sea to check out the ship, which contains empty stasis pods and is otherwise unoccupied. While investigating, Superman suddenly loses his ability to hold his breath and survive underwater for an extended period.

Superman returns to the Daily Planet for a bit, then meets with Maggie again and goes out on patrol, stopping a Professor Kilgrave from escaping prison and losing his power of flight in the process. Then, unable to fly, he attempts to leave the prison by running across water, but his super-speed cuts out as well. Superman makes it to shore with the aid of a passing steamer, then deduces that his powers are failing every time he uses one. He tests this theory with X-ray vision, which shuts off as well. Then a semi truck rams Superman, costing him his power of invulnerability. Immediately after, he’s attacked by a creature called Dreadnaught.

HE-MAN NEWSPAPER STRIP PART 6

"A WORLD IN THE BALANCE" | "AT THE EDGE OF THE DARKEST NIGHT"
Story: Chris Weber | Art & Lettering: Gérald Forton
Colors by: Connie Schurr | Editor: Karen Wilson

Things have calmed down on Eternia since the defeat of Iandir the Ice Queen, which prompts Prince Adam to decide a vacation is in order. The past several strips have played with the idea that Adam is beginning to resent He-Man; that he would like to go adventuring as himself now and then -- but he feels he can't show himself physically competent in any way, lest he blow his secret identity as a foppish layabout. So Adam asks Randor for leave to depart the palace for a few weeks. A bit of soap opera ensues, during which Randor chastises his son for shirking his duties -- but recent strips have also taken pains to depict Adam maturing into a capable member of Randor's ruling council, and when the king realizes this, he agrees that Adam has earned some time off.

Gwildor gets wind of Adam's plans and invites himself along, suggesting a trip to a neighboring planet called Naxos. Before leaving, Adam transforms Cringer into Battle Cat, then recruits Clamp Champ and Ram-Man to help safeguard Eternia in his absence. The Sunday page coloring issues which I mentioned last week continue here, though I'm not absolutely certain all the errors can be laid at the feet of Connie Schurr this time. Clearly there are some Sundays which were printed with missing color plates; there's too much drab brown for these to have been intentionally colored as they are. But even on the strips which appear to be faithfully reproduced, Schurr's colors leave much to be desired. Randor has his brown hair back, but his clothes change color, seemingly randomly, from Sunday to Sunday -- as do Adam's. It's as if Schurr simply gave up entirely on the Filmation palette, and on any sort of consistency in general, and started throwing random colors at the strips for the heck of it. But on the plus side, we've reached a point in the run where the editors behind this volume were unable to find colored versions of all the Sundays, so a few in this arc are reprinted in black-and-white -- and as the strip continues toward its conclusion, colorless Sundays will eventually become the norm.

WONDER WOMAN #17

“TRACES”
Script & Pencils : George Pérez | Finishes: Dick Giordano
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Carl Gafford
Edits: Karen Berger

The Plot: A carrier pigeon arrives for Diana just as Steve and Etta are about to drive her and Vanessa to the airport for a trip to Greece. Diana reads the pigeon’s letter to her friends in the car, then writes a response to her mother and sends it off before boarding her plane.

In Greece, Diana is given a massive public welcome, then spends some time in Athens before touring the country with Vanessa, Julia, and their family friend, Stavros. Eventually she collapses while the group is aboard a boat.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: Vanessa is still pining over Barry, and her friend Eileen continues to insist that he’s only using her to get close to Wonder Woman. Eileen is also concerned Vanessa will stop being her friend when they have a brief argument on this topic.

The letter from Hippolyte details the Amazons’ recent sense that something is amiss on Olympus, which Diana chalks up to the battle she and Superman had with Darkseid. Hippolyte also says that a faction of Amazons wants to isolate Paradise Island from the outside world.

STAN LEE

So the news came out this past Monday that Stan Lee had passed away. I remarked to my wife that day that I felt as if I'd lost another grandparent -- which is in no way meant to diminish my grandparents, who I loved dearly, but is simply meant to illustrate the extent of Stan's presence in my life. I mean, I only met the guy one time (though I was in the same room as him a few more times after that) -- but during my childhood, as was the case for countless others besides me, Stan Lee was Marvel.

I'm not here to discuss the rightness or wrongness of that, by the way. Debates about creator credit and "who did what" will rage for as long as there's any sort of historical interest in sequential art. But regardless of the truth or fiction behind the whole situation, the unchangeable fact is that Stan Lee represented the public face of Marvel for more than one generation.

HE-MAN NEWSPAPER STRIP PART 5

"WHEN YOU NEED AN EXTRA SOMETHING" | "IT'LL BE A COLD DAY"
Story: Chris Weber | Art & Lettering: Gérald Forton
Colors by: Connie Schurr | Editor: Karen Wilson

So after several story arcs which were mostly in the vein of the Filmation TV series that this comic strip ostensibly continues, we now reach... whatever this is. "When You Need an Extra Something" is, so far, the nadir of the strip. "The Time of Disasters", which we looked at last week, was bad, but it nonetheless felt like a sub-par episode of the cartoon. This subsequent arc, however, reads like a pitch that should have been firmly rejected at the earliest possible stage. It's not just awful, it's not HE-MAN. The entire plot is ludicrous and doesn't fit within the established world. (And this is a world that allows for a lot of crazy stuff!)

From the very beginning, we realize this isn't the Eternia we know, as Orko and Cringer argue over what TV show to watch. Prince Adam, meanwhile, is tasked by his father to escort a visiting princess to the theater that night -- and at the theater, the two are accosted by Eternian paparazzi; specifically a reporter and her film crew. Now, look -- I know high technology exists alongside sword and sorcery in He-Man's world. But having the characters watch television and populating the world with roving TV reporters is just absurd. These things are too mundane and "normal" for MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.

But that's not where the inanity of this tale ends. Before the evening's performance begins, Evil-Lyn appears on stage... to hock her new line of beauty products to the well-off ladies of Eternia. And everyond just lets her do it -- she gives a sales pitch, hands out free samples, and nobody attempts to stop or arrest her. Isn't she, like, wanted for war crimes or whatever? This seems the equivalent of an Al Qaeda lieutenant waltzing into the Super Bowl to hock Tupperware or something. It's offensively surreal and makes absolutely no sense.

SUPERMAN #18 & ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #441

“RETURN TO KRYPTON”
Story: John Byrne | Inks: Karl Kesel | Lettering: Bill Oakley
Coloring: Petra Scotese | Assistant Editing: Renee Witterstaetter
Editing: Michael Carlin | and Special Guest Penciller: Mike Mignola

The Plot: Hawkman and Hawkwoman fly Superman to the former location of Krypton. There, Superman gets into a lead-lined spacesuit and flies outside, where he relives some of Krypton’s past and then hallucinates an alternate timeline in which Jor-El saved the people of his world and brought them all to Earth, only to watch as they enslaved the planet. Ultimately, Jor-El kills nearly all the other Kryptonians with an engineered plague, before coming face-to-face with the final living members of his race: Lara, ruler of Metropolis, and her son by Jor-El, Kal-El. Superman then awakens and the Hawks fly him home, where the Kryptonite radiation has passed.

Sub-Plots & Continuity Notes: During his hallucination, Superman sees Jor-El find a cure for Kryptonite poisoning. Remembering the formula, he attempts to duplicate it after returning to Earth, but finds the resultant mixture inert.

This issue is drawn by Mike Mignola, who had also illustrated the Byrne-scripted WORLD OF KRYPTON mini-series in late 1987.

HE-MAN NEWSPAPER STRIP PART 4

"REVOLUTION IN RONDALE" | "THE TIME OF DISASTERS"
Story: Chris Weber | Art & Lettering: Gérald Forton
Colors by: Connie Schurr | Editor: Karen Wilson

As I've noted in previous weeks, I really like that Chris Weber is injecting some elements into the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE comic strip that would never have been considered for the cartoon series since kids likely would've found them boring. A strip is just the place to do this sort of thing, though -- most action/adventure strips have some degree of soap opera thrown in, so even in a strip aimed primarily at kids, it's to be expected. And soap opera is exactly what Weber shoots for in our latest story arc, "Revolution in Rondale".

In this installment, Man-At-Arms's sweetheart, Miranda, returns to her homeland of Rondale when word reaches the Eternian palace of an uprising there, led by her one-time love, Prince Nicholai. Man-At-Arms and Prince Adam accompany Miranda as part of her diplomatic envoy, with Teela along as well for security. The group soon finds that Nicholai is being advised by an outsider named Count Roteleks. And if you just noticed that "Roteleks" is "Skeletor" spelled backwards, then you're about ten steps ahead of me! Although shortly after meeting him, Adam notes that Roteleks reminds him of someone, I somehow never noticed the reverse-spelling trick until it was revealed near the end of the story!

So we have Skeletor, in disguise, urging Nicholai into an attempt to overthrow his land's legitimate government, in the interest of gaining a new ally against the kingdoms of King Randor. Meanwhile, Prince Adam befriends young Prince Corwin, the rightful heir to Rondale's throne, and teaches him a few things about ruling compassionately. But when Skeletor shows his true colors and kidnaps both Corwin and a second-guessing Nicholai, Adam changes to He-Man and tracks his enemy down, saving the hostages. In the end, Nicholai renounces his rebellion and peace returns to Rondale.

ACTION COMICS #600

“DIFFERENT WORLDS”
Story & Breakdowns: John Byrne | Finishes: George Pérez
Letters: John Costanza | Colors: Tom Ziuko
Assistant Editor: Renee Witterstaetter | Editor: Mike Carlin

The Plot: Superman apologizes to Wonder Woman for kissing her without warning, then the two begin to chat. But their conversation is interrupted when Hermes appears and summons Diana to Olympus. Superman follows, but is separated from Wonder Woman upon arrival.

Hermes reveals to Wonder Woman that a group of New Gods invaded Olympus. Meanwhile, Darkseid and Desaad, observing the two heroes from a control room, send a fake Wonder Woman (actually Amazing Grace in disguise) to seduce Superman and a fake Superman (Kalibak in disguise) to clobber Wonder Woman. The heroes fight their enemies, who perform a switch to lure them into fighting one another, instead.

But Superman and Wonder Woman quickly discern the truth and find their way to Darkseid’s hideout. Confronted by the fact that he failed to kill them, Darkseid departs with Desaad, triggering explosives set around Olympus before leaving. But Olympus will only fall when the gods will it, and is unharmed by Darkseid’s treachery.

Superman and Wonder Woman return to Earth, where they decide that a romantic relationship is not meant to be, but they will be friends.

HE-MAN NEWSPAPER STRIP PART 3

"EVIL UNDER THE STARS" | "ATTACK ON SNAKE MOUNTAIN"
Story: Chris Weber | Art & Lettering: Gérald Forton
Colors by: Connie Schurr | Editor: Karen Wilson

He-Man's next newspaper story arc, "Evil Under the Stars", adapts characters from the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE motion picture into comic strip form. Specifically, it's the three movie characters who received action figures in the original toyline, along with one unexpected (and, in my opinion, unwelcome) redesign of an established character.

The story begins with Blade, one of Skeletor's henchmen in the movie who is presented here as an unaligned pirate, making trouble in a village called Ettlain. Teela and her royal guards head out to stop him. Meanwhile, Man-At-Arms and a woman named Miranda are testing a new anti-gravity device. The pair is working in remote coordination with an invetor named Gwildor, who lives in Ettlain. He-Man soon arrives in Ettlain to challenge Blade, but finds the villain backed up by a lizard-man called Saurod. While the villains battle He-Man and Teela, Gwildor meets a woman of his species named Thalia -- but in actuality she is Evil-Lyn, disguised and using Blade and Saurod as a distraction in order to steal a McGuffin called the gravitonic oscillation grenade from Gwildor's workshop.

At this point, the strip taught me a brand-new word I had never before seen in my life: demesne (noun; land attached to a manor and retained for the owner's own use). It turns out Evil-Lyn has a little guest cabin outside of Snake Mountain, where she can get away from Skeletor now and then. She and the villains escape there, but Teela gives chase. She spies on them and learns that they're fed up with Skeletor and plan to leave Eternia for the planet Merrian -- a new world to conquer. Beast-Man shows up, suddenly drawn to resemble his movie counterpart (a significant and generic-looking downgrade from his distinctive Filmation design), and says he wants in on the exodus as well.