Review: He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse #3
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Tim Seeley
Pencils: Dan Fraga and Tom Derenick
Inks: Richard Friend and Tom Derenick
Colors: Matt Yackey
Letters: Saida Temofonte
Reviewer: Tony Farina
Summary
He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse #3 kicks off in the Interrealm. A realm that is well, in between things as the name suggests. Anti-He-Man has been captured and the cosmic enforcers of the Multiverse are going to stop him. He laughs because it is what baddies do. He jumps into the Snake Zone where, yes this is not a misprint, King Hsssss is pretty bugged by his sudden arrival.
Positives
Tom Derenick and Dan Fraga are clearly having a ball. There are so many bizarre versions of He-man out there. Some are little dolls, some look like Aquaman, some are Skeletor before he becomes a villain. There are snake people and glowing people and all kinds of zaniness. The book really doesn’t make a ton of sense, but I suspect, as an artist, having no rules could be fun. Colorist, Matt Yackey is super busy here too. He shows off his skills as he has to figure out how to make both artists, who have clearly distinct styles, look good. Visually, this book is stunning.
Negatives
Plot wise, this book is not stunning. What is going on here? I can normally tell if a book is making fun of things or if it is being serious. I really, honestly can not tell here. Is King Hssss to be taken seriously? There are jokes about grown men playing with dolls that seemed to be written before Free to be you and me sang about how it was OK for boys to play with dolls. There is a love story, with the doll He-Man, while touching, is totally out of place because, well, this story just doesn’t really make much sense. I am pro-multiverse, but there is such a thing as having too much of a good thing.
Verdict
I read He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse #3 several times just to see if I could be sure of some things and ultimately, I was not sure of anything. This series might end up being better when it is collected as a graphic novel. Sometimes, stories that have people spread out all around the multiverse work better when we can keep track of them all. Visually, this is fun. The are so many works of visual magic the art team pulls off that this is worth paging through.
