He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection

I've wanted this collection for quite some time! 

Back in the 1980s, when you got either a Masters of the Universe action figure or vehicle/playset, you got a free mini-comic. Generally what happened was on you way home from the store, you would read the minicomic in order to learn more about the item you have just bought. (Yes, I realize now that these books were basically 8-12 page ads. But they were so much fun to read!) Once you got home, you'd take your new toy and act out the adventures in the book. Or you'd nag your parents to buy the missing characters from the book. 

Over the years, finding those minicomics would become a mission for many fans such as myself. I don't have room to display dozens of action figures and playsets. But I have a couple of inches of space in one of my long boxes to house a complete run of minicomics. 

Turns out that the minicomics are even harder to find than the figures. That's because the minicomics would get lost or thrown away or damaged. In the over 10 years plus I've been collecting as an adult, I've only found one He-Man mini comic. It was only a couple of bucks but not in the best of shape with some apparent water damage. 

Thankfully, someone at Dark Horse decided to hunt down those lost treasures. And they went above and beyond including not just the complete run of MOTU, but the inserts from She-Ra, Princess of Power, the 1989 space reboot of He-Man, the original storybook set of 4, and some never before published minis as well!

This collection is massively small. It has well over 1100 pages. Yet, it's just slightly bigger than the size of the mini-comics. So the transferring of original works to copies prevents the artwork from looking stretched-out!

This massive volume includes early work from some of the industries legends such as Bruce Timm, Lee Nordling, Stan Sakai, Mark Texeira, and Robert Kirkman! 

It's really hard to complain about this book. Yes, some of the stories are quite silly, if not ludicrous. (They were written for kids aged 5-10!) The volume, it's got just about everything a MOTU minicomics collector would want- except for the final 8 minicomics produced for the He-Man classics line. I'm not sure why those weren't included unless Dark Horse was afraid that the book and it's costs were getting too out of hand. 

This book, from 2015, originally retails for $29.99. If you are patient, like I was, you can find it for a very good deal on Amazon. If you are wanting to revisit the wonder of being a He-Man fan back in the 80s, this is the perfect MOTU collection for you! And it will save you money and time for something else instead of trying to complete this set individually. 

Now if only DC Comics would release a collection of the Super Powers minicomics, my mirco-sized comic book searches would be complete!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars. 

Invincible Volume 15: Get Smart

   The Viltrumite War is over and the Invincible family have returned to earth. It's been about a year since they left and there have been some major changes. Atom Eve went into retirement as a superhero and gained more than just a little perspective. Mark's mom is now single again and Cecil has mellowed slightly. Also Robot (now going by Rex) returned with Monster Girl from another dimension, secretly bearing some scars from their lengthy time away. (This all took place in volume 14 but if you blink you miss it, as their disappearance from earth only took up two panels.)

    The time away from earth has also changed Invincible. He's gotten a little older and a little wiser and now seeks to right some of the errors he made while learning the ropes of being a superhero. But when his new perspective causes a major city to be wiped from the face of the earth, Mark has a crisis of conscience that may put him on the wrong side of the law and Cecil's army of undead Invincibles (made from the Parallel Earth episode some issues back.)

   This was an entirely different volume than the last one. Not so much carnage as with the Viltrumites but that doesn't mean this volume was short on action. For instance, Invincible rehabilitates a warrior alien princess, puts a fledgling super villain on the right path, and becomes the head of the household when his mom decides to explore COP space with his dad. 

    This isn't my favorite volume, but it certainly isn't an indication of a lack of quality on the part of the creative team of Kirkman and Otterly. I just seem to like it when the pages run red with blood. Well, there was one thing that did bug me. There were several events that took place on earth that are referenced by a book that I've not heard of. 

   Sadly, I don't have the book in front of me at the time of this review as I've already turned it in at the library. But I couldn't find this book listed in the back of the book which lists other works by Kirkman nor can I find it on stashmycomics.com. Regardless, those events which involve experiments within the CIA, destruction of France, and other superhero events with the Global Guardians were things that are totally foreign to me and made for some uneven reading.

  Worth Consuming!

  Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Invincible: Volume 14: The Viltrumite War

 

 
  After 14 volumes and about 70 issues, the first shots of the Viltrumite War are sounded. Aiding the Coalition of Planets are everyone's favorite extra-terrestrial, Allen the Alien, a new character named Tech Jacket, as well as Invincible, his brother Oliver, and their father whom has gone to great lengths to make amends with his estranged relatives. But before the Invincible family can truly contribute to the war effort, Mark is injured so severely that his father and brother must take refuge on a desolate planet while the hero heals.

   While Invincible is in a coma, Allen and Tech Jacket are left to scrape together a ragtag team of heroes that Mark's father hinted could destroy the nearly indestructible Viltrumites in his many sci-fi works written when he was disguised as a human author. Expect to see Kirkman's take on Lobo, Talky Tawny, and even the crew of the Enterprise-D! 

    It had been a while since my last visit to the Kirkman-verse. I've waited for this volume to finally become available at my library for months. It was worth the wait, but I had to go on Wikipedia and do some follow-up research as I had forgotten some key details in my absence.

    But now that I'm caught up, I'm about to tear through about 5 volumes pretty quick. Kirkman and his trusty artist in residence Ryan Otterly have truly outdone themselves in this collection. War is hell and the Invincible creative team take the reader through hades in a journey that would make Daunte jealous. 

   But man does Kirkman really like the color of scarlet. Blood flows through every page of battle. By the end of this volume, I promise you that the Viltrumite War does come to an end but to get there it will mean that none of your favorite heroes or villains are safe- not a one!  With more twists, turns, and literal gut-wrenching action, this volume of Invincible is Worth Consuming!

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

NFL Superpro #1

Well folks, today is the beginning of football. I’m ready to cheer on my Steelers. In preparation to the kick-off of the 2014 season, I decided to ready what many consider the worst comic book of all-time. That’s right- I read NFL Superpro #1!

  The book was published in 1991 and was collaboration between the NFL and Marvel Comics. The book stars Phil Grayfield, a retired football player whose career was ended due to injury. He’s now a sports reporter and during an interview with a sports collector, he’s knocked unconscious and trapped in a burning room filling with practice films. The chemicals melt and give Grayfield super powers. Along with an experimental football player’s uniform, the ex-athlete fights crime while simultaneously committing copyright infringement.

This being the first issue, I thought it would be the ‘origin’ issue. Alas, that all happened in the NFL Superpro Super Bowl Special, which I also own but was saving to read during next year’s Super Bowl. Thankfully, Marvel did devote a whopping 4 panels in explaining how Grayfield became Superpro.

Now I’m about to commit some comic book heresy- issue #1 wasn’t that bad! Yes- the premise is corny. If burning celluloid would give you super powers, I’d set a movie theatre on fire right now and breathe deep. Also, if your running around in an experimental football uniform that bears the NFL logo and you were the Commissioner of said league would you not A) sue the guy for wearing unofficially licensed material and B) figure out who had said uniform and trace back how it ended up in this vigilante heroes hands? It’s not one of the most well thought out premises, I’ll give you that.

However, if you look at this as an un-official 'Marvel Team-Up' between Superpro and guest hero, Spider-man; the book isn’t terrible. True, the two heroes never officially meet but in terms of Marvel Team-Up’s reputation of introducing new heroes to fans in hopes of garnishing a fan base, Superpro was better than some of the crap I’ve read in the pages of MTU. (Speaking of Team-Up, apparently Robert Kirkman wanted to bring Superpro back for a story but couldn’t due to copyright and the best he could do was have Stilt-Man brag about beating Superpro up once. Okay, if Stilt-Man can defeat you, maybe you should hang it up.)

The art was okay for 1991 standards. It was gritty and a little sexy. There are some pretty cool fight scenes. The dialogue stunk, unless it was Peter Parker/ Spider-man. Those parts were pretty good. I would say instead of treating this book as garbage, look at it as a B-movie. It’s so bad, it’s good.

Instead of considering Superpro the worst comic of all-time, I see this as the Plan 9 from Outer Space of comic books. I paid 50 cents for this in a bargain bin and I am sure some folks would say I paid too much. However, if I find the other 11 issues in this series in a dollar box, I’d snatch them up. They’re always good for a laugh.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars

The Walking Dead, Vol. 2: Miles Behind Us

WORTH CONSUMING!

When I try to get to sleep and it just won’t come, I like to imagine that I’m snowbound and with the fan or sound machine on, I’m listening to a blizzard. I also like to imagine I’m on the ice planet, Hoth, from Empire Strikes Back.

This volume of Zombie destruction plays on those safe thoughts of being snowbound and turns it on its ear. It’s a little unsettling. Kinda brings the Donner Party to mind.

Despite any of those fears, this series is growing on me. Compared to other Pro-Indy titles like Y: The Last Man or Ex Machina, it’s still got some work to do. But, I must know what happens next.

The Walking Dead, Vol. 1: Days Gone Bye

WORTH CONSUMING!

This gritty, dark tale about zombie invasion is something different from today’s horror tales. This draws heavily from Romero’s Dead series in as this is more about survival and people and less about the gore.

Some of the plot devices were transparent and cliché. And you can tell pretty quick who’ll be worm food. The only question is when.

Not the best offering out there in comicdom, but a fairly good enough offering to compel me to give it a another try or two.