Art By: Pop Mhan, Mark Roberts
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: December 24, 2014
Let The War Begin!
Before this Eternity War went and got He-Man and The Masters of The Universe all rebranded and renumbered we were strolling through the past of Eternia and the origins of our Princess of Power and like many stories like to do........ They were all entwined. Now don't think that I wasn't a fan of this because I loved all the stuff with King Grayskull and seeing how Adora went from her Hordak brainwashed past to her current role of She-Ra. It was a grand ride that I'm thankful I was apart of. I hoped everyone read up on those issue because it all leads here boys and girls. The Evil Horde has been spreading their Fright Zones across Eternia in preparation for their master Hordak's return and we begin this war knowing that our Siblings of Power are now together but we saw that the Horde had gotten their hands on a vial of He-Man's blood............ What will it all mean? Let's find out here. Eternity War Ahoy!
Explain It!:
The war begins with the science and sorcery of Eternia melding together with the blood of He-Man to recreate Hordak and freeing him from his Despondos prison. It's really cool to see the combination of science fiction and fantasy the way that He-Man can only do it and I always love it's inclusion in a story. So with Hordak recreated he wastes no time to show us why he needed the blood of an heir of Grayskull to be fused into his veins. If you remember from the flashbacks to King Grayskull's time, it took the blood of Grayskull to activate the runes that opened up the secret forge of Grayskull; that allowed him to tap into the power of Eternia and forge the Sword of Power and the Sword of Protection. Now that Hordak has access to that power he forges his own sword.......... what may be called......... or at least what I'm calling The Sword of Darkness. After decreeing that this is now the age of Horokoth, Hordak holds his sword high and yells "I AM THE POWER!" and transforms Castle Grayskull into a visage of Hordak himself. Shit is getting real people!
Now that we got the badassnery out of the way, we then jump to He-Man, She-Ra and The Sorceress's part of the book which is pure exposition about what has come before and what they need to do. It seems that way back in King Grayskull's time, his trusted adviser Adi, who we know from issue #13 to actually be King Hiss, tried to convince King Grayskull that they needed to turn the castle itself into a weapon and they would go about this by placing two gems into the eye holes of the castle. The gems were called the Eye of Chrono which would tune into time and the Eye of Chaos which would tune into space................. So these two gems would create a death ray that could attack anyone in space and time............. So are we now waiting for a Doctor Who/He-Man crossover?.........Maybe? Anyway, King Grayskull knowing that no one should ever have that much power turned down Adi's advice, which would eventually lead to Adi's betrayal and the murder of the King. Eventually the gems were lost to time, but skeletor would find the gem of Chaos and fearing for what he would do with both gems the Sorceress hid the Eye of Chrono in the sands of time. Too bad that She-Ra has heard about Hordak knowing about the gems and mentioning the sands of time because now it will become a race to oblivion.
In the end, with all our exposition we need to get into this story over, our heroes proclaim that they will find and destroy the Eyes, take back Grayskull and defeat their enemies. That's not all we've got going on in the war though boys and girls. No, it seems we've got a wildcard in the form of a returned Skeletor and as the issue closes we see that he still claims his Eye of Chaos. It's going to get really bad for our heroes of Eternia and if this is any sign of what it will be like............ I'm going to love reading about it.
That's it for this first issue of the Eternity War and man does Dan Abnett know how to play the long game in his story telling. Everything is tying together and I love when I see something innocuous and then can see it referenced later and I can be like "Yeah, I remember that!"............ It just makes me feel good, don't judge. Anyway, this issue is full of long winded exposition but somehow it's done in a way that doesn't really hinder the excitement of the story. All the information just seems to get you hyped for what this series will be and what it will mean for the world of Eternia in the future. All this and the return of Pop Mhan's ability to take these characters and make them into the most badass versions that you've ever seen........Pure wizardry. See you next month when we see the war begin and have the epicness of the Masters of the Universe teamed up with the Snake Men to take on Hordak and the Evil Horde..............or just a search in the sand for some gems..........Either way I'm excited, see you then.
Bits and Pieces:
Really the only people that will be reading this will be He-Man fans and they should love the new takes on the characters and the places that this war will lead us in the future. If a random reader happens to pick this up they'll probably be confused but the amount of exposition here should give them a pretty decent crash course into the world of Eternia and He-man, so while you'll want a little background in this He-Man, it doesn't completely alienate new readers either. It's setup people as you should know it would be and the things Abnett is setting up just makes me drool in anticipation. Check it out for the grand design that's been getting setup for the last year in He-Man and for the masterful art by Pop Mhan......... This should be a fun ride.
8/10
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