Masters of the Universe: Origins of Eternia (2012-13)

Masters of the Universe: Origin of Skeletor (2012)

Author: Joshua Hale Fialkov | Artist: Frazer Irving | Page Count: 21

"The half-breed bastard child of a King and creature the world has deemed sub-human."

A trio of stand-alone comics, each one devoted to a particular MotU character, telling their origin story.

The evil Skeletor leads the way and at first glance it appears to be pretty damn good! But once you get to actually analysing the story the cracks begin to show and it becomes clear that issue one is all about the art.

Frazer Irving's artwork is amazing, perfectly capturing the drama of a single moment, with a modified use of colour to suit the era; e.g. as Skeletor walks the halls of his childhood home the flashbacks triggered by the location have much of the colour drained from them, like you'd sometimes see in a movie. It helps separate the past from the present and adds further commentary on the differences between the child and the man.

It's interesting seeing the genesis of the resentful feelings that skull-face nurtures and uses as strength, but at just 21 pages it's all too brief.

Masters of the Universe: Origin of He-Man (2013)

Author: Joshua Hale Fialkov / Artist: Ben Oliver / Page Count: 20

"Because you can. You must. And, you will."

Once again the artwork is superb. Oliver paints genuine emotion into the faces of his characters - there's a believable terror in the eyes of the inexperienced.

With dark halls illuminated by evil magic and silhouettes used to highlight stature, it's a striking visual feast.

When the action takes over there's a weightiness to the movements and a satisfying immediacy to events.

But like it was in Skeletor's issue, the story is again lacking; it's not that it's badly written, per se, but it's flimsy under scrutiny and in dire need of more depth.

Disappointingly, Prince Adam's introduction to his heroic destiny is rushed and too quickly accepted by the youth, as if someone had just offered him a nice piece of cake.

Masters of the Universe: Origin of Hordak (2013)

Authors: Keith Giffen + Brian Keene / Artist: Keith Giffen / Page Count: 20

"The essence of corruption. He is within..."

I'd have liked a quality Sorceress issue to end, but instead we travel to Horde World, to a brutal war one million years before Adam is even born on Eternia.

Hordak's story has a lot more dialogue, perhaps even more than the other two issues combined, but almost all of it is bad comic book villain nonsense, the kind of thing you'd except to find in a second-rate Marvel book.

The artwork earns itself the same description; it's cartoony and colourful, not at all reflective of the festering evil in the manipulative Hordak's black heart.

There was potential there for a gripping story of opposites and an exploration of the consequences of actions both good and evil, but it didn't deliver.

- A panel from Origin of He-Man (with dialogue removed 'cos spoilers) -