I've waxed lyrical about the Star Comics Masters of the Universe before, so what better title that this to kick off a week exploring Marvel's all-ages comics line from the mid-80s. Much like the Transformers and G.I.Joe titles that preceded it, this comic has to wrestle with being both story and prolonged advertisement, and writer Mike Carlin handles this divide with grace. There is the introduction, on an issue-by-issue basis, of new toys and characters, a problem that plagued the Transformers comic to such an extent that I actually stopped buying it at one point. Unfortunately the point that I stopped buying the comic was just as the popularity of the franchise was starting to wane, and the stories were much less dependent on cleaving to the toys. The same happens with MOTU, and by the last couple of issues (which I reviewed a few years back) the attention to the toys has all but disappeared. Not quite the case with today's early issue, but the fact is that the story, action, dialogue, characters, are all very nicely realized, with the advertisement becoming something of a backdrop to the action.
I really love this series, though part of me is wondering if my youthful attachment to it maybe had something to do with the muscular main character and his distinct lack of much clothing...
"I too crave vengeance on the blond one--..and perhaps together we can destroy both of our enemies for all time!"
No comments:
Post a Comment