He-Man has, believe it or not, a bigger problem than Skeletor. And no, it’s not beating up John Constantine. That’s a different book. This is Keith Giffen being cut loose on an ’80s space fantasy and loving every minute of it.
True, the characters may be the one you remember from the cartoon, but the book itself is classic Giffen; massive fights, snarky dialogue, and zippy pacing. In many ways, Giffen is taking the bizarre and not entirely sane He-Man universe and turning it into something more modern, while keeping everything we love about it.
Giffen’s work actually goes back to the miniseries DC ran for this property, where he took over the book and wrote it, in his words, “like Conan.” Pop Mhan also enjoys the art; his work feels a lot like the cartoon, but with better production values.
For those wondering, He-Man is up against Hordak, who, well, let’s just say Skeletor isn’t the only one who can make life miserable for Eternians. Check it out on the following pages…