New "Masters of the Universe" from DC

[samurainoir]

Great Caesar's Ghost! I didn't realize Eric Powell was doing the covers for the new DH mini comics.


So... what will they do to replace the cap firing action of the original TP He-Man?
Masters of the Universe MOTU Classics THUNDER PUNCH He-Man ---PRE-ORDER--- | eBay


MOTU he man, vintage, rare spanish, MOC, Thunder Punch He-man | eBay

[The Toyroom]

Issue #1 just came out and James Robinson is already off the book! Keith Giffen is the new replacement writer as of issue #2. What the heck?!

[VintageMike]

It's off to an interesting start I'll give it that much. How long it will remain interesting remains to be seen.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Issue #1 just came out and James Robinson is already off the book! Keith Giffen is the new replacement writer as of issue #2. What the heck?!

You know, the current DC sounds like the DC of the mid to late 70s. Most of the real talent had jumped ship to Marvel, save for a few solid creators (Curt Swan) and some exciting new guys who didn't know any better (Marshall Rogers, Don Newton). But you never knew from one issue to the next who was going to do what book. Writers dropped in and out every other issue. Artists stuck around a little longer, but there seemed to be no loyalty to any books, and the editors hands were really apparent. All journeymen stuff. A lot of that seems to be going on here.

Chris

[MPM1972]

Copied from the Wikipedia MOTU page:

Comparison with Jack Kirby's Fourth WorldComic book writer/artist John Byrne compared the film to Jack Kirby's comic book metaseries Fourth World, stating in Comic Shop News #497:

“ "The best New Gods movie, IMHO, is 'Masters of the Universe'. I even corresponded with the director, who told me this was his intent, and that he had tried to get [Jack] Kirby to do the production designs, but the studio nixed it." "Check it out. It requires some bending and an occasional sex change (Metron becomes an ugly dwarf, The Highfather becomes the Sorceress), but it's an amazingly close analog, otherwise. And Frank Langella's Skeletor is a dandy Darkseid!" ”

Director Gary Goddard clarified this in a letter appearing in John Byrne's Next Men #26, in which he stated:

“ "As the director of Masters of the Universe, it was a pleasure to see that someone got it. Your comparison of the film to Kirby’s New Gods was not far off. In fact, the storyline was greatly inspired by the classic Fantastic Four/Doctor Doom epics, The New Gods and a bit of Thor thrown in here and there. I intended the film to be a "motion picture comic book," though it was a tough proposition to sell to the studio at the time. 'Comics are just for kids,' they thought. They would not allow me to hire Jack Kirby who I desperately wanted to be the conceptual artist for the picture…
I grew up with Kirby's comics (I’ve still got all my Marvels from the first issue of Fantastic Four and Spider-Man through the time Kirby left) and I had great pleasure meeting him when he first moved to California. Since that time I enjoyed the friendship of Jack and Roz and was lucky enough to spend many hours with Jack, hearing how he created this character and that one, why a villain has to be even more powerful than a hero, and on and on. Jack was a great communicator, and listening to him was always an education. You might be interested to know that I tried to dedicate Masters of Universe to Jack Kirby in the closing credits, but the studio took the credit out."
”

Brian Cronin, author of the "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed" column, concludes that "the film itself was not intended to be literally a reworked Fourth World, although the intent WAS to make the film a tribute to Jack Kirby - just a tribute to ALL of his work, not just the Fourth World."

[ctc]

>the storyline was greatly inspired by the classic Fantastic Four/Doctor Doom epics, The New Gods and a bit of Thor thrown in here and there. I intended the film to be a "motion picture comic book," though it was a tough proposition to sell to the studio at the time. 'Comics are just for kids,' they thought. They would not allow me to hire Jack Kirby who I desperately wanted to be the conceptual artist for the picture…

I'd always wondered if there was something behind the film, since it bears so little resemblance to any incarnation of the MOTU story. So.... does this mean he didn't think the material was strong enough on it's own?

Don C.

[Bruce Banner]

The new MOTU comic is pretty interesting so far. Making Adam a simple woodsman is somewhat reminiscent of the unproduced Whitman MOTU comic pages which surfaced a while back.


Ralph McQuarrie did a few pieces of concept art for the MOTU movie, basing his designs very firmly on the toy versions of the characters.

Gary Goddard rejected those designs, wanting to move away from the classic look of the toys.

Gary Goddard: And these initial studies were based largely on the Toy designs, and I was pushing Ralph to move away from that and to begin inventing our own designs for the movie.

http://www.thegoddardgroup.com/blog/...-the-universe/

[Figuremod73]

Heres the film. Ill watch it again when i get a chance. I dont think ive seen it since the early '90s. Originally, I didnt like it because of my famiarity with the characters and I didnt like how the design was so different.

It was released at a bad time to. MOTU had really lost steam by '87 and most kids were into Thundercats, Transformers, or GI Joe by that point.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWIzzdwTQFM