Because we can’t go one stinking crossover without a hero versus hero battle, can we?
He-Man/Thundercats #4
DC Comics (March, 2017)
“Clash Of Titans!”
WRITER: Rob David & Lloyd Goldfine
ARTIST: Freddie E. Williams II
COLORIST: Jeremy Colwell
LETTERER: Deron Bennett
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Jessica Chen
EDITOR: Kristy Quinn
GROUP EDITOR: Jim Chadwick
Now under the control of Skeletor and Mumm-Ra, the Ancient Spirits Of Evil are free from the Black Pyramid and attacking Eternos. The Thundercats offer to help the Masters protect the citizens, but thanks to a off-hand comment by Slythe, Lion-O has an idea. He takes Cringer and Adam’s body to Third Earth and the Black Pyramid, hoping to use the sarcophagus to revive Adam. The lackies are busy pillaging the Pyramid, so Lion-O turns Cringer into a Thundercat-like humanoid to chase them off. He then places Adam in the sarcophagus, which does revive him, but it drives him mad. (Maybe it’s powered by a Lazarus Pit from the mainstream DCU?) It’s Lion-O versus He-Man, until Lion-O uses the Sword Of Omens’ “sight beyond sight” to show him a universe ruled by their enemies while their foes suffer. (At least Cheetara isn’t chained to a wall this time.) This breaks He-Man out of his madness, and with the spell worn off of Cringer our trio takes the Feliner back to Eternia. They better hurry, though, because the villains are right outside Castle Grayskull!
I know, there usually aren’t spoilers in a Today’s comic, but it’s been so long since I’ve written without spoilers in this format I think I’ve forgotten how not to.
What they got right: As tired as I am of hero versus hero fights, at least this one was pretty cool, even if at the time He-Man was being driven mad by dark energies. Plus we get a very different kind of Battlecat, and watching him battle the Mutants and Skeletor’s men was also cool. I also give them credit for finding a way to revive He-Man without making it silly. Given the evil nature of the sarcophagus this shouldn’t be easy. Also neat to see Skeletor’s hover robots from the original cartoon and a not-controlled-by-evil Orko.
What they got wrong: Still, turning a cat into a Thundercat, even one expose to the power of Grayskull so many times, as well as “power beyond power” are not abilities the Sword Of Omens should be capable of doing. It comes off too close to fanfiction levels of unlikely. Cool as BattleThundercat is mind you. Also, those are some gory deaths for some of the heroes, especially Snarf, Man-E-Faces, and Randor’s heads on pikes. At least Roboto’s a robot. And look, the Sorceress is chained by the neck to the wall instead of ripped clothes and flat against the wall and NO I AM NOT OVER THAT YET! If anything I’ve held myself in check for more years than you readers realize until I could review that comic.
Recommendation: This was a good issue, although I’m still tired of my childhood being forced into a misconception of “mature”. I’m hoping the next two issues don’t ruin everything but this might be worth checking out.
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Personally, I liked seeing Battlecat transformed into a Thundercat. I thought that was the coolest part of this comic book issue. In fact, I liked that scene where Cringer was licking his paws just like a house cat would. Hopefully, Snarf is not really dead. I thought that scene was just a prediction of what could happen if evil took over. Guess I’ll have to find out in Issues 5 and 6 to be certain. I would be quite upset if Snarf was killed off.
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It was a premonition. I just didn’t care to see it. Randor and the others are not dead yet, either.
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