This week from Dark Horse Comics we get the second installment to the 4-part prequel series of the same name. Masters of the Universe Revelation 2of4 takes us on a journey into Skeletor’s past. We see some things we knew, some things we didn’t know and and yet some that leave us scratching our heads. It even comes to a time in the comic where I had to ask was there a point to this issue?! When you tell a prequel story with only four issues, each page is gold. You cannot waste it on frivolous nonsense. Let’s take this issue a piece at a time.

Staff Meeting – What’s For Lunch?

In the first issue Skeletor hatched a plan to defeat He-Man and the Sorceress. It failed. Shocker as Skeletor never wins. Skeletor was on the verge of divesting its secrets when the Sorceress’ magic cut off his connection. What does he do in Revelation 2of4? He calls a ‘staff meeting’ with all of his henchmen, or actually they were all standing around watching him fail. He yells at them and kicks them all out, save Lynn. Not a very strong opening. I love Triclops and Beastman whispering back and forth, talking about lunch. It shows how far the respect for Skeletor has fallen. Even Lynn tells him to chill out. Skeletor doesn’t believe there is enough magic to discover the secrets hidden within the Orlax mind, but Lynn begs him to use her. She swears there is enough magic in Eternia to do this. Cue Back story.

Skeletor says, from where he is from, magic was a rare thing, and then he launches into a story about being a slave. He rises up and overthrows his captors and leads the people into a new era of peace. That is until the captors come back. Before that happens Skeletor becomes a loving husband and father. Is anyone else having a problem with this? Is this really our Skeletor?

The Captors return, capture Skeletor and his family, and kills his wife and child in front of him. This breaks Skeletor. He wanders the village until a prayer comes from above. (isn’t Skeletor also supposed to be a dark elf of some sort? Yet he, his family and his people are all skeleton men. I trust Kevin Smith to know his stuff, so I assume I am missing something.)

Revelation 2of4 – I Know This Part!

Revelation 2of4 – Master and Apprentice

The prayer is answered quite literally from above. A starship lands and out comes a face we all should recognize immediately – Hordak! She-Ra, Princess of Power’s Hordak and his motley crew of freaks march down the boarding ramp. He’s heard stories of Skeletor and attempts to recruit him. At this point is anyone else having Revenge of the Sith flashbacks? Like Darth Sidious, Hordak offers Skeletor unlimited power (aka-magic), but he promises to save the ones Skeletor loves, or at least bring them back to life. So in other words Skeletor is Anakin Skywalker with the rest of his skin burned off and magic instead of the force.

With his new ‘unlimited power’, Skeletor destroys those terrorizing his people. In one scene he stands over a headless body with the head in his hand. Later we see the skull cleaned of its flesh, and later the head of Skeletor’s signature Ram staff. So the head on the staff is actually the head of one of his captors? That’s gross! and totally cool at the same time! That’s the Skeletor I expect.

Much of the rest of his story with Hordak does actually follow the story of Anakin and Sidious, perhaps a bit too close for comfort. Hordak promises Skeletor the power to ‘bring back the ones he loves’, and like Sidious is pretty much lying. Well, sorta. Hordak allows him to bring back ONE person. Skeletor must choose between his wife and child. That’s not a very fun choice. Skeletor chooses his child, but knows the reunion will be short lived. Sure enough Hordak’s guards whisk the child away. (We’ll come back to this part).

Revelation 2of4 – Master and Apprentice

As they conquer new planets and move closer to the ultimate goal of Eternia, Skeletor does what Anakin could not. This part we know from the cartoons. Skeletor betrays Hordak and keeps Eternia for himself. Well, except he never actually wins anything.

We then jump back into the ‘present’ where Lynn is now the apprentice to Master Skeletor. Lynn calls BS and tells Skeletor he’s a liar. She reacted just as I did. Skeletor a loving family man?! Not in this universe, and as far as I know the Multiverse is a DC thing not a He-Man thing. Lynn even mocks him by turning into his supposedly dead wife. If this were a true story that would be a really low blow, but then again she is the apprentice, and what do apprentices do? “One to embody power, the other to crave it”. And boy is Evil Lynn doing some craving!

In the final pages Lynn descends into her lair pondering Skeletor’s words. What was this secret Skeletor thinks is out there. She cannot find the connection so she decides to ask – HER ORLAX!! Somehow Evil Lynn gained possession of an Orlax chunk and is growing her own Orlax. That means there are now two on Eternia. We know through the first five episodes of the series on Netflix, Lynn and Skeletor are still working together. Something will go wrong, but what?!

Revelation 2of4 – Did You Catch It??

I finished this issue, and wanted to throw it down in disgust. What was the point of wasting all this space in a limited 4-issue prequel run with a story that wasn’t true! They just wasted all this story space; However, the second time reading it, I put two and two together, and had to do a massive double take. Wait. WHAT?!

As Skeletor and Lynn finish their little chit-chat, Skeletor holds something in his hand. When he says “Goodnight, My Love” I thought he meant Lynn because Lynn says “…you don’t need to convince me of anything, my love. I am bound to you”. I thought Skeletor stole the stone from Lynn, but then I realized something.

Jump back up to pages 8 and 9. It only shows up in 3 panels on the two pages in very fine detail, but Skeletor’s ‘wife’ wears that exact amulet! The story was true! The captors head donning his staff is one thing, but Skeletor actually had a family!? Not only that, but if his story does hold true, this means Skeletor has a daughter somewhere in the universe. Not artists are extremely careful to never show the child from any angle other than behind. We have no idea the sex or appearance of this child, yet it’s out there somewhere. This is a HUGE plot point that needs to be covered somewhere. I trust Kevin Smith to either tells us by the end of this series, the end of the Netflix series, or come back to it in its own series.

Revelation 2of4 – Final Thoughts

This issue not only copies Revenge of the Sith in many ways, but it also kinda copies Sixth Sense. Both are mediocre until the point where everything get stood on its head. Skeletor’s story going from meaning nothing to unveiling a whole new realm of possibilities is game changing. Either the child is already in the He-Man/She-Ra universe and we will get a peak at the face by the end, or it will launch a whole new character.

If it already exists, it could be a nod to someone like Lynn. We would now know her story and why she is the way she is (or the equivalent person in She-Ra’s world). If its a brand new character, does Skeletor die at the end of Revelation, and this child will rise up to take his place? I guess we have to wait and see….I hate waiting.