He-Man

Centineo was announced for the project but has reportedly dropped out.

I've never been a huge Masters of the Universe fan. I mean, not since I was seven or eight years old. I've never bought a figure as an adult; I don't even read the current comics, although I've considered it. But the toys, and the comics they came with, were really important to me as a child, and I'm certainly not above nostalgia. So I was happy to receive the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Minicomic Collection from Dark Horse for my recent birthday.

Everyone loves trivia about their favorite animated features and series, but with over 100 years of animation history behind us right now, there’s always some new obscure fact to learn. That’s why ComicsAlliance is going deep into the minutiae of your favorite names in cartoons in this continuing video series. You think you know cartoons? Well, here’s a few things you might not know! This week we're taking a look at the hero of Eternia, He-Man!

What may go down as one of the worst years in recent memory is slowly crawling to a close, and while we wish it good riddance and hope against hope that 2017 will be an improvement, there is some small solace in looking back over the year that's passed and figuring out what stuff from it was the best. That's right, it's "Best of..." list time, and today we're taking a look at the Best DC Covers of 2016.

So here's the thing about He Man and the Masters of the Universe: I don't know anything about it. Fortunately for me, the last few years have seen something of a MOTU renaissance that included a massive hardcover collection of the minicomics that accompanied the toys. I figured that if the underlying mythology was originally codified in those bite-sized chunks, I could probably get a handle on it. The only problem is that these things are both completely bonkers and completely amazing.

Teased at New York Comic Con just a month ago, Super7 has now offered up the first details on its plans for the Masters of the Universe toy line. Super7 has taken up the reigns left by Mattel when it comes to He-Man, and will be kicking things off next week with the launch of its Ultimate line. Based on the original Masters of the Universe Classics released through Mattel over the past few years, Super7's upcoming line doesn't offer much new. However, it does offer characters like He-Man, Skeletor and Teela again for fans who may have missed to boat earlier. And this time, they come with almost every accessory you could imagine.

Exercise is hard, but if your fitness goals tend to line up with the way that characters in the cartoons of the early '80s looked --- all stout muscles shown off by chest harnesses and loincloths --- then I have a plan for you. Instead of working out, just remove all mirrors from your home and replace them with Sideshow's new high-end statue of He-Man, the Grayskull-powered warrior from Masters of the Universe.

It's not unusual for San Diego Comic-Con to debut a new episode of a fan-favorite cartoon --- in fact, it'd be downright shocking if there wasn't at least one premiere screening over in the Indigo Ballroom all weekend. When the fan-favorite cartoon in question had its last new episode in 1984, however, that's a little more notable. And that's exactly what's happening this year. On Wednesday, Super7 --- the folks behind the eponymous magazine and books about Japnese toys who are also responsible for reintroducing the world to Ultimate M.U.S.C.L.E. figures at last year's Comic-Con --- is debuting a brand-new episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe this Wednesday, almost 32 years after the last one.

It's been a pretty interesting year for crossovers. The epic Transformers vs. GI Joe just wrapped up with its literally planet-shattering conclusion, Judge Dredd's about to fight Aliens and Predators at the same time, and we just recently got to see the surprisingly amazing Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover that somehow happened in 2016 instead of 1994. Now, we're getting another crossover that Fans of a Certain Age have been waiting decades for. In October, DC's gearing up for Thundercats/He-Man, in which the two muscled-up, sword-wielding action figure lines collide for the first time since every kid who owned both toys made He-Man hold the Sword of Omens and pretended to have him turn into a kitty cat.

If you did not know that Sony Pictures is working towards the production of a brand new He-Man movie, then you obviously are not one of the 462 supporters of the Change.org petition to have a new Masters of the Universe movie be put into production. The petition also (very helpfully) provides a suggested release date of 2017 or 2018, though I’m sure that the audience would gladly push that back for the right story.