Sunday, June 24, 2012

Eight-year-old Geoff Johns' He-Man character debuts today on comiXology

Eight-year-old Geoff Johns' He-Man character debuts today on comiXology

As a prelude to this summer's He-Man and the Masters of the Universe comic book revival, DC Comics and comiXology today kicked off a digital-first He-Man comic series. The first issue, written by Geoff Johns with art by Howard Porter and John Livesay, is available now for 99 cents.

The comic features Sir Laser Lot, a MOTU character that Johns first envisioned when he was eight years old. Sir Laser Lot will debut as an action figure this summer at the San Diego Comic-Con as a part of the line's 30th anniversary.

'I've been a huge fan of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe since I was a kid, so it's cool to write a story for this new series ' not to mention teaming up with Howard Porter and John Livesay, my old Flash partners in crime,' stated Geoff Johns. 'And to create an all-new character that will become an action figure ' Sir Laser Lot ' it's beyond fun. I'm going to buy like 100 of them.'

The digital series will debut new chapters twice a month on Saturdays. The second chapter, due July 14, is written by Mike Costa with artwork by Jheremy Raapack, and it tells the story of Battle Cat. The third digital chapter, written by Kyle Higgins with artwork by Pop Mhan, is an adventure with the captain of the Eternia guard, Man-At-Arms.

Check out the cover as well as the Sir Laser Lot action figure after the jump.

*****

Masters of the Universe #1

Sir Laser Lot

24 Comments

I remember there being a contest when I was in third grade for kids to design the next He-man character. I created Spy-Dor: a Skeletor minion who had the lower body of a spider and the upper body of a fuzzy man. He was the raddest thing ever! If only I were Vice President of DC Entertainment, I could show the world the glory of Spy-Dor!

@Clifton'nice.

How about they focus on the HUGE selection of great characters to choose from instead of indulging John's every whim????

On their first He Man output '. 'lets confuse all the long time fans by having our first story be about a some new character who no one knows about, or has an investment in ' that is sure to get the nostalgia going and get them back for the next installment!!' ' Not!

That's pretty awesome. Such are the perks of being a DC executive. I like how Johns had these ideas as a kid and NEVER let them go.

MOTU 'Classics' features a new character, how does that make sense? And putting 'Adult Collector' on the package is sort of an unfortunate thing. I mean this isn't some intricate Spawn statue type figure thats both unplayable and 'adult', its a He-Man toy! They should be made for kids to play with!

Actually what 8 year old me would bring to life would be:

Action figures for Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog.

He-Man was after my time.

Surprisingly bitter responses (or not, I suppose) for a character with a name that makes him sound like he's always been a He-Man character

I also entered that contest. I wish I had the guy I drew; it was awesome for my 9-year-old age.

My guy was a Horde minion with a bat theme and he threw boomerangs shaped like bats and his name was Bat-A-Rang.

I had no concept of intellectual property.

I'm loving the MOTU comic revival; I hope they're great and that sales are good enough that we can keep getting them for a while. Odd choice to use a new character for the debut installment, though. At least the talent involved is top-notch, and that'll hopefully be enough to get a good number of readers in from the get-go.

'sir laser-lot'

Crap' that's very 'Geoff Johnsnish'! :P

Sorry, but I'm a fan of Sir Laserlot. It sounds like it should have been a He Man character all along. Awesome stuff. Pretty cool that they're finally making the He-Ro figure too.

Don't let all the negative he-man.org people come in and spoil the fun! Sir-Laser-Lot is awesome and so is his story! Looking forward to his action figure too!

Sir Lazer-Lot is one of the stupidest names I've ever heard.

Which makes it RIGHT at home with the rest of the Masters of the Universe. Kudos Johns!

I'm sure I've complained before about how sad it is the comic book industry thrives on old, recycled ideas . . . but seriously . . . Mr. Johns didn't have to go to the trouble of making a point of it.

While I'm glad his wish came true, I think its kind of sad at the same time. Why doesn't he try giving something new to the DCU? A new character that would stick and maybe not be based on something that's already been done, say like all the people over at Image.

@Jesus S!, people don't want anything new just the some old stories and characters over and over again. Just look at Avengers vs. X-Men and when Image or other publishers comics star outselling Marvel and DC's then you can say something.

I too am offended and outraged ' nay, OUTRAGED ' by the lack of tact demonstrated here. Will the industry ever regain face after this story's publication? At the risk of appearing hyperbolic, dear friends, I fear the answer is no. Unless a public apology is issued by Mr. Johns it's possible I may purchase none ' that's right, I said and meant NONE ' of the variant covers released in conjunction with this series.

Ok, but seriously here people. The idea that this guy (sigh, even Geoff Freaking Johns whose work I have a love/meh relationship with) is able to bring a character to life that he first doodled at the breakfast table while slurping C-3POs' my God, that's just awesome! The sheer wish fulfillment factor of it alone makes it utterly charming. It's just plain a lot of fun. Why is that even remotely a bad thing? In conclusion: a sense of humor ' get one.

This character is hilarious!And yes that's a great name.

Backstory for the haters: Mattel wanted to put out a series of *brand new characters* in its MOTUC line to celebrate He-Man's 30th Anniversary, and they wanted one of those characters to be created by a celebrity writer or artist, or at least somebody famous in geek circles. The catch: this toy line is run on a shoestring budget, which meant whoever did it had to be willing to come up with an original idea and give it to Mattel for free. After putting the call out and asking around, Geoff Johns was the *only* one willing to give up an original character without expecting to be paid for it.

So this isn't the story of a DC executive getting a nice perk. This is the story of a creator contributing to a mythos he's been a fan of all his life, and expecting little in return, due to his love of the concept. However, I assumed he'll at least be comped a free action figure.

I´m so happy about every MOTU article I see at the moment. He-Man and his companions have been a big part of my childhood and I´ve been somewhat nostalgic recently.

Hope to see more than just the new mini by DC. I´ll buy each issue a couple of times.

Man the toy business is sleazier than I expected. Shame Johns (although not surprisong for such a company man) indulged them to basically give them and other companies the OK to do it again down the line.

I'm generally not a fan of Johns's work to say the least, but not even my bitter, dark heart can prevent me from smiling at this story.

Actually, to the haters out there, Mattel approached several big name creators about creating characters for their 30th Anniversary Line that celebrates new characters (which makes sense, right?). Due to the budget for this series being fairly low, these creators would not be paid. It would just be for the 'cool factor' of having a creation of theirs made into a figure. Johns is the only one who accepted, because he's a fan, and he thought it was a cool idea.

He wasn't flexing his muscles as a VP. They approached him (along with others). He basically 'gave' them this character because he wanted to, and because they asked him.

Not so selfish, if you ask me. He's not making any money off of the toy (although I'm sure he is for the comic, since he wrote it, but you won't hear me complaining. I'd never complain about new MOTU comics).

Wow, Jeff, I didn't even see your post, lol.

How did that happen?

Am I your clone, or something? lol

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