Icons of Evil: Mer-Man [Official Talk Back] *Spoilers*

**Sir Reilly** · July 16, 2003, 04:54am

This comic hits Wednesday, the 16th of July. Talk about it here!

Before Mer-Man ever came into the service of Skeletor, he was once ruler of all he surveyed. He had his own undersea kingdom, one which he ruled with an iron fist. How did this once great Warlord of the Oceans of Eternia fall from grace and become the lowly minion we know today?

**Vikingjoe93** · July 16, 2003, 11:09am

I just read the comic. The art is nice but the story is lackluster to me, that just my opinion of course.

**JeMaBo2** · July 16, 2003, 11:46am

it was pretty good. the story was short by it was interesting. it is weird seeing Crossgen on the cover instead of image. i like how they have a he-man.org ad in the comic.

**zodak74** · July 16, 2003, 12:06pm

I guess it was bound to happen, as I've been a little TOO happy with the comic up to date

But I really felt like this was geared towards the kindergarten crowd. I guess I was expecting Icons Of Evil to cater to a more mature audience, something for the fans. But this did nothing to add to my knowledge of who Mer-Man IS. Ruler of an underwater kingdom that treats his people horribly and then loses it (but still has control over his people?) in the end after a huge battle featuring the big puffer fish from the cartoon.
Was he supposed to be under Keldor's spell? It would have been cool if Keldor had put some mojo on Mer-Man to get him to act very aggressively towards his own people and they booted him out in the end, thus landing him in Keldor's gang. There was a panel when Mer-Man returns to his throne room that confused me- maybe it was meant to suggest he was wiped out from his last escapade? I dunno... looking for something here.
I didn't like the artwork for this one- well, the scenery was very pretty, but the characters themselves looked bad. I miss Emiliano's detail. And the fight scenes had none of the whoomp. Even though it did have the big ol' Batman TV show-style "BAM POOM POWS" that I find very distracting written across the panels to show action. At least in Beast Man IOE, I really felt it when Keldor got his butt kicked by Beasty.
It's nice to pick up to complete your collection, but overall I don't find it a necessary or compelling read

**Vikingjoe93** · July 16, 2003, 02:43pm

I agree with you Zodak74. It just wasn't a very compelling story. Oh well i guess all the icon books will be this way.

I'm paying 5 bucks for paper

mechanicalmenace · July 16, 2003, 03:32pm

I couldn't find this issue at my comic shop today...

Is this because it's now shelved with Crossgen and I missed it?

Or is it still shelved with the other MOTU comics?

**zodak74** · July 16, 2003, 03:43pm

Hmmm... it was randomly placed on the New Release shelf, but it IS a CrossGen book now, so your shop might have it with that label's comics.
The best part of the comic was the big full-page ad for he-man.org

And if that was the advertising high, the advertising low was the ad for the website selling things like Chase Mekaneck for $99.00
Heck, He-Man fans can come here and buy MY Chase Mek for $98!!!

**lowbrass** · July 16, 2003, 03:53pm

i was also really disappointed with this one. i thought the art was great but not the story. i thought the icons of evil were supposed to tell how skeletor's minions joined up with him. sure this one told how mer-man lost most of his power as an ocean ruler but not at all about how he met keldor and joined his forces. what gives?!

**orkoclown93** · July 16, 2003, 03:54pm

ok, icons of evil Beastman was great, it showed what beastman was like b4 keldor came along, and how he came into his servitude...this i.o.e. merman tells me he was an underwater ruler...something i already knew...will there be a sequel to this? it does nothing to explain how merman came to be where he is today...i feel gypped out of my 5 bux...horrible story, poor script, and the art is mediocre at best...definately not up to the usual motu comic standards...

Trollan Justice · July 16, 2003, 04:25pm

Why does each IOE say issue #1? Is each character going to have their own mini-series?

Mer-Man felt like part 1 of a mini-series -- I enjoyed it since the old toy said he was an "Ocean Warlord" or whatever, and it was cool to see that.... but the story ends too soon! I want to see what happens next, and how he meets up with Keldor and gets recruited and is willing to subjugate himself under someone else's rule, considering he's a tyrant himself.

To me, this was like Act 1 of a 3 act story, with him having to leave his Ordinary World because it was destroyed. Act 2 needs to be him going to the surface, getting into trouble, meeting Keldor, etc etc.

**zodak74** · July 16, 2003, 04:25pm

..sort of like a big-budget action movie geared towards kids with lots of cgi and no plot...

I've been dying for Tri-Klops' story, and I know the creators are very limited because of Mattel, but if I don't find out what's going on with the visor and all that, I will be bummed.

What I have seen previewed from TrapJaw's story seems a bit more promising. I like that Cronis is standing up to Skeletor and pointing out the difference between working for Keldor and working for Skeletor. There's a story right there! Maybe they're saving the best issues for last?

BIG DADDY SINISTER · July 16, 2003, 05:02pm

Yes, the end of the story and the complete absence of Keldor did seriously weaken this one. There really is nothing here to suggest that this is a prequel story: despite the destruction of his palace and the scatterring (or desertion) of some of his people, everything still comes off pretty status quo where Mer-Man is concerned. He still commands a huge number of people, and he still controls ocean sealife (uncontested since Aquarus is dead).

I didn't care much for Beast Man's story either, but that one did a much better job of conveying how and why BM came into Keldor/Skeletor's service. Beast Man's whole world was turned upside down: he was slated for death by his own people, his king has been murdered, his life was saved by Keldor, and he can't go home again. Now THAT'S upheaval!

A good way to tie this in to the previous issue would be to have Keldor and Beast Man appear at the end, offering Mer-Man sanctuary, or at least gainful employment. Yet even that scenario, given the circumstances, wouldn't make sense, as Mer-Man was still a wealthy, powerful warlord, relatively secure in his rule. Sure, some of the people started to turn on him, but it wasn't like he was utterly ousted from power and forced into exile...

**HeManOfGreyskull** · July 16, 2003, 05:24pm

what is up with these IOE's? The art is great, but these stories are very disappointing. Mer Man's story told me nothing. All I got from it was "Mer Man's a despot, he's evil, and he likes to thrash things. woo-hoo. Where's Keldor(was he that emmissary? Shouldn't we have had a sign if was?)? Where's any sign connecting Mer Man to the other peoples of Eternia? So what if he trashed a village, and got his kingdom trashed...how's this important to the MOTU story? What was the deal with Aquaras saying " I have control of the sea creatures now..", no he doesn't, Mer Man still controls the sea monsters on the show...so why even say that?

This is really disappointing, I'm going to have to reconsider buying the other MOTU:IOE thanks to the lackluster stories Beast Man/Mer Man turned out to be. When Trap-Jaw comes out, I'm flipping through it first, cause no way I'm wasting another $4.95.

**Lord_Of_Destruction** · July 16, 2003, 05:29pm

I liked the story I only have two complanits

1. Like everyone else I am a little upset that this story did not explain how Mer Man came to work for Skeletor.

2. I don't like that his own people call him Mer Man. That CAN'T be his real name. That be like us saying, "all hail King Human!"

**ShawnQt** · July 16, 2003, 06:23pm

I love the art, the story was really boring.
I am glad it was longer then Beast Man, but
I guess longer don't mean better, because like
everyone else said, it didnt tell us anything about
Mer Man. If u going to tell a story about Mer-Man,
and charge people 5 bucks, give us something great
for our buck, I really feel totally disappointed.

I wish the concept of highligthing the evil warriors worked out better.

**roykop** · July 16, 2003, 07:08pm

I won't go into detail about what I don't like about the book, since they have pretty much all been stated in previous posts (no story, no keldor,... etc.)
I thought the art was OK, but nothing spectacular. Mer-Man isn't the easiest character to draw in a consistent manner, so at least the artists managed that decently.

My only question is why does almost every other Mer-"person" look ALMOST identical, but Mer-Man himself looks significantly different from his own people? Has he "evolved" beyond the rest of his race?

Is that how he came to have the thrown. I know there were some differences amongst his people, but not anywhere near as much detail as the man himself?!?! oh well.

I didn't completely HATE it... but it really was way more dissapointing than Beastman's I.O.E.

**heman4myson** · July 16, 2003, 07:14pm

mer-man has always been my favorite character, so I was reall happy to get this issue until I read it. As everyone else has said it told us nothing we didn't know.

And to agree with everyone with is this going to comtinue like a mini series? Get everyone out and repeat?

and please make them longer!!!!

**lowbrass** · July 16, 2003, 07:20pm

now i am really worried about trap-jaw...there is that one panel that shows Kronis walking away from snake mountain muttering that skeletor will pay. i'll bet that is the last panel of the book if it is anything like beastman and mer-man's IoE.

**Lord Eternos** · July 16, 2003, 07:29pm

The lack of Keldor was the biggest disappointment to me. The first page (the comic cover's back page) even describes how Keldor is out searching to recruit evil help. How can you then tell a story without mentioning his name. If ther is a Mer-Man number two, then this comic was fine, but if it really is a one shot, then there is absolutely no point to this issue.

Also, although the art was nice, there were two many pointless panels. At the beginning when the kingdom was seen, and then during the battle with Aquarus. Berast-Man was the same way, extra pages, but too many pointless panels. The two negated each other.

I kinda want to find out more about Aquarus and his people. But unless Val and company handle the writing, I'm not interested.

**stankgirl** · July 16, 2003, 07:32pm

i hope trap jaw and tri-klops story will be better then the past two issues of icoe, mer-man was very boring i could have written a better story then this crap.

**Emiliano** · July 16, 2003, 07:49pm

Originally posted by lowbrass
now i am really worried about trap-jaw...there is that one panel that shows Cronos walking away from snake mountain muttering that skeletor will pay. i'll bet that is the last panel of the book if it is anything like beastman and mer-man's IoE.

hehe.. no, that isn't the last panel at all!

**MossMan710179** · July 16, 2003, 07:56pm

The Mer-Man book is pretty great, but...

I wish there was more

...

**lowbrass** · July 16, 2003, 08:07pm

Originally posted by Emiliano
hehe.. no, that isn't the last panel at all!

whew!

**King Kahn** · July 16, 2003, 08:51pm

i liked the story but then it just ended. i was like so where's keldor come in and make mer-man his tuna fish b!t(h??? i liked where it was going and how it was implied that not all can control the sea life. but if he so completely dessimated his kingdom then why do his people still follow him(as seen in the toon). after the page of him looking at his destroyed kinngdom it would have been nice to at least see ONE more page showing him being kicked out/leaving his aquatic world. it seemed they dragged out the battle too much and never really got around to telling us why saddle up with keldor.

oh well i guess it's fine since at least it is more character development of mer-man. i was looking forward to trap jaw and triklops anyhoo. i really did feel like they just lopped off the last couple of pages though or at least was part one of a miniseries. i think all the icons should have been two issues so that they would have been to really flesh the stories out.

**puddleduck** · July 16, 2003, 09:02pm

I got the Mer-man IOE this afternoon and while I thought it was a decent enough read, I don't think it lived up to its potential.

I thought the background coloring was superb but rather incongruous with the coloring of the characters. I guess that this was done to make the characters stand out, which they did, but I felt that the characters deserved more detail through the color even if it came at the expense of background detail.

There was one other minor thing that struck me as out-of-place. At the beginning of the book, Mer-man shows his contempt for his people grasping for coins by calling them "beasts". I had usually considered beasts to be terrestrial animals (perhaps reinforced by the powers of Beastman which don't seem to work on sea creatures). Maybe 'beast' is a good derogatory term for mer-men, but I would have preferred something more aquatic. Another instance of this is when Aquarus is trying to save the Mer-woman and child from the falling rock - he tells them to "run". It seemed to me that "swim" would have been more appropriate, or maybe the more general "move".

As I said though, those are minor things. Overall, I enjoyed reading Mer-man IOE but it wasn't as good as it might have been.

Thread: Icons of Evil: Mer-Man [Official Talk Back] Spoilers

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