Borrower #1 Josh Van Pelt

The book measures about 8" by 11.5", has a soft cover, and has 53 full-color pages.  It was limited to 1000 pieces, each with a foil-stamped ribbon over the front cover as well as the number stamped on the back cover.  It is broken into sections starting with very early conceptual documents and sketches and goes all the way up to proposed artwork for a yet to be made movie.

From page one you know that you are going to enjoy this.  Every He-Man fan can find something they haven't seen before.  My personal favorites are the original Mark Taylor character sketches. It would have been cool to have some commentary by some of the creators of the line such as Mark Taylor & Roger Sweet.

This book is really something that Mattel should have done much earlier and on a larger scale.  Each section has amazing documentation, photographs and artwork related to MOTU, The New Adventures, the "Modern Line", The Classics, and a section called "the Future".  The shame is that over 25 years worth of history is condensed and presented in such a short format.  Although it is cool to see so many early designs and a few prototypes, I am left thinking about the thousands of pieces that we don't get to see. After going through this book on a few occasions the past few months my final reaction is... I want a Volume 2!

Not much of a review but there are 49 more "borrowers" who will each be able to add their thoughts, comments, and highlights.  The is on its way to its next steward, MMANOR from the he-man.org forums. 

The Book Is In The Mail

If you are reading this you are probably already a fan of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. You may also be aware that Mattel offered a very limited Art Book at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con. I will not get into the details but as you can imagine most of these books never made it to the true MOTU fans who have kept this line alive for over 25 years.

After I purchased a copy for myself on eBay for $150 (plus shipping) I realized that it was a shame that such a rare item would sit on my shelf for my eyes only. With thousands of fans unable to get this book for a reasonable price I decided that I would purchase a book and share it with as much of the community as I could. I refused to buy a book at the $100+ that most eBay sellers are looking to get and waited... and waited.

Needless to say I finally found one - number 0572 to be exact. On 1/9/2010 I posted this thread on the He-Man.org forums. http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/showthread.php?p=2303542&posted=1#post2303542

This blog will follow the journey of this lone book as it shares it's awesome artwork and design from the early days of MOTU all the way up to the much anticipated rumored live action movie.

The first post tomorrow will be my reactions to the book along with a quick review. Then, once each fan has had a chance to enjoy the book for their week, he/ she will be able to add their own post.

I hope you enjoy!
Josh