This story is a new one on me. It’s extremely bizarre. And
while it ends with the lingering threat of Teela and the Goddess permanently merging,
this backstory was immediately dropped and never seen again in favor of the
Filmation Sorceress-Teela relationship. Mattel even packaged a different comic
with the Teela action figure in later runs, so it’s no wonder people don’t
remember this.
Here’s a refreshing plot point: He-Man doesn’t save the day.
In fact, he doesn’t have all that much to do; he beats up a few of Skeletor’s
minions, but plays third fiddle behind the Goddess and Man-At-Arms.
One implication of this story is that Skeletor has been
trying and failing to get into Castle Grayskull for at least two decades. He
may not be the best planner, but give him credit for perseverance.
We’ve got some classic villain dialogue here: “My plan was
simple! I would create a duplicate of the goddess, using her power, but
controlling her double with the power of my will. I would raise this duplicate
from an infant, then take her as my bride! Together, we would conquer Castle
Grayskull…and all of Eternia!” So simple, indeed, that one wonders how it
possibly could have gone awry.
This one’s worth reading, if just for the craziness.
RECOMMENDED
Read it HERE
*By “goddess Teela,” this story means “the Sorceress;” no
explanation is given for the title change. While a fairly clear evolution is
(and will be) apparent, the recent Masters of the Universe Classics line of
figures differentiated explicitly between the snake-headed “Goddess” and the
falcon-headed “Sorceress.” Because you can sell more $20+ figures to grown men
who will never take them out of the box that way.
