Caverns of Fear is a 1983 Masters of the Universe children’s
book written by Mary Carey and illustrated by Al McWilliams. Here, He-Man
discovers Skeletor attempting to enter Grayskull via an underground passage.
It’s the usual early-MOTU story – He-Man, Teela,
Man-At-Arms, and Stratos versus Skeletor and Beast Man (plus Trap Jaw here),
but Carey does a nice job with it, setting the mood in the first few pages and
giving some of the non-He-Man characters things to do. There’s also a little
interesting interplay between He-Man and Battle Cat, which is all the more
impressive considering that Battle Cat can’t talk.
McWilliams’s art is something of a mixed bag. His characters
feature somewhat more realistic musculatures than they’re typically depicted with,
and not in a way that makes them look scrawny or ridiculous (not just anybody
can pull off the He-Man outfit). However, it looks like everyone’s beloved
furry briefs have been replaced with cloth diapers, and Battle Cat’s head looks
odd – more like a horse’s. McWilliams’s backgrounds and settings are quite good,
but He-Man’s face frequently looks wrong. And note that Castle Grayskull is the playset exactly - with the handle and everything. On the whole, though, the good
outweighs the bad.
Of the original four He-Man stories from Golden Books, this
one’s probably the best.
RECOMMENDED
Read it HERE
