The Power of the Evil Horde! is a 1985 Masters of the Universe read-along children’s book with audio cassette. No author is credited. Here, Hordak invades Eternia, and He-Man has to travel to the Fright Zone to rescue Orko and Skeletor.
The primary reason this book is fantastic is that it
features the voice actors and music for the show. It’s got sound effects, too,
and holy smokes, even the narrator is awesome.
Another highlight of this book is the illustrations. The
Power of the Evil Horde! features excellent painted art by Bruce “the
entire DC Animated Universe” Timm, who also worked on the original cartoon and
illustrated a fair number of the mini-comics. The art is based exclusively on
the figures (although by 1985, there’s really no excuse for Man-At-Arms not to
have his mustache). It’s extremely faithful in this regard – heck, the Fright
Zone dragon still looks like a hand puppet.
The story isn’t particularly imaginative (and whoever wrote
it seems to have forgotten that Man-At-Arms knows He-Man’s identity), but we
aren’t reading these books for the story. Anyway, it serves its marketing
purpose, which is to introduce the Horde figures and playset. And it’s got a
Filmation-style moral on the value of all life, which I always like.
In all, the nostalgia factor on The Power of the Evil
Horde! couldn’t be higher. This might be cooler to me now than when I was
five.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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