Revenge of the Snake
Men! is a 1986 Masters of the
Universe mini-comic written by Phil White and illustrated by Chris Carlson.
Here, King Hiss unleashes new minions to abduct Queen Marlena.
So here’s yet another kidnap/rescue story, although in this
one, the reader can’t help but wonder what some of these characters’ motivations are.
King Hiss’s plan is to abduct the Queen to blackmail Randor – but then she’s “permanently”
turned to stone and it doesn’t seem to bother him. Prince Adam sends the
Sorceress off but keeps Extendar, creating a situation in which he can’t change
to He-Man and in which he’s completely dependent on the conveniently made-up
and previously unbeknownst stone-melting properties of the Power Sword (whereas
“Extendar, take the queen to safety” would have led to a tidy resolution of this story by the
end of page five). And victory is a direct result of bumbling by the Snake Men –
although how they expected He-Man to stay stone as long as he’s holding his
sword is beyond me.
The only other thing of note here is that Sssqueeze is
called “Tanglor,” which is reminiscent of the Sy-Klone/Tornado late-production name
change of yesteryear.
Carlson’s art is pretty good. His male figures tend to be
stocky, with lumpy faces, but his forms and backgrounds are solid. The colors
are less garish than in many of the contemporary mini-comics, which adds to the
atmosphere.
This one is not unentertaining, but the dumb writing
really brings it down.
TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT
Read it HERE
