THE COSMIC KEY (mini-comic, 1987)

The Cosmic Key is a 1987 Masters of the Universe mini-comic (the last). No author or artist is credited, quite possibly because no one wanted to admit involvement. Here, The Evil Cloud appears to bestow power upon Skeletor.

The Evil Cloud! How many trees died for this six-page abomination? One could complain that six pages isn’t enough space to tell a coherent story, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen regardless. To wit: Blade and Saurod talk like they’re reading off their toy packaging. Gwildor gets summoned out of a nearby pond like he’s the spawn of a union between the Lady of the Lake and Gizmo from Gremlins. The resolution doesn’t make any sense whatsoever of any kind. And The Evil Cloud is a real thing that happens (he would go on to star in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer).  

Being kind, the art is substandard, as is the coloring, and one is forced to conclude that The Evil Cloud is the villain here for the sole reason that he’s so easy to draw. Let’s start by saying that Skeletor’s face looks really good. Moving on, He-Man looks like he’s wielding the sword that the She-Ra action figure came with. The Sorceress does the Dhalsim yoga float through half the issue. The climax involves a tornado that’s twice the size of the planet. Blade has that weird thing from the concept art over his mouth. Skeletor is wearing the Terror Bra. And backgrounds? We ain’t got no backgrounds. We don’t need no backgrounds! I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ backgrounds!

Calling this the worst mini-comic of them all is just too easy. This one’s in a category all its own.

The Evil Cloud!

RECOMMENDED AGAINST (but you know you’re going to look at it anyway)

Read it HERE

THE POWERS OF GRAYSKULL – THE LEGEND BEGINS! (mini-comic, 1986)

The Powers of Grayskull – The Legend Begins! is a 1986 Masters of the Universe mini-comic written by Phil White and illustrated by Larry Houston and Bruce Timm. Here, He-Man and Skeletor journey to Eternia’s past, where the Snake Men are using bionic dinosaurs to oppress the villagers.

As the cover indicates, this was intended to be the first of a trilogy leading into Mattel’s The Powers of Grayskull spinoff featuring the wizard He-Ro. But parts two and three were never made, and the three dinosaur toys, the vanguards of the Powers of Grayskull line, were the only toys ever produced with that branding. It’s too bad; it would have been great to find out how, exactly, ancient Eternia has all these cyborg dinosaurs, and it’s a lot more appealing than the ponytailed He-Man-in-space we got in 1990.

The story here is noteworthy primarily for the contributions it sets itself up to make to the mythos; otherwise, it’s little more than a big fight scene featuring the three dinosaurs (two of which, interestingly, aren’t named (or spelled) in accordance with their toys). Also of note is that there’s a Cosmic Key reference here to tie in to all the movie shenanigans (the prospect of trying to bring aspects of the live-action film into canon is a dubious one, though).  

The art is a highlight – Timm only provides the inks, but he makes the illustrations his own, as his style is apparent on every page. The dinosaurs are all nicely done.

The Cosmic Key yet remains for us, but this is truly the last real mini-comic. It’s not one of the greats, but it leaves us wanting still more – and really, what else could we ask for?

RECOMMENDED

Read it HERE

ENERGY ZOIDS (mini-comic, 1986)

Energy Zoids is a 1986 Masters of the Universe mini-comic written by Phil White and illustrated by Chris Carlson. Here, Skeletor and the Snake Men try to steal Man-At-Arms’ new robot-warrior-creating invention.

I always thought Rotar and Twistoid were fairly lame toys, but White does a good job of giving Rotar a little bit of character (and hoist the flag, I guess, for empowering amputees). It’s also cool that Skeletor’s running an underground fight club out of Snake Mountain. I’ve missed that since Clash of Arms. The ending is a little too He-Man ex machina, but they had to get him into the story somehow (and the teamwork moral at the end veers a little too close to “never try to win without getting help from He-Man” territory).

Carlson does a good job with the characters and action, although his heads are frequently oversized and lumpy. But why, longtime colorist Charles Simpson, is Skeletor’s Havoc Staff orange?

White does a fair job given what he has to work with, and despite its flaws, this one is perfectly readable.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

Read it HERE

THE SEARCH FOR KELDOR (mini-comic, 1986)

The Search for Keldor is a 1986 Masters of the Universe mini-comic written by Steven Grant and illustrated by Bruce Timm and Steve Mitchell. Here, Randor seeks to discover the fate of his long-lost brother.

So this is the comic that implies, not at all subtlety, that Skeletor is Randor’s brother (and He-Man’s uncle). And while this is clearly a relatively sudden decision by Mattel, it can be made to fit reasonably well with Skeletor’s extra-dimensional origins in Halperin’s series bible. Beyond the Darth Vader-style shock value, though, this revelation isn’t of particular value to the 1980s line, as it wasn’t ever mentioned again, although the 200X series explicitly adopted the Keldor-as-Skeletor story element, if not the Keldor-as-Randor’s-brother one (at least, not his full brother, certainly).

Beyond the introduction of this story element, this isn’t a particularly well-written comic, and the obligatory toy plugs aren’t the only thing that hold it back. Skeletor summons some easily-subdued, decidedly second-string minions out of the blue, and then is surprised when they can’t get the job done (he asks for the most evil beings of all time – maybe he should have asked for the most competent). Faker is here, and one wonders yet again (much as Randor does) why we have to bother with the pretense that this different-colored, differently-clad creature is impersonating He-Man. And on the last page, it’s He-Man, not Prince Adam, telling the king, “Don’t worry, Father…” and making it clear that he knows all about what’s going on even though he just showed up. How did that get past the editor? About the only other positive thing going on here is the further development of Randor as a noble and self-sacrificing man of action.

Also of note is that Clamp Champ, Mattel’s token black character (and who apparently has a Spider-sense), has his name spelled with a “K.”

The art is pretty good, much as we expect any time we see Timm’s name in the credits. In addition to the usual strengths, the use of color and heavy inks do a lot toward establishing a suitable nighttime atmosphere.

This isn’t a great comic, but because of its contribution to the mythos, it’s a must-read.

RECOMMENDED

Read it HERE

ENTER…BUZZ-SAW HORDAK! (mini-comic, 1986)

Enter…Buzz-Saw Hordak! is a 1986 Masters of the Universe mini-comic written by Steve Grant and illustrated by Bruce Timm. Here, Hordak creates Mosquitor, defeats the Sorceress, and schemes to enter Central Tower.

Randor’s getting in on the action? He must have finally gotten his own action figure. But it’s all to the good, and Grant also does a nice job with Hordak’s character and personality, as well as at hinting at the powers of Central Tower and what looked like, at the time, to be shaping up into quite an interesting expansion of the mythos (it really is a shame the line fizzled out before the towers could be developed much further).

There are some niggling writing issues here, though nothing deal-breaking. We’re told that only “the rightful king” can enter Central Tower, but in The Ultimate Battleground!, Skeletor got in without a problem. Also in that mini-comic, we were told that the Ancients built and sunk the towers. Yet here, Hordak claims he helped build it. We know that King Hiss is that old, but to my recollection, in no other 1980s cartoon or mini-comic is it suggested that Hordak dates back so far (although it should be noted that the 200X cartoon adopted this “ancient warlord” Hordak).

This is some of Timm’s strongest work on the mini-comics. The characters, faces, and action scenes are all top notch. Hordak taking out King Randor is fantastic. It could scarcely be better, and it ranks up there with some of Alfredo Alcala’s finest mini-comic work.  

With solid storytelling, a little mythos-building, and some outstanding art, this is one of the best mini-comics in the entire run.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Read it HERE

THE HORDES OF HORDAK (mini-comic, 1986)

The Hordes of Hordak is a 1986 Masters of the Universe mini-comic written by Steven Grant and illustrated by Red Grant and Bruce Timm. Here, Hordak kidnaps Sy-Klone and sends an army of Horde Troopers against the Heroic Warriors.

Going against the good guys with overwhelming numbers is a fresh and logical approach. However…

I understand that the gimmick of the Horde Trooper action figure was that it “broke” when you pressed the button on its chest, but let’s be frank: an army of soldiers whose weak point is the middle of the chest is the worst idea of all time (they don’t even carry shields!). I’m not sure that even an Achilles’ Face would be dumber than an Achilles’ Sternum (at least then we could get some “not in the face!” jokes going).

The art is more than competent, even if this isn’t Grant’s or Timm’s finest work. Hordak looks quite good – if a little snaky – and the action panels are well done. However, there are issues with face consistency, and some panels look like the inks were rushed. Worst, the decisive moment of the conflict on page 12 is apparently so violently awesome that it can’t be illustrated, as we get almost an entire page of little more than action lines and an action word; however, it does spare us from finding out how a factory utterly explodes just from having a sword lobbed in its general direction (clearly the factory was built using the same design principles as the troopers themselves).  

The art’s pretty good and the concept is solid, but this comic is dumb, dumb, dumb.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Read it HERE