He-Man and the Masters
of the Universe Magazine #3 is the summer 1985 issue, with activities and
stories following the usual format. This one is “The Evil Horde issue;” the
focus on the Horde coincides with the theatrical release of Filmation’s The Secret
of the Sword movie. Marketing, ho!
On page 5, in the letters, a five-year-old kid writes in
with his own He-Man story – and heck, it isn’t any worse than some of the
stories they gave us in the first two issues. It’s kind of amazing they didn’t
send him ten bucks for the rights and then pad it out to three pages.
That said, “The Legend of Hordak” is the first quality story
we’ve had in this magazine – it gives us background on how Hordak got his gang
together, how he and Skeletor became BFFs, and how Skeletor sold him out. It’s
a nice little prequel to The Secret of the Sword, in which only some
of these events are referenced. The prose story here, “The Stone of Nimyar,” is
perfectly readable, if not the least bit clever or original (there’s hardly a
paucity of stories in which Orko suffers from low self-esteem and then learns a
valuable lesson in self-worth at the end, or of stories in which gaping holes
in Skeletor’s plans allow the heroes to win).
On page 9, there’s a plug for the MLB All-Star Game.
Pictured is Matt Young, who not only didn’t
make the All-Star Game that year (or the year before), but also led the
league in losses.
Of the activities included here, I highlight “The Sketch
Pad,” a not-very-helpful step-by-step guide to drawing He-Man characters (draw
a triangle; now draw a circle; now draw Skeletor’s head!).
There are two more posters included: one great one of the
Horde by Earl Norem and one featuring scenes from The Secret of the Sword.
Read it HERE
