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
