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

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MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #4 (Star, 1986)

Masters of the Universe #4, “Snakes Alive!” is by the usual crowd: Mike Carlin, Ron Wilson, and Dennis Janke. Here, Skeletor unleashes the Snake Men to aid him against He-Man.

In concluding my review of the dreadful issue #3, I questioned whether we could do worse. Carlin has accepted my challenge and given us an issue that prominently features Rio Blast and Snout Spout, and, while Carlin doesn’t quite make it, he comes close.

So here’s the origin of the Snake Men all over again, but not as well-told as in the mini-comic King of the Snake Men. There are some potentially interesting machinations going on with the Snake Men, but this issue really just comes down to a bunch of bumbling, incompetent heroes versus bumbling, incompetent villains. Rio Blast and Snout Spout are like brain damaged buddy cops – Rio Blast is the insane one. And does Snout Spout fight a fire here? No, of course he doesn’t. There’s some pretty terrible dialogue here, too, the lowlight being Rio Blast’s “Five snakes! Not one, but five!”

Wilson and Janke must have still been in the zone after drawing Hordak’s big old head so many times in issue #3, because they put his giant face on the cover even though he doesn’t appear in this issue (sorry, neither does Spider-Man or Thor or any of those other guys). Wilson continues his trend of drawing He-Man transforming in weird yoga poses to fit the page – I don’t know if he’s having scale issues or what. And why is Kobra Khan brown?

This is a step up over issue #3, but not much of one.

NOT RECOMMENDED

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HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MAGAZINE #8

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Magazine #8 is the Fall 1986 issue.

This one kicks off with a horrendously dated ad for Kool-Aid Koolers, which features a kid wearing at least three shirts with his green pants tucked into his red socks, which he’s wearing under unlaced blue Wilson high-tops. The text of the ad is not only grammatically incorrect, it also tries to pass off an electric bass as a guitar – nice try, kid.

If your eyes survive that, there are plugs for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and ALF (this latter inexplicably coming under the headline “Space Dog”), plus other long-forgotten shows and movies. 

In this issue’s terrible story, “The Struggle for Eternia,” Snout Spout and Extendar “patrol Eternia all day” by riding the little monorail around the Eternia playset, Skeletor successfully creates a diversion by having his minions throw rocks at them, He-Man, in his own plane, doesn’t notice that Skeletor’s giant aircraft is parked on top of Central Tower, and King Hiss and Skeletor run away because Snout Spout squirts water at them.

Activities here include a fairly easy (for the faithful) set of trivia questions, a nicely illustrated maze, yet another why-bother connect-the-dots, and tips for making He-Man-themed jack-o-lanterns.

In addition to the poster version of Earl Norem’s cover, there’s also a Norem-painted book cover of He-Man fighting Monstroid, which on one hand is pretty cool but on the other hand features Snout Spout riding a jet ski. (There’s also another nice Norem painting on page 3.)

Contrary to the promises of issue #7, there’s no behind-the-scenes movie spotlight here. 

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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

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