DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD (mini-comic, 1983)

Double-Edged Sword is a 1983 Masters of the Universe mini-comic. No author is credited; it was illustrated by Larry Houston and Michael Lee. Here, Skeletor attacks the Royal Palace with vine monsters that only He-Man can damage. Apart from the inclusion of a little kid who has a grandfather and wants to join the Palace Guard, this story bears no resemblance to the cartoon episode of the same name.

The story (which doesn’t actually feature any story element that could be described as a double-edged sword) manages to give us a little suspense – how will He-Man get out of the pit? The answer may disappoint you. Houston’s art is again average, and again he gives us more non-white characters, which is always fine with me. And at last, we get Man-At-Arms’s mustache in a mini-comic. But where did Battle Cat disappear to in the middle of the story?

Charles Simpson is the colorist; I don’t know what his problem is. In The Secret Liquid of Life, he had Teela in a yellow outfit; here she’s in pink. Doesn’t he know that no one on Eternia owns a change of clothes (or perhaps more likely, that they own many changes of clothes that all look exactly the same)?    

This one’s no classic, but it’s perfectly readable.

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Read it HERE