MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #1 (DC, 1982)

Masters of the Universe #1 (“To Tempt the Gods!,” December, 1982) begins DC’s three-issue mini-series. It’s written by Paul Kupperberg and illustrated by George Tuska and Alfredo Alcala. Here, Skeletor threatens to kill the Goddess unless He-Man helps him obtain what he needs to retrieve the halves of the Power Sword.

Skeletor extorting He-Man is a novel concept, although there’s really not a lot of different ways that can play out. The story is pretty decent, but it’s burdened with an awful lot of exposition, which is not unexpected. The writing incorporates the stiff, formal, fantasy-genre dialogue, but Kupperberg carelessly puts in the occasional jarring break* (unless he was trying to be funny and not succeeding). While we’re on carelessness, he’s also spelling “Grayskull” with an “e.”

Of greater interest than the story itself is the final evolution of the DC mythos: Adam’s irresponsibility has evolved into his cover story…somewhat – he’s having his cake and eating it too. Suggesting that this story takes place somewhat early in He-Man’s career, He-Man doesn’t have free access to the Royal Palace, and here we see his first interaction with his parents as He-Man. At least he has the good sense to realize that he looks exactly like Prince Adam in different clothes. We also get a tiny bit more astronaut Marlena backstory.

The art has a fitting pulp style, although Tuska’s characters in motion are frequently in bizarre positions. Alcala’s heavy inks make for good atmosphere, which goes a long way. And together they give us some real violence. But there’s some carelessness here, too (in the first few pages, the characters go from indoors to outdoors mid-scene), as well as some inexplicable goings-on: Teela’s wearing some kind of metal Viking bra, and most of Stratos’s people look like, well, regular people.

In all, this is a promising start to DC’s last classic He-Man story.

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*He-Man: “There has never been anything quite like the sharp edge of blade and axe to fell demons!”

Battle Cat: “Bah! I say ’tis fang and claw these creatures fear most!”

Teela: “Argue later, you guys!”

THE POWER OF…POINT DREAD! (mini-comic, 1982)

The Power of…Point Dread! is a 1982 Masters of the Universe mini-comic by Cohn, Texeira, and Smith. Here, Skeletor uses his yoga powers to reclaim Point Dread and the Talon Fighter and then launches an assault on the Royal Palace.

It’s always nice to see such a well-populated Eternia. And thanks to the art, this is about the darkest story we’ve had so far: in this, the last of the pre-Filmation mini-comics, we get a full-fledged battle, with soldiers getting violently killed. The creative team does a good job of depicting this clearly without being graphic (although they overdo it with the close-ups of angry faces).

Aside from Skeletor losing his magic crystal out the window, there’s no dumbness to speak of here (heck, Beast Man is really on top of things). Good story, good change of pace.

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MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE PREVIEW (DC, 1982)

Masters of the Universe Preview was published as a 16-page supplement/promotional in over a dozen DC titles in November, 1982 (DC’s three-issue MOTU mini-series came out the following month). Titled “Fate Is the Killer,” it was written by Paul Kupperberg and illustrated by Curt Swan and Dave Hunt.

Here, Zodac shows up and makes a bunch of ominous declarations, He-Man picks a fight with Zodac, Skeletor gets both halves of the Power Sword (again), and Superman shows up (again).

Zodac talks a lot of smack considering that he turns out to be completely wrong and almost ruins everything. A lot of what happens here doesn’t make a great deal of sense, partly because of Zodac but mostly because of the writing. Superman, on the last page: “Er…will someone please explain to me what I’m doing here?” Please, by all means.

There are plenty of new story elements here. Previous comics and mini-comics used formal period-style dialogue; this one does too, and adds some needless archaicisms. Most jarring, Prince Adam is quite the pimp here. Whereas in the cartoon he pretends to be carefree and irresponsible, here he’s really into wenching it up and his playboy lifestyle.

On the whole, this comic is kind of a mess. At least we get to see He-Man run the Power Sword through Skeletor’s gut.

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THE MAGIC STEALER! (mini-comic, 1982)

The Magic Stealer! is a 1982 Masters of the Universe mini-comic by Cohn, Texeira, and Smith. Here, Skeletor stumbles upon an unattended device that will suck all the magic from the planet, because Eternia is apparently the type of place where people leave doomsday weapons just lying around.

Aside from the obvious plugs for the Attak-Trak and Zoar toys, we get to see another of Eternia’s gods and a number of angry “spirits.” This is interesting in theory; it would be interesting in practice if Cohn did anything with these creatures beyond shoot them with lasers.

The creative team tries to up the stakes at the end, where He-Man makes a super-angry face and gives a little inspirational speech (with extra-heavy inks for emphasis), but it’s too late to make this an engaging story.

There are some neat ideas here, but they feel slapped together.

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THE TALE OF TEELA! (mini-comic, 1982)

The Tale of Teela! is a 1982 Masters of the Universe mini-comic by Cohn, Texeira, and Smith. Here, Teela gets captured (again) and discovers that she is actually a low-powered clone of the actual goddess Teela*, created by Skeletor so he could marry her.

This story is a new one on me. It’s extremely bizarre. And while it ends with the lingering threat of Teela and the Goddess permanently merging, this backstory was immediately dropped and never seen again in favor of the Filmation Sorceress-Teela relationship. Mattel even packaged a different comic with the Teela action figure in later runs, so it’s no wonder people don’t remember this.

Here’s a refreshing plot point: He-Man doesn’t save the day. In fact, he doesn’t have all that much to do; he beats up a few of Skeletor’s minions, but plays third fiddle behind the Goddess and Man-At-Arms.

One implication of this story is that Skeletor has been trying and failing to get into Castle Grayskull for at least two decades. He may not be the best planner, but give him credit for perseverance.

We’ve got some classic villain dialogue here: “My plan was simple! I would create a duplicate of the goddess, using her power, but controlling her double with the power of my will. I would raise this duplicate from an infant, then take her as my bride! Together, we would conquer Castle Grayskull…and all of Eternia!” So simple, indeed, that one wonders how it possibly could have gone awry.

This one’s worth reading, if just for the craziness.

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*By “goddess Teela,” this story means “the Sorceress;” no explanation is given for the title change. While a fairly clear evolution is (and will be) apparent, the recent Masters of the Universe Classics line of figures differentiated explicitly between the snake-headed “Goddess” and the falcon-headed “Sorceress.” Because you can sell more $20+ figures to grown men who will never take them out of the box that way.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #47 (DC, 1982)

DC Comics Presents was DC’s Superman team-up title in the ’70s and ’80s. Issue #47 (July, 1982) marks He-Man’s first appearance in mainstream comics. This issue, “From Eternia – with Death!” was written by Paul Kupperberg and illustrated by Curt Swan and Mike DeCarlo. Here, Skeletor inadvertently opens a portal to Earth (specifically, to two feet in front of Superman), then bewitches Superman to fight He-Man.

Yes, they fight. It’s short, decisive, and not at all the most interesting part of this comic. Superman doesn’t do a great deal for the story, but having your A-list good guys fight each other has been a shameless (and effective) comic book marketing ploy since time immemorial. But from a Masters of the Universe viewpoint, as far as his role in the story, Superman is pretty much interchangeable with any of the other Heroic Warriors that Skeletor works his magic on.    

This is much more a MOTU comic than it is a Superman one, which makes sense given that DC went on to do a couple more things with the franchise in the following year. One of the ramifications of this is that we get quite a bit more Eternian world building than we’ve previously seen.

The DC comics feature a unique mythos that bridges the gap between the earliest He-Man stories and the cartoon in interesting ways. Many of the rudiments of the cartoon are here, including Prince Adam and a talking Cringer, but with distinct differences from their cartoon incarnations. Adam, for example, is a troublemaker, has tremendous strength of his own, and transforms into He-Man by entering the “Cave of Power.” Setting-wise, the transition from “primordial fantasy with advanced technology” to “medieval fantasy with advanced technology” is complete. Interestingly, the Queen-Marlena-is-from-Earth backstory, which is mentioned in the cartoon on a couple of occasions, appears first here. And DC continues to use the long-haired, blond Teela from the second series of mini-comics.

In the end, it’s a satisfying read, primarily because of the world building and new mythology.

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THE MENACE OF TRAP-JAW! (mini-comic, 1982)

The Menace of Trap Jaw! is a 1982 Masters of the Universe mini-comic written by Steven Grant and illustrated by Texeira and Smith. Here, trying to get into Castle Grayskull, Skeletor incompetently transports Trap Jaw from another dimension into the castle, giving him access to all its powers and forcing He-Man and Skeletor to cooperate.

Here, we’re to the point where He-Man and Skeletor each have half of the Power Sword. Them joining the pieces together to team up is a neat idea – them essentially holding hands to use it isn’t. That’s the gimmick here; Grant doesn’t do a thing with Trap Jaw (unless you count him zip-lining to safety via the loop in his helmet), and there’s not a lot going on otherwise except that He-Man has exceptionally pretty hair in a couple of panels.

We can certainly do better than this.

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