HE-MAN MINICOMICS 1986

"THE FLYING FISTS OF POWER!" | "ROCK PEOPLE TO THE RESCUE!"
"KING OF THE SNAKE MEN" | "THE TERROR CLAWS STRIKE!"
"ESCAPE FROM THE SLIME PIT!" | "THE MENACE OF MULTI-BOT"
"THE WARRIOR MACHINE" | "EYE OF THE STORM"
"THE FASTEST DRAW IN THE UNIVERSE" | "THE HORDES OF HORDAK"
"BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE!" | "SNAKE ATTACK!"
"THE ULTIMATE BATTLEGROUND"

Writers: Tim Kilpin. Gayle Gilbard, Larry Houston, Steven Grant,
Eric Frydler, Tina Harris, Jim Mitchell, & Phil White
Artists: Jim Mitchell, Larry Houston, Bruce Timm, Chris Carlson, Mike Van Cleave, Greg Brooks, Mike Vosburg, Peter Ledger, & Red Grant
Inks: Steve Mitchell, Bruce Timm, Todd Kurosawa, Tom Luth, Red Grant
Letters: Stan Sakai | Colors: Charles Simpson & Tom Luth
Editor: Lee Nordling | Art Director: Ron Cook

A year with more cooks in the kitchen than ever before -- just check out the number of writers and artists involved in the production of these stories -- somehow brings with it the tightest continuity since the very first four minicomics. Behold...

The saga kicks off with the Sorceress bestowing on He-Man the gift of "The Flying Fists of Power!", a magical battle technique to aid him against the forces of evil. In reality, Flying Fists He-Man was a brand new action figure with a different outfit than the normal He-Man, but the comics simply depict our hero as his normal self when he uses the power. Following from this comic, He-Man calls on the power of the Flying Fists a handful of times throughout the year's remaining stories. Also, at one point he uses the Thunder Punch, which readers may recall was bestowed upon him by Castle Greyskull in the 1985 series (and, unlike Flying Fists He-Man, the Thunder Punch figure was depicted in his alternate costume during his first appearance -- but now looks just like the standard garden variety He-Man).

In "Rock People to the Rescue", a pair of humanoid rocks arrive on Eternia and help He-Man against Skeletor's minions. Stonedar and Rokkon appeared on She-Ra's TV series, as MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE was no longer producing new episodes at this point, making their debut here -- as with that of the Evil Horde last year -- a departure from the Filmation canon.

Speaking of the Horde, last week we touched on the idea of the "third faction" in kids' toylines from the eighties -- but MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE wasn't content to stop there. 1986 introduced an unprecedented fourth faction to He-Man's saga. In "King of the Snake Men", Skeletor summons an ancient and long-lost warlord, King Hiss, to the present day. Hiss and Skeletor soon form an alliance against He-Man, with Hiss even moving into Snake Mountain for the remainder of the year's stories -- but it's clear that he is his own villain, and he and Skeletor begin plotting against one another almost immediately.

The best minicomics, at least from my perspective, are the ones that fill in bits and pieces of Eternia's storied past, and this story does so, presenting King Hiss -- not unlike Hordak -- as a warlord who walked Eternia centuries ago, before being banished. The story also throws in an odd nod to Filmation; when Hiss tries to summon his Snake Men from the past to join him, he instead winds up with Tung Lashor and Rattlor, two modern-day snake creatures who are identified as serving the Evil Horde. Now, these characters did serve the Horde -- but only on TV, in She-Ra's show, which the minicomics have totally disregarded! There's nothing to say that the duo couldn't have also worked for Hordak in the minicomics, though up to this point the Horde has very explicitly been limited to the five original action figures who comprised it for the toyline. It's just kind of a weird little continuity reference that didn't need to be made. In this universe, Tung Lashor and Rattlor could have just as easily come from the past along with Hiss.

"The Terror Claws Strike!" and "Escape From the Slime Pit!" are both pretty straightforward stories to introduce new toys; Skeletor's "Terror Claw" variant and Hordak's slime pit (which would douse your figures with real green slime that was a pain to clean off!) make their debuts here. I will note that the artwork in "Slime Pit", from Jim Mitchell, is really creepy -- and maybe even a bit too intense for a child (or at least for the child I used to be) -- in some spots, as He-Man becomes a slime-covered zombie under Hordak's control for part of the story.

Next come two new members of the Evil Horde, in "The Menace of Multi-Bot" and "The Warrior Machine". In the former, Modulok constructs a robot with powers similar to his own, while in the latter, Hordak himself creates a cyborg named Dragstor to menace He-Man. This results in Prince Adam's friend, Extendar, who worships He-Man as his idol, to willingly submit to Hordak and become a cyborg as well. But when Hordak uses Extendar against He-Man, Extendar rebels and returns to the side of angels. "The Warrior Machine" is notable for Hordak suggesting that there are people living in Etheria besides the Evil Horde. The place is still drawn as a desolate wasteland, but this is the first indication we've had that anybody other than the Horde resides there. Further, at the conclusion of the story, Hordak promises to return to Eternia with an army, foreshadowing his next minicomic appearance, which we'll look at momentarily.

"Eye of the Storm" brings Skeletor back into action after three straight Horde-centric tales. This time, the villain develops a weather machine to play havoc with He-Man and friends, but new ally Snout Spout stops Skeletor and saves the day. In "The Fastest Draw in the Universe", we meet He-Man's old friend, a former sheriff-turned-cyborg (though maybe he was always a cyborg sheriff; who knows?) named Rio Blast. Rio teams up with He-Man and Orko to thwart Skeletor's plan to ruin Eternia's crops. O.G. henchman Beast Man pops up here, putting in a rare appearance in the latter-day minicomics.

"The Hordes of Hordak" continues the plotline established in "The Warrior Machine", as Hordak creates an army of robots called Horde Troopers to menace Eternia. The Troopers were originally devised by Filmation as the faceless, uhh... hordes of the Evil Horde in the SHE-RA cartoon. Then, like Orko before and King Randor and the Sorceress later, Mattel decided to produce action figures of the robots. So, though they appeared on TV first, this minicomic presents the debut of the toy version of the characters, if that makes sense, tying them into the established continuity where She-Ra apparently doesn't exist.

"Between a Rock and a Hard Place", meanwhile, gives us a rare internal continuity lapse for this year's minicomics. When Rokkon and Stonedar debuted earlier in "Rock People to the Rescue", they arrived on Eternia alone, new to the world and eager to join He-Man in his fight against evil. But here, they're suddenly shown as members of a race of rock beings living in a village on Eternia, and we're told that all the rock people are pacifists (apparently a trait borrowed from their SHE-RA incarnations, according to a footnote in the Dark Horse collection). But of course the Rock People -- or at least Stonedar and Rokkon -- take up arms in the end to help He-Man against Hordak, because what kid wants to play with pacifict action figures?

This story is notable for featuring a rare minicomic appearance of Evil-Lyn, and for acknowledging her established Filmation trait of working against Skeletor when he displeases her. Here she attempts to form an alliance with Hordak, but he rebuffs her immediately and orders her dunked in the Slime Pit. She escapes before the punishment occurs, however, and swiftly turns on Hordak, indirectly aiding He-Man against him. Though she has relatively little page-time in this one, it's easily the best Evil-Lyn story in all the minicomics -- only three years after her character's action figure was released!

"Snake Attack" comes next, and again continuity is furthered between minicomics. This time, Extendar is welcomed into the Royal Palace by King Randor and Queen Marlena, who officially appoint him one of Eternia's "Heroic Warriors". But the jubilation is short-lived, as Tung Lashor and Rattlor, in an attempt to impress King Hiss, invade the palace and kidnap the monarchs. He-Man and Extendar team up to chase down the Snake Men and save the royals, and the bumbling duo face discipline from an irate King Hiss.

The year closes out with "The Ultimate Battleground", introducing the biggest (and, from my childhood recollections, the absolute coolest) MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE playset ever -- the Three Towers of Eternia. The towers, long buried relics of Eternia's distant past, are raised by Skeletor and King Hiss in an attempt to tip the balance of power on Eternia toward evil. The towers enhance the powers of both He-Man and Skeletor, and He-Man realizes that any warrior can receive such a boost by setting foot inside. After driving the villains away, He-Man makes plans to bring all his friends to the towers to increase their powers and protect the mystical location from Skeletor.

As I said above, I love when the minicomics further our understanding of Eternia's history, and this is such a tale. King Hiss knows of the towers because he was there the last time they existed; he even hung his hat inside the evil "Viper Tower"! Now, in the present, he's convinced Skeletor to help him bring the towers back. Further, an upcoming comic we'll look at next week ties in Hordak -- who wandered Eternia in the distant past as well, remember -- with the towers, too. I love continuity!

Overall, due in part to the continued continuity between stories, I feel like 1986 may be the strongest year for MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE minicomics. In part, that's due to the fact that the Filmation series had ended production, allowing the minicomics to forge their own path. True, they started to branch away from Filmation in '85 with minicomic-excluse origins for the likes of Roboto and the Evil Horde, but more than that, this round of stories has the benefit of (mostly) providing origins and backstories that are not only unique to the comics, but are also not in "competition" with Filmation.

Further, this year's offerings feature possibly the strongest artwork all around since maybe the second year of comics, when it was mostly only Alfredo Alcala and Larry Houston on pencils. There are a lot more pencilers in 1986 than ever before, but their styles are more closely aligned than in the past, and Bruce Timm seems to pencil or ink nearly every installment, which adds a very nice uniformity to all of it. Plus, even as a kid in his twenties, Timm could draw like nobody's business!

Next week, it's the final year's worth of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE minicomics, as the series -- and the toyline -- wrap up in 1987.