Minicomic cartoon reference.

In the superbly-illustrated Bruce Timm minicomic "King of the Snake Men" there is an interesting comment made by Kobra Khan, which clearly acknowledges the animated appearances of both Rattlor and Tung Lashor. Shortly after King Hiss has summoned the two Snake Men, Kobra Khan informs King Hiss that his spells are not working correctly, citing that both Rattlor and Tung Lashor are two warriors that serve The Evil Horde on Etheria! This is of course in reference to the fact that in the She-Ra animated series both Snake Men were indeed seen working for Hordak in certain episodes. Admittedly, they were also confusingly seen working for Skeletor at one time, too! It is nice to think that the minicomic attempted to address the situation...


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Gatekeeper in full.

Filmation's character model reuse came into play in the form of the Gatekeeper from the season two He-Man episode "The Magic Falls". Interestingly, in the episode we never saw the Gatekeeper's full form, as it was only his head that appeared to both He-Man and Orko in spirit form. Given that his character model was originally used as from Zagraz you will not be surprised to learn that the model sheet shows the Gatekeeper's full form to be exactly the same as Zagraz's, save for a few minor color changes.


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Cruncher?!

As I have mentioned before The New Adventures of He-Man series often told stories that I wish had been written for the Filmation show. "He-Man Mutant" is one such episode. In the story He-Man, in an attempt to spy on the Mutants, offers to transform himself into a creature that could pass for a Mutant. However, after the transformation it becomes obvious that his mind has become warped and the protector of Primus legitimately joins Skeletor and Flogg. The one problem I have with the episode pertains to the visual look of He-Man as a Mutant. We can clearly see that he still wears the same clothing as He-Man; he even has a ponytail! And yet Skeletor, who is an intelligent being throughout the series, does not cotton on to the resemblance!


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Star Comics cereal:geek article #13

As many of you will know I continue to self-publish cereal:geek magazine; the one-hundred page glossy magazine dedicated to the cartoons of the eighties. I have incredibly talented individuals write articles for the magazine. However, when I required an article covering the Masters of the Universe comic book published by Marvel's Star Comics imprint I knew I had to write this article myself, given that I have such strong views on this series! As I have rarely covered the Star Comics series on this Blog I thought it would be good to showcase the article I wrote for the magazine across a group of posts.

So here I present the thirteenth and final part of the article...

Even though issue thirteen would prove to be the final issue of the series it appears that plans were well under way for more stories. The splash page illustration you will see overleaf (see issue six of cereal:geek) is actually from the unproduced issue fourteen of the Masters of the Universe comic.

Under the title "War and Peace" it appears that the series was going to take a drastic new direction, as we see not only a fleet of Horde Batmex, but also He-Man wearing his costume from the live-action movie!

George Caragonne's arrival on the series was sadly too late, and Masters of the Universe became one of many Star Comics that would end up being cancelled in the space of a few months. Unfortunately under the banner of Marvel's Star Comics imprint, the writers would always be fighting a losing battle to command respect; the comics they were producing were seen as nothing more than comics for kids. And maybe therein lies the problem. Would Masters of the Universe have faired better outside of Star Comics, under the regular Marvel imprint?

I honestly believe that had the comic started with the quality of storytelling witnessed in issue nine onwards we would have seen a longer-lasting comic, and a complete lack of "crumb-bums".

Sadly George Caragonne is no longer with us, but his contribution to the Masters of the Universe comic is nothing short of spectacular. I'm sure that Masters of the Universe would have proven to be a small part of George's brief life, but with this comic he made a lasting impression on the fans.

He breathed life into an ailing book by actually taking the world of Eternia quite seriously and writing the characters as they were meant to be written.

Within the space of a few issues George Caragonne wrote some of the greatest He-Man stories ever told. And for that, I am eternally grateful to him.


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Kickstarter project - cereal:geek

As many of you know I've been self-publishing cereal:geek magazine since the beginning of 2007. It is a 100 page glossy magazine (with NO ads) dedicated to showcasing the cartoons of the eighties. I'm currently attempting to finance a reprint of issue two via the crowd funding website Kickstarter. I'm hoping that should this project prove successful, then other He-Man and She-Ra-related projects will follow soon after...

Take a look at the project!


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A brief review #033 - "The Starchild"

As many of you will know, in 2010 I published The unofficial cartoon guide to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. At 300+ pages the book features 700+ pieces of trivia, 460+ deleted scenes, 360+ examples of animation reuse, 380+ quotes, 50+ abandoned episodes, and a LOT more! It is the book that NO fan of the Filmation series can live without! BUY IT NOW!

As an incentive, here is my brief review and rating (as they appear in the book) for "The Starchild"...

The strength of the non-villain episodes of the series is that the writers are often able to create character-heavy episodes in which we learn more about the main cast. Unfortunately, that is not the case with this, the first non-villain episode of the series. Whilst Palos and Willen are quite well-rounded characters, Starchild comes across as unlikable, as it is hard to feel sympathy for a character that actively tries to harm the heroes. After a while, we tire of seeing Starchild run away again, and again, and again, and find ourselves wanting her to be found, not because we care, but so that the story can end. 3/10

Now, may I ask; what is YOUR rating?

Catra shakes fist!

The rarely-seen four story She-Ra Ladybird compilation book was interesting in that aside from including two new stories, it included two previously published stories in "Catra's Ice Palace" and "She-Ra and the Golden Goose", renamed "The Golden Goose" for this publication. The most striking thing about "Catra's Ice Palace" is that due to the size of this compilation book being a different format, the illustrations that accompanied the story were completely redrawn. Previously the story had been illustrated by Geoff Senior, but this time Glenn Steward illustrated it, to tie into the fact that the other three stories in the compilation were illustrated by him! In this atmospheric illustration we see Catra angrily shake her fist in the direction of the Crystal Castle, as the Fright Zone is a miserable place to be in the winter...


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Star Comics cereal:geek article #12

As many of you will know I continue to self-publish cereal:geek magazine; the one-hundred page glossy magazine dedicated to the cartoons of the eighties. I have incredibly talented individuals write articles for the magazine. However, when I required an article covering the Masters of the Universe comic book published by Marvel's Star Comics imprint I knew I had to write this article myself, given that I have such strong views on this series! As I have rarely covered the Star Comics series on this Blog I thought it would be good to showcase the article I wrote for the magazine across a group of posts.

So here I present the twelfth part of the article...

Issue thirteen begins with the heroes camped outside Castle Grayskull, now controlled by Skeletor. As the small band of rebels begin their mission it is revealed that Skeletor observes everything, and in some incredibly creepy scenes we see Skeletor effortlessly capturing Teela in the form of Zoar. It is not long before the heroes are captured and chained in Skeletor's throne room; the villain sporting elements of his live-action movie costume.

Both future and past Adams retrieve the Sword of Power and call upon the Power of Grayskull, resulting in the appearance of two He-Mans! As the future He-Man and future Skeletor engage in one final battle Castle Grayskull begins to crumble all around them. As the rebels escape, the castle explodes presumably killing both He-Man and Skeletor. Across Eternia, inspired by Adam's rewriting of the Obelisk, the people rebel against the evil that has enslaved their planet and within one single day Eternia becomes a world of peace.

Although having achieved a great deal Adam is still understandably saddened by recent events and tells Teela, "Because of my actions thirty years ago, Skeletor enslaved my people, killed your mother and father and caused untold suffering!" After discovering a way to get back to the past Adam remarks to Teela, "I thought I could get along without He-Man. But that's like saying I can get along without accepting my responsibility to decide my future!" Teela hugs Adam beautifully stating, "That's what you really came here to find, isn't it?"

Arriving back in the past Adam is overjoyed to see all his loved ones alive and well. Almost knowing that the series had been cancelled the final page has Prince Adam transforming into He-Man atop Castle Grayskull declaring that "He-Man is here to stay!!", with the last caption stating, "Never...The End".

Issue thirteen when compared to issue twelve probably isn't as strong, but this is due to the sheer number of revelations and power of storytelling in the first part of the story.

To be continued...


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"I AM HE-MAN!"

Here is an absolutely fantastic page from the Masters of the Universe minicomic "Slave City". Throughout this artist Larry Houston, who was a professional comic book artist, employed numerous traditional techniques to illustrate a very violent, yet superb story. The poses on this particular action-packed splash page remind me of the way in which the late great John Buscema would stage action during his time at Marvel Comics...


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Race for the crystal...

Here are three action-packed panels from issue four (volume one) of the Masters of the Universe comic from MVCreations! I enjoy the fact that in each panel He-Man and Skeletor's movements are perfectly matched to one another. The second panel where they are both racing towards the crystal at an equal pace is wonderfully illustrated. And these are very small panels in print, too!


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