The power of the sword!

This action-packed illustration was seen alongside the story "The Lost River", which was featured in the rarely-seen four story She-Ra Ladybird compilation book. There is no real deep or meaningful explanation behind this illustration aside which shows She-Ra destroying a large rock pile! I love the way this piece is colored with the light source creating lovely highlights on She-Ra, and the way in which both the blast of power and the explosion are illustrated is pretty impressive.


(click on the image to see it at full-size)

GIANT Picture Book (Heroic Warriors) illustration #34

Golden Book published a great deal of Masters of the Universe material during the eighties. Two of the most notable and yet rarely seen books are the Giant Picture Books; oversized quality publications printed on thick quality paper featuring artwork by Fred Carrillo. One book focused on the Heroic Warriors, whilst the other focused on the Evil Warriors. Here I present, from the Heroic Warriors book, the two pages focusing on King Randor and Queen Marlena. Here we see a fantastic illustration heavily showcasing the regalness found in the Royal Palace. I love the moment shared by King Randor and Queen Marlena in this piece, as well as both Prince Adam and Teela sporting alternative costumes for what appears to be a very royal occasion! We should ask, who is Man-At-Arms flirting with?


(click on the images to see them at full-size)

A brief review #043 - "The Mystery of Man-E-Faces"

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 Mystery of Man-E-Faces"...

One of the things this episode does really well is frame the origin story within an appropriate context. It is slightly hard to believe that Man-At-Arms was not around during the events of the flashback, but the story works well nonetheless. While the exploration of Man-E-Faces' character could have run deeper, he is well-rounded enough; scripted to be a tortured soul, while those around him fail to understand. There is some really nice, unique directing during this episode. The attack on Castle Grayskull at the end comes across as a bit of an afterthought. Ultimately Paul Dini writes an episode that is a thoroughly entertaining origin story for a character that gets little screen time. 6/10

Now, may I ask; what is YOUR rating?

He-Man and his allies.

Don Manuel once more demonstrates why his storyboards packed such detail and power in these panels from the season two He-Man episode "Disappearing Dragons". Here we see He-Man, Buzz-Off, and Mekaneck confronting the Evil Warriors, posing all the way! Interestingly, we see Manuel reference his storyboards "House of Shokoti" Part 1 for the shot, specifically for the pose of He-Man.


(click on the image to see it at full-size)

GIANT Picture Book (Heroic Warriors) illustration #33

Golden Book published a great deal of Masters of the Universe material during the eighties. Two of the most notable and yet rarely seen books are the Giant Picture Books; oversized quality publications printed on thick quality paper featuring artwork by Fred Carrillo. One book focused on the Heroic Warriors, whilst the other focused on the Evil Warriors. Here I present, from the Heroic Warriors book, the second of the two black and white illustrations focusing on Battle Cat, resized for you to enjoy! I love this action-packed piece which appears to show Battle Cat defeating both Beast Man and Mer-Man at the same time. This is the second time Beast Man has appeared in this book, and the second time he is being thrown through the air!


(click on the image to see it at full-size)

Trap Jaw leaps!

In his storyboards for the season one He-Man episode "Golden Disks of Knowledge", artist Warren Greenwood illustrated a fight pitting He-Man and Battle Cat against Beast Man, Evil-Lyn, and Trap Jaw. As you will recall in the episode the fight is over before it has begun. However, Warren's original plan was for the fight to last for at least a minute creating new fight sequences based on existing stock fight animation. The entire sequence would have been one of He-Man's most physical confrontations in the series. Here we see a few panels showing Trap Jaw leaping at He-Man; one of many shots that wound up being deleted...


(click on the image to see it at full-size)

Farewell, Lou Scheimer.

When I heard that Lou Scheimer had passed away, I cried. Those that had been around him in the last few years knew that he was of ill health. That said, due to the incredible aura he had around him, I was sure that he was going to outlive all of us. He continuously struck me as someone that was immortal. However, Lou Scheimer would tell you himself that he was just a man. This tall gentleman, that almost always sported a suit, shaped generation after generation of children through his animated shows at Filmation Studios. Though in spite of all that he accomplished in the world of animation, he was quite possibly one of the most humble human beings I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

I first met Lou in 2001 at Lou Scheimer Productions, thanks to my friend Lee Clevenger, who himself had been visiting the studio for years. Though it was an incredibly brief meeting, myself and Zadoc Angell were genuinely speechless. Here we were in the presence of Lou Scheimer! I remember Zadoc and I conversing about our brief encounter with Lou in the days that followed.

The next time I met Lou was at the San Diego Comic Con in 2005. This time, myself and my fellow He-Man and She-Ra fans had the honor of enjoying this man's company over the course of a few days, as we all celebrated the launch of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe on DVD. Amazingly, when I walked up to Lou and began speaking to him he remembered me from 2001. "Hey, British guy. I remember you!", said the man in those King Randor-esque tones. I was kind of surprised that he would remember me. However, Lou's ability to remember people was one of his many amazing traits. The next time I met Lou was at the 2006 San Diego Comic Con. This time we were celebrating the launch of She-Ra, Princess of Power on DVD. Again, Lou was in attendance, and as enjoyable as ever to be around. Fellow fan Jon Kallis and I would laugh when Lou would remember us. "It's that guy again!", he would say, pointing at Jon. "British guy!", he would say to me, before I had a chance to open my mouth.

During those two conventions two things were very apparent. Firstly, BCI's release of all those Filmation shows was a beautiful way to publicly celebrate and recognize everything that Lou had accomplished with Filmation. I believe that Lou was genuinely surprised that his shows had such an incredibly profound affect on people. Secondly, when people met Lou Scheimer it was not only a wonderful experience for them, but for Lou also. He was touched by each and every story he heard from the fans.

The last time I met Lou was very special to me. In 2008 Andy Mangels asked me to contribute to The Real Ghostbusters DVD boxset. I hurriedly flew over to Los Angeles and contributed to the filming of the documentaries that were to appear on the set. At the time Andy had recently began work on the book Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation. Knowing I was a Filmation fan (having worked with me on the He-Man and She-Ra DVDs) Andy decided to pay Lou a visit. I not only got to meet Lou once more, but I was also invited into his beautiful house, and even sat in his office chair, surrounded by his Filmation-based memories! Once again, Lou remembered me, and was wonderfully accommodating; showing me around his house, showing me artwork that he had illustrated outside of Filmation. We had lunch in one of his favorite restaurants, and he genuinely wanted to find out what I had been up to since we last met. Weeks later I remember kicking myself at not having my photo taken at lunch with Lou. And then I realized. This wasn't a photo opportunity. This was lunch with a friend.

At the time I read of Lou Scheimer's passing I was going through a box full of He-Man and She-Ra animation art that had arrived earlier in the day. I was posting images on Facebook, celebrating and sharing that wonderful Filmation style that we all know and love. And then, whilst writing this, it dawned on me. Without Lou Scheimer, without Filmation, without him having produced the He-Man and She-Ra animated series and hired all those talented individuals, it's highly doubtful that any of us would still be talking about the worlds of Eternia and Etheria.

I am devastated at the passing of Lou Scheimer, but I can't help but smile knowing that he leaves behind a phenomenal legacy. A legacy that will continue to be celebrated!

Rest in peace, Lou Scheimer.

"She-Ra The Bad" #2

For your entertainment I present the story "She-Ra The Bad" as featured in issue three of the UK Princess of Power comic. In this story, in an effort to get the rebels to turn on one another, Hordak orders that Shadow Weaver cast a spell of illusion over Catra, making it appear as if she is She-Ra! In the guise of She-Ra, Catra begins to upset She-Ra's closest allies by insulting and bullying them, creating a great upheaval. Here are the remaining three pages of this story...


(click on the images to see them at full-size)

Sito's Crackers!

Storyboard artist Tom Sito clearly enjoyed his time storyboarding on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, as he would often included extra gags and details that were not present in the episode. One has only to search my Blog for mentions of Tom Sito to see just how much this one individual put into his boards. Here is a cute introduction to act two of "The Greatest Show on Eternia" featuring his version of Crackers, appearing in all three of the introductory panels, which most artists would leave blank!


(click on the image to see it at full-size)

GIANT Picture Book (Heroic Warriors) illustration #32

Golden Book published a great deal of Masters of the Universe material during the eighties. Two of the most notable and yet rarely seen books are the Giant Picture Books; oversized quality publications printed on thick quality paper featuring artwork by Fred Carrillo. One book focused on the Heroic Warriors, whilst the other focused on the Evil Warriors. Here I present, from the Heroic Warriors book, the first of the two black and white illustrations focusing on Battle Cat, resized for you to enjoy! It is always interesting to see Battle Cat engaged in battle with Panthor, as it never really happened enough in any of the canons. I like the fact that Battle Cat's eyes suggest he is somewhat surprised that he managed to pin Panthor!


(click on the image to see it at full-size)