The Good Old Days - Comics

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Misc

These are individual comics related to the Masters of the Universe which weren't published as part of a series. They're not related to each other of course.

Die Jagd nach dem Zauberschwert


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Plot: After being warned about approaching danger by Zoar, Adam tranforms into He-Man. His sword disappears in the process. One of the main villains is behind this! On the way to recover his source of power, He-Man has to face great dangers and many riddles...
Comments: In 1987, Mattel Germany advertised the toy line in the popular "Micky Maus" (German name of Mickey Mouse) weekly comic in a very special way: instead of only showing the toys and telling how the kids have to buy them, they had a little comic of two pages showing He-Man's hunt for the sword. At the end of each 'minicomic', there is a cliffhanger: He-Man has to solve a riddle. The readers are asked to solve it themselves and send their answers to Mattel - and win nice prizes (figures, merchandise - something different each week). This competition was obviously aimed at very small children, solving the riddles is a piece of cake. Still, it was of course quite exciting to get such a continous and interactive story. The plot is of course very limited, the episodes are sometimes only weakly connected, and it is quite obvious all 'fractions' had to be presented at least once (it is only advertisement after all). The drawings aren't even all that bad though. Overall, a nice idea.
Thanks to Oddball and Deimos for some of the scans!

The Power of Point Dread / Danger at Castle Grayskull


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Plot: The Power of Point Dread: He-Man leaves his home near Castle Grayskull to visit King Randor, his sovereign, in the capital. Skeletor magically projects an image of Beast Man holding up a boulder ready to smash it down behind the king. He-Man falls for it and throws his axe at the illusion. He hits a pillar and rocks bury the king under them. Skeletor's plan has succeeded: He-Man now feels obliged to stay and protect the royal palace until the king recovers. A seemingly good decision, because giant ants attack shortly thereafter. He-Man and Man-at-Arms defeat them easily, He-Man wants to chase them. He meets Zodac who explains the cosmic balance has been disturbed by Skeletor's trick. That is why he gives the good guys control over the Talon Fighter which can travel over the longest distances in no time. This way, He-Man quickly flies to Castle Grayskull (which would have been too far away to reach by any other means) and shoots a few laser beams at Skeletor and Beast Man to chase them away.
Danger at Castle Grayskull: Zoar warns He-Man that Skeletor is approaching Castle Grayskull. The mightiest man in the universe and Man-at-Arms take the Talon Fighter, Teela wants to use the new Attack Trak. The two men arrive at the castle, but no evil guy is to be seen. It was all a trick to capture Teela who is ambushed by Man-E-Faces (who is under Skeletor's control). He-Man and Man-at-Arms have to surrender Castle Grayskull to the Lord of Destruction at the sight of his hostage. All good ones are thrown into the dungeon where they're mocked by Trap-Jaw. He-Man throws a bucket of water at him and a bit later, Trap-Jaw's metal parts rust and he can't move anymore. The good guys face the evil ones in a final battle and win.
Comments: Don't confuse the first story with the minicomic of the same name. This is a unique comic in a larger format which includes a record, so that the listeners can read along. The record is of low quality though. This can't be said of the comic on the other hand: Alcala's art is as great as ever (his only work for the Master on a 'larger' scale than the minicomics!), the Talon Fighter is the coolest playset for sure, Zodac makes a mysterious cameo appearance and the non-existence of Adam (He-Man is just He-Man in this story and he's not related with Randor) is refreshing.

He-Man vecht tegen de Honden van Skeletor


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Plot: First story (untitled): He-Man and Orko discover a cave from which a strange energy emits. They want to examine this phenomenon, so He-Man leaves to get more help while Orko stays behind. As the hero returns with Man-at-Arms, Rokkon, Snout Spout and Rio Blast, Orko has disappeared. Before they can look into this any further, He-Man is called back to Eternos to help fight off Skeletor. In this battle, He-Man constantly and unwillingly changes shape and his powers, each time as he notices to his advantage against his current foe. That way, he stalls the evil troops long enough until further reinforcements arrive. After the battle, Man-at-Arms and He-Man figure out there was a secretly coded message in He-Mans forms. They go back to the cave where they find an image of Orko who is trapped in another dimension. He had helped He-Man with his magic in the battle, causing all the changes. The Sorceress eventually gets the little magician back to Eternia.
Gespleten Persoonlijkheid: He-Man is ambushed by Skeletor, Stinkor and Webstor. He manages to chase them away in a brief battle. He wants to change back to Adam, but suddenly, both He-Man and Adam stand next to each other! He-Man announces he's free at last and he attacks Adam. Buzz-Off appears on the scene, but he's attacked by He-Man as well. More heroes arrive to contain the raving ex-hero. Man-at-Arms comes up with a plan. Adam announces he'll fetch a weapon to beat He-Man, he takes the Attack Trek and He-Man follows him (as planned). He-Man of course catches up and 'forces' Adam to 'reveal' where the 'secret weapon' is. Adam points him to Snake Mountain. He-Man attacks the fortress of the Overlord of Evil, but Skeletor manages to destroy his presumed foe. The power flows back into Adam, He-Man is on the side of good again.
De Honden van Skeletor: Skeletor summons a pack of evil beast-dogs. To test his new army, he lets them attack a small city. The dogs crash through the city walls easily, but one soldier has escaped with a rocket-backpack. He alerts He-Man. Meanwhike, Skeletor and his dogs appeared in front of Eternos where the other heroes are trying to defend themselves. It doesn't look good, the dogs are soon storming into the city. He-Man encounters one especially big dog on his way to the city which seems to be impossible to beat. It suddenly stops fighting and starts howling though. The victorious Skeletor is just marching through the main street of Eternos as his dogs hear the howling. They all run towards it. Skeletor is alone in the middle of the heroes, so he teleports himself to safety. The dogs gather around the big one and they attack Snake Mountain. The big dog transforms and it turns out it is in fact Ceres, a mystical monster and the 'owner' of the dogs from whom Skeletor had stolen them. He-Man of course can't allow Snake Mountain to be destroyed, so he uses the power of his sword to stun Ceres. The good magician Keclar turns up and takes Ceres with him. The threat is over.
He-Man de Machtelooze: Eternia's twin moons have moved into a special position so that the planet lies in the dark. A legend tells this darkness will bring a change, but nobody knows why. In fact, it is He-Man's powers flowing into Skeletor. The hero is getting weaker and weaker while the Lord of Evil gets stronger with every minute. He-Man and Man-at-Arms (who both have no idea about that) want to check out Snake Mountain to make sure Skeletor doesn't use the darkness for his advantage. Arriving there, the battle against Skeletor and his minions doesn't go well. But then, the moons shift their positions again and the sun is coming through again. He-Man has his usual power again and Skeletor is beaten.
Comments: This is the 8th issue of the Dutch Junior Press series. These aren't original stories though - they're translations of the UK magazines. The quality is accordingly (i.e. very good action, little story). The Dutch issues aren't the same 'compilations' of stories as the original sources though, that is why this issue is presented individually and not as an 'alternate language version' of another comic. That means you'll be able to find all these stories in English, but not exactly these four in one issue. By the way: please excuse any inaccuracies in my plot summaries - my Dutch is very limited ;)
Thanks to Thermin for the scan!

The Power of the Evil Horde!


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Plot: Hordak, Skeletor's former teacher, has returned to Eternia with his Evil Horde. A first attack on Castle Grayskull leaves Man-at-Arms beaten, Skeletor imprisoned and Orko captured. The little sorcerer is taken to the prison of the Fright Zone on Etheria. He-Man goes there using the power of a magical tree growing in the Vine Jungle. After dealing with the Fright Zone's various traps, the mightiest man in the universe beats both Grizzlor and Hordak, frees Orko and even takes Skeletor back to Eternia.
Comments: Not too impressive. Most of the toys of the Horde and their respective action features are shown in detail, but the story woven around this is even thinner than usual.
Thanks to Oddball for the scan!