I’m a He-Man fan from way back. I was five years old when I was first gifted with the action figures. I loved them. I collected all the figures and playsets, and I watched the animated series every day after school. I was a fanatic.
Before I ever viewed the cartoon show, my introduction to He-Man’s adventures was from the mini-comics which came with each action figure. Before I was able to fully read them on my own, my mother, or whoever was available (not my brother, he couldn’t tolerate reading to me), read to me of He-Man and his comrades’ daring battles against Skeletor for control of Castle Grayskull.
The comics were great. The first few were more in a storybook format, but, still, they were awesome. They were different from the animated series. The comics were a little darker in some regards, rougher around the edges. The storyline was different from the television show. I’ve always thought them to be more mythical. I can remember reading them, or looking at the illustrations, and imagining the world outside my house was Eternia, filled with magic and barbarism. For some reason, in recollection, I can remember the nights being darker when I was a child. That’s just how my mind works.
My Masters of the Universe collection is gone, both toys and minicomics. There may be some packed in the foreboding attic of my mother’s house, I don’t know, but most have been lost, trashed, or given away. I’ve thought about those comics, though, from time to time, when watching reruns of the original animated series. Those were some good reading in my opinion.
I read an article not so long ago about a new animated series (or two) that Netflix has in production. I’m excited for it. Learning the news of the forthcoming shows, I did some digging on the internet about the minicomics. Did everybody except me know they had been collected and reprinted? Because I didn’t know. Can anyone imagine my joy at finding them for sale on Amazon?
I bought those bad boys as digital e-books, you bet I did. I can read them anywhere, thus the reason for the Kindle versions.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection is available in three volumes. Volumes One and Two are reprints of the original minicomics that were packaged with the action figures back in the day. The third volume is the collected newspaper comic strips that I was completely unaware of until finding them on Amazon.
My house is now alive with those classic, epic battles every night as I read them to my son. Even after his bedtime stories and he’s sound asleep, I stay up reading them to the little kid I was, who is still just beneath the surface, sitting in a well-lit house with a dark world of magic, villains, and heroes unfolding in the world outside.
Curio Macabre 