He-Man and the MotU Minicomic Collection (2015)

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Minicomic Collection (2015)

Authors: Various | Illustrators: Various | Page Count: 1232

"He-Man?! Don't you know how to knock?"

Before it was a successful cartoon series, the Masters of the Universe franchise was a toy line, which is the reverse of how such things tend to operate. With no existing media franchise to draw from and no pre-existing visual world for their new creations to have adventures in, toy makers Mattel had to get creative. They approached DC Comics with an idea, and the Masters of the Universe minicomic format was born.

Included with each toy was a small paperback book (approx 4.25 x 5.5 inches), perfect for tiny hands to hold, that gave the characters some much-needed backstory. Their world was fleshed out, too, as a vibrant Conan-esque setting but with vehicles and technology that was pure sci-fiction. As a kid who was enamoured by all things Sword and Sorcery and loved to read, the pairing felt tailor-made for me.

The subsequent Filmation cartoon is what most people think of as He-Man lore, but it was an amended version of what the minicomics had attempted. At the beginning of the minis He-Man lived in a jungle with a tribe of people; he wasn't a spoiled Prince with a powerful alter-ego.

You'll notice also that it's more like a children's picture book than a 'comic' book. The entire first series (four issues) are large picture and text passages. It's not until Series Two that it took on the traditional panel-based format that the overwhelming majority of comic makers favour.

Personally, I wish they'd continued as they started out. The change to 'sequential art' brought with it a drop in quality for a time, and the shift from a classic storytelling format to one that used speech bubbles meant that tonally it felt less special.

The single large story book picture functioned as a kind of bold trigger, offering a glimpse into the world in which the hero(es) existed - there was a vibrancy that provided a foundation and then encouraged a kid's imagination to expand upon.

I don't know if my words will ring true for anyone else, but my feeling is that picture books encourage a reader to create in their mind unseen parts of the world, locales that exist beyond the borders that mark a page's edge. That personalised extrapolation seems less natural with panel-based comics, which have more visual information present, depicting the world repeatedly how the chosen artist's imagination feels it should be.

The decline in quality continues, with frequent ups and downs, but the middle era has some that are simply awful. Interestingly, as the sales of the toys began to wane, the quality of the books picks back up, as if the extra effort being put in might somehow turn the tide of the toy-buying public. There's an annoying level of new characters introduced around the same time, exposing its primary nature as a commercial venture to sell new toys, but there's an obvious attempt to deepen the lore and enrich the history - much like the 2002 update of MotU would later do.

- Bruce Timm worked on many of the later books -

Looked at objectively, and leaving aside their commendable ability to stir creativity in children, none of the works are fine examples of great storytelling, and the continuity — in both the individual issues and as a whole — is laughable, but if you were there at the time, as I was, experiencing the franchise as it was being unleashed upon the world, then revisiting the minis can be a (mostly) pleasurable experience. And the book itself is a beautiful full-colour edition.

- Two more images from Series One -

The Minicomic Collection gathers together all forty-nine of the original English language He-Man and the Masters of the Universe minis, it has all twelve of the She-Ra: Princess of Power comics, too, and the four The New Adventures of He-Man minis. It's a huge collection, totalling over 1000 pages. There's also some interesting text interviews strategically placed throughout, giving insight into the creative process and toy-maker Mattel's level of input.

Note: I usually include the individual covers beneath my closing line, but there are far too many. To include them now would make this post uncomfortably long. Instead, I've posted them on The 7th Side blog. You can find them here: Series 01 | Series 02 | Series 03 | Series 04 | Series 05 | Series 06 | She-Ra: Princess of Power | The New Adventures of He-Man.