The Library of Grayskull

One of my favorite things about the 80s cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was its emphasis on education. Even villains acknowledged the value of libraries, museums, and educators (makes you wonder what a teacher's salary is on Eternia...). In honor of that less-than-subtle 80s trend (think Captain Planet's messages about recycling), here are a few books I can imagine being included on the grey-green shelves of Castle Grayskull. Eerie light would flicker off of their spines as currents of magic and distant voices danced off of the walls, beckoning the visitor down unexplored corridors, just as these pages beckon the reader into unexplored realms of ideas!

 

I got my first view of the He-Man Art Book when I was a graduate student with access to the wonders of interlibrary loan. I knew I couldn't afford the title, but I got to spend a rainy weekend perusing its animation cells, product concept designs, film backgrounds, and art-for-the-future. There isn't a great deal to read (outside of section introductions) but this is a beautiful book to page through with its heavyweight pages and sidebars, a perfect treat for the nostalgic part of me that still chants along with the cartoon, "By the power of Grayskull...!"

Equally fulfilling for the child I still am at heart was the publication of the recent He-Man comic series. I'll grant that The Eternity War has the stronger story arc, but all real He-Man fans are really just waiting for that showdown with Skeletor and this first part of the season more than delivers with its focus on familiar villains - who can't even defeat He-Man when one of Skeletor's spells has caused him to forget who he is. Skeletor is particularly grisly in this version; his treatment of the Sorceress had my skin crawling in a way that my beloved cartoon villain could never match (imagine the difference between the Joker from Batman the animated series and Death in the Family; its that kind of dichotomy).

And what would He-Man be without his twin sister, Adora, who, upon raising her own magic weapon, transforms into She-Ra? Unfortunately, Etheria's protectoress has yet to get the book or comic book treatment merited by her brother, a bias I attribute to the incorrect belief that most comic books, fantasy and science fiction are still consumed by men. When searching for something written about the most powerful woman in the universe, I discovered that Hambly has used the name Sheera for her main character and given her a novel a plot that wouldn't be at all out of place in an episode of She-Ra: Princess of Power: an evil wizard has enslaved all the men of the city of Mandrigyn and now it's up to the women to set them free. Their plan? They enslave/enspell a mercenary to teach them how to fight, desperate times apparently calling for desperate measures. This was a fun fantasy read, but the sheer number of (mostly minor) characters kept me from developing a strong sense of most of the characters in the book. I'll probably move on to book two eventually, which leaves the ladies of Mandrigyn behind to follow the mercenary.

The Newspaper Comic Strips are another of those wonderful hardback Dark Horse publications. The sheer heft of the book makes me wonder how it can sell for $20 while the average novel is now pushing $30... These stories felt exactly like cartoon episodes placed on the page; Skeletor's dialogue even made me giggle! Like the episodes themselves, the strips were uneven in their quality with th best ones grouped at the beginning of the book. The final strips are even missing panels, with synopses written in to account for the breaks, but that made for some disjointed reading. According to the introduction, there were four years of comic strips, so I suspect that volumes 2-4 aren't far behind!

This is one of those cases where capitalism rejoices in my existence, because when this popped up on Amazon.com, I just had to know. I went in with low expectations and was very pleasantly surprised! The artwork is bright, flowing, and beautiful and the characters are well written (with some narration even tricking me for a bit). There's even a nod toward "growing up" both seasons when the villains are allowed to imagine their ultimate conquest (it's gory). The villains do seem downright silly sometimes, but since this is a mingling of two television shows meant for six year old boys, they can probably be excused!