Masters of the Universe: Into Castle Grayskull

Masters of the Universe (Vol. 1) #3
“Within These Walls – Armaggedon”
Writer: Paul Kupperberg
Penciler: George Tuska
Inker: Rodin Rodriguez
Letterer: Ben Oda
Colorist: Anthony Tollin
Editor: Dave Manak
Released: Nov. 11, 1982

The story opens with a page of Zodac in transit, musing on his role in the unfolding story. Then, he bursts onto an action-packed two-page spread featuring He-Man and company battling a colorful assortment of generic demons and monsters.

Repeatedly questioned by He-Man and Teela about why he's not doing more to help, Zodac makes like a cross between the Silver Surfer and the Watcher, guiding them to the answers without breaking out of the specific parameters in which he's allowed (by God or Fate or Time or Whoever) to act. He collects the talismans the heroes have gathered and hands them off to a less colorful incarnation of Zoar the magic falcon than the figure I had before everybody disappears in a burst of light.

Meanwhile, we learn the mysterious cloaked figure from last issue is... Damon? Yep, Damon, the demon in a Speedo who menaced He-Man's pal Ceril and his village during the origin flashback. Now Damon's got a shirt (but still no pants), and it seems he wants to use the power sword to enslave his home planet of Eternia. He's more than a little miffed that Skeletor came from another universe and just wants to destroy the place.

Both halves of the power sword are floating in an impenetrable field right in Damon's house or office or I guess lair would be the right word? To get into the field you have to get inside Castle Grayskull, which you can only do if you have the power sword to unlock it – or if Skeletor and Damon make physical contact while fighting. Turns out both of them knew this and were trying to manipulate the other into making it happen. Wheels within wheels and whatnot.

Another way to get in is if Zodac and/or Zoar just lets you in, so He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Teela, Battle Cat and Stratos magically appear in the castle, each taking a different door in search of the sword. Stratos gets caught in a giant spider web, Man-At-Arms is stunned when a cache of weapons he's admiring explodes, and Teela wanders through a giant maze. She finally gets tired of this and blasts a hole in the floor, dropping in right next to Skeletor, who has defeated Damon and is reaching through a warp to pull out the two halves of the sword.

He-Man and Battle Cat, whose door just led them down a long passageway, burst through the wall as Skeletor monologues about destroying everything and how powerful the sword is. It's powerful enough, he says, to slay He-Man, but he decides instead to teleport in Beast-Man (just one this time) and Man-E-Faces, who showed up outside Castle Grayskull a few pages earlier. Skeletor unleashes Man-E's monster face, but He-Man dispatches both opponents with ease.

After escaping the trap door that really worked in my Castle Grayskull playset, He-Man tackles Skeletor. But with the power sword, the villain has the upper hand until Zoar appears, having rescued the Goddess, and disarms him. He-Man then knocks Skeletor out and the Goddess reassures him and Teela that she was in control the whole time. In the last panel, she suggests they go help out Man At Arms and Stratos.

And with that, we're finished with the original DC Masters of the Universe limited series.

It ended rather abruptly, and I'm not sure I could explain to you who all was plotting what and who knew what when, but nevertheless it was a fun read. The dialogue was vintage epic comic stuff, except for the insistence on dropping “damns” and “hells” an awful lot in a story inspired by a kids' toy line.

The reveal of Damon was odd, but it added another dimension to the story, rather than just being a straight-up He-Man-vs.-Skeletor bout.

It seems DC produced a few of the famous mini-comics that accompanied Master of the Universe figures, so it will be fun to try to track those down and see how this story may have continued before settling into the more familiar forms of the cartoon and later mini-comics.