He-Man and the Power Sword

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He-Man and the Power Sword is the title of the first Masters of the Universe minicomic. It was published in 1982 and packaged with the He-Man action figure.

1 Characters
2 Summary
3 Notes
4 External links
5 Chronology

[edit] Characters

Heroic Warriors: He-Man, Teela, Man-At-Arms, The Sorceress
Evil Warriors: Skeletor, Beast Man, Mer-Man (cameo), Zodac (cameo).

[edit] Summary

He-Man leaves his jungle tribe to join the Heroic Warriors. The Sorceress equips him with magical armor and some weapons. He camps near Castle Grayskull. Skeletor and Beastman attack, sneak into the castle, kidnap Teela and want to put the two halves of the sword together but He-Man, with Man-At-Arms and the Sorceress' help, fights them off.

[edit] Notes

In this first minicomic, there are many differences between the original MOTU concept and the television series:

Prince Adam does not exist. He-Man is a barbarian from a jungle tribe.
In later depictions, the Battle Ram is a generic vehicle to both Heroic Warriors and Evil Warriors. Here, the Battle Ram is He-Man's personal vehicle.
The Power Sword is important in both continuities, but in the TV series it allows Prince Adam to transform into He-Man, and in the minicomic it is a sort of "key" to gain entry into Castle Grayskull. Also, in the comic, the sword has been split into two separate halves, with Skeletor trying to track down both halves to gain its power.
In the earlier minicomics, the Sorceress is not present but instead a character called The Goddess acts as a sort of spirit guide to He-Man. However, it is the generally accpted belief that the two characters are one and the same.
The Sorceress has many differences with her later incarnation on the animated series. Here, she does not live in Castle Grayskull and her appearance is similar to that of Teela, with snake outfit, and olive skin. The Teela action figure was supposed to be used both as Teela, without snake armor, and as the Sorceress with snake armor. Later, when the Sorceress was changed on television series to her better known eagle form, Teela is shown with the snake armor in some media.