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It is my hope that this thread can be the first in a LONG series of threads where we talk about ALL the MOTU media. What better place to start then with the first MOTU story ever told? Hopefully you have a copy, if not you have to scour the internet searching high and low for scans to "He-Man and the Power Sword"
THE COVER:
WOW. That's the first depiction of He-Man...EVER. It's a great pose. Very "frazetta" in that it's in between the actual battle. It's the anticipation and implication of action that makes it so exciting to me. And who the heck is that in Castle Grayskull shooting at Man-At-Arms? Why?
PAGE ONE: The art:
This is one of the best first pages of any book I've ever seen! I immediately think of He-Man waving farewell to his dear sister, like in Secret Of The Sword, but that is because I was literally born alongside this mini comic as we both where "NEW for 82". I can TOTALLY imagine that when this character (Who's name is clearly not Oo-Lar) was born Mommy and Papa (whoever they are...) would have looked down, with mom saying "He" and simultaneously, Dad saying "Man" thus was born the most powerful man in the universe who was so manly that he had to be named TWICE! (I wish I could take credit for that idea!) Alfredo P. Alcala was such an excellent choice for the artist. He is amazing. He and Bruce Timm are tied as personal all time favorite MOTU artists.
PAGE ONE: The text:
Enough about the art. The words of Donald F Glut are equally, if not MORE important IMO. "until this day, always been his home" suggests this Tarzen hasn't ever left the Jungle before, or at least, not strayed far from it for very long. He's had to have left before. How else would he know of Castle Grayskull's existence, or feel such a strong sense of duty enough to leave his home to protect it? Why? where does this come from? when did he learn of Castle Grayskull? how? This seams like it is a bit of a "New Hope" type of story, and requires a prequel about when He-man first learned of his destiny. Perhaps we where suppose to think of this, and play this scenario out with our toys as kids? Oh Look who's coming in early 2015. I can finally do that with a toy that has the accurate amount of furry clothes. LOL. it's a shame we don't get more time with his Jungle Tribe family. I want to know more about the people who helped shape this manly massive man of might! I want to know what it was like to live in the Jungle and I want to know each of those fellow tribesman names and how they are related. Is that He-Man's Son? Nephew? Unrelated? What is the name of this tribe of jungle people?
OTHER THOUGHTS:
I wonder if this was an influence for Powers of Grayskull? Sharella the "Tribal Cheiftess" who raised Gray, the Old man named Eldor? The later imagery of the cave...I don't mean to suggest direct continuity mind you, just that somebody most likely looked at this and wanted to reinterpret THIS and add it to the He-Man that would later replace this one. No doubt in my mind that the breaded man in the center is actually who Ciral is suppose to be in DC's 1982 full sized comic mini series. Think the reference is clear enough to be self evident. That I do believe is in direct Continuity with these first four books though confused that continuity may be from the to be Filmation influences. But we can get to that in time. My last Random thought is that, I wonder if Lou Scheimer had this image in the back of his mind, perhaps forgotten when he commissioned the creation of yet another Jungle boy in Dare the 1996 (Adopted) Son of He-Man?
More importantly, What do you think about the cover and first page? I can say a LOT more, but I don't want to hog the talking points as I often tend to do. What do you think about the composition? character selection? pose? designs? Line work? coloring? The words? The writing style? What is said? what is not said? Do you have any questions about a charecter, a place or thing? Or just whatever it is that jumps out at you that you want to talk about?
THE COVER:
WOW. That's the first depiction of He-Man...EVER. It's a great pose. Very "frazetta" in that it's in between the actual battle. It's the anticipation and implication of action that makes it so exciting to me. And who the heck is that in Castle Grayskull shooting at Man-At-Arms? Why?
PAGE ONE: The art:
This is one of the best first pages of any book I've ever seen! I immediately think of He-Man waving farewell to his dear sister, like in Secret Of The Sword, but that is because I was literally born alongside this mini comic as we both where "NEW for 82". I can TOTALLY imagine that when this character (Who's name is clearly not Oo-Lar) was born Mommy and Papa (whoever they are...) would have looked down, with mom saying "He" and simultaneously, Dad saying "Man" thus was born the most powerful man in the universe who was so manly that he had to be named TWICE! (I wish I could take credit for that idea!) Alfredo P. Alcala was such an excellent choice for the artist. He is amazing. He and Bruce Timm are tied as personal all time favorite MOTU artists.
PAGE ONE: The text:
Enough about the art. The words of Donald F Glut are equally, if not MORE important IMO. "until this day, always been his home" suggests this Tarzen hasn't ever left the Jungle before, or at least, not strayed far from it for very long. He's had to have left before. How else would he know of Castle Grayskull's existence, or feel such a strong sense of duty enough to leave his home to protect it? Why? where does this come from? when did he learn of Castle Grayskull? how? This seams like it is a bit of a "New Hope" type of story, and requires a prequel about when He-man first learned of his destiny. Perhaps we where suppose to think of this, and play this scenario out with our toys as kids? Oh Look who's coming in early 2015. I can finally do that with a toy that has the accurate amount of furry clothes. LOL. it's a shame we don't get more time with his Jungle Tribe family. I want to know more about the people who helped shape this manly massive man of might! I want to know what it was like to live in the Jungle and I want to know each of those fellow tribesman names and how they are related. Is that He-Man's Son? Nephew? Unrelated? What is the name of this tribe of jungle people?
OTHER THOUGHTS:
I wonder if this was an influence for Powers of Grayskull? Sharella the "Tribal Cheiftess" who raised Gray, the Old man named Eldor? The later imagery of the cave...I don't mean to suggest direct continuity mind you, just that somebody most likely looked at this and wanted to reinterpret THIS and add it to the He-Man that would later replace this one. No doubt in my mind that the breaded man in the center is actually who Ciral is suppose to be in DC's 1982 full sized comic mini series. Think the reference is clear enough to be self evident. That I do believe is in direct Continuity with these first four books though confused that continuity may be from the to be Filmation influences. But we can get to that in time. My last Random thought is that, I wonder if Lou Scheimer had this image in the back of his mind, perhaps forgotten when he commissioned the creation of yet another Jungle boy in Dare the 1996 (Adopted) Son of He-Man?
More importantly, What do you think about the cover and first page? I can say a LOT more, but I don't want to hog the talking points as I often tend to do. What do you think about the composition? character selection? pose? designs? Line work? coloring? The words? The writing style? What is said? what is not said? Do you have any questions about a charecter, a place or thing? Or just whatever it is that jumps out at you that you want to talk about?
Thank goodness for patent teachers who let me read what I wanted at that early age,
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