Comic Review: Masters of the Universe Revolution Prequel #4 by Ted Biaselli, Rob David, Tim Sheridan and Daniel HDR

I know I’m a bit late with this, because I got sidetracked by the Toyplosion posts. But this post completes my issue by issue review of the Masters of the Universe Revolution prequel comic mini-series written by Ted Biaselli, Rob David and Tim Sheridan with art by Daniel HDR and Keith Champagne with a look at the fourth and final issue. Go here for my takes on issue 1, issue 2 and issue 3.

But before we get to the main event, I also was at the Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow blog of the 2025 Worldcon in Seattle again, this time talking about one of the most entertaining and offbeat science fiction novels of the early 1960s, The High Crusade by Poul Anderson.

Warning: Spoilers behind the cut!

Issue 3 ended with Keldor grabbing the Havoc Staff, egged on by Hordak, and promptly getting his face melted off in gruesome detail.

The final issue opens not with the newly (re)born Skeletor, but with a flashback of Baby Panthor (!) racing through Eternos Palace, trying to avoid a bath and a good scrub, while the young Princes Keldor and Randor dash after him. Randor, who is the younger of the two princes, has problems keeping up with his older brother and their very energetic kitten. Plus, he is lugging a bucket of soapy water. Disaster strikes, when Baby Panthor knocks over a vase, which in turn knocks over Randor who drops the bucket on his brother, making an unholy mess.

Replace Panthor with Cringer and Randor and Keldor with Adam, Teela and Orko and we’ve seen similar scenes lots of times in the Filmation cartoon, where they usually ended with laughter, an exasperated Duncan and maybe a snarky remark from Teela and of course a moral lesson. However, Eternos Palace is a very different and much less happy place at this point in time. And so the noise and mess summon Queen Amelia who promptly chides the boys that when she told them to bathe “that thing”, she meant they should do it outside. Randor begins to protest, but Keldor quickly stops him and says, “Your mother is right.” He then apologises to Amelia and promises her that they will find and bathe Panthor. Amelia tells the boys to recapture Panthor before Miro does, because he’s just waiting for an excuse to banish “that beast” from Eternos.

This brief scene is interesting in multiple ways. For starters, the interaction between Keldor and Amelia tells us a lot about what Keldor’s life in the palace is like. Keldor is very deferential towards Amelia and addresses her as “ma’am” and refers to her as “your mother” towards Randor. “Your mother” not “our mother”. For while Amelia may be Keldor’s stepmother, it’s clear that she has no kind feelings towards her stepson and also makes sure that he knows what his place is. And when Amelia tells Keldor to deal with Panthor or his father will banish “that beast” from Eternos, it’s clear that she’s hoping that Miro will banish Keldor along with his pet.

From this scene and the scene with young Keldor and Randor at the beginning of episode 2 of Masters of the Universe: Revolution, it seems as if Keldor is trying very hard not to be noticed by those around him, because to be noticed would invite verbal or possibly even physical abuse. It also seems as if he’s trying to protect Randor from parental anger. Note how Keldor admonishes Randor not to leave a single thing out of place or father will be angry, when the boys sneak into Miro’s study in Revolution, or how he stops Randor from countering Amelia in this scene. Keldor’s protectiveness of his younger brother is touching, especially since he doesn’t seem realise that Randor would be treated very differently.

Furthermore, we also get an origin for Panthor, a character who never had much of a backstory. Whenever Panthor shows up in any of the cartoons or comics, he (or she, since Panthor’s gender has never been revealed either) is portrayed as Skeletor’s faithful pet and possibly the only being he truly cares about. Meanwhile, Panthor is extremely loyal to Skeletor, but doesn’t much care for the rest of the Evil Warriors, with the possible exception of Lyn, and frequently growls at them.

The Classics toyline not only gave us a great Panthor figure, but the bio on the back of the box also finally gave him an origin. According to that bio, Keldor rescued a cub from a hunter’s trap, named him Panthor and kept the creature as his pet. As bios go, it’s a good one and also nicely mirrors how Prince Adam found and rescued Cringer.

It’s very likely that this origin still applies, but the comic adds another dimension to this, since it reveals Keldor was still a young boy when he found Panthor. Even more interesting is that Panthor wasn’t just Keldor’s pet, but Randor’s as well. Which means that Panthor should remember and recognise Randor, even if Skeletor no longer does. Now there aren’t a lot of scenes where adult Randor and Panthor interact, but in the three part premiere of the 2002 cartoon, Skeletor captures Randor (and in this continuity, Skeletor knows perfectly well that Randor is his half-brother) and tries to torture information out of him by having Panthor rough him up. We don’t see what happens – it is a kids’ show, after all – but later on, we see Randor injured and with claw marks on his armour. However, if Skeletor were to try something like this in the Revelation/Revolution continuity, Panthor would recognise Randor and be more likely to lick his face than to maul him, much to Skeletor’s confusion. And now I want to see a scene like that.

While Amelia is admonishing her stepson, Miro is conferring with Issak, the royal historian. Issak is a new character, basically the counterpart to Melaktha, the royal archaeologist, in Miro’s time. Issak is named and modelled after Finnish Masters of the Universe fan and lore specialist Jukka Issakainen BTW who is understandably thrilled to have become a Masters of the Universe character.

Miro wants Issak to uncover the secrets of Castle Grayskull. More precisely, Miro wants to get into the Castle, seal off whatever magical power remains within and then tear down Castle Grayskull. For Miro has decided to bring Eternos into the technological age and wants to leave magic behind. And he views Castle Grayskull as a relic of the very past he wants to leave behind, which is why he wants the castle gone. It’s obvious that this is a terrible idea, because if there’s one message that has come up in Masters of the Universe Revelation and Revolution over and over again it’s that at least in Eternia, you cannot just rely on magic or technology. You need both in balance with each other. Indeed, the entire first half of Revelation dealt with what happens when Eternia was cut off from the source of its magic. The planet and the entire universe wither and die.

And indeed, Issak basically tells Miro that his plan is a terrible idea. For starters, Issak cannot get into Castle Grayskull (and ironically Miro as a descendant of King Grayskull should be able to get into the Castle, but apparently never even tries). Besides, many Eternian citizens still revere the Castle as a reminder of past greatness and would not take kindly to Miro tearing it down. And Issak is very concerned about the spectre of revolution in Eternos. Not to mention that the Sorceress of Grayskull – which should still be Kuduk Ungol at this point – would definitely not take kindly to tearing down Castle Grayskull. And you don’t want to piss off the Sorceress.

Besides, Issak points out, Castle Grayskull and whatever magic remains therein has been dormant for centuries, so why not just leave it be? Dormant just means ready to erupt again at any moment, Miro darkly replies. And besides, he wants a modernised Eternos thriving with the new technology he sought out and assimilated (yes, he really uses that word) to be his legacy, not whatever magical horror might be unleashed from Castle Grayskull.

Castle Grayskull has been so central to the Masters of the Universe mythos since the beginning – the Castle Grayskull playset came out in the first year of the original toyline and has been produced in almost every toyline since – that it’s hard to imagine a time when the Castle was not the most important place in Eternia. However, it does fit in with what we’ve seen elsewhere. In the first episode of the 2002 cartoon, when Duncan takes Adam to Castle Grayskull on his sixteenth birthday, Adam refers to the Castle as a broken down ruin and has no idea why he or anybody else would go there. And in the Filmation episode, “The Origin of the Sorceress”, Teela-Na has never heard of Castle Grayskull until an old man from her village tells her that in times of need, a hero will emerge from the Castle to save Eternia from evil. Since Teela-Na’s village has just been overrun by a Horde scout party (And why have we never had figures of these guys? Honestly, the Horde has so many members that never had a figure), she sets off in search of the Castle and eventually finds it after a long trek through the wasteland.

Furthermore, even though there have been several champions of Grayskull through the centuries, beginning with King Grayskull himself, there hasn’t been a champion for some time before Adam assumes the mantle of He-Man. The Masters of the Universe Classics bios specify that the last champion of Grayskull wielded the Power Sword some hundred years before Adam was born and was either Wun-Dar or a character called Oo-Lar who is the Classics version of the way He-Man was portrayed in the first four mini-comics, as a Barbarian from the Vine Jungle, before Prince Adam was introduced. Oo-Lar apparently does not exist in the Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution continuity, so Wun-Da was probably the last champion before Adam.  And besides, you get the idea. Since there hasn’t been a champion of Grayskull in a hundred years – I guess the likes of Count Marzo or Prahvus did not require a champion of Grayskull to deal with – the Castle and its magical powers have fallen into the realm of legend.

King Miro’s intense dislike of magic comes as something of a surprise, since Miro has never been portrayed as someone who hates magic before. That said, it does make sense, because in the handful of appearances he had over the years (one episode each of the Filmation He-Man and She-Ra cartoon respectively, one episode of the 2002 cartoon and one episode of Masters of the Universe Revolution), Miro was often shown tangling with magical opponents. In the Filmation episode “Search for the Past”, we learn that Miro abruptly vanished some twenty years before and has been held prisoner by an evil sorceress imaginatively named the Enchantress since then.  And in the 2002 cartoon as well as the Classics minicomics, Miro leads the Eternian forces against Count Marzo and is thrown into a portal to the evil dimension of Despondos for his troubles. So Miro does have a problem with evil magic users.

Of course, Miro also had a very different sort of entanglement with an evil magic user, namely Saryn. Miro’s interest in technology and desire to modernise Eternos with technology scavenges from elsewhere explain what brought him to Anwat Gar in the first place. And indeed Miro tells Issak that he has seen the promise of technology in Anwat Gar and even brought some of those promises home – while fondly looking at little Keldor and Randor chasing after baby Panthor in the palace courtyard. Issak darkly replies that sometimes promises are just dreams and that dreams can easily become nightmares.

We know what Saryn wanted from Miro, namely some of that sweet Grayskull sperm to produce a child with Grayskull genes who could get her the Power of Grayskull. We also know what Miro wanted in Anwat Gar, namely some of that sweet Gar technology. But what did Miro want from Saryn and what was their relationship like? Did Saryn seduce Miro and used her magic to make him besotted with her? Did Miro just think with his dangly bit and had a night of passion with a hot blue Gar lady? Or was the relationship far more transactional on both sides? Did Miro want a half-Gar baby to build a relationship with Anwat Gar – since we know the Gar are extremely isolationist – and get his hands on Gar technology? Or did Miro even somehow think that Gar had an inherent affinity for technology and that his half-Gar son would share that affinity? At any rate, Miro likely saw Keldor as a means to gain Gar technology for Eternos.

The exchange between Miro and Issak is watched by a cloaked figure, a figure who is quickly revealed to be grown-up Keldor.  Keldor is confused and has no idea what is happening to him, when an unseen but familiar sounding voice informs him that this is a memory, an early one.

The scene shifts again and we see a younger Miro, already bearded but still with a full head of hair, standing in front of the throne of Eternos, cradling a blue baby in his arms. Miro’s father King Rannen, however, is less than happy about suddenly being presented with a surprise mixed race grandkid. On the contrary, he has a fit and yells at Miro that he will never accept a half-Gar bastard as the heir to the throne of Eternos. Besides, Miro is betrothed to Amelia and he will marry her and produce an acceptable, i.e. fully human, heir. Rannen’s racist rant is interrupted by a coughing fit, whereupon his wife Queen H’Lena and a doctor start hovering over Rannen, telling him to calm down and think of his heart. Rannen, however, is not willing to calm down. He tells his wife to shut up and Miro to get that child out of his sight. Miro departs, sad and still cradling baby Keldor.

There’s a lot of interesting stuff in this single page. For starters, we can fill out the royal family tree further, because we finally get names for Miro’s parents, Rannen and H’Lena, though Miro was billed as “King Miro of the House of Niros” in the unofficial bios, which would make his father’s name Niros according to Eternian naming conventions. That said, there is a reason those bios are unofficial. Furthermore, we also learn that Rannen is a racist jerk and generally terrible person, who rejects his own grandson and treats his wife and son badly. Honestly, the royal family of Eternia really seems to be determind to win the Darth Vader Parenthood Award this year, since Rannen, Miro, Amelia and Saryn are all excellent candidates for that coveted (not) award. It’s also clear that Rannen is sick and not long for this world, which will surely be a relief to all Eternian citizens as well as his wife and son.

This scene also confirms something that I at least suspected for a while, namely that the relationship between Miro and Amelia was not a love match, but an arranged marriage. It also makes it clear that Miro was definitely not married to Amelia when he slept with Saryn and sired Keldor, though they were betrothed, so one can argue if Miro was cheating on Amelia or not. That said, Amelia clearly knew what she was getting into and that Miro had a child by another woman, when she married him, so she really has no reason to mistreat Keldor. In many ways, we have a Charles and Diana situation here, though it’s not clear if Amelia was quite as naive as Diana at the start of her marriage.

The question is why Miro and Amelia went through with a marriage that neither of them really wanted. To be fair, Amelia might not have had much of a chance to refuse, depending on how women were treated in her family, since the gender and racial equality we see in the Eternia of Randor’s and Adam’s time seems to be a fairly recent development. However, Miro clearly could have refused to marry someone he did not love – he might have had to give up his claim to the throne, but he could have refused – yet he doesn’t. Instead, he gives in to his father’s demands, marries Amelia and produces not just one but several kids. Because we meet several of Adam’s cousins and one uncle not named Keldor in the Filmation cartoon, the German audio plays (a lot of German fans are using the Turtles of Grayskull Casey Jones figure as a Goras stand-in or custom fodder) and other tie-in media. And since Queen Marlena is from Earth, the various cousins must be from Randor’s side.

I’ve mentioned that once Keldor was introduced, Miro – who was portrayed as an umambiguously sympathetic character and loving grandfather in his two Filmation appearances – starts to look like something of an arsehole who produces a kid but won’t marry the kid’s mother (though to be fair, I’m pretty sure Saryn didn’t want to marry Miro, she just wanted his sperm) and who refuses to fully acknowledge his oldest son. However, in his brief appearance in Masters of Universe Revolution and in this comic (and note that one of the writers of both comics and show, Tim Sheridan, also voiced Miro in Revolution and notes in this interview with For Eternia that he feels a certain kinship with Miro due to having voiced him), Miro comes across mainly as weak. He clearly cares about Keldor, but he won’t stand up for his son and for himself. Instead, he keeps caving in to his father’s demands and to what the law and the people supposedly demand of him. Miro, as we’ll see presently, also something of a bully, which actually fits in with the fact that he’s weak, unwilling to stand up to those more powerful than him, while bullying those who are weaker.

These scenes with Miro also show how very different Randor is from his father. Because Randor married his unsuitable girlfriend and Marlena is not just a different Eternian species but an alien from another planet. Randor also made his half-breed children (and Adam and Adora are as much half-breeds as Keldor, because their mother is from another planet) his heirs. And I bet that Randor had to deal with a very similar conflict to the one Miro had with his father in order to marry Marlena – whether the conflict was with Miro or with the Eternian Council and various royal advisors. There may even have been a suitable arranged bride waiting somewhere in the wings. But Randor did not budge and probably told his father and/or the Council that if they didn’t like his alien astronaut wife, they could find themselves another king.

The scene shifts again and we see Miro, now King, and Issak kneeling in front of a glass coffin containing the body of King Rannen, who apparently chanced to lay eyes on his blue-skinned grandson once too often and promptly expired from a fatal heart attack, likely to the relief of all of Eternia. Hope you enjoy Subternia, Rannen!

Issak, who really has no sense of proper timing, implores Miro to send Keldor back to Saryn on Anwat Gar as soon as possible, because Miro is flaunting centuries old laws by letting his illegitimate kid live in the palace. And “the people” will not stand for this and might start a revolution that might get Miro killed and the monarchy overthrown. Of course, there is zero evidence that anybody except some reactionaries at the court has any problem whatsoever with Keldor. After all, when he is crowned king in Masters of the Universe Revolution, the people of Eternos overwhelmingly cheer and applaud him. Some folks like Duncan are skeptical of Keldor, but not because he is illegitimate or half-Gar, but because Keldor’s sudden reappearance is just a little too convenient. As for that centuries old law, Adam, who was never even formally crowned king, because Keldor interrupted the funeral/coronation ceremony, abolished it literally between frames.

Miro, however, isn’t having any of that. He tells Issak in no unclear terms that Keldor has a home in Eternos with his father. And should Issak ever dare to question Miro’s decisions again, he can relocate his library to the palace dungeon. This is no idle threat either, as we’ll see presently.

While Miro and Issak are arguing, we see a woman in mourning robes, wearing a crown, standing in the background. Initially, I wasn’t sure whether this women was Amelia or H’Lena. The crown she’s wearing is different from the one Amelia is wearing in later scenes, but looks a lot like the crown H’Lena and later Marlena wear. However, I’m leaning towards Amelia, because the woman looks younger than H’Lena would be and she also appears to be pregnant. Never mind that Miro would have no reason to marry Amelia after his father died and he became king, so it makes sense if Miro and Amelia were already married at this point and Amelia is pregnant with Randor. Peeping out from behind Amelia is an approximately two-year-old Keldor, who appears to be not quite sure if the evil shouty man (i.e. Rannen, his grandfather) is really gone and if it’s safe to come out now. Even at this very young age, the kid learned that it’s safest not to be noticed.

The scene shifts once again and we see Randor and Keldor, about six and eight years old at this point, in the palace library in the middle of a lesson. Their teacher shows the boys a crystal talisman that allegedly belonged to King Grayskull himself and tells them about the Power of Grayskull. Randor points out that Miro says that the Power of Grayskull is just a myth, whereupon the teacher replies that now that the Power of Grayskull is dormant, it has passed into myth, but that there is a prophecy which foretells that coming of a champion who will wield the Power of Grayskull like past champions such as He-Ro or King Grayskull himself. Keldor and Randor find this very exciting and both decide that they want to be the next champion of Grayskull and promptly start practicing swordfighting with random sticks as little boys are wont to do.

Unfortunately, Miro and Amelia chance to pass the library at just this moment. And since Miro would love nothing more than to tear down Castle Grayskull and brick up the source of the Power, he is less than pleased that the teacher is telling his sons about things Miro wants nothing to do with. Miro doesn’t want his sons to learn about the Power of Grayskull and their mythical heritage and he doesn’t want his sons to learn how to use a sword either, because princes do not wield swords in Eternos. The teacher points out that if Keldor can’t become king, he still needs some kind of role to fill and that teaching him how to use a sword might give him a role and a purpose. Miro, however, is having none of that and we see that teacher led away in chains by the Royal Guard. “Oh, not another one”, little Randor exclaims, implying that this isn’t the first teacher who “mysteriously” vanished never to be seen again.

Okay, so Miro isn’t just weak and unable to stand up to his father, he’s also a tyrant who has scholars thrown into the royal dungeon, when they disagree with him or teach things to his sons that Miro doesn’t want them to learn about. And considering his threats towards Issak and the fact that apparently more than one teacher “mysteriously” vanished, I suspect that the Royal Dungeon is full of scholars who dared to disagree with Miro. So Miro isn’t just a bad father, he’s also a terrible king.

Worse, the teacher is right. Keldor may never become king, but giving him some kind of official role in Eternos would have given the boy a purpose and probably would have done wonders for his self-confidence, because Keldor wants to be appreciated and wants his father (or a substitute parent figure) to be proud of him. And indeed we have seen versions of Keldor who fought as officers in the Royal Guard or served as advisor to King Randor (though he inevitably goes bad anyway) and even one Keldor who never went bad, but became the champion of Grayskull. And though Miro didn’t want his sons to learn how to wield a sword, both of them eventually do learn. We don’t really see it in Masters of the Universe: Revelation/Revolution, but Keldor is a master swordsman, particularly in the 2002 cartoon, where he wields his iconic dual sword. In fact, I got a second set of the Masters of the Universe Classics version of Keldor’s dual sword, so my King Keldor figure would have one to wield as well.

This little exchange also confirms once again how much Randor went against his father’s wishes. For while Miro doesn’t think that swinging a sword is suitable for a prince, Randor becomes a soldier and eventually Captain of the Royal Guard and it’s clear that he prefers being a soldier to being king. In fact, Randor must have constantly been in conflict with his father and the court, about joining the Guard, about Marlena, about everything. There’s a scene in the Filmation episode “Prince Adam No More”, where Randor tells He-Man, whom he has no idea is really Adam, that he used to be quite a rowdy in his youth and that he has an impressive left hook. I guess he really was.

Also, looking at how terrible Rannen and Miro were, both as people and as kings, it’s a minor miracle that Randor turned out all right. He’s a pretty good king and while he’s not the best of fathers, he is still a vast improvement over Miro, let alone Rannen. I suspect that the influence of Marlena had a lot to do with it as well as the influence of Duncan and Dekker, a character who’s vastly underrated and underused, since he was the teacher and mentor of both Duncan and Randor, when they were young cadets, and is also implied to be Andra’s grandfather in the Revelation/Revolution continuity.  In short, Randor was surrounded by good people who supported him, whereas his half-brother kept falling in with terrible people.

Adult Keldor says that he never understood how his father could be so cruel, making it clear that even as a kid, Keldor recognised exactly what Miro was, namely a tyrant and a bully. The unseen, but familiar voice deliberately misunderstands Keldor’s comment as Keldor wondering how Miro could be so cruel to send him away and points out that Miro’s cruelty made Keldor strong, whereas Randor was coddled by his mother and made weak. “You never had that problem”, the unseen but familiar voice points out. Keldor replies that his mother was a thousand leagues away. “And a total witch”, the unseen voice adds. Keldor is about to counter this comment, but then agrees. Yes, Saryn was a total witch who used her son to get what she wanted.

The memory fades, even though Keldor wants to hold on to it and see more. Keldor also finally decides to confront the unseen voice and demands that the owner of the voice show himself, which he does… sort of. And so a blue-skinned hooded figure in a Horde uniform appears. We don’t see the figure’s face, but then we don’t really need to. If the distinctive voice hadn’t been a dead giveaway, the fact that this very figure stands on my shelf would have been:

Yup, it’s none other than old boneface himself, Skeletor, in conversation with his alter ego Keldor.

Skeletor tells Keldor that he’s always been right there with him. Before Keldor can ask further questions, the scene shifts again to a flashback we already saw in Masters of the Universe Revolution, namely the scene when Keldor and Randor sneak into Miro’s study as little boys and chance to overhear Miro and Amelia arguing about sending Keldor to Anwat Gar. Skeletor, being his usual snarky self, eggs on little Keldor to drink from Miro’s secret flask of “technically fruit juice”, i.e. wine or brandy, and then exclaims in disappointment, “Bah, he never does.” And since Skeletor really loves to twist the knife, he tells Keldor that this moment sneaking into Miro’s study with his little brother is his happiest memory, followed by his saddest, namely the moment when Miro finally gave in and shipped Keldor off to Anwat Gar.

The most heartbreaking thing here is the realisation that the time in Eternos Palace spent with his little brother was as happy as Keldor’s life ever got – in spite of a stepmother who didn’t want him, a father who was a tyrant, a bully and possibly a secret alcoholic and a whole court of people who probably made it very clear to little Keldor that he didn’t belong, that he wasn’t a “real” prince of Eternia. Keldor clearly didn’t have the happiest of childhoods, but in spite of everything this was as good as his life ever got. His time on Anwat Gar with Saryn and his time as a member of the Horde and Hordak’s personal magic wielder were never as happy as his childhood in Eternos.

But it gets worse, because Skeletor informs Keldor that this memory – like all of his other memories – is fleeting and that once they leave this memory behind, it will be gone forever. This is the moment where Keldor resists and declares that he doesn’t want to leave, but wants to hold on to this memory. Skeletor tells Keldor that holding on to his memories isn’t possible and that he should just let go, but Keldor successfully manages to resist.

The scene shifts again and we see Modulok opeating some kind of machinery. And now we finally realise what we’re witnessing here, even though Keldor doesn’t, not yet.  We’re in a lab aboard the Horde flagship, where Hordak is ordering Modulok, Tarangela and Succubug to wipe Keldor’s memories, using the mnemonic cradle device we saw in issue 2. However, Keldor is resisting, so Hordak orders Modulok to increase the power of the mnemonic cradle by seven hundred percent. Tarangela and Modulok are not exactly happy with this order, but they obey, probably because they know what Hordak will do to them, if they don’t. “At least he won’t remember this”, Modulok says as he cranks up the power and Keldor cries for his mother.

The scene shifts to another of Keldor’s memories. Keldor is in Anwat Gar with Saryn who is giving him magic lessons and tells him that magic, not the crown, is his true birthright his father would deny him. Saryn is actually telling the truth for once, too, because Miro, who dislikes magic after all, certainly wouldn’t want his son to become a magic user.

Meanwhile, Keldor is juts confused. After all, he was just in the palace, “safe” as Keldor puts it, so why was he sent to Anwat Gar? It’s easy to imagine little Keldor having exactly this conversation with Saryn. Why was he suddenly taken away from the only home and family he ever knew and sent to Anwat Gar? “Shame”, Saryn replies and adds that Keldor could never shame her.

This time around, Saryn is obviously lying, because Saryn only needs Keldor for one reason, namely to get her into Castle Grayskull. She has zero interest in her son otherwise and will discard him once he’s served his purpose. Nonethless, her answer is interesting, because it begets the question who exactly considers the existence of Keldor shameful. King Rannen obviously did, but he is long dead by this point. And Miro, for all his faults, does seem to care for Keldor. When he presents his new baby to Rannen, Miro is clearly proud rather than ashamed. Nor does he seem to differentiate between his two sons, but seems to love them both. Miro also resists sending Keldor to Anwat Gar for several years, even though it’s what everybody else – Rannen, Issak, Amelia – wants him to do. It’s not Miro, but everybody else at court who considers Keldor a mark of shame, reminder of an embarassing dalliance with a Gar woman. And once again, Miro does not stand up for himself and his son, but does eventually give in.

Saryn also hands Keldor the necklace with the infinity pendant that she always wears, the very same necklace that we see Skeletor holding in the Masters of the Universe Revelation prequel comic, though it has a very different meaning for him. Once again, the scene shifts and we get a scene from just that prequel comic. Ram-headed aliens are enslaving and abusing a race of skull-faced people. Keldor, however, is just confused. “This isn’t my memory”, he says. “Not yet, but give it a minute”, Skeletor replies with characteristic snark.

The memory is, of course, one of the false memories that Hordak implanted in Keldor/Skeletor. We’ve seen this story before, told by Skeletor to Evil-Lyn, in an issue of the Masters of the Universe Revelation prequel comic, where Skeletor suddenly felt the need to tell Lyn his origin story, though Lyn doesn’t buy any of it. It’s basically an expanded version of the old “demon from another dimension” origin for Skeletor.

In the first few mini-comics, we briefly saw that the reason why Skeletor wanted the Power of Grayskull was because he wanted to open a portal to his home dimension of Infinita and bring the rest of his people, who all happen to be skull-faced like him, through the portal to Eternia.

In this version, Skeletor still hails from the dimension of Infinita, from a world called Apollyos in the Great Perpetuum. Skeletor’s people were enslaved by the ram-headed people, but Skeletor led a slave revolt and the skull-faced people kicked out the ram-heads. Skeletor was hailed as a hero and even had a wife and a daughter. But then the ram-heads returned and took bloody vengeance. They murdered Skeletor’s wife and daughter. Hordak swooped in to save Skeletor and offered him the power of magic and the ability to resurrect his murdered family in exchange for Skeletor’s loyalty and aid in conquering Apollyos. As usual, Hordak never intends to keep his end of the bargain. Finally, he does grant Skeletor the ability to resurrect one member of his family. Faced with a near impossible choice, Skeletor chooses his baby daughter and is promptly forced to hand her over to Hordak. If Skeletor continues to serve him, Hordak promises that he will eventually help him resurrect his wife and that he will also return his daughter. Skeletor, however, knows that Hordak will never keep his word and decides to take Eternia and the Power of Grayskull for himself to finally liberate his people and resurrect his family.

I’ve always preferred the Keldor origin for Skeletor to the demon from another dimension origin, but I did like the Skeletor backstory from the Revelation prequel comic, because it gave him a more nuance and a more interesting motivation than just “He wants to conquer Castle Grayskull and Eternia, because that’s just what demons from another dimension do.” Of course, the creators of Revelation/Revolution eventually decided to go back to the Keldor origin, though they tried to combine the two disparate origins and even managed to incorporate the Skeletor backstory from the prequel. The fact that Tim Sheridan who wrote said prequel comic also is one of the writers of this comic mini-series probably helped as well.

The scene shifts again and this time around Keldor witnesses a scene of domestic bliss among skull-headed people. “Is this even a real place?”, he asks, “And who are these skeleton people?” Skeletor remarks that you have to hand it to Hordak, everything is very convincing. The mention of Hordak shocks Keldor awake and he finally realises just what is happening. Hodak is manipulating his memories. Skeletor tells him to relax and enjoy the ride. “Manipulation is such an ugly word”, he says, “Such an ugly accurate word.”

Skeletor isn’t even wrong. The whole scenario of the poor downtrodden skull-headed people and their failed liberator is very convincing. And I really don’t see Hordak, not even the emo Hordak from the 2018 She-Ra cartoon, as someone who’d make up elaborate false backstories for the victims of his memory manipulation. Far more likely that Hordak just took some other memory recording his device made – it was established in issue 2 that Hordak apparently collects such recordings – and implanted it into Keldor. Which begets the question, if the whole sad story of the skull-heads and their failed liberator is a real memory, then whose memory is it?

Keldor, meanwhile, has other problems. He gradually remembers what happened in issue 3 – the Fright Zone, the revelation that Saryn only manipulated and used him and finally the Havoc Staff and its corrosive effects. But the memories are vague and uncertain, because – as Keldor realises – Hordak is actively erasing them as he speaks. “I have to get out of here”, Keldor exclaims and wishes himself back to the last happy moment of his life, the memory of himself and Randor sneaking into Miro’s study.

Coincidentally, we have seen the concept of a keystone memory as the essence of a character’s true self in Masters of the Universe before, namely in the DC “Eternity War” comics. Adam, who cannot turn into He-Man at this point, has been possessed by King Hiss and is slowly being taken over from within, something which already happened to King Randor and Mendor, the royal physician, earlier in the series with lethal consequences. In issue #12 by Dan Abnett and Pop Mhan, Adam is stuck in his memories, while Skeletor is about to destroy the universe, and finds them altered. Ironically, the first indication that his memories being manipulated and changed is a memory involving Keldor, who in this continuity only turns bad when Adam is about twelve. Keldor promptly turns into a mass of snakes, as does every other person in Adam’s memories, as King Hiss is taking him over. Adam is finally rescued by three incarnations of Teela – as a child, a teenager and the adult Sorceress – who have been protected by Adam’s love for her and who tell him what’s going on and that he has to hold on to the one uncorrupted keystone memory to exorcise King Hiss. That one keystone memory turns out to be when twelve-year-old Adam manifested the Power of Grayskull and accidentally stopped time to save his father from the wreck of a crashed Windraider. Adam finally defeats the demon possessing him, Hiss, and transforms back into He-Man. Unfortunately for him and the rest of the universe, Keldor will not be so lucky.

Meanwhile, things are going haywire aboard the Horde flagship. Keldor struggles and resists and punches Succubug whose trying to restrain him. Hordak notes that Keldor’s will is strong, but that it won’t matter in the end and orders Modulok to increase the power further. Modulok tries to point out that this is a bad idea, but Hordak overrides him. Indeed, it has been poor Modulok’s fate since the Filmation He-Man and She-Ra cartoons (Modulok is one of the few characters who appeared in both cartoons both as a member of Skeletor’s Evil Warriors and the Horde) to perpetually have to explain to Skeletor or Hordak why increasing the power/reversing the polarity/opening an interdimensional portal is a not a good idea, only to be inevitably overruled and then blamed when things go wrong. In the 2018 She-Ra series, which doesn’t have Modulok nor any of the other established male Horde members except for Grizzlor, this role falls to Entrapta who also has a remarkably sweet romance with Hordak. Coincidentally, Modulok seems to like Keldor, further reinforcing the Kirk/Spock dynamic between those two, since Modulok was initially modelled after Mr. Spock, only evil, and Keldor was voiced by William Shatner, Captain Kirk himself, in Masters of the Universe Revolution.

While all this is happening in the real world, Keldor and Skeletor are having an argument inside Keldor’s tortured mind. Or rather Skeletor is arguing and tries to persuade Keldor to let go off the past. After all, his past is pretty awful. Keldor was abandoned by his father, manipulated by his mother and his brother stole the crown that should have been his. So why in the universe would Keldor want to cling to that past, when he has the chance to start over and the whole future ahead of him?

Skeletor also tells Keldor that he only ever has been pawn in somebody else’s plans, Miro’s. Saryn’s. Hordak’s. Meanwhile, Keldor’s only plan of his own was to assassinate Miro and take the throne, but what would he even do with that? What is the crown of Eternos worth and what is a sceptre even good for anyway?

Though Skeletor agrees that Saryn was right in one respect. Keldor would first have to kill his demons in order to come into his true power. Only that Keldor assumed the demon he’s have to slay was Miro and Saryn assumed it was Hordak and possibly Horde Prime as well. Skeletor, however, tells Keldor that the only person who has ever stood between him and his ambitions is Keldor himself. For Skeletor to thrive, Keldor must die.

Of course, Keldor doesn’t want to die, but Skeletor doesn’t give him a choice and attacks him. Keldor fights back, but he is getting steadily weaker. Meanwhile, Skeletor tells Keldor that he can be so much more than he was and that everything, the throne of Eternos, the Power of Grayskull and even the universe itself, can be his, if he just gives up instead of hanging on to that one happy anchor memory.

Keldor finally gives in – after all, he is being tortured both from within and without – and asks Skeletor to answer one question before Keldor’s memory and personality fade completely: “Are you who I think you are?” In response, Skeletor pulls back his hood and replies, “No, I’m who you think you are.”

As established in Masters of the Universe: Revolution, Keldor and Skeletor are two separate personalities – even voiced by two different actors in the show – who happen to be sharing one body. But the question, which neither the show nor this comic really answers is, what exactly is Skeletor?

One possibility is that Keldor has dissociative identity disorder, triggered by a history of trauma and abuse, and that his mind created the Skeletor persona to protect himself. What speaks for this explanation is that Keldor clearly recognises the voice that is taunting him and asks several times if the voice is who he thinks it it, though he never says who he exactly he thinks he’s talking to. What also speaks for this explanation is that Skeletor tells Keldor that he’s always been with him. Of course, this is Skeletor, so I wouldn’t really believe anything he says. Nonetheless, the outcome – Keldor gives up and lets Skeletor take over – also suggests dissociative identity disorder, because dissociative identity disorder is a response to trauma so overwhelming that the mind creates one or more other personalities to deal with the trauma, personalities who are stronger and more able to withstand the pain and abuse. Skeletor, as we’ve seen throughout Masters of the Universe Revelation and Revolution, isn’t just incapable of feelings like friendship, loyalty, love, grief, he also literally cannot understand why other people have such feelings. And if Skeletor doesn’t understand friendship, loyalty, love or grief – unlike Keldor who very clearly has such feelings and hankers for acceptance and approval – it also means that no one can ever abandon or hurt him again, because Skeletor doesn’t give a damn about other people.

Dissociative identity disorder does make sense as an explanation and if this story were set in the real world, that’s what the explanation would be. However, Masters of the Universe is not set in the real world, so there are a couple of other possible explanations. For example, the Skeletor personality could be something Hordak made up along with the false (or is it?) backstory. However, this explanation doesn’t make a lot of sense, because as I’ve said above, I don’t see Hordak as someone who bothers to come up with elaborate false personalities and backstories for the victims of his memory manipulation. And even if he did create a whole fake personality for Keldor, why would Hordak create someone like Skeletor who’s not only a lot more dangerous than Keldor ever was, but who also has an excellent reason to hate Hordak’s guts. No, this doesn’t make sense.

However, as I said above, I suspect that Hordak didn’t create a false backstory for Keldor, but grabbed a suitable memory recording from his stash. So if the false memories Hordak implants into Keldor really are someone’s memories, there also is a personality attached to those memories, which would mean that Keldor is merged with some other person (in the loosest sense of the word). This is basically the Demo-Man hypothesis.

So who is Demo-Man? Demo-Man started out as an unlabelled concept sketch by Mark Taylor who created all of the early Masters of the Universe characters. Because the character has a skull face, he was assumed to be an early concept for what would eventually become Skeletor. This is wrong – Mark Taylor himself has confirmed that the sketch depicts a completely different character named The Merciless and he should know.

However, when this very cool concept art character was produced as an action figure in the Masters of the Universe Classics toyline, he was given the name Demo-Man, which was an early proposed name for what would eventually become Skeletor, while the bio on the back of his box explained that Demo-Man was a demon from the evil dimension of Despondos who was merged with Keldor by Hordak in order to save Keldor’s life, after Keldor tried to throw a vial of acid at his brother Randor and burned his own face off in the process. Hordak saving the mortally wounded Keldor’s life and turning him into Skeletor in the process actually does happen in the 2002 cartoon, though there is no extradimensional demon involved. You can see more about the Keldor/Skeletor/Demo-Man connection here and here.

The idea that Demo-Man was the secret ingredient that turned Keldor into Skeletor stuck around and indeed the mini-comic included with the recent (so recent that mine hasn’t even arrived yet) Masters of the Universe Origins Demo-Man figure reiterates this story.

Since Masters of the Universe Revolution did away with Keldor’s acid mishap and instead had contact with the Havoc Staff and the corruptive power of Havoc burn off Keldor’s face, this also means that Demo-Man was no longer involved in the birth of Skeletor. However, if Hordak implanted the memories of a real person (in the widest sense of the word) into Keldor to create Skeletor, then that person could well be Demo-Man or at least a version of him.

And while we’re on the subjects of demons, it’s also quite possible that Keldor was possessed by some kind of demonic entity due to his contact with the Havoc Staff. We know that havoc magic and the Havoc Staff are corrosive – see what happened to Keldor’s face – and also corruptive. In the CGI cartoon, King Grayskull, Keldor, Evil-Lyn, Kronis, R’Quazz, Krass and even He-Man himself all become infected with and corrupted by dark havoc magic at some point. Who can tell if the Havok Staff doesn’t come with a demon attached in this continuity?

I hope we will eventually get an answer as to what exactly Skeletor is and how he came to be, but we’re not getting it here. Because Hordak has more pressing issues on his mind than explaining what precisely he did to Keldor. Never mind that Hordak apparently doesn’t really know what happened either, since he believes increasing the power of his mnemonic cradle caused Keldor’s will to weaken, allowing Skeletor to take over. However, Modulok points out that he didn’t get around to cranking up the power even further. I think Modulok really does like Keldor.

At any rate, Succubug and Tarangela remove the mnemonic cradle, finally revealing the face of Skeletor. Not that it’s much of a surprise, since I’m pretty sure that everybody reading this comic knows what Skeletor looks like. Skeletor, however, is a tad confused. He has no idea what happened, how long he has been in the lab and why and he also seems confused when he sees a reflection of his face.

Hordak quickly assures Skeletor that everything is fine, that his face looks just like it should, that there is nothing to worry about. Skeletor just took a fall in battle and knocked his head, which is why he is a tad confused. Hordak also asks Skeletor what he remembers whereupon Skeletor talks about the dimension of Infinita, Apollyos, the Great Perpetuum, his wife and child and also gratefully recalls that Hordak saved him.

Hordak is pleased, because his plan worked… or so he thinks. After all, Skeletor is professing his everlasting loyalty to Hordak and asks how he can serve him. And indeed Hordak already has a mission in mind, a mission that requires Skeletor’s unique talents. “What do you know of the Royal Family of Eternia?” Hordak asks. “What is Eternia?” Skeletor replies, much to Hordak’s satisfaction. In the background, Succubug and Tarangela also seem very pleased with themselves. And honestly, Mattel, please give us Succubug and Tarangela action figures.

So Hordak explains his plan to Skeletor. Of course, we already know this plan, since we’ve seen it executed in The Secret of the Sword back in 1985 as well as in several comics and we also saw bits and pieces of it in a flashback in Masters of the Universe: Revolution. In short, Hordak and Skeletor are about to embark on a certain infamous baby stealing expedition.

But even though we’ve seen that baby stealing expedition before, we’ve never seen it from the POV of the perpetrators nor have we seen what happened before Skeletor and Hordak broke into the royal nursery.

What happened is that Hordak and Skeletor snuck into Eternos via one of the Fright Zone’s exits. Hordak then ordered Skeletor to hyponotise a Royal Guard, except that Skeletor decided to strangle the poor fellow instead, which should have tipped off Hordak that this expedition was not going to go as planned.

Hordak tells Skeletor that Eternos Palace is protected by a kind of magical forcefield created by a powerful Sorceress to make sure that certain parts of the palace are only accessible to those who have the blood of King Grayskull in their veins. Skeletor asks the logical question, namely how will he get in then. Of course, we know how and why Skeletor will be able to get in, but Hordak tells him his havoc magic will protect him and let him pass through the enchanted forcefield.

The fact that the Sorceress has placed a spell on Eternos Palace to keep invaders and unauthorised people out suggests that the relationship between the Sorceress of Grayskull and the royal family of Eternia has much improved since Miro’s time, considering Miro wanted to tear down Castle Grayskull, making it very unlikely that the Sorceress would protect him and his family. This suggests that Randor also went against his father’s wishes and instead of trying to banish magic, embraced it. Of course, the fact that the new Sorceress Teela-Na has a secret affair with Randor’s best friend and Man-at-Arms Duncan also probably helped.

Not that Skeletor is aware of any of this. He is instructed to make his way to the royal nursery, using his Havoc Staff to zap several Royal Guards in the process (I detect some not so repressed anger at the Royal Guards here, probably for treating little Keldor badly once upon a time). Once Skeletor has made it into the nursery, he’s supposed to open a portal to let in Hordak. Of course, once Hordak enters the palace, the alarm will be raised, but Hordak and Skeletor should have enough time to do what they came for, namely steal the royal babies.

Skeletor does as he’s ordered… with one exception. He opens the portal not in the royal nursery but in the corridor just outside. Hordak is furious, once he realises what has happened. But Skeletor refuses to budge until Hordak answers some questions, starting with why exactly are they stealing a baby in the middle of the night?

Hordak is clearly nervous – after all, the Royal Guards are probably already on their way – and tells Skeletor the prophecy is the reason for this expedition and now would Skeletor please open the door. Skeletor, however, still doesn’t budge and notes that Hordak told him about a prophecy, but not exactly what it says. Hordak loses control at this point, messes up and calls Skeletor “Keldor”, though he quickly corrects himself.

Hordak then tells Skeletor that the prophecy foretells that the newborn heir to an ancient Horde enemy (King Grayskull, since he did fight the Horde in his time) is all that stands between Hordak and his ambition to rule the Horde empire. And Hordak will not let “one filthy royal urchin” stand between him and his superiority. No, the child and all its power will be his.

Skeletor, however, still doesn’t budge, since he takes issue with Hordak always referring to his ambition and his superiority and basically wants to know what’s in it for him. Whereupon Hordak completely loses control and points his arm cannon at Skeletor. Hordak also threatens to banish Skeletor to Despondos, where he would be even further from his own child (the daughter from the false memories). Skeletor still isn’t impressed and asks calmly how this banishment would be accomplished. “Far more easily than you think”, Hordak replies.

Skeletor still isn’t convinced and asks Hordak how he can even be sure that they have the right heir of Grayskull, for surely there is more than one. “Yes, but how many are newly born?” Hordak replies. Of course, we know that there are two babies in the royal nursery, Adam and Adora, though neither Hordak nor Skeletor seem to be aware of this at this point. However, “newly born heir of Grayskull” could also refer to Skeletor himself, who is also newly born in this form and with this personality.

At any rate, the prophecy is the usual self-fulfilling prophecy that witchy women handing out prophecies inevitably foretell. Because Hordak is the architect of his own eventual downfall. If the prophecy refers to Adora, who is the one to deal the killing blow to Hordak and/or Horde Prime in most versions of the story, being raised by Hordak and Shadow Weaver is the reason that Adora is a lot more ruthless than Adam. Because Adam doesn’t kill and would rather give up the Power of Grayskull than kill another living being. Adora, however, is fully willing to kill, if there is no other way.

And if the prophecy refers to Skeletor, who after all seemingly kills Hordak in Masters of the Universe: Revolution (he gets better, though), Hordak is the one who either created Skeletor or at least allowed whatever Skeletor is to take control of Keldor’s body. Plus, Hordak gave Skeletor a reason to hate his guts via the fake (or is it?) memory of his wife and daughter. Keldor was loyal and only wanted to be appreciated. Skeletor is a loose cannon. And even during their first (and last) mission together, Hordak is beginning to realise just what he unleashed upon the universe. For while Keldor may occasionally have jumped the gun and accidentally conquered Zal-Kron, when he was only supposed to observe, Skeletor doesn’t follow orders at all and he hates Hordak’s guts.

The question is of course just why did Hordak decide to erase Keldor’s memories and create someone who’s a lot more dangerous than Keldor ever was. After all, Keldor has just proven his loyalty by siding with Hordak against his own mother Saryn. Of course, it’s possible that Hordak feared that Keldor would eventually become as ambitious as Saryn, especially now that he has the Havoc Staff and its dark magic. But personally, I suspect that the reason has a lot to do with Hordak’s and Skeletor’s first (and last) mission together. Because infected by dark havoc magic or not, I’m pretty sure that Keldor would never have gone along with stealing his brother’s babies. Because Keldor loves his brother. His happiest memories are those moments in Eternos Palace, where he’s hanging out with Randor. And next to Panthor, Randor is the only person who ever unconditionally loved Keldor.

In issue 3, Keldor returns to Eternos to assassinate Miro, only to find Miro gone and Randor on the throne. Keldor could have easily taken out Randor or even the pregnant Marlena, but he doesn’t. He abandons his plan and runs away. Because this version of Keldor would never hurt his brother and his brother’s loved ones.

Also, it’s clear that some time has passed since Hordak and Keldor fought Saryn and Keldor took the Havoc Staff with corrosive effect. Because Keldor and Hordak fought Saryn on the same day that Keldor returned to Eternos and found that Randor was king. And Marlena was still pregnant at this point and even if she went into labour immediately afterwards, Adam and Adora are at least a few weeks if not a few months old, when Hordak kidnapped Adora. So I suspect that Hordak ordered Keldor to go on the baby stealing expedition, assuming Keldor would go along with it. Cause Hordak hates his own brother Horde Prime and apparently never really understands that Randor is about the only person Keldor doesn’t hate. And so Keldor probably told Hordak where to stuff it and quite possibly even threatened to warn Randor. So Hordak decided to erase his memories to create a more ruthless acolyte, all the while assuming he could control Skeletor via the daughter from the false memories (if they really are false). He’s wrong, of course, because Skeletor cannot be controlled and doesn’t care about anybody except himself.

And indeed, when Skeletor finally yields and agrees to open the door for Hordak, thus proving his loyalty, he does so with the words, “And may the legends tell that it was I, humble Skeletor, who delivered the great and terrible Hordak to his well-deserved fate” and a devilish grin, which suggests that Skeletor knows exactly that this mission won’t go the way Hordak expects.

The prequel part of the story ends here. We don’t see what lies behind the nursery door and what happens once Hordak and Skeletor break in. But then we don’t need to, because we’ve seen what happens afterwards in The Secret of the Sword back in 1985 and a few times since then in various comics and also in a flashback in Masters of the Universe Revolution. Hordak and Skeletor indeed break into the nursery, only to find two babies. Hordak grabs Adora and Skeletor is about to grab Adam, when the alarm is raised (in The Secret of the Sword, it’s Marlena who raises the alarm, but here it might be due to Skeletor’s stalling as well) and the Royal Guards led by Duncan storm into the nursery. Skeletor is captured, while Hordak jumps out of the window with baby Adora. Skeletor, realising that Hordak abandoned him, rats out Hordak, but Hordak escapes through a portal with Adora.

I said, “The prequel part of the story ends here”, because the comic itself doesn’t end quite yet. Instead, there is a flash forward to “twenty-eight cycles later” and an establishing shot of The Velvet Glove, Hordak’s flagship, surrounded by the Horde fleet. A woman in very familiar armour removes the mnemonic cradle and replaces her Hordak mask/helmet. It’s now that we realise that the entire mini-series so far was actually a recording reviewed by Horde Force Captain Despara, as seen in the post-credits teaser at the end of Masters of the Universe: Revolution.  And just in case you’re wondering who Force Captain Despara is, you probably know her better as Princess Adora.

This also explains why the prequel part of the story and the recording ended, when it did, just before Hordak and Skeletor break into the royal nursery. Because seeing her own abduction might have caused Despara to ask some uncomfortable questions. At least, that’s the in-story reason. The real world reason is most likely the tangled She-Ra rights, which means that they cannot actually show us Adora. Despara is a work-around for the rights issue as well, since she was created by Rob David of Mattel (whose also a producer of Masters of the Universe: Revolution and one of the co-writers of this comic mini-series) for the 2013 DC Comics run and therefore isn’t subject to the She-Ra rights. That said, I’ve always liked Despara as an a much darker version of Force Captain Adora from The Secret of the Sword.

Despara also notes that the recording cuts out just as things are about to get interesting and asks, if this is where the story ends. “No, there is much, much more”, an unseen voice replies and notes that Despara is long overdue to hear it. So Despara asks her “dear Mother” to tell her everything she knows about the Royal Family of Eternia. On the final page, we see Despara looking down at Motherboard’s severed head, to which various cables have been attached.

The big takeaway here is of course that Motherboard is no more dead than Hordak is, but that she survived her decapitation at the hands of Skeletor. This makes sense, too, because Motherboard was an artificial construct in the first place, so cutting off her head wouldn’t necessarily kill her, though it gave Skeletor the opportunity to give Hordak a Seven style gift.

The “twenty-eight cycles later” caption also gives us something of a timeline. Because if a cycle corresponds to one Earth year, this would make Adora, Adam and Teela twenty-eight years old. Andra is probably around the same age. Adam was sixteen, when he became He-Man, so he’s been He-Man for twelve years at this point. Extrapolating from this, Randor, Marlena and Duncan are all somewhere in their mid fifties to early sixties. Ditto for the Sorceress, but she does not age normally. Both Keldor and Malcolm are a few years older than Randor and Duncan, which puts them in their late fifties to early sixties (though Keldor is half-Gar and might age differently). Stratos, Ram-Man and Mekaneck all fought alongside Randor before they became He-Man’s back-up team, so they’re in their fifties as well. Ditto for the Evil Warriors who’ve been with Skeletor since well before Adam first became He-Man, though it must be noted that most of the Evil Warriors are not human and therefore might age differently. The same applies to the various Horde members we’ve seen, all of whom are not human. Meanwhile, Hordak is centuries, possibly millennia old. Coincidentally, Saryn is shown in Masters of the Universe: Revolution on a mural inside Castle Crayskull fighting alongside King Grayskull and Tytus, which suggests that she is hundreds of years old as well. Though Saryn is not human and also High Priestess of Havok, so she likely doesn’t age normally either.

It’s notable that this is a He-Man story without He-Man. In all four issues of this mini-series we don’t see He-Man, whether as He-Man or Adam, even a single time. The closest we come is the brief appearance by a very pregnant Queen Marlena. And while we do see Adora, we only see her in her villainous Despara persona. There have been various Masters of the Universe comics featuring characters other than He-Man and digging into their respective backstories both in the 2002 comics run by MV Creations and the 2012 DC Comics run. However, all of those were one-shots. I don’t think we’ve ever had an entire Masters of the Universe comic mini-series without a single He-Man appearance before.

Instead, this story focusses fully on the villains, namely on Hordak and Keldor/Skeletor and their relationship. It also fills in a lot of the gaps in Masters of the Universe Revolution, which is exactly what a tie-in comic should do. Now if there is one complaint that I and many others have about Masters of the Universe Revolution it’s that five episodes were too short for the story they were trying to tell. Particularly the Horde got the short shrift, because while Keith David was amazing as Hordak and Revolution portrayed the Horde as utterly terrifying in a way they’ve rarely been seen in forty years, we also saw way too little of them. That’s why I was happy to see more of Hordak and the Horde in this comic.  In particular, it was great to see more of the core Horde members Grizzlor, Leech, Mantenna, Dragstor and Modulok, who either only had very brief appearances in Revolution (Grizzlor, Leech and Mantenna) or did not appear at all (Modulok and Dragstor). Finally, we also get the first new additions to the Horde since the Classics era with Tarangela and Succubug. And I really want these two as figures now, because they’re cool.

We don’t really learn a lot that’s new about Hordak. After all, we’ve known that Hordak’s relationship to his older brother Horde Prime is highly contentious, to put it politely, since the Filmation She-Ra cartoon. We’ve also known that Hordak likes to manipulate and brainwash his underlings for just as long. Hordak’s contentious relationship with magic as something that he both abhors and is fascinated by has been implied since the Filmation cartoon as well. And isn’t it fascinating that most of what we know about Hordak and the Horde was established by the Filmation cartoon rather than the vintage mini-comics, where Hordak was initially something of a magic wielder himself (and he briefly became one again in the 2002 cartoon, though he also had mages working for him there). Filmation were the ones who turned Hordak into a tech dude with a magic wielding second-in-command,

One revelation in the comic mini-series that did come as a surprise is that Hordak, would-be supreme tech lord of the universe, apparently hails from a low tech steppe culture, as seen in the flashback/dream in issue 2. Something that’s also new, though it fits in with what we know about him, is that Hordak is superstitious. Everything that happens in this comic series happens because Hordak is obsessed with the prophecy of the Sisters of a Havok, even though that prophecy is highly dubious considering the source. Finally – and again this is something that’s been shown throughout the character’s history – Hordak will always be the architect of his own downfall, destroyed by a former underling he manipulated who eventually turns against him, whether it’s Keldor/Skeletor or Adora or Shadow Weaver or Catra.

The other main character of this mini-series is of course Keldor/Skeletor and the series does a good job of fleshing out his backstory in this continuity. The introduction of Keldor already added more nuance to Skeletor, because Keldor has a legit reason for wanting to rule Eternia. However, in the 2002 cartoon, which was the first time we actually saw Keldor, he was already a villain before he turned into Skeletor. He threw a vial of acid at his own brother, after all, only that Randor raised his shield in time and the acid backfired on Keldor. So in the 2002 cartoon, Keldor was already an arsehole well before he became Skeletor.

This incarnation of Keldor, however, is a much more tragic and also more sympathetic figure. This Keldor is someone who has been abused all his life. His grandfather and stepmother despised him and though Miro was clearly fond of Keldor, he also was too weak to stand up for his son and instead abandoned him. To Saryn, Keldor was merely a tool, someone to manipulated so she could get what she wanted. And Hordak abuses, manipulates and exploits Keldor for his own ends as well and finally discards him. Throughout this mini-series, Keldor is very much lost, looking for a purpose and desperate to be appreciated by someone. Preferably Miro, but he’s also hankering for praise from Hordak. Keldor also never has a positive role model, but keeps falling in with terrible people. And anybody who could have been a positive role model such as the kindly teacher from the flashback scenes is quickly removed from his life.

This doesn’t mean that Keldor doesn’t make bad decisions. Joining the Horde clearly was a bad decision, though to be fair, Keldor doesn’t have much of a choice. As Force Captain, Keldor does participate in the usual Horde atrocities. Listening to Saryn’s crap about the power of havok also was a mistake, though Keldor was a young kid, when Miro dumped him off with Saryn, and clearly susceptible to her bullshit. And yes, Keldor also planned to assassinate Miro, though it’s not sure if he would have gone through with that plan. But Keldor’s worst decision is that he didn’t reveal himself to Randor, when he returned to Eternos. Because we know that Randor never stopped thinking of his brother – the first time we heard the name “Keldor” all the way back in 1987 was because Randor was searching for his missing brother – and would have accepted him without questions. Maybe being reunited with his brother would have given Keldor the support he clearly needed.

In this interview with all three co-writers of this mini-series on the Dad-at-Arms YouTube channel, someone says that what makes Keldor a villain rather than a victim is that he chooses to become Skeletor in the end. However, not only is Keldor being tortured both from within and without at this moment, he also surrenders to Skeletor because he decides that it’s better to be someone else, someone who’s powerful and nasty and never cares about anybody else, than to remain abused, abandoned and unwanted Keldor. This isn’t an act of villainy, it’s a tragedy.

Coincidentally, the fact that Keldor is more tragic figure than villain is also what makes him potentially redeemable. Now Skeletor is a monster. He’s pure evil, a villain through and through and realy can’t be redeemed. But Keldor, if separated from Skeletor, can be redeemed. Indeed, all the way back in the “Search for Keldor” mini-comic, the reason Skeletor says that Randor and the Heroic Warriors finding out what happened to Keldor could destroy him is because this might allow them to reverse the process that turned Keldor into Skeletor. This was confirmed in an interview by Steven Grant who wrote the mini-comic in question.

Now He-Man physically restored Keldor at the end of Masters of the Universe: Revolution and Adam did the same at the end of the CGI cartoon. And what we’ve heard about the never produced season 4 of the CGI cartoon hints at a chance of redemption for Keldor. As for Revolution, even though he’s physically Keldor again, it’s not quite sure which personality is in the driver’s seat, Skeletor or Keldor. Because when Keldor is locked up in the dungeon of Castle Grayskull at the end of Revolution, contemplating his crown, the face of Skeletor is reflected back at him.

Season 3 of Masters of the Universe: Revelation/Revolution will probably answer that question – provided it actually happens. But while I was pretty confident back in January that we would get a third season, because clearly they couldn’t let that teaser unresolved, not to mention that Revolution was a lot better received than Revelation and subjected to fewer attacks by the usual toxic fanboys and YouTube ragebait grifters, I’m less confident now. After all, it’s been almost nine months now since Revolution was released and there hasn’t been any announcement of a third season, not at San Diego Comic Con nor at Netflix‘s Geek Week event, which is where you would expect such an announcement.  Instead, we’ve had deliberately vague statements such as “There will be more animated Masters of the Universe” (which does not mean it will be season 3 of Revelation/Revolution, but it could be season 4 of the CGI show or a Turtles of Grayskull cartoon or something completely different) and “There are more stories to tell in the Revelation/Revolution continuity” (which does not mean necessarily mean season 3 of the animated series, but could also mean that there are more comics coming). What’s also worrying is that even though Mattel just announced a whole lot of upcoming Masters of the Universe figures, there wasn’t a single Revelation/Revolution figure announced for the Masterverse line, but only figures in the New Eternia (updated versions of the classic designs) and Vintage Collection (just like the vintage versions, but with better articulation and nicer production values) sublines. Even though there are still a lot of great character redesigns from the Revelation/Revolution cartoon left to make.

I really hope I’m wrong, but all this doesn’t feel very encouraging. Instead, it seems as if currently all attention is focussed on the planned live action movie, even though most Masters of the Universe fans are not particularly excited about the movie, but have a wait and see attitude. Lots of fans are still sceptical whether the movie will happen at all, since it’s been in development hell for almost twenty years by now, and many others are sceptical whether it will actually be good. Ditto for the also proposed live action She-Ra movie, which particularly has fans of the 2018 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power cartoon highly sceptical.

Not that it isn’t possible to make a good live action He-Man or She-Ra movie. The technology is absolutely there and the actors who’ve been cast for the proposed He-Man movie all seem to be fine choices. However, chances are that we’ll either get a movie that plays the characters and their world for laughs or one that’s visually impressive and action-packed, but just isn’t Masters of the Universe. Also, if the movie bombs, it’s quite possible that it will tank the entire franchise, just as what happened in 1987.

Personally, I feel that He-Man and She-Ra just work better in animation. Not everything has to be live action nor is live action always superior to animation as umpteen forgettable live action remakes of wonderful animated films and TV shows have proven in recent years. And Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution was everything I’d hoped for in a modern He-Man cartoon. The characters were all still the people we remember, but the story was more grown up, the stakes were higher, there were actual consequences and the big red reset button wasn’t pressed at the end. And if the possibly best Masters of the Universe cartoon we ever had was abandoned in favour of a movie whose chances of actually being good are fairly middling, this would be a massive shame.

That said, even if we don’t get a season 3, I do hope we’ll at least get to see how the story continues, if not in animation than in comic form.  Besides, I really want to see Adam and Adora reunited again after forty years.