He-Man and She-Ra: A Complete Guide
To The Classic Animated Adventures
Written by James Eatock, Dušan Mitrović,
Alex Hawkey
Published by Dark Horse Comics
ISBN: 9781506700649 | Price $39.99
Release date: August 24, 2016
Last year, Dark Horse unleashed the Power of Greyskull with the release the He-Man art book and a collection of the old mini comic books.
Now, writer, animator and He-Man expert James Eatock has assembled the ultimate companion guide for the original animated series that was a capstone of the 80’s cartoon era.
Did you know that He-Man started off as angry and impatient before he gained his good humored personality?
What about the fact that Orko was originally going to be named Gorpo?
He-Man and She-Ra: A Complete Guide To The Classic Animated Adventures is a near 600 page hardcover juggernaut that will require some prime real estate on your bookshelf.
Every single episode of the Filmation animated series starring He-Man & She-Ra, the movies The Secret of the Sword and A Christmas Special are summarized with a wealth of information that is beautifully laid out in a cohesive manner that is easy on the eyes and super fun to explore.
Synopsis, cast of characters, moral of the story, original air dates, sketches, episode review, and so much more provides an objective under the hood at everything you wanted to know about the show.
That statement is usually a broad term that either under delivers or provides just enough information to satisfy the marketing objective, however, this is the ultimate peak behind the curtain that if anything will over deliver due to the exhaustive labor of that James Eatock put into this collection.
This book will give fans a new appreciation for their favorite episode while perhaps cracking the veil of nostalgia for others. Orko is one of my favorite characters…period. The episode where he received a visit from his old magician pal, Squonge irked me as a kid. Like Orko, I had a friend like Squonge who told tall tales that got people into trouble. Of course, 22 minutes later, Squonge learned his lesson, which I appreciated.
However, Eatock’s review scores this outing a 4 out of 10 due to the lack of stakes, underutilized plot points, and a piercing divide in the narrative. The adult in me completely agrees with Eatock’s assessment while my childhood soul sticks his tongue out at such poppycock.
Sample page showing episodic coverage
She-Ra: Princess of Power episode titled “Horde Prime Takes A Holiday” shows the galactic overlord wanting to take some time off from his busy schedule and leaves Hordak in charge until he gets back. Hordak uses this as an opportunity to use Horde Prime’s ship to conquer Eternia. Well, that’s Skeletor’s hood, and that’s going to cause some conflict.
I learned that that a lot of footage was reused in multiple episodes with different dialog inserted in, such as a moment where Hordak and Horde Prime were conversing aboard the ship. I always thought that Prime’s giant hand always moved with the same speed and cadence. Now I know why.
This episode also marked the first appearance of the MOTU action figure Multi-Bot, released in wave 5 of the toy line.
Yes, that’s right, notes and tidbits about the popular Mattel action figures has a strong presence in this book. After all, the cartoon was designed to make the emerging toy line print money, which it did in droves.
If you’re a Masters of the Universe fan and absolutely love the Filmation animated series, this is the perfect book to add to your library.
While most people tend to say “He-Man” when identifying this rich franchise, James Eatock ensures that information, figures and facts about the cartoon takes precedent with this vastly informative collection.
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