Until I can access the Cinnamon Mini-Buns DC minicomics or the Legions Of Power minicomics further, those will end up being bypassed. Instead it’s back to Eternia and the earlier take on He-Man and friends, minus Prince Adam. This is when the Power Sword was split in half on the side, with the two halves forming the key to Castle Grayskull, a play feature Filmation likely abandoned because they had already did that with Blackstar. Granted they also did the “portal takes an Earth astronaut to another dimension” bit but that didn’t stop Marlena from doing it. Maybe NASA in that future just hires bad pilots? Also, there is no Marlena Glenn. He-Man is just some dude who left his village to defend Castle Grayskull for no given reason. Maybe he was bored. Maybe his village had nothing but idiots and he wanted out. Don’t really know.
In this installment we see the debut of Tri-Klops. While he’s come to be Skeletor’s tech guy, most people know him for his helmet with three spinning cyclops eyes, each with a different ability. Skeletor’s second most loyal minion behind Beast Man, he’s also an expert swordsman and came with the coolest not-Power Sword sword in the line by that point. So how did this early version of the man who is “evil and sees everything” come to be part of Skeletor’s not-so-merry men?
Not as cool as his toy’s sword.
Masters Of The Universe series 2 #3
Mattel/DC Comics (1982)
“The Terror Of Tri-Klops!”
WRITER: Gary Cohn
PENCILER: Mark Texeira
INKER: Tod Smith
COLORIST: Anthony Tollin
No letter credited, but my spellcheck doesn’t believe Mark’s last name is spelled right. Also, no editor.
[Read along at the Vaults Of Grayskull]
Our tale begins with Beast Man doing what he does best: groveling at Skeletor’s feet. By this point Skeletor has only been shown to have two minions, and I don’t know what became of Mer-Man. Skeletor does what he does best: complains about how he can’t beat He-Man. Beast Man suggests the hunter, Tri-Klops, and Skeletor snags him in the middle of a mission to kill off a bunch of demons. We all have hobbies. Skeletor’s is wining about his losses, and Beast Man’s is finding a new way to be stupid…like attacking a swordsman Skeletor brought to Eternia to fight He-Man because said swordsman was mad about being plucked from his current mission.
Skeletor is forced to save his only lackey at this point, which he does by both praising his loyalty and insulting his intelligence in the process. That’s the other thing Skeletor is good at: insulting people. He’s Eternia’s Don Rickles, if Don Rickles lost all the skin on his face while the rest of it turned blue. Then again, Rickles was never so ripped in his life. Skeletor offers to hire him to destroy He-Man. Tri-Klops, not Don Rickles. I guess Tri-Klops is willing to abandon his current client to take on a new one. That’s already questionable loyalty.
Meanwhile, our current team of heroes, minus Man-At-Arms, is having a lovely picnic. He-Man, Teela, Ram-Man, and Battle Cat all talk about how they’d like to see the fighting end, though Teela thinks that an odd statement for a warrior. This is the first time we see Battle Cat talk in this continuity by the way. Actually, it’s the first time we’ve seen Battle Cat in series two. Skeletor manages to nudge him into exploring a cave for reasons even Battle Cat doesn’t realize. While not yet used to the light, not-Cringer is slugged by Tri-Klops. No, really, dude just punches Battle Cat.
Tri-Klops is a dog person.
After that, Ram-Man decides He-Man and Teela want to be alone. I don’t know if that’s Skeletor pulling the same nudge or if Rammy is joining the fanship, but that also leads him into battle with Tri-Klops. Ram-Man tries to ram him, but he’s the first one to fail at what he does best, hits a tree, and then someone explain how Tri-Klops is knocking this guy out with one shot. That helmet of Ram-Man’s has to take on the punishment levels that once tried to break into Castle Grayskull the hard way. Then, while He-Man and Teela make goo-goo eyes at each other that would make the newspaper comics proud, Tri-Klops shows up and take out Teela with one punch. Why does he need a sword at this point?
Angry at what he just saw happen to Teela, and Tri-Klops statement that he took down the others, He-Man grabs his axe everyone forgets he has and his shield everyone forgets he has and does battle. The minicomic doesn’t have room for a very long fight, which is too bad. Texeira and Smith drawn some good characters and Tollin’s coloring is high quality even by regular comic standards, nevermind an 80s pack in minicomic. That’s why series two is my favorite of the minicomics. They brought in a great writer in Cohn, and gave him the best art team possible.
The narration tells us they’re evenly matched until Tri-Klops pulls a trick, as his helmet not only gives him panoramic night vision but also shines a light beam to blind opponents. A dirty trick, but He-Man holds out until his vision returns, and the only reason this version of He-Man doesn’t put Tri-Klops lights out for keeps is that his friends all recover to cheer He-Man on. Upset at his failure, Skeletor tries to shoot a blast through his seeing portal, but Tri-Klops shows a moment of honor and warns him. He-Man deflects the beam with his shield, and Tri-Klops takes that opportunity to vanish. I hope he’s going back to finish his last job. Demons don’t kill themselves, unfortunately. And so Skeletor ends the story as he started, swearing to find someone to kill his enemy for him.
This is a decent introduction to Tri-Klops, but it doesn’t explain why if he can teleport on his own he returns to Skeletor. The next time we see him he’s one of Skeletor’s happy lackies. Overall though it’s a good story and one of the reasons these are my favorite Masters Of The Universe stories. Apparently it was also considered canon to the DC miniseries on the shelves around this period, which doesn’t make sense because there’s no Prince Adam and Cringer, which DC (not Filmation) created.
Next time, unless the previously mentioned comics become available to me, we return to the Commandrons for one last happy meal…if I can find the final minicomic from that series.
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