Dark Horse Books started to produce hardcover books in 2015 which collected information about the MOTU. Prior to this, efforts to preserve MOTU lore and artwork were largely confined to unofficial websites built by enthusiasts.

Despite the depth and wealth of material available from forty years of collecting and research, very little appeared in printed form, and only then in rare limited-edition projects. There was always a need to offer more to fans.

Dark Horse had been involved in several MOTU comic projects over the years, including the rather poor Classics minicomics, but the hardcover books represented a determination to record MOTU history in a lasting way.

Most of the books were distributed reasonably widely, including on Amazon, but seemingly limited to single print runs. That said, it is still possible to track down copies of several titles – try to do so if you do not yet own them.

I have written short reviews of several Dark Horse MOTU books below. (A complete list of the books can be found here.) This book collection represents the best archive of Masters of the Universe material yet recorded.

THE ART OF HE-MAN AND THE MOTU (2015)

The first MOTU artwork that many fans saw was Alfredo Alcala’s minicomic illustrations and Rudy Obrero’s box art. Others came to He-Man and Skeletor via the Filmation cartoon, which was markedly different in tone and style.

Before all that, however, there was incredible concept art by Mark Taylor. As the MOTU brand expanded into new toy lines and a film, many other artists added to the material. This book attempts to document many examples.

There is no doubt that there is a considerable amount of material in this book, and much of it is fascinating. But it is not as great a volume as it could have been. I actually think the Vintage material is rather poorly represented.

This should have been the definitive collection of Vintage art by Taylor, Norem, Obrero, McCarthy and others, but there is too little of their beautiful work. By contrast, there is a lot of recent concept art with no link to the toys.

So it is a good but not excellent book. It is broad in its scope but that unfortunately means weak and less relevant material usurps the historical artwork which should have been the main focus.

HE-MAN AND THE MOTU MINICOMIC COLLECTION (2015)

I loved my He-Man toys when I was a child – I can still remember the joy I felt at receiving He-Man, Man-at-Arms and Battle Cat – but it was the minicomics included with the action figures which truly sparked my imagination.

I didn’t own all of them, just Battle in the Clouds from Series One and four of the seven from Series Two. I acquired some of the later stories as more figures joined the line, but most of them did not live up to the original standard.

A few years ago, in preparation for an anniversary section on the old Vaults of Grayskull website, I completed my Series One and Series Two collection. They were the best tales but they made up only a small part of the story.

This Dark Horse volume is the definitive minicomic collection. All the Vintage MOTU and Princess of Power (She-Ra) stories are reproduced here, plus the handful of (very poor) tales from the He-Man (New Adventures) toy line.

The amount of material makes this a hefty book at over a thousand pages. The quality of the restored artwork is superb. Informative interviews with several of the writers are included. There are some special extras too.

THE NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS (2017)

This volume intrigued me when it came out. I had never known that a long-running MOTU comic strip series had been produced. The series charted the evolving story from the early days of the MOTU to the New Adventures.

Not being a fan of He-Man’s exploits in space – I can still remember feeling deeply disappointed when I saw NA He-Man on a peg in Woolworths – I had my reservations about acquiring this book. But I am very glad I did.

I maintain that NA stands for not applicable in the He-Man universe. The comic strips from that era offer nothing of interest to this book. But the earlier material is surprisingly good, and it reveals an imaginative version of Eternia.

A theme that I have always enjoyed since the first MOTU annual is the idea of different kingdoms on the planet Eternia. The concept is brilliantly explored in these stories. New heroes and villains fit nicely into the MOTU lore.

The compilers did a fine job on this book. They managed to track down almost all of the strips; it’s remarkable that so many have survived in personal collections. The restoration and presentation are splendid. It’s a great book.

A CHARACTER GUIDE AND WORLD COMPENDIUM (2017)

Masters of the Universe lore is impossible to describe definitively. The characters and the lands they inhabit have been interpreted in so many different ways over the years that there is no single coherent structure to rely upon.

Take Zoar, for example. The fighting falcon was male when released as a toy but became the (female) animal form of the Sorceress in the Filmation cartoon. There isn’t even agreement about the pronunciation of the bird’s name.

In one key respect, none of this matters. The whole point of the Masters of the Universe was to encourage young children to use their imaginations and tell their own stories. It is why we still love the brand over forty years later.

But what if you could bring all these stories into one place? Would it even be possible to identify all of the characters, locations, creatures and vehicles in this incredible universe? That was the goal of this book.

The net could never catch every fish but it is a truly fine effort, assembled by dedicated fans. Importantly, each interpretation is described neutrally; there is no judgement on which canon is best. A very important volume.

CHARACTER GUIDE SUPPLEMENT (2021)

This book endeavoured to fill in some of the gaps of the original character guide reviewed above. It was sold initially through the Power-Con website as a limited edition. Remaining stock was sold at Big Bad Toy Store.

The book was only sold paired with the toy guide described below. It was a very expensive purchase but intended to be something of a reward for the enthusiasts who had put so much effort and time into the first character guide.

The supplement is a thin volume that follows the format of the original. It represents impressive additional work. A request was made on He-Man.org to identify gaps in the first book, but sadly not all suggestions were taken up.

This volume reveals a problem that the original character guide largely avoided. Sometimes these projects are too ambitious. This book includes material that never went beyond the concept stage and is therefore non-canonical.

There are other entries which I consider irrelevant to MOTU lore. The book also shows just how complicated and incoherent some of the ideas from the Classics era became. But, on balance, it is an interesting book to study.

THE TOYS OF HE-MAN AND THE MOTU (2021)

This is the book that many Masters of the Universe fans secretly wished for. It is a fine photographic archive of the toys from the Vintage, Princess of Power (She-Ra), He-Man (New Adventures), 200X and Classics lines.

There are photographs of original packaging as well as the figures themselves, descriptions about action features and interviews with creators. The Commemorative Vintage replicas are discussed, plus a few other items.

Vintage variants are mentioned but are not explored in depth; the book concentrates on the regular figures that were mostly available in the US. Tracking down the numerous variants would have been an impossible task.

The book is packed with information. I didn’t know that Vintage Evil-Lyn’s wand glows in the dark. The inclusion of release dates is helpful for the Classics entries. Some toys are described with more gusto than they deserve.

The entry for the DC/MOTU Classics He-Man (page 483) duplicates the text from the following page, but that is the only significant error I’ve found. I love this book and refer to it a lot when working on this site. It is still available.

THE ART OF ORIGINS AND MASTERVERSE (2024)

The Origins line marked a welcome renewal of the Masters of the Universe property, and it came as no surprise that the new toys would be supported by fresh artwork. This book includes many splendid Origins illustrations.

The Masterverse lines are not featured on this site except for the He-Man and Skeletor 40th anniversary figures, so I cannot talk much about the action figures, but their accompanying illustrations are also featured in this book.

Origins and Masterverse present quite different incarnations of the MOTU characters, and it is fitting that different artists worked on the separate properties. Origins is vivid and colourful; Masterverse is (mostly) darker in nature.

This is a fantastic book. Origins card art is generally presented with two examples per page, but there are plenty of full-page illustrations too. Masterverse art is also beautifully portrayed in this superb work. It is a fine collection.

My sole criticism is that the Origins section does not include the cross-sell art which is so symbolic of this line. This is a really obvious omission, and I am amazed it was left out. Despite that, this book is delightful portfolio.