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A week after issue 1 of the new Masters of the Universe comic mini-series The Sword of Flaws came out (see my review here and a review of issue 2 is coming soon), Dark Horse already brought us the next Masters of the Universe comic, a one-shot set in the Revelation/Revolution continuity focussed on the character of Andra, written by Tiffany Smith, the actress who voiced Andra, with art by Adriana Melo and colours by Guiliano Peratelli. Releasing two comics in the same franchise a week apart seems like a strange choice, but the Andra one-shot has been delayed for a couple of months now, likely fallout from the bankruptcy of Diamond Comic Distributors.

And talking of delays, I’d planned to post this review long before now, but then I caught the flu and was busy with day job work and then I had problems taking the toy photos you’ll see below, because the lamp illuminating my usual photo spot was broken. Still, better late than never, so enjoy my review of the Andra one-shot:

Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution gave a lot of development to many existing Masters of the Universe characters and also introduced two brand-new characters. One is the Mighty Motherboard, Hordak’s agent on Eternia and idol of a bizarre technocult. The other is Andra, tech whiz as well as Teela’s friend and partner during her mercenary phase. Though there is some debate whether Andra really is a new character, because a character named Lieutenant Andra, also a friend of Teela’s and member of the Royal Guard, had a few small appearance in the Marvel Star Comics of the 1980s. However, apart from the name and their connection to Teela, both characters have nothing in common, so I assume they’re two different characters who just happen to share the same name (which coincidentally is also the easiest solution to the King Grayskull dilemma, simply assuming that the white King Grayskull from the 200X cartoon and the black King Grayskull from Revelation/Revolution are two different people, King Grayskull I and King Grayskull II).

Though this didn’t stop the usual haters, who most likely had no idea who Lieutenant Andra from the Marvel Star Comics even was, from bitterly complaining about Andra in Masters of the Universe: Revelation/Revolution, because Andra happens to be a) a major character, b) female and c) black. Honestly, this crap is so predictable.

That said, I really liked Andra as a character. Masters of the Universe has always been a male-heavy franchise – leaving Princess of Power aside for a moment – so another female character is always welcome and Teela certainly needs a female friend, since she grew up raised by a single father and surrounded by men.  Masters of the Universe is also a very white franchise, so another character of colour is always welcome as well. Finally, Andra is also part of the “passing of the torch” motif of Revelation/Revolution, since she is promoted to the new Man-at-Arms at the end of Revelation.

The writer of the Andra one-shot is none other than Tiffany Smith, the actress who voiced Andra in Revelation/Revolution. Now actors writing or co-writing comics isn’t as rare as you might think. Examples include Patton Oswalt, Amber Benson, John Cleese, Emilia Clarke, Danny DeVito, Michael Chiklis, Kevin Conroy, Paul Dano, Keanu Reeves, Miguel Ferrer, David Dastmalchian, Ahmed Best, Kevin Smith (if he counts), etc… Even actors writing comics about a character they themselves played/voiced isn’t as rare as you’d think, e.g. Danny DeVito wrote a Penguin comic after playing the character in Batman Returns and Miguel Ferrer wrote the Marvel Comics adaptation of Robo-Cop after appearing in the movie. And just today I read that Ahmed Best is writing a comic bringing the two Star Wars characters he played – Jar-Jar Binks and the Jedi Kelleran Beq – together. And for Masters of the Universe, Tim Sheridan who wrote the Revelation and Revolution prequel comics was not just one of the writers for the show, but also voiced King Miro who featured quite prominently in the Revolution prequel comics.

Some of these examples of actors writing comics were clearly publicity stunts, others stem from a genuine takent for and interest in the medium and some – Tim Sheridan is the clearest example – are actually better known for their comic writing than for their acting. As for Tiffany Smith, she is not just a lifelong comic and Masters of the Universe fan, but also hosted the DC Daily news show on the DC Universe streaming service and also moderated panels at San Diego Comic Con. In short, she’s a fan and knows both comics and Masters of the Universe.

What is more, because Andra was basically a brand-new character developed for Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution, Andra took a lot of influence and inspiration from the actress voicing her, more so than characters who have been around for forty years. In this interview, Tiffany Smith says that Revelation/Revolution showrunner Kevin Smith said to her, “Andra is you, but amplified”. So in short, Tiffany Smith is also in a unique position to understand the character of Andra. And indeed Rob David of Mattel, one of the executive producers of Revelation/Revolution and writer of the “Eternity War” comics from DC, personally suggested that Tiffany Smith write an Andra comic, when she expressed interest in writing comics.

As for the art, Adriana Melo is a Brazilian artist and Eisner winner who has worked on multiple projects for both Marvel and DC as well as for Image and she worked on Star Wars tie-ins as well. Much of her work so far has been on comics with female lead characters – Harley Quinn, Ms. Marvel, Witchblade, Birds of Prey, Catwoman, Emma Frost, etc… This makes sense, because Adriana Melo draws women with curvy but realistic bodies. Andra, Teela and the other female characters have breasts and hips, but not the ridiculous balloon breasts and butts of the male gazy 1990s. Adriana Melo’s art is well suited to the bring the fantastic world of Eternia to life. The characters are based on their Revelation/Revolution designs, though Adriana Melo also gets the chance to reimagine characters we haven’t yet seen in Revelation/Revolution for this continuity.

But now let’s get to the comic: The Andra one-shot is set between Masters of the Universe Revelation and Revolution and deals with Andra coming to terms with her new role as Man-at-Arms.

Warning: Spoilers under the cut!

Now episodes 2 to 10 of Masters of the Universe Revelation take place over a few days, weeks at most.  And Andra’s life changes drastically during these few days. She makes new friends and gains a new adoptive family, helps to save Eternia and the entire universe, gets a new job and is catapulted into a life of privilege at the Royal Palace, when it’s strongly implied that Andra does not come from a privileged background. What is more, Andra has been alone for a long time and only responsible for herself, until she hooked up with Teela. And now she’s suddenly given a position which not just requires her to be Eternia’s resident tech wiz –  cause Andra has no problems with that part of the job – but also in charge of commanding the Royal Guard (Eternia’s Man-at-Arms is general and commander of the Eternian Forces directly under Randor) and training recruits. That’s a lot to adjust to. The fact that Andra has a massive case of imposter syndrome doesn’t help either.

In an episode of Masters of the Universe Revelation, Orko – who is dying at the time (don’t worry, he gets better) – tells Andra to keep a diary, so she will always remember her adventures. Andra clearly took his advice, because parts of the comic are narrated as a diary entry.

The story with Teela and Andra sparring together in the palace. Now we know that combat training and sparring are Teela’s way of expression love and friendship and she’s not going to stop her training sessions just because she’s the Sorceress of Grayskull now. Just as she’s not going to let Andra or Adam miss their sessions, just because Adam is He-Man and Andra is the new Man-at-Arms. Though we suspect that Adam is glad that he no longer is the sole focus of Teela’s training sessions. Besides, it’s nice to see more of Teela and Andra’s friendship, since we didn’t get a lot of interaction between these two in Masters of the Universe Revolution due to the limited runtime.

The training session isn’t going too badly either. Teela gets a punch in, but Andra manages to sweep her legs from under her. However, Teela has a few extra tricks up her sleeve. And so she uses her magic to levitate Andra into the air – even though Teela and Andra had agreed to use neither magic nor tech beforehand – because villains wouldn’t fight fair either. Teela also tells Andra that she will have to teach the new cadets ways to defend themselves against magic. Andra replies that she already has some ideas, but that she still needs more time.

However, time is the one thing Andra hasn’t got, because Orko materialises to remind her that she had to go and train a fresh crop of cadets right now. Now I suspect that the big battle at the end of Masters of the Universe Revelation thinned the ranks of the Royal Guard, so new recruits are sorely needed.

But before she faces her first class of cadets, Andra needs a moment to herself. Orko accompanies her to her new quarters in the Royal Palace. The living arrangements inside the Royal Palace usually depend on the version of the story. In the Filmation cartoon, we see that the bedrooms of all the main characters are arranged along one long corridor. Adam’s and Teela’s bedrooms are on either end of the corridor with Randor and Marlena’s, Duncan’s and Orko’s bedrooms inbetween, making any hanky panky quite impossible. Meanwhile, in the 200X cartoon, Duncan and Teela have a little house of their own on the palace grounds with a workshop for Duncan. Andra, meanwhile, is back to getting a room in a long corridor, though we suspect there is no longer any buffer to keep Adam and Teela apart. Inside her room, we see Andra writing in her diary and looking at herself in the mirror. We also see a shiny seashell lying on her desk. This will be important later.

The scene shifts to the palace courtyard, where Andra welcomes the new cadets. Duncan is there as well – dressed in his green dress uniform (Could we maybe have a Dress Uniform Duncan, Mattel, pretty please?) to offer support and advice. Though he’s careful not to take away Andra’s spotlight. There’s only one Man-at-Arms here and that’s Andra. Duncan and Andra start out by sparring a bit, while one particularly forward cadet notes that sparring won’t help them against magic.

Andra is only taken aback for a brief moment, then she replies that the best way to fight magic is by making your own. And for Andra, that’s technology. It’s all she ever had and it has gotten her pretty far. And to prove her point, Andra fires her arm cannon at several training dummies, wowing the cadets. Magic versus technology is a central theme of both Masters of the Universe Revelation and Revolution and it’s also very much a central theme of this comic.

As for the cadets, they are all human – though both the Classics and Origins toyline gave us non-human Royal Guards as well – and they are all very young, fifteen or sixteen at most. This does fit in with the Filmation cartoon, where we have seen guards who are essentially kids on several occasions. And Teela is already Captain of the Royal Guard when she’s not yet twenty and apparently was about twelve when she joined the Guard, as shown in a flashback in the Eternity War comics. And in the 200X cartoon, it’s specified that both Adam and Teela are sixteen. And while we never see it, it’s strongly implied that Randor and Duncan were also very young when they joined the Guard. So in short, Eternia has very different ideas about the appropriate military recruiting age and some of the younger cadets and guards we see are basically child soldiers.

This child soldier problem isn’t limited to Masters of the Universe either, many properties aimed at children and teenagers tend to have very young protagonists in order to make them relatable for young audiences. See the X-Men, New Mutants, Teen Titans and other teen superheroes as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jonny Quest, the young Defenders of the Earth (the Dads are appopriately aged) and many others. And indeed, young audiences enjoy following characters who are their age or a little older having adventures and being heroes, but when you watch/read these stories as an adult, you frequently want to call Child Protection Services, because kids shouldn’t fight battles and get involved in dangerous and potentially deadly situations, but should be in school instead. And indeed, the media in question does address the child soldier problem on occasion. Most recently, the Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover comic mini-series Turtles of Grayskull did just that and gave us some very sweet moments of both Splinter and Duncan remarking that they really don’t want to send their children into danger and yet are forced to do so.

After Andra’s demonstration, the cadets gather around a large table filled with weapons parts to watch Andra showing them how to assemble those parts into a big blaster. Duncan quitely asks if she needs a hand, but Andra replies that she’s fine and that she’s got this. She is in her element, after all.

Unfortunately, Andra is going a little too fast for the students to follow – an easy mistake for teachers to make – but one of the cadets finally manages to assemble a very big blaster. Andra encourages him to take aim at the training dummies and fire. However, Andra forgot to tell the cadets to clean the weapons/components first and so the blaster explodes, once the trigger is pulled, blasting soot all over Andra and the unfortunate cadet. The cadets bombard Andra with questions about what to do now and how any of this will help them against magic. Meanwhile, Duncan leaves quietly, though not unnoticed by Andra.

Andra dismisses the cadets with the promise that she will show them how to properly clean their weapons in their next lesson. Then she follows Duncan, assuming that he will immediately run to King Randor to report what a failure Andra is as Man-at-Arms. That’s not what Duncan does at all, but of course Andra has no way of knowing that. We next see her back in her room, writing in her diary about what a failure her first training sessions was and what was she thinking anyway that she could be a hero and a leader. We see a bit more of Andra’s room, including a workbench and the filter mask she and Teela wore in episode 2 of Masters of the Universe Revelation to protect themselves against Stinkor’s stench. The gleaming sea shell is clearly visible again as well.

Andra finally goes to bed, trying to tell herself that she doesn’t really care if King Randor fires her and kicks her out of the palace, because she is used to being on her own anyway. She falls asleep and has a bad dream. It all starts harmlessly enough with little Andra, who’s about five or six years old at this point, with her parents on the beach. They are happy enough, but then her parents tells Andra to run. Andra hides in a cave, while some unseen person corners her parents outside and sneeringly asks them, “And what good will that do against magic?” before killing them with a red magic blast. Terrified, Andra wakes up.

We next see Andra alone on the balcony of the terrace of the Royal Palace, looking out into the distance. However, before long Andra is joined by Adam. “He-Man – ahem – Adam – ahem Your Majesty,” she stammers. “Your Majesty” is foreshadowing of sorts to episode 1 of Masters of the Universe Revolution, because Adam would still be “Your Royal Highness” at this point – “Your Majesty” is reserved for the King and Queen. Not that Adam ever cared about his title anyway and indeed he mostly goes just by Adam. However, this moment also reminds us that Andra hasn’t actually known Adam for all that long at this point. She only meets Adam in Preternia in episode 5 of Masters of the Universe Revelation and the rest of the series takes place over the course of a few days, most of which is taken up by running and fighting. Andra simply hasn’t had a lot of chance to get to know Adam, so it’s lovely to see them bonding.

That said, Adam accepts Andra pretty much immediately, once he meets her. There’s never any question along the lines of “Who is this?”, he just accept that Andra is Teela’s friend. Adam’s first words on screen to her are, “Your name is Andra, right? Could you…?” This matches Adam’s characterisation across various iterations of Masters of the Universe. Adam always quickly connects with the people he meets, whether it’s as He-Man or Adam. He’s also good at sensing when someone is feeling down and needs a pep talk, something we see several times in the 200X cartoon where Adam is the one who notices when one of the Heroic Warriors is feeling inadequate and goes over to them to cheer them up. And in the Filmation episode “A Friend in Need”, i.e. the better known of the two He-Man anti-drugs episodes, Adam tries to cheer up Teela’s friend Ileena, while trying to figure out what’s wrong with her. After all, Adam knows a thing or two about feeling inadequate and believing that everybody thinks he’s an idiot.

And so, when Andra starts to apologise about the disastrous training session, Adam cuts her off and tells her that Duncan said she was doing a great job, even if there were some explosive moments. And no, Andra is not fired and indeed Eternia can count itself glad to have her. Adam also tells Andra that she should have seen Duncan on his first day trying to train Adam and Teela and that it was a complete disaster. I can certainly vividly imagine that. Teela, the perpetual overarchiever trying to master everything at once and inevitably messing up, while Adam would rather sit under a tree with Cringer and read a book. Indeed the Filmation cartoon has a scene where a young Duncan is trying to teach archery to little Teela, who appears to be about seven years old at this point, which works out about as well as you can imagine.

The pep talk makes Andra feel a little better, but Adam senses that there’s more. Andra says that it was just a nightmare about her parents. Adam says he’s there if she wants to talk about it, but Andra doesn’t want to talk about her parents, at least not now. However, there’s something else Adam can do for her. Cause Andra is really interested in the exact mechanics of his transformation into He-Man and would like to see how it works. She is a scientist, after all. Adam is about to oblige, but before he can say the words, Orko appears and says that King Randor is looking for them.

So Adam, Teela and Andra meet with King Randor, who is receiving a holographic transmission from Duncan. Duncan apologises to Andra that he had to leave the training early, but he had to help out an old friend. Duncan also reports that he’s on his way to Orkas Island and that he needs Andra’s technical expertise, so he asks her to meet him there. However, Duncan also heard rumblings of magical unrest in the Dunes of Doom and notes that someone should look into that. So King Randor sends Adam and Teela to the Dunes of Doom to deal with whatever is going on there and dispatches Andra to Orkas Island to help Duncan.

The locations are certainly interesting. According to this unofficial map and this official one, the Dunes of Doom are a desert region on the border between the light and dark hemisphere of Eternia. Orkas Island, meanwhile, is a small island in the Ocean of Gnarl. Its first and so far only appearance was in the 200X episode “The Island”, where we learn that Orkas Island is inhabited by the crab people, the best known of whom is the Evil Warrior Clawful. There’s also a human village whose inhabitants sustain themselves by fishing. Coincidentally, Orkas Island is also the setting of the Masters of the Universe toy photo story “Holiday on Orkas Island”, which I really want to reshoot someday, since I could do a much better job today. More importantly, both Orkas Island and the Dunes of Doom are also associated with one particular Masters of the Universe character. And no, it’s not Clawful.

So Teela and Adam set off for the Dunes of Doom, while Andra heads to Orkas Island aboard the War Whale, a sea-going vehicle from the 200X cartoon and toyline that we haven’t seen in action in twenty years or so.

However, what neither Andra nor Teela and Adam nor Randor know is that it’s all a trap. For when Duncan left the training session early, he headed to the docks of a harbour. It’s not clear where this harbour is, since Eternos does lie by the sea. On the docks, Duncan sees a cloaked figure tinkering with a War Whale. When he approaches the person, the cloaked figure turns around and is revealed to be none other than Count Marzo, who promptly uses his magic to drug Duncan and hypnotise him into making that particular report to King Randor, sending Adam and Teela on a wild goose chase in the Dunes of Doom and luring Andra to Orkas Island.

As explained here, Count Marzo is an evil sorcerer who appeared both in the Filmation cartoon and the 200X cartoon. He is probably the most notable of the second tier villains, though he was  a very different character in the Filmation and 200X cartoon respectively. In his three appearances the Filmation cartoon, Count Marzo is a sorcerer who dresses like a Shakespearean villain and kidnaps children, erases their memories and/or peddles drugs to them to get them to do his evil bidding. In short, Filmation Count Marzo is a walking, talking public service announcement. He also notes at one point that he is hundreds of years old and will live hundreds more.

In the 200X cartoon, Count Marzo is still an evil sorcerer, but that’s about the only thing he has in common with his Filmation counterpart. Marzo speaks with an East European accent now, he has red eyes, long black hair that dramatically blows in the wind and struts around mostly bare-chested with a cape that also dramatically blows in the wind (the 200X cartoon was big on things blowing dramatically in the wind). This version of Marzo no longer peddles drugs or recruits children for his nefarious schemes, but instead tries to conquer Eternia with the help of his monstrous hellhounds and Shadow Beasts and the considerable powers bestowed upon him by his magical amulet. Marzo tried to conquer Eternia during Miro’s time, but was defeated and captured. The Council of Elders, who rule Eternia in the 200X cartoon before pissing off to parts unknown, leaving Randor in charge, strip Marzo of his powers and hide away his magical amulet, which turns Marzo into a withered old man and his hellhounds into rats.

Marzo did not appear in Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution, because the story didn’t really have the time to explore second tier villains, which is why he makes the perfect antagonist for this comic. The Revelation/Revolution interpretation of Marzo is closely based on the 200X version of the character, simply because that is the more interesting version. Though Marzo drugging Duncan with some kind of narcotic powder is a reference to his drug dealing in the Filmation cartoon. Once again, Marzo is reduced to a powerless old man without his amulet. However, artist Adriana Melo wisely decides not to portray Old Man Marzo as an offensive anti-semitic stereotype like in the 200X cartoon (honestly, how was this ever considered okay, especially as late as 2003?).  Instead, the depowered Marzo looks like the regular Marzo here, only old and white-haired, which also makes a lot more sense than Marzo transforming into a diminuitive anti-semitic stereotype, once he is separated from his amulet.

Andra, of course, doesn’t know any of this, when she heads to Orkas Island on the War Whale. To her surprise, she finds the island enveloped in a kind of red mist. Andra moors the War Whale on the quay and walks through the human fishing village, looking for Duncan.

The locals, meanwhile, seem very surprised to see Andra. “Who are you? How did you get here?” a young boy asks. “She’s the key,” an old woman with a seashell necklace with a red gemstone exclaims. “She’s the key. She’s the key,” the locals repeat over and over again.

Andra, meanwhile, has no idea what they’re talking about. She explains that she’s Eternia’s Man-at-Arms. But before she can say anything else or ask about Duncan, someone exclaims, “My granddaughter!”

Surprise: Andra’s grandfather, whom she assumed died years ago along with her parents, is still alive. Even bigger surprise: It’s Dekker, confirming a theory I at least have had for a while now.

Dekker is a character who was introduced in the 200X cartoon. He was Man-at-Arms before Duncan, trained both Duncan and Randor (whom he used to call Randy) and taught Duncan everything he knows. So in short, Dekker was to Duncan and Randor what Duncan is to Teela and Adam, mentor and father figure. And both Duncan and Randor certainly needed a mentor and father figure, since Miro was pretty inadequate as a father and we don’t know if Duncan ever had a father at all. Dekker only appeared in a single episode of the 200X cartoon, entitled “The Island”, where Duncan, Teela and Adam go to visit Dekker on Orkas Island where he has retired and spends his days fishing. However, the reunion is interrupted, when Clawful, his cousin Pinsore and the rest of the Crab People attack and try to kidnap Duncan to ingratiate themselves with Skeletor.

“My archenemies? You? Don’t make me laugh. You two are just an annoyance. And now get lost or I’ll enjoy you roasted with Old Bay seasoning.”

Dekker is a fascinating character, though he only appeared in that one episode, most likely because the cartoon was cancelled soon thereafter. He did have some background appearances in the DC Comics run, where he travels to Eternos to attend the funeral of the Sorceress and gets involved in the fighting, when the Horde attacks. However, we don’t learn anything about Dekker in those comics that we didn’t already know.

Even though he only appeared in a single episode, Dekker got an action figure in the Masters of the Universe Classics line. The Classics action figures all had a short bio on the back of the box and so we learn a bit more about Dekker.  According to the Classics bio, Dekker was a mercenary from the Dunes of Doom. He originally fought for Count Marzo during the conflict known as “The Great Unrest”, but then switched sides and joined the Royal Guards. He rose through the ranks and was appointed Man-at-Arms by Miro. He fought many battles and fulfiled many missions with his sidekick and protegé, a young Duncan. Eventually, Dekker retired to Orkas Island and Duncan became the new Man-at-Arms. So according to the Classics bio, Dekker not only hails from the Dunes of Doom – the very same Dunes of Doom where Adam and Teela are currently chasing wild geese – but he also has a connection to Count Marzo. Coincidentally, this also means that Marzo has a very good reason to hate Dekker, since Dekker first deserted Marzo to join Miro’s forces and then was involved in Marzo’s defeat.

For more than two decades, this was all we knew about Dekker and indeed, we learn more about Dekker in this comic than we’ve learned in twenty years. Neither in the 200X cartoon nor in the Classics bio was there ever any mention that Dekker had a family. However, Andra mentions her grandfather a few times in Masters of the Universe: Revelation. She tells Teela at one point that her grandfather used to tell her stories about Castle Grayskull, implying that he was member of the Royal Guard. Andra also mentions that she’s been alone since her grandfather died.

Of course, there are lot of Royal Guards. So why did I have the theory that Dekker was Andra’s grandfather? Well, it all started when I bought the Masters of the Universe Classics Dekker action figure, which was actually my first ever Classics figure. I took a few photos with the figure, including this shot of three generations of Eternian Men-at-Arms:

Three generations of Eternian Men-at-Arms: Duncan, Dekker and Andra.

As I set up the figures and took the photo, I noticed that there’s a physical resemblance between Andra and Dekker, which goes beyond the fact that they’re both black. And I thought, “Hmm, does Dekker maybe have a sweet little secret?”

Then, when Masters of the Universe Revolution was about to come out, I chanced to watch this episode of the Geek the F Out YouTube channel, where they discuss part 2 of Masters of the Universe Revelation. Around the 1:06 hour mark, someone mentions that Revelation/Revolution producer Ted Biaselli watched the discussion and messaged the channel to point out that so far no one had noticed the possible connection between Dekker and Andra.

So now the Andra one-shot confirmed a theory that was seeded all the way back in Masters of the Universe Revelation. Andra is indeed Dekker’s granddaughter. And it turns out that rumours of Dekker’s death were exaggerated, because he’s simply too cool a character to kill off.

Andra is understandably shocked. Her grandfather, whom she thought dead, is alive and on Orkas Island. And if her grandfather is still alive, does that maybe mean that her parents are still alive as well? Dekker sadly shakes his head and tells Andra that no, her parents really are dead. Dekker also tells Andra that she shouldn’t be here and that he’s sorry, but that he was only trying to keep her and everybody else safe. Andra counters that she was a little kid left all alone without any family, which is pretty much the opposite of safe.

Andra also tells Dekker that she’s only here, because she’s looking for Duncan, which begs the question whether Andra knows that Duncan and Dekker know each other and used to be partners. Most likely she found out sometime after Revelation, either because she made the connection between Teela’s Dad and that young cadet named Duncan her grandfather told her about or because Duncan made the connection between his old mentor and his daughter’s best friend.

Meanwhile, Dekker is taken aback, because he clearly hasn’t seen Duncan in years and assumes he’s in Eternos. Andra replies that Duncan sent her a message asking her to come to Orkas Island, because he needed help. This causes Dekker to freak out. He calls across the market place that he‘s coming, he‘s figured out the key and he knows Andra is here. Andra is completely confused and wants to know what on Eternia Dekker is talking about. However, before Dekker can reply, Count Marzo shows up, for of course he is the one that Dekker was talking about.

Like all villains, Marzo is quite talkative. He explains that the people of Orkas Island did a good job, keeping his amulet, the island itself and Andra hidden all of those years. However, when Teela became the new Sorceress of Grayskull, the resulting rush of magic briefly caused the magical shields (i.e. the red mist Andra saw enveloping the island) around Orkas Island to drop, revealing the location of his amulet to Marzo. Marzo also figured out that Andra was the key to get through the shields around the island. Oh yes, and he killed her parents all those years ago, too.

Andra finally realises that her recurrent nightmare about her parents’ death is more than just a nightmare and that Marzo was the unseen person who murdered them. Furious, she rushes towards Marzo. Dekker tries to stop her and tells Andra she has no idea what she’s up against. Andra, however, won’t be stopped. She tells Dekker to stay back and that she can handle Marzo in her own way. Then she confronts Marzo and tells him, “Well, you need a magical amulet to fight, but I can make my own magic” and activates the giant armoured Hulkbuster suit (I don’t think it ever got an official name), which we saw Andra as well as Randor and Adam use in Masters of the Universe Revolution. For that matter, we really need an action figure of Man-at-Arms Andra with that suit, preferably removable, so you can also put other characters in the suit. Come on, Mattel, what are you waiting for?

Andra tells Marzo to return Duncan and then piss off to wherever he came from. Marzo replies that he isn’t leaving without his amulet, so we get a great fight between Andra in her armoured suit and Marzo, who – though still nowhere near his full power – is getting visibly younger and stronger, empowered by the proximity of his amulet. Andra, however, isn’t impressed. She continues to pummel Marzo and demands, “Where is Duncan?”

Marzo replies that Duncan is a little tied up right now and reveals that he has tied Duncan to a rock jutting from the sea just off the coast of Orkas Island. And the tide is rising, leaving Duncan nearly submerged. Andra uses her arm cannon to undo Duncan’s bonds and free him, while Marzo uses the moment to blast apart the rock where his amulet is hidden. Marzo grabs the amulet, announces that he will soon regain his full power and once he does, he will raise an army, overthrow King Randor and take the throne of Eternia for himself. You certainly can’t fault his ambition.

Marzo teleports away, while Andra pulls Duncan onto the beach. She once again feels like a failure, because she let Marzo get away. However, Duncan tells Andra that she’s not a failure, since she protected the island and its people and rescued Duncan, which is more important than capturing Marzo.

Dekker and the old woman with the seashell necklace come running, relieved that both Andra and Duncan are okay. The woman says that they maybe have a day or two before Marzo realises that something is wrong and comes back. Andra replies that it’s over and that Marzo has the amulet. “But he doesn’t have all of it,” the old woman replies and points at the red gemstone in her necklace. It’s a splinter of the large red gemstone in Marzo’s amulet and without that splinter, Marzo won’t be able to regain his full power. The old woman also calls Andra by her childhood nickname “Rara” and Andra finally recognises her. “Ms. Maeve”, she exclaims.

Now Maeve is a brand-new character we’ve never seen before. She’s a sorceress who helped to bring down Marzo and divest him off his amulet the last time around. It’s also strongly implied that she is Dekker’s partner and has been for some time, though she’s not Andra’s grandmother, if only because Andra would call her “grandmother” rather than “Ms. Maeve”, if she were. Personally, I suspect that Andra’s grandmother either died quite a long time ago or – similar to what happened to Duncan with Teela – she could or would not raise her daughter and left Dekker holding the baby. At some point, clearly some time ago, Dekker then started up a relationship with Maeve. Eternian Men-at-Arms clearly have a thing for witchy women.

Later on, Maeve also mentions that she knew Teela-Na and that Teela-Na taught her a few things about magic, which opens up a whole bunch of possibilities. Most of the time, we see the Sorceress of Grayskull residing alone in the Castle. However, it’s quite possible that in times past, the Sorceress who preceded Teela-Na (in the Filmation episode “The Origin of the Sorceress”, the previous Sorceress is Kuduk Ungol, though Revelation/Revolution recasts Kuduk Ungol as the first Sorceress) surrounded herself with other female magic users. After all, the Sorceress is both the avatar and priestess of Zoar, one of the Eternian gods. And in the Revolution prequel comics, we see that the worshippers of Ha’voc, one of the other Eternian gods, are a coven of cloaked witches led by Skeletor’s mother Saryn. So why shouldn’t there be a coven of Zoar (and possibly one of Ka/Serpos, the snake deity, as well)? Especially since Kuduk Ungol or whoever preceded Teela-Na would need to find and train a successor. And in fact, we do see a coven of Zoar led by King Grayskull’s wife and previous Sorceress Veena in a flashback in the 2012 – 2016 DC Masters of the Universe comic run.

So here’s my theory: At some point around the time King Miro vanished and Randor became king, the Royal Guard or probably just the dynamic duo of Duncan and Dekker were dispatched to Castle Grayskull, quite possibly to protect the Castle from the Horde (since we know they regularly attack Eternia, including around this time) or maybe Count Marzo or the warlord Prahvus or whichever other players were involved in the conflict known as the Great Unrest (about which we know very little, considering how frequently it is mentioned in the 200X cartoon and the Classics biographies and mini-comics). While at the Castle, Duncan fell in love with Teela-Na and fathered Teela, unaware that Teela-Na was destined to become the next Sorceress of Grayskull. Meanwhile, Dekker found love with Maeve, a relationship which had a happier outcome for both parties. In fact, I now really want to see that story in some form. Honestly, we need to know more about the Great Unrest, about how Randor fell in love with Marlena and Duncan fell in love with Teela-Na and what exactly was going with Dekker and Maeve. In fact, this would make a great prequel comic.

However, before Andra and Duncan can catch up with Dekker and Maeve, they still have to stop Marzo. Duncan and Andra immediately try to contact Randor to warn him that Marzo is loose and also to recall Adam and Teela from their wild goose chase in the Dunes of Doom. However, the battle with Marzo fried their communication systems. So Andra suggests taking the War Whale to return to Eternos and warn the King. “I can handle that,” Duncan says. However, Andra insists that she go and warn the King, since she has no idea what she’s doing and is generally a complete failure as Man-at-Arms.

Duncan tells Andra that she’s not a failure and that she’s exactly who the people of Orkas Island need. He also tells Andra that she may have had to rely only on her wits and her tech for most of her life, but that she’s no longer alone now. She’s got friends, she just got her grandfather back and that it’s important to accept help sometimes. Duncan once again proves why he’s such a great mentor and father figure. Not only does he give Andra the pep talk she needs, he also holds back throughout the comic and does his best not to steal Andra’s thunder as the new Man-at-Arms.

So Duncan sets off for Eternos, while Andra tries to come up with a plan. First, she needs to know how exactly Marzo’s powers work, so she asks Dekker and Maeve. Maeve explains that Marzo will need about a day to regain his powers and because a splinter of the amulet is missing, he won’t fully regain his powers, which gives them some time. Andra then asks how Marzo was able to use magic without his amulet. Maeve explains that Marzo can absorb limited amounts of magic from the amulet just by being in its vicinity. “So he’s like a battery,” Andra says, putting Marzo’s power in terms she understands, “The more magic he uses, the more his power is depleted.” This gives her the beginning of a plan. In order to stop Marzo, they need to drain his power.

Next Andra asks what sort of technology they have on the island, since tech is what Andra is most comfortable with. Alas, Orkas Island is a low tech place and the inhabitants deliberately kept it that way, because less tech means less of a chance of anybody tracking it and piercing the magical shield around the island. So tech is out.

Andra finally asks how the people of Orkas Island stopped Marzo the last time and separated him from his amulet. Turns out that this is where Andra’s parents came in. They distracted Marzo long enough to drain him, but Marzo killed them in the process. So Andra’s parents sacrificed themselves to stop Marzo and protect their daughter.

Andra announces that if that’s what it takes to stop Marzo, she’ll keep him busy until Duncan can return with He-Man and Teela and the Royal Guard to deal with Marzo once and for all. Dekker says that Andra sacrificing herself is the last thing her parents would have wanted, but Andra tells him that it’s her decision to make and she won’t allow her parents to have died for nothing. Then she runs off.

We next see Andra sitting alone on the beach. Dekker finds her and explains that he wasn’t there, when Andra’s parents were killed. Dekker was away on a mission and so couldn’t protect his daughter and son-in-law. There’s also a flashback of a younger Dekker cradling his dying daughter in his arms, as she asks him with her dying breath to keep little Andra safe. Dekker tells Andra he would have done anything to trade places with his daughter.

We never saw the younger Dekker in the 200X cartoon. However, the Classics action figure came with an interchangeable head depicting the younger Dekker, so we do know what Dekker looked like in his younger years. I stuck the young Dekker head on Palace Guard body, because that’s the armour he would have been wearing. You can see what he looks like below – with little Andra and his daughter, portrayed by the Hasbro Dungeons & Dragons Diana, who looks a little young and is a little short, but still the best match, since black female action figures are not exactly common. Meanwhile, the famous lighthouse of Pilsum in East Frisia has been relocated to Orkas Island.

“Grandpa! Grandpa!” – “Oh, how you’ve grown, my little Rara. I wish I could come home more often.”

Adriana Melo’s depiction of the younger Dekker sticks pretty closely to the Classics version. He’s got the long hair and the ponytail and no eyepatch, though the Classics young Dekker only wears a mustache, whereas Adriana Melo’s take has a full beard. Which means that Dekker must have lost his eye at some point after Marzo murdered his daughter – quite possibly during the final battle with Marzo. Adriana Melo’s young Dekker also has dreadlocks, whereas the Classics version appears to have straight hair. Interestingly enough, there is a figure in the Mythic Legions line (which was created by the same designers who sculpted the Masters of the Classics figures and which occasionally includes Masters of the Universe inspired characters), which looks even more like Adriana Melo’s depiction of the younger Dekker than the Classics figure.  The figure is coming out early next year and I may have to get him, not only because he will make a great younger Dekker, but also because he looks incredibly cool.

Dekker continues that after her parents sacrificed themselves to drain Marzo and protect Andra and the island, Maeve (whom we see in the flashback, also younger than in the present day scenes) cast the magic spell that hid the amulet and kept Orkas Island shielded. The blood of Andra’s mother was what activated the spell and also the reason why Andra was the key to deactivate the spell and the shields.

“Oh, a stick. And what good is that doing to do against my magic?”

Andra wants to know how exactly sending her away from Orkas Island, literally in a small sailboat, to grow up on her own on the streets of Eternia was supposed to keep her safe. Dekker explains that the further away from the island and the amulet Andra was, the safer she would be. Besides, the spell was supposed to make her forget – which obviously did not work.

Andra is understandably angry and frustrated, at Marzo for killing her parents and at Dekker for lying to her and letting her grow up all alone. Dekker agrees that Andra has every right to be angry and admits that he made a mistake and was so focussed on keeping Andra safe and allowing her to grow up that he never considered what growing up all alone would mean for her. He also implores Andra not to sacrifice herself and tells her they’ll figure out everything together.

So now we know why Dekker retired to Orkas Island and that the reason wasn’t that he’d simply had enough of fighting and longed for the quiet life of a fisherman. No, the reason Dekker retired is because his daughter and son-in-law were killed by Marzo and Dekker wasn’t there to protect them. He failed his family and the people of Orkas Island, because he was on a mission solving Randor’s problems instead of protecting his family.

“With all due respect, Sir, but Marzo is mine. He kidnapped my son Philip and forced him to commit crimes for him.” – “No, Meck. Marzo is mine. He murdered my daughter and my son-in-law and I wasn’t there to protect them.” – “Okay, Dekker, you win. So how about we just take him out together?”

It’s also telling that the people of Orkas Island had to fight and defeat Marzo on their own. There were no Royal Guards to protect them, no Dekker, no Sorceress of Grayskull. Dekker wasn’t the only one who failed the people of Orkas Island, Randor failed them as well, because as King it would have been his job to protect Orkas Island and its inhabitants. What makes this even worse is that the time from when Adam and Teela (and Andra) were babies until they’re about sixteen to eighteen years old was generally a time of peace on Eternia. The Great Unrest had ended, the Horde had pissed off to cause trouble elsewhere, the Snake Men were sealed away in their pit and Keldor/Skeletor was either off conquering the universe with Hordak or stuck in the dark hemisphere behind the mystic wall, unable to get out. So it wasn’t as if there was so much else going on at the same time that the Eternian Forces were stretched too thin to protect Orkas Island and deal with Marzo as well.  No, Randor and the Royal Guard completely failed these people.

That said, there are some things which just don’t make sense. For starters, wouldn’t someone have noticed that an entire island and all its people have gone missing? I know I’m harsh on Randor on occasion, but I can’t really imagine that he wouldn’t notice for twenty years that part of his kingdom has gone missing. Unless Randor already knew, of course, and agreed with putting up magical shields around Orkas Island to protect the island and keep Marzo separated from the amulet. After all, neither Randor nor anybody else is surprised when Duncan asks Andra to join him on Orkas Island. But even if Randor knew, someone else should have noticed. There would have been traffic and trade between Orkas Island and the mainland and also islanders who were away from home when Marzo attacked. Of course, it’s quite possible that Maeve and/or the Sorceress cast a spell to make everybody forget Orkas Island had ever existed. After all, the Sorceress also cast a spell to make all of Eternia forget that King Randor and Queen Marlena once had twins.

For that matter, what about the Crab People? They don’t appear in this comic, but we know from the 200X cartoon that Orkas Island is also the home of the Crab People, so wouldn’t anybody have noticed that a whole species has gone missing? And were the Crab People okay with being cut off from the rest of Eternia because of a conflict that had nothing to do with them or did no one ask them? Besides, we know that at least one Crab Person, the Evil Warrior Clawful, was not on Orkas Island, when the magical shields went up. Of course, Clawful is incredibly stupid, so he might really never have wondered what became of his home and his people, especially since he’s probably stuck behind the Mystic Wall and like most of the Evil Warriors also seems to be something of an outcast from his people. So it’s quite possible that Clawful never even tried to go home.

As for Dekker sending Andra away for her own safety, it must have been a heartbreaking decision for him to make and he clearly just wanted to protect his granddaughter, but there still is an issue here, because you would expect Dekker to make sure that someone is taking care of Andra, if he himself cannot do it. The logical person to ask for help would be Duncan, who after all has a daughter of the same age. Or Dekker could have asked Randor for help to make sure Andra is taken care of. Yet he doesn’t.

Of course, if Dekker had asked Duncan to take care of Andra, that would have meant that Andra would have grown up alongside Teela, Adam, Cringer and Orko, which would have led to a completely different story. And indeed, the reason for the issues discussed above is that we’re dealing with a retcon or rather a series of retcons here. Dekker didn’t exist before the 200X cartoon. He never had a family before Revelation/Revolution. And while Andras was implied to be his granddaughter, it was also stated in Revelation/Revolution that Andra’s grandfather was dead. This comic reverses that death and brings back Dekker and a most welcome return it is, too. However, like all retcons, it has to stretch the story to make it work.

While Dekker and Andra talk on the beach, Andra picks up a shiny seashell. Dekker remarks that Andra’s mother always loved those shells and used to collect them to make art with Maeve. If art projects is what it was, since it’s also possible that Andra’s mother was Maeve’s apprentice – for why else would she have gone up against Marzo? At any rate, the memory of her mother and Maeve using the shells to make art gives Andra an idea.

We next see Andra in the townsquare, addressing the people of Orkas Island and instructing them to collect as many of the shiny shells as possible and use them to make mirrors or rather reflective shields. Meanwhile, Andra is tinkering with her Hulkbuster suit, Dekker is practicing with Andra’s arm cannon and Maeve is preparing an enchanted fishing net to trap Marzo.

While all this is going on, Marzo is sitting on his throne in his castle, surrounded by his pet rats and mice. When his power has fully returned, he tries to transform the rats and mice into monstrous hellhounds. However, it doesn’t work and Marzo realises that a shard of his amulet is missing. Furious, he sets off for Orkas Island.

While Andra is talking with Maeve, the red crystal shard in her necklace starts to glow, announcing that Marzo is here. However, the people of Orkas Island are ready for him. And so Andra meets Marzo at the beach and taunts him by calling him an old man to provoke him into firing magic blasts at her. However, Andra has rigged her Hulkbuster suit so that it projects holographic facsimiles of her, causing Marzo to fire his blasts at the various holograms and thus draining his power. It’s working, too, because we seen Marzo steadily aging as his power is drained.

Once Marzo has drained himself firing at all the holographic projections, Andra gives the signal and the people of Orkas Island all raise their shields studded with the reflective shells, effectively blinding Marzo. While he is distracted, Andra snatches his amulet and throws it to Maeve. Dekker fires an enchanted fishing net at Marzo with Andra’s arm cannon and Maeve casts a spell to keep Marzo trapped. Eternia’s fourth biggest threat has been dealt with.

“In the name of King Randor, you’re under arrest, Marzo.” – “Oh, so you want to arrest me, little girl? You and what army?” – “She doesn’t need an army, cause she has me. Let’s get him, Andra. For Eternia! For Grayskull!” – “And for my parents!”

Sometime later, He-Man and Teela finally show up with the Royal Guard in tow. They’re both grinning and have an almost post-coital glow about them, which makes me suspect they used their wild goose chase in the Dunes of Doom for some quality time together.

Next, we see He-Man, Teela, Andra, Dekker, Maeve and the Royal Guard all sitting around a campfire on the beach of Orkas Island. Marzo is there as well, still caught in the enchanted fishnet and dumped on the beach like the catch of the day. One might feel a tad sorry to see him treated like that, except that Marzo is an archvillain, a drug dealer and he murdered Andra’s parents, so screw him.

Teela takes Marzo’s amulet from Maeve and promises she will keep it safe at Castle Grayskull. She also praises the spell Maeve put on the fishnet, whereupon Maeve tells her that Teela’s mother taught her a few things, when they were both younger. So Maeve knows that Teela is the daughter of Teela-Na, which again suggests that she was around when Teela was born.

A bit later, Andra is once again sitting alone on the beach. Dekker finds her and tells her that he’s proud of her and that her parents would be proud, too. He also tells Andra that he’s happy that she found friends and a family and is no longer alone. Andra, meanwhile, replies that even though she has friends and a found family, Dekker is still her family as well and asks if he could maybe visit her in Eternos or maybe Andra could visit him on Orkas Island, when she’s not needed as Man-at-Arms. Dekker smiles and tells her he’d like that very much.

Everybody says their good-byes and Teela teleports Andra, He-Man, the captured Marzo and herself back to Eternos. We next see Andra making her report to King Randor and Queen Marlena, who are flanked by He-Man and Teela, suggesting that as far as Randor and Marlena are concerned, Teela is already their daughter-in-law, even if she and Adam are a bit slow to progress their relationship (or are they?). Randor praises Andra’s work as Man-at-Arms, which is a tad surprising, since Randor normally isn’t great at praising others. Just ask Adam, who never got any praise from his father, at least not as himself, which actually became a plot point in part 2 of Masters of the Universe Revelation. I guess someone – maybe Duncan, maybe Marlena, maybe Adam – told Randor that Andra is suffering from impostor syndrome and really needs some praise.

Though Andra immediately points out that her grandfather and the people of Orkas Island are the ones who really deserves the praise and the King’s thanks. Coincidentally, Andra messes the titles up again and addresses Randor as “Your Highness”, when it should be “Your Majesty”, though I suspect Randor doesn’t much care, since he never struck me as someone who cares overly much for protocol.

Meanwhile, Marlena says that she’s looking forward to thanking Dekker in person, when he comes to visit them in Eternos. And that will be a very interesting visit that I hope we’ll get to see in a sequel one day. After all, Dekker was Miro’s Man-at-Arms. He knew both Duncan and Randor as teenagers and he used to call Randor “Randy”, which no one else with the possible exception of Keldor (though he jokingly calls his brother “Randork” in Masters of the Multiverse) ever did. Even Duncan, who has known Randor for decades and is his best friend, always addresses him as “Your Majesty” or “Sire” or “My King”. Duncan calls Randor by his name only once – in an episode of the Filmation cartoon, where Randor puts himself into dire danger.

And talking of Keldor, Dekker very likely knew Keldor as a kid, since he would have been already a member of the Royal Guard, if not already Man-at-Arms, back then. Which would make Dekker’s reaction to Keldor suddenly showing up to crash Randor’s funeral very interesting. Cause – come on – we know that Dekker would have attended Randor’s funeral, even if we don’t see him in Revolution. And of course, Dekker also knows that Randor and Marlena once had two children, unless the Sorceress’ spell of forgetting affected him as well. In short, Dekker knows a lot of the secrets and skeletons in the closet of the royal family, because he’s been around for a long time.

But for now, Dekker is still enjoying some quality time with Maeve on Orkas Island. As for Count Marzo, he was freed from the fishing net and locked in a cage instead. Separated from his amulet, he also looks like a very old man again. Randor addresses him and demands if Marzo has finally learned his lesson and if he has anything to say for himself and you can almost hear the “Oh please, not that guy again” sigh in his voice. Marzo, of course, has something to say. He insists that his magic will prevail in the end and that he will be back. Coincidentally, he said the same thing all the way back in the Filmation cartoon after he was defeated by He-Man and indeed, Marzo always does come back, even if he is defeated, and he is a very dangerous villain, even though he ranks a tier below the big three of Skeletor, Hordak and King Hiss.

However, Marzo is beaten for now and Randor informs him that he won’t be going anywhere except to prison. As for his amulet, forget about that. Teela will keep it safe at Castle Grayskull, which is probably where they should have put the blasted thing in the first or second or third place.

Of course, the question is where exactly they will lock Marzo up. The Royal Dungeon would be the obvious choice, but we don’t see him there in Masters of the Universe Revolution. Plus, he’d probably use the chaos of Skeletor and Hordak trashing the palace to escape. The dungeon of Castle Grayskull would be another obvious place, which would make the depowered Keldor is cellmate and would subject both of them to listening to Adam and Teela’s enthusiastic love-making, since Castle Grayskull may have thick walls, but the sound proofing is bad. Of course, would anybody really want to give Keldor and Marzo the chance to conspire with each other? Not to mention that throwing Marzo in the dungeon under Castle Grayskull would also put him perilously close to his amulet. And indeed, on the very last page of the comic, we do briefly see the shard from Marzo’s amulet in Maeve’s seashell necklace glowing, while the necklace lies on what appears to be Andra’s workbench. Of course, it’s also possible that Marzo gets sent to a prison planet, which happens to him in the Filmation episode “The Eternia Flower”.  Though it must be noted that he escapes from there as well. Cause Marzo always comes back.

Though for now, Marzo is out of commission and normal life or what passes for it returns to Eternia. And so the comic ends with Adam meeting Andra on the palace balcony once more, except that Andra is a lot more confident now. She’s also recruited Teela to help her with training the cadets, which will take some pressure of Andra and keep Teela busy, cause we know she likes training others. Plus, Teela has been training the cadets of the Royal Guard for years and has a lot of experience. Andra also tells Adam that there’s always room for one more, so Adam transforms into He-Man.

Finally, we get a splash page of Andra walking back into the palace, while behind her on the balcony, Adam says the magic words “I have the Power”, though they might as well be coming from Andra. This is a reference to the usual clowns starting the rumour that Andra was going to become the new Champion of Grayskull at the end of Masters of the Universe: Revelation, because Tiffany Smith said in an interview somewhere that she was asked to say the words “By the Power of Grayskull, I have the Power” during her audition for Revelation. Of course, it possible that every single person who auditioned for Revelation was asked to say those words – and note that Chris Wood, Mark Hamill and Lena Headey actually say the words in the show. ´

At the Planet Eternia forum, someone said that no one asked for or waited for an Andra comic. That may be true. However, just because no one asked for an Andra comic, doesn’t mean it’s not welcome. Because whether fans asked for it or not, what we got is a good comic. Besides, the Andra one-shot does give us something that a lot of fans have been clamouring for, namely a regular Masters of the Universe adventure where the fate of Eternia and the universe is not at stake for once, in short the sort of story you’d get in the Filmation cartoon or the audio dramas or the 200X cartoon or the comics from the 1980s. Now it’s obvious why Revelation and Revolution couldn’t really give us a smaller, self-contained adventure, since the limited episode count didn’t leave any room for this sort of thing, which is a problem with modern streaming era TV shows in general. However, comics are the perfect medium to tell smaller, self-contained stories and indeed, both Forge of Destiny and the Masterverse anthology series gave us this as does the Sword of Flaws mini-series, the second issue of which just came out (though Sword of Flaws is not set in the Revelation/Revolution continuity).

Comics are also a great vehicle for focussing on neglected or underdeveloped characters and the Andra one-shot does this very well. For even though Andra was a main character in both Masters of the Universe Revelation and Revolution, we didn’t really know a lot about her beyond “She’s Teela’s friend and mercenary partner” and “She’s a tech genius”. This comic gives her some much needed background.

What is more, we also learn more about Dekker, who’s a fascinating character from the 200X cartoon about whom we never knew very much, simply because he only had a single appearance. But like I said above, Dekker gets more development in this one comic than he’s gotten in more than twenty years. And I for one welcome this, because I’ve always liked Dekker. He’s just an awesome character and also one who’s incredibly important, since Dekker was instrumental in turning both Randor and Duncan into the men they are. So it’s great to finally learn more about him.

Seeing Count Marzo is always welcome as well, because he is one of the best second tier villains in Masters of the Universe. We don’t really learn a lot about Marzo that we didn’t know before in this comic, but the story does a good job of showing what a nasty piece of work Marzo truly is and also how dangerous he is. Besides, a second tier villain like Marzo is the perfect antagonist for a one-shot like this, because there’s little risk of affecting a potential third part of Revelation/Revolution (please, Netflix and Mattel, just give it to us).

That said, I do hope we get to see some of the other unaffiliated villains eventually such as Evil Seed (another extremely dangerous villain not seen since the 200X cartoon), Shokoti, who hasn’t been seen since the Filmation cartoon and is probably the one-of villain most deserving of a comeback, Lodar (another nasty piece of work who hasn’t been seen since the vintage mini-comics), Batros the book thief (originated in Filmation and put in a cameo appearance in the Masterverse anthology series), Geldor (who received an Origins figure and a surprise redemption story in the accompanying mini-comic), the Enchantress (evil sorceress who captured and imprisoned King Miro for almost twenty years, also not see since the Filmation cartoon and never had a figure either), the Game Master (another cool villain not seen since the Filmation days, though his design needs an overhaul) or Nepthu (another villain not seen since the Filmation cartoon, though he did get a figure in the Classics line). Heck, a talented creative team could probably even do something cool with a weirdo like Plundor, the evil capitalist bunny (yes, really). Skeletor, Hordak and King Hiss and their respective gangs will always be the top three villains of Masters of the Universe, but there is a whole universe of other characters waiting to be explored.

So in short: Give us more one-of stories featuring some of the lesser explored characters of Masters of the Universe, preferably within the Revelation/Revolution continuity, though I’d also be happy with stories set in a different continuity. For that matter, I’d also be thrilled with stories set elsewhere in the Masters of the Universe timeline. Give us the adventures of Captain Marlena Glenn of NASA and how she crashlanded on Eternia and fell in love with Eternia’s young King Randor. Give us the adventures of Dekker and Duncan with maybe some romance with Maeve and Teela-Na. Give us the adventures the adventures of King Grayskull, Veena, He-Ro, Sharella, Eldor and the rest of the gang in Preternia. Give us the adventures of Wun-Dar or Vikor or Vykron. Revisit the world and characters of New Adventures, the Masters of the Universe incarnation that is most deserving of a reboot to bring out the potential of those characters and their world. Or finally do what has been planned since the 1980s and give us the adventures of D’are, son of He-Man and Teela, and Skeleteen, son of Skeletor and Evil-Lyn (which the Classics mini-comics did, though very few people read them). And in fact, I strongly suspect that this is where Revelation/Revolution would have ended, finally finishing the storylines that have been teased since the 1980s instead of endlessly rebooting the same story over and over again, and leaving the field open for Masters of the Universe: The Next Generation.

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