Written by Written by Jukka Issakainen
Recently, my co-partner Adam made an extensive article about why He-Man is NOT Mattel’s attempt to produce a Conan action figure, only to change hair-color in the last minute after seeing the film in May 1982 – the dates don’t match (among many other discrepancies).
On the other hand, one can certainly see that the people who worked on Masters of the Universe were influenced by the barbaric fantasy-artworks of Frank Frazetta (on topics like Conan and more).
There are numerous cases where we have seen… homaging? referencing? swiping? certain elements and images from Conan the Barbarian in official media for He-Man. Now this is not to shame any of the artists working on the brand. In the examples from the UK Annuals, we don’t know all the circumstances or motivations behind the creation of a little book aimed at kids. Maybe there was a rush with the deadlines so the artists (many uncredited/unknown) resorted to taking old comic panels as inspiration.
This one. 😂