Masters of the Universe #5
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMasters of the Universe #5 ('Monstroid') holds a specific place in the Star Comics run as the issue that introduced Multi-Bot — Modulok's rearrangeable robotic creation — to the ongoing comic continuity, giving the 1986 wave of Mattel toys their first substantial narrative spotlight in a standard comic-book format. The issue also delivers the first extended origin for Extendar within the Star Comics continuity, revealing that Hordak and Grizzlor were directly responsible for his cybernetic transformation — a piece of lore not established elsewhere in the Filmation cartoon. Beyond individual character debuts, the issue exemplifies the series' core editorial strategy: using each chapter to translate newly released action figures into story-driven roles, making the comic function simultaneously as mythology and toy catalog for the franchise's peak commercial years. It sits at the midpoint of a brief thirteen-issue run that remains the first — and, until DC's 2012 revival, the only — mainstream ongoing comics series devoted to He-Man and Eternia.
In "Monstroid," Hordak and his allies unleash a monstrous sea beast upon Eternia, but Skeletor has his own designs on the creature, throwing He-Man into the middle of a power struggle neither side expects. Written by Mike Carlin and brought to life by Ron Wilson’s dynamic art—inked by Dennis Janke and colored by Bob Sharen—this 1987 Marvel classic features a cover by Ron Wilson and Danny Bulanadi that captures the chaos perfectly.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Marvel acquired the Masters of the Universe comic license in 1986 when DC Comics' deal on the property lapsed, launching the series under Star Comics, the company's dedicated imprint for children's licensed material. Writer Mike Carlin and penciler Ron Wilson — a Marvel veteran who had spent eleven years on The Thing and Marvel Two-in-One — formed the book's core creative team for virtually the entire thirteen-issue run, with Dennis Janke providing inks on the earlier issues including #5. The series was edited by Ralph Macchio with Tom DeFalco serving as executive editor, and it was consciously pitched to align with the family-friendly tone of the Filmation animated series rather than the grittier early minicomics, toning down violence while leaning into toy-promotion storytelling.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Title: 'Monstroid' — Masters of the Universe Vol. 1 #5 (Star Comics / Marvel), cover date January 1987, on-sale September 23, 1986.
- Written by Mike Carlin; pencils by Ron Wilson; inks by Dennis Janke — the same core team that opened the series with issue #1.
- First comic-book appearance of Multi-Bot (Evil Horde), introduced in-story as a creation of Modulok built in his own image, and used as an amplifier to telepathically summon the creature Monstroid.
- Delivers the origin of Extendar within the Star Comics continuity: Hordak and Grizzlor subjected a human man to cybernetic experimentation, giving him a robotic body and extending limbs; Hordak considered the experiment a failure, after which Extendar escaped.
- The central conflict has Skeletor and Hordak both trying to seize mental control of the giant sea creature Monstroid — one of the few times in the series that the two primary villain factions clash directly over the same weapon.
- Published under Marvel's Star Comics imprint, the company's children's-material banner; the entire thirteen-issue run (May 1986–May 1988) was the first Masters of the Universe ongoing comic series ever published.
- Exists in both a direct-edition and a newsstand edition, consistent with Marvel's dual-distribution practice of the mid-1980s Copper Age.
- Ron Wilson drew every issue of the thirteen-issue run; he was recruited coming off an eleven-year stint on The Thing / Marvel Two-in-One, bringing a practiced Marvel house style to the licensed property.
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Reprinted in Masters del Universo #4
Key issues in Masters of the Universe
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