Classics-Line Mini-Comics, a Summary and Explanation: Issue # 3 "Second Ultimate Battleground"
What everything in the previous 2 issues was building to. The ultimate battle between our heroes and villains.
It was already mentioned that She-Ra and her Great Rebellion from Etheria came to Eternia to help He-Man and the Masters of the Universe defeat the Evil Horde, but this is the first issue in the Classics-Line run where we actually get to see any of the She-Ra characters.
Also, after their battle in the past, and his subsequent capture, Skeletor has agreed to join He-Man and She-Ra and defend Eternia against the Horde and the Snakemen.
Note that Skeletor calls himself the "rightful heir". Not context for this line has been given yet, but it will be explained later.
As the title of this issue would imply, there then follows a huge battle.
You will notice that Skeletor's Evil Warriors can be seen on both sides of the conflict. This is because, with Skeletor siding with and supporting He-Man instead of remaining the leader of his own faction, Skeletor's minions were left to choose for themselves which side would best serve their interests.
This battle truly does live up to the name "ultimate battleground" as this battle fills a total of three 2-page spreads in the issue.
But not everything that happens in the battle is an impersonal wide shot.
Important personal battles are also going on at the same time.
Remember how it was mentioned in exposition that Man-at-Arms (Duncan) was turned into a Snakeman?
Well, what wasn't explained in the exposition was, according to the head writer for the Classics-Line, Scott Neitlich, after Duncan was turned, Clamp Champ (Raenius) was appointed as the new Man-at-Arms. He always admired Duncan and was very honored by the promotion and equally saddened by the circumstances of how it happened. Raenius vowed to one day save Duncan so that the man he looked up to and admired can enjoy a safe retirement and live out the rest of his life in comfort.
Well, if you look at the above pair of panels, you can see how that went.
Raenius is forced to kill the man he admired so much.
But that's not the only deeply personal conflict going on.
Remember: Hordak used to be Skeletor's teacher.
She-Ra wants to take on Hordak together with He-Man and Skeletor. With the three of them combining their power, they can't lose!
But Skeletor is still bitter over Hordak abandoning him that night they kidnapped Adora and so throws the twins up and out of the way while Skeletor goes after Hordak all by himself. (As with most of Skeletor's plans consistently through out the franchise, this does not go well for him.)
But that's not even the most climactic vignette on this battleground!
Remember in the previous issue Adam decided that the Spell of Separation was the key to defeated the Snakemen?
Well, he wasn't wrong.
But look who they gave it to!
Anyway, Orko does 2 things he's never done before.
cast a spell successfully and as intended without it backfiring and harming his friend and allies
being the only character is all of MotU canon to commit mass genocie.
Good job Scott Neitlich and Classic-Line writing team!
There is actually a lot of extended lore about this one action by Orko, but it's not shown (or even alluded to) within the run of the comics. One of Orko's later toy bios tries to explain away Orko's annihilation of the Snakemen by saying that he didn't know what the Spell of Separation would do and he was shocked and appalled when he saw it separate their lives from their bodies and he realized he had just wiped out an entire race. Orko then goes into a deep depression and becomes grim-dark for a while.
But I'll let one of the many Orko fan blogs on this site talk more about that. This post is supposed to be about the comics.
Since Skeletor sent He-Man and She-Ra away and chose to fight Hordak on his own, Skeletor looses horrible. (Big surprise.) He lay injured and dying on the ground as He-Man and She-Ra run to his aid. But Skeletor pushes them away with the Havoc staff and instead uses the last of his magic to absorb the life force and some tech parts from a dinosaur-cyborg nearby.
This turns him into Laser Light Skeletor, the Skeletor of New Adventures of He-Man.
He then flies off into outer space.
Teela announces that, finally, Eternia has peace.
Then in the very next panel, a spaceship shows up and two dudes walk out to announce they have a Skeletor problem and need He-Man and She-Ra to come and fix it for them.
And the adventure continues!
Explanation:
Then needed to feature as many characters as they possibly could and it was cheaper to shove them all into one comic than make a new comic for every group of 3-5 characters. Hence all the wide 2-page spreads fitting as many characters into the frames as possible.
It's really not that deep.
You can read "Second Ultimate Battleground" here:
(This one was a nightmare on account of all the 2-page spreads.)