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.

Below I have gathered some comparisons, in no particular order. There are over 40 examples listed for your enjoyment. Many are directly lifted off of existing Conan material, but I’ve included a couple generic ones as well. I’ve looked at MOTU media from US, Germany, United Kingdom and Italy.

For this comparison, I am mainly focusing on vintage materials, because something like Masters of the Universe Masterverse Vykron figure’s packaging art paying homage to Conan art (Ken Kelly) is done intentionally. The adult audience for this figure is supposed to get the reference.

I have also included repeating offenders, if such occur. As in the case of a pose from Conan the Barbarian #100 getting use out of in both UK Annual 1985 and then Annual 1987. In the case of the 1987 version, however, it is possible that the artist was looking at the 1985 pose.

I most likely have missed some instances; so feel free to comment below if you remember seeing a vintage He-Man comic panel, poster or cover image using Conan as its basis in one way or another. If so I will try to add it to the article.

Special thanks for scan help: Mark “Polygonus” Knobloch, Ben Massa, Adam McCombs. An extra hat tip to Joe Amato and James Eatock for few of the panel finds. Also a big thanks to Warpman Alexandre and James Eatock on couple artist credits’ info.