Within these Walls.. Armageddon

Within these Walls.. Armageddon is the title of the third and final issue of the 1982 mini-series published by DC Comics. It is preceded by The Key to Castle Grayskull. It has a cover date of February 1983.

Synopsis

After the demons escape, Zodac explains that, if Skeletor sent He-Man to get the amulets, he cannot be who sent the demons to stop him. Despite the stakes being so high to force Zodac to intervene, his neutrality stops him from revealing this enemy's identity to He-Man. The other enemy is Damon, who is spying both He-Man and Skeletor, and despite having the halves of the sword right in front of him, cannot reach them due to a stasis field. Zodac uses the amulets to call Zoar and teleport the champions of Eternia, but he cannot accompany them because his intervention is limited.

Damon attacks Skeletor in the Cavern of Power, knowing that their clashing magic energies would make them travel through unreachable corridors to Castle Grayskull itself. Skeletor reveals he knew all along and feigned ignorance while expecting Damon to make his move. Then Skeletor kills Damon.

He-Man and friends find themselves at Castle Grayskull, and then understand that the sword has been hidden there in a sort of paradox: you need the sword to gain control and rightful entry of the castle, but you must enter the castle to get the sword. Since there are several doors, each warrior enters one. Stratos finds a web that traps him. Man-At-Arms finds himself in a booby-trapped armory. Teela is trapped in a maze until she blasts her way and finds Skeletor just as he is about to reunite the halves of the Sword of Power. He-Man also breaks the wall of the room where he and Battle Cat were, and Skeletor uses the Power Sword to teleport Beast Man and Man-E-Faces, making the latter one assume his monster form. He-Man defeats both and then is saved from a trap by Teela. Finally, Zoar intervenes; He-Man catches Skeletor while Zoar takes the sword away from him. The Goddess is free and promises to imprison Skeletor the same way he imprisoned her, and to send the halves of the sword to a new hiding place. But before doing that, she tells He-Man and Teela to free their trapped friends.

Characters

Heroic Warriors

• Battle Cat
• He-Man
• Man-At-Arms
• Stratos
• Teela

Allies

• Goddess
• Man-E-Faces (first appearance)
• Zoar
• Zodac

Evil Warriors

• Beast-Man
• Skeletor

Villains

• Damon (final appearance)

Locations

• Eternia
  • Castle Grayskull
  • Cavern of Power

Artifacts

• Power Sword
• The Talismans Three

Behind the Scenes

• There are some scenes where He-Man is shown with a sword. However, it does not resemble the Power Sword and appears to be a weapon he picked up from a fallen demon foe instead.
• Man-E-Faces is still the early version, where his monster form is controlled by Skeletor.

Notes

• On Page 4, panels 2 and 6, and again on panel 1 of page 5, the wings on Zodac's helmet are missing.
• Damon and Skeletor both mentions that the latter has caused destruction and carnage throughout the Multiverse before coming to Eternia.
• On page 13, panels 1 and 6, as well as page 14 panel 1, Stratos is drawn without a beard.
• He-Man mentions that his strength is augmented by his power-vest, which is consistent with the earliest minicomics. He also uses the power of the vest to fight Man-E-Faces.
• The fight sequence in the throne room of Castle Grayskull on page 20 was also used in an early animated commercial for the Masters of the Universe toy-line.
• The characters use various colorful expressions, such as:
  • "By the stars" (He-Man)
  • "May the stars watch over you" (Zodac)
  • "By all that is unholy" (Skeletor)
  • "By the dark gods!" (Skeletor)
  • "I pray to the gods of the sky" (Stratos)
  • "By the gods" (He-Man)
• This issue features two letter pages in which readers comment on From Eternia -- With Death! and To Tempt the Gods!. In his replies, comic book editor Dave Manak mentions that DC was also creating a series of minicomics to be packed in with the action figures and reveals some of the plot to The Tale of Teela! As such, the second wave of Minicomics could be considered to be the same continuity as the pre-crisis DC Comics.

External Link

• DC Database

Previous Issue		Based on		Next Issue
The Key to Castle Grayskull		Release Date		None