Quite A Value for Your Sword & Sorcery Dollar
With 3 stories in this issue, you got quite a value for your $.60 back in 1982. Also, with this issue bringing Adrian Gonzales on board, joining Alfredo Alcala on art duties, I'm reminded once again, of just how much Filipino artists were dominating the medium in the 70s and 80s.
The first story is the Arak one. It's one of the most Howard-ian tales so far. It features Arak in Thessalonika, still searching for Valda, and fighting men-at-arms and later an invisible creature.
The second story was obviously a paid spot by Mattel to promote their new toy line, 'Masters of the Universe'. Which is not to say that it's all bad - it was drawn by none other than Curt Swan! But I remember even my twelve year old self thinking that this 'Eternia' world seemed juvenile, and lacked depth, and was filled with stock characters: He-Man, Beast-Man, The Sorceress, Mer-Man, Man-at-Arms, etc. Thankfully, some of the most juvenile aspects of the canon (Orko) are not yet present. Just because you're creating characters to sell toys doesn't mean you can't create fully-fleshed out back stories. Anyway, while it has it's moments, clearly there must have been a mandate (either to establish these as DC properties, or because Mattel paid for the privilege) that Superman be in the story - something which even the writer must have balked at, because by the end, when Superman asks:
We, the readers, are asking the very same question.Er... That's all well and good -- but will someone please explain what I'm doing here...?
The Valda story continues where last issue left off. She's now a prisoner of the Huns, and we soon learn that she's to take the place of the sacrificial mare she herself killed. But, there's an interesting twist in this one that I definitely wasn't expecting.
It's pretty clear that while this was safe and easy ground for one so well-versed in sword and sorcery comics storytelling as Roy Thomas (who is now also the editor), Arak has become a reliable brand - delivering the anticipated results from issue-to-issue, which made it a much safer bet than most other comics of that (or any) time.