Superman goes up against He-Man and the Masters of the Universe in "From Eternia with Death!"
From Eternia--with Death!
In the Royal City of Eternia, Prince Adam continues to take his training with Man-At-Arms too lightly. His unorthodox approach to the challenges given, exasperate Man-At-Arms, who walks out in a snit. Prince Adam's good natured jocularity wins him no admiration from Teela, his royal bodyguard, either. In Metropolis, Clark Kent purposely takes a fall to maintain his charade of being oafishly clumsy. An act Kent keeps up to protect his secret identity. Prince Adam, along with his talking tiger, Cringer, take respite within a tavern. Soon enough, Prince Adam's irreverence lands him in a brawl. Teela is quick to step in and end the conflict before it can truly come to blows. Spying a falcon silhouetted against the moon, Prince Adam and Cringer ditch Teela, racing for the Cavern of Power. There, Prince Adam and Cringer are mystically transformed, by the Sorceress, into He-Man and Battle Cat, protectors of Eternia. The Sorceress has summoned He-Man and Battle Cat to once again deal with the looming threat of Skeletor. Standing outside of Castle Grayskull with Beastman, Skeletor once more seeks entry. Raising his power sword above his head, Skeletor strikes the door of Castle Grayskull with all his might. The force of the impact opens a dimensional rift to Earth.
Investigating the rift, Superman is drawn though to Eternia by an energy tendril. Believing Superman to be Castle Grayskull's protector, Skeletor and Beastman attack. For several moments the three men struggle against one another, until a powerful mystic bolt from Skeletor's sword, sends Superman hurtling off towards the horizon. Discovered by He-Man and Battle Cat, Superman teams up with Eternia's protectors to oppose Skeletor. Joined in route to Castle Grayskull by Man-At-Arms, the heroes assault Skeletor. Using his sorcerous might, Skeletor enchants Superman, commanding him to battle against He-Man. Superman bests He-Man. Skeletor next commands Superman to batter his way into Castle Grayskull. Though compelled to obey Skeletor's commands, Superman still wields enough independent will to use his heat vision to liquify the ground beneath Skeletor's feet. Trapped within the cooling rock, Skeletor's concentration turns to freeing himself from Superman's ersatz prison. Freed from Skeletor's mental domination, Superman grabs Skeletor, carrying him up into the sky. The arch-fiend uses another spell to teleport away. Superman briefly regroups with He-Man, Battle Cat, and Man-At-Arms, before flying back through the dimensional rift to return home.
Whatever Happened to Sandy, the Golden Boy?
Fog hangs low over the reconstruction site of the York City hospital. A lone policeman, Roger Phelps, stands guard over the site. Stepping forward, out of the mist, comes the Sandman. Before Phelps can react, the Sandman gasses him, putting Phelps to sleep. Alone, the Sandman reflects on his past. He had been in his laboratory,with his young partner, Sandy, the Golden Boy, testing out a new weapon, an experimental silicoid gun. There had been an explosion, resulting in Sandy's transformation into a giant silicoid monster. Sick with guilt and self-loathing, the Sandman had been hypnotized into forgetting his past, to ease his suffering. His memory had only recently been regained, thanks to the revenge scheme of a criminal called "Snooze" Simpson. After a shared adventure with both the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America, Sandy had been left at the York City hospital, in hopes of finding a cure for his condition. A month ago, the hospital was destroyed by an earthquake. All the patients died. The Sandman, however, refuses to believe that Sandy is gone, and thus, resumes his search for the boy.
In truth, the Sandman is correct. Sandy, still a silicoid giant, is being held prisoner by the Shatterer, the true culprit behind the hospital's destruction. The Shatterer attempts to extort money from the York City leaders, by threatening to destroy a museum. When they refuse to pay, the Shatterer manipulates Sandy's connection with the Earth to generate a very localized earthquake, destroying the museum. The Sandman traces the seismic disturbance to the Shatterer's lair. After a brief battle, the Sandman bests the Shatterer. As it was an explosion of silicoids that transformed Sandy into a silicoid monster, the Sandman sets off an explosion of carbon, the results of which transform Sandy back into a human being. The Shatterer recovers and gets the drop on the two heroes. Some vestige of Sandy's silicoid power remains within him. It suddenly wells out of him, opening up a crevasse underneath the Shatterer. The villain falls through the ground, suffering a horrible death when the fissure reseals. His partner cured at last, Sandman and Sandy, the Golden Boy head off into night, to resume their career as costumed crime fighters.
Notes:
- "From Eternia--with Death!" written by Paul Kupperberg, penciled by Curt Swan, inked by Mike DeCarlo, colored by Gene D'Angelo and lettered by Ben Oda.
- "Whatever Happened to Sandy, the Golden Boy?" written by Mike W. Barr, penciled by Jose Delbo, inked by John Calnan, colored by Tom Ziuko and lettered by Janice Chiang.
- This comic book along with several other DC Comics makes a cameo appearance in the 1983 movie Bad Boys starring Sean Penn.
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