SHADOWLAND MAGAZINE: When Mattel initially hired you to write the original four Masters of the Universe mini-comics how much of the story and characters had already been fleshed out? Did Mattel already have a structured outline, an early concept to expand upon, or was much of the story left to your imagination?
DONALD F. GLUT: I wasn't hired by Mattel per se, but by Western Publishing Company. Western, at the time, was publishing a lot of licensed books, comics, etc. owned by various movie, TV and toy companies. My main editor at Western offered me the gig. He showed me a set of about a half dozen Polaroid photos from Mattel, showing prototypes of various characters and also the castle, most of which were, at the time, unnamed. I recall He-Man and Man-at-Arms - and possibly Beast Man already having names, but not much else. Mattel sent notes to Western describing what the toys did. But the names of the other characters, the universe they existed in, their origins and powers, etc. were pretty much left up to me. And I was instructed to include in the stories how the toys and their accessories (like swords) functioned.
SM: Were you responsible for coming up with the names of Eternia, Castle Grayskull, and He-Man's Power Sword?
DFG: Yes, all three. The name Eternia was inspired by the title of the movie Fantasia To my thinking it seemed to fit because the mixing of the primitive and futuristic - swords and fantastic vehicles, for example -suggested to me an "eternal" or timeless universe. Castle Grayskull I named after my then-wife's maiden name, Gray. I named the Power Sword after the Power Stone, a recurring plot device from some of the earliest Superman comic-book stories.
