Mattel designed the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toy line after refusing to buy up the Star Wars license. That meant that the heroes and villains of Eternia had to appear to the same kids who gawked in delight every time R2-D2 appeared onscreen. So the biological horrors of skull-faced Skeletor, the fused bounty hunters Two-Bad and the mangled cyborg Trap Jaw had to be child-friendly. Artist Nathan Rosario has aged-up several Masters of the Universe characters and given them a more mature -- and more horrifying -- look.

Rosario is a fantasy illustrator, and he's been making his way through his more "adult" version of the Masters of the Universe characters and geography, focusing mostly on He-Man's rogue's gallery, although he's also reimagined He-Man's extra-dimensional wizard pal Orko as a much darker version than we got in the cartoon. Rosario hasn't made it to Skeletor yet, but there are some great touches in the characters he has redesigned. Evil-Lyn with a staff made from a human spine? Trap Jaw's necrotic scars? Two-Bad's poorly meshed heads? I wouldn't mind taking a trek through Rosario's Dark Hemisphere of Eternia.

Via Geek-Art