THE ART OF EARL NOREM

Earl Norem (1924 - 2015) was one of several illustrators who contributed artwork to the world of the Masters Of The Universe. His MOTU paintings represent just a small part of the comic book artwork he has produced over the years.

After being wounded in World War II he started a career as an illustrator. Some of his work is credited simply as 'Norem'. He is best known for his work for Marvel Comics. Despite the quantity and quality of his work, he remains relatively unknown and is perhaps not given the acknowledgment he deserves.

On this page there are many examples of Earl Norem's work, including MOTU illustrations and many other fine drawings and paintings from his long career. Visitors to this site may remember the illustration he contributed to the comics that accompanied the 2002 line. To see that painting, which was quite possibly his last published MOTU illustration, click here.

I think Earl Norem's Masters Of The Universe illustrations manage to include elements from the barbarian version of the MOTU canon and the later Filmation canon while retaining a close resemblance to the toys themselves. On the one hand there is a similarity to his Conan paintings, but on the other there is a more colourful cartoon feel to his work.

Earl Norem's long career saw him illustrate for a variety of comics and magazines. The target audience for these publications was young men, hence the drawings of beautiful large-breasted women! The stories of the time were often tales of daring adventure by gun-wielding heroes. Some examples are shown below.

The character of Conan, who undoubtedly provided some inspiration for He-Man, is a fantasy figure that Earl Norem painted many times. This work is more vivid and violent than his MOTU paintings because Robert E. Howard's warrior was not originally intended for young audiences.

The remaining images on this page are illustrations from a variety of publications Earl Norem contributed to. The skull-head on 'The Haunt of Horror' looks very much like Skeletor, but the magazine is apparently from 1977, so it must be a different character. The last image is a painting of Hercules and Xena.