MV Creations was the production house Mattel formed in 2002 to develop the 200X relaunch comics in parallel with the Mike Young Productions animated series airing on Cartoon Network. The studio was a small, design-driven shop with Val Staples at the helm; the comics it produced from 2002 through 2004 form the visual bridge between the original 1980s painted minicomic look and the modern digital cover aesthetic that took over by the late 2000s.
The publishing run moved through two homes. The first wave (2002 to 2003) was published through Image Comics: a self-titled Masters of the Universe ongoing that ran ten issues plus an Icons of Evil set of character-focus one-shots. The second wave (2003 to 2004) moved to CrossGen as part of that publisher’s brief flirtation with licenced properties; the Icons of Evil one-shots for Beast Man, Trap Jaw, and Tri-Klops shipped under CrossGen, as did the four-issue Rise of the Snake Men miniseries.
Cover art across the run leaned on a tight bench. Emiliano Santalucia handled the bulk of the Image-era main covers in a clean, animation-influenced line that matched the MYP house style. Tony Daniel painted variant covers for the Icons of Evil set that pushed the property toward a more brooding, painted-cover aesthetic. Mel Rubi handled covers and interiors on Rise of the Snake Men. The Tom Wood painted covers on the Image first issue and the early one-shots are the highest-value pieces from the run on the modern secondary market.
The Icons of Evil one-shots are the run’s collectible centerpiece. Three issues, one each for Beast Man, Trap Jaw, and Tri-Klops, each carrying a Tony Daniel painted cover and a full-length character origin story for the MYP continuity. The painted covers reframed each villain as a complex character with motive and history; the Trap Jaw origin in particular is still cited by 200X fans as the best single short story produced for the property.
The Rise of the Snake Men miniseries, four issues across late 2003 and early 2004, brought King Hssss back to the property for the first time since the 1985 to 1986 toy line and became the foundation for the unproduced fourth season of the MYP cartoon.
For collectors, the Image issue 1 with the Tom Wood cover is the trophy. NM copies move around $30. The CrossGen Icons of Evil set is the most rewarding short-run collection in the property’s history.
Catalogue source: heman.fandom.com (CC BY-SA 3.0).
