MVCreations MOTU (2002-2004) Comic Easter Eggs

[Jukka]

During the 2002-2004 "Masters of the Universe" comic by MVCreations, the creators included lot of Easter Eggs, homages and nods to amuse themselves while working hard on the comic. In this thread I will collect all the easter eggs I can find.

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Masters of the Universe (Target 2 Pack Comic)

This comic was packed in with a 2-pack of He-Man and Skeletor action figures sold at Target. It was in the very early stages when MVCreations pursued the license from Mattel to produce a MOTU Comic. The comic was done in about 2 weeks time, which meant that the studio got the deal.

As you can notice, the style of the comic is very stylized.
This is due to Emiliano drawing the issue in the style of preview images of He-Man and Skeletor (which were illustrated by Ruben Martinéz)


Page 05 - Frame 1


(click on image to enlarge)

Marco Failla (comic inker and friend of Emiliano)	Filippo Marzo (friend of Marco and Emiliano)	Emiliano Santalucia (comic penciller, co-plotter)

Enza Fontana (comic penciller)	Val Staples (comic writer and colorist)	Adam Tyner (original owner of He-Man.Org website)

The Pastries Orko is juggling are actual Sicilian pastries.

Left to right: a Sfincia di San Giuseppe, a Cannolo, a Cassatina and a Profiterol.

[Jukka]

Page 05 - Frame 4





Matthew Ratzloff
(original co-creator of He-Man.org)



Daniel, Mark
(Val Staples' old boss and his child)



Page 06 - Frame 2





The Four Horsemen (toy sculptors and designers)
Eric "Cornboy" Mayse, Eric Treadaway, Jim Preziosi and Chris Dahlberg



Page 06 - Frame 5



Homage to Filmation
(King Randor and Queen Marlena's clothes design is based on Mike Young Productions-cartoon but colours are based on Filmation-cartoon)

[Jukka]

Page 06 - Frame 2



Homage to Filmation
(He-Man bending Trap-Jaw's mechanic-arm is a nod to the scene from Filmation episode "The Diamond Ray of Disappearance")


Page 14 - Frame 3


(click on image to enlarge)



Homage to Filmation
(Teela is flying a Filmation-cartoon Sky Sled)

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Hope you enjoyed this!

More to come soon! Stay tuned in this thread!

[Super-Phil]

Love this thread. Never noticed some of that stuff. Thank you for posting.

[Captain Atkin]

That Four Horsemen picture is great!

[Jyrki]

Great post, Jukka

[Jukka]

Masters of the Universe
Volume 1 - Issue 1
(Shard of Darkness mini-series)

The first comic-issue of the 2002 "Masters of the Universe" hits the ground running, instead of trying to start off with an origin-story or recap past adventures. Continuity-wise it has been mentioned that this story could happen after 12 or so episodes of the animated series. (at the time it wasn't tied too heavily to event in the cartoon, but as a licensed comic it is meant to co-exist with the cartoon)

Page 04 - Frame 3


[click on image to enlarge]

Homage to Filmation
(Skeletor's throne-room has chairs. These are a nod to Filmation, where Skeletor's Evil Warriors would sit around a table and listen to Skeletor's plans)




Homage to Filmation
(There is a flag with the Evil Horde symbol inside Snake Mountain. In Filmation-series, Hordak resided at Snake Mountain before Skeletor. Or it could indicate Skeletor's past of being Hordak's pupil, which was in Filmation as well as in MYP.)




Page 08 - frame 1


[click on image to enlarge]





Homage to Original Toyline
(In the forest we see Moss Man looking very much like his original 80s figure-version)




Homage to Filmation
(In He-Man's spin-off show She-Ra Princess of Power, every episode would feature a little magical creature called Loo-Kee hiding during the episode. At the end of the episode, Loo-Kee would show where he was hiding and also deliver the moral of the story)



Page 13 - frame 5



Name-reference
(Prince Adam mentions Leannasia, which comes from MVCreations editor's Leanne Hannah's name)



Page 16 - frame 1


[click on image to enlarge]


Nod to Original Toyline
(The Royal Palace Fire-Fighters are wearing armors which are very similar to the character Snout Spout's armor, an elephant-headed warrior that could shoot water from his trunk)

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[stabby]

I must be blind, because I own all of these comics and only was aware of the snout spout design similarities! Please keep these coming....I may have to dig out my issues and read them again! It just goes to show how far superior it is having people who care about the brand work on the comic

[Greenskull]

I love the 4H frame

Thanks for posting these Jukka!

[Nankeiro]

Great Easters! What a work!

[TechTrek]

the firefighter one and the 4 horsemen one are so great! very cool! wonderful stuff.

[Augenblick]

You're the man Jukka! Boy do I miss this quality of MOTU comics...

[Rou-Man]

Amazing I have all these issues but I never noticed all these homages to filmation.. Thank you jukka!

[Brian Ozone]

Love his thread.

[GREP-A-TOR]

This thread is just what the doctor ordered.

[bwjenkins]

This is fantastic. I never knew any of this stuff. Great work, Jukka.