Marvel Masterpieces

Marvel Masterpieces is the name of several subsequent sets of trading cards, printed during 1992-2008, depicting characters and events from Marvel Comics. Featuring large, vividly drawn card fronts and backs detailing trivia, each card showcased a different personality from Marvel's body of work.

There was also a set of pop-up cards, distributed in sets of six with the Marvel Activity Sets. They measured about 1+¹⁄₄ by 1+¹⁄₂ inches (3.2 by 3.8 cm).

Series 1 - 1992

The first set, which came out in 1992, consisted entirely of portraits painted by Joe Jusko and was published by Skybox. The set included 100 standard cards, and 5 "Battle" Spectra Cards. There was a factory-tin set of the cards which also contained 5 "Lost Marvel" cards that could only be found in those tins. There were 6 promo cards and 3 pre-production prototype cards too, which were only available to dealers and/or available as free with Wizard magazine (#13 Psylocke) and comics books (Marvel Age #118 Hulk) etc.

The artwork from series 1 was also released by Marvel as 4 collections printed at standard comic size, titled "The Marvel Masterpieces Collection (1-4)" allowing it to be seen in greater detail.^[1]

Battle Spectra Cards

• 1-D: Thing vs. Hulk
• 2-D: Silver Surfer vs. Thanos
• 3-D: Wolverine vs. Sabretooth
• 4-D: Spider-Man vs. Venom
• 5-D: Captain America vs. Red Skull

"Lost Marvel" Cards

• LM-1: Scarlet Witch
• LM-2: Feral
• LM-3: Deathbird
• LM-4: Typhoid Mary
• LM-5: Jubilee

Promo Cards

• Captain America
• Hulk
• Psylocke
• Silver Surfer
• Spider-Man
• Wolverine

Prototype Cards

• Hulk
• Spider-Man
• Wolverine

Series 2 - 1993

The set included 90 cards, along with 8 X-Men 2099 "Dyna-Etch" cards, randomly inserted throughout packs. The artwork from series 2 was also released by Marvel as 3 collections printed at standard comic size, titled "The Marvel Masterpieces 2 Collection (1-3)" allowing it to be seen in greater detail.

Dyna Etch cards

S1: Meanstreak S2: Cerebra S3: Krystalin S4: Metalhead

S5: Serpentina S6: Bloodhawk S7: Skullfire S8: Xi'an

Prototype Cards

She-Hulk, Daredevil, Venom (Black printing San Diego Comic Con), and Hulk 2099.

Series 3 - 1994

This set was drawn entirely by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. It contained two subsets: 10 Holofoils which came in silver, gold and bronze variations, depending on where they were purchased, and 9 PowerBlast cards. This set was also the first to introduce "parallel sets" to the series. All 140 base cards came with a parallel gold-foil "Signature" card which came one-to-a-pack. This concept was also used in other Marvel card sets.

Holofoil Cards

1: Captain America 2: Carnage 3: Daredevil 4: Hulk 5: Iron Man

6: Punisher 7: Scarlet Witch 8: Spider-Man 9: Venom 10: War Machine

PowerBlast Cards

PB1: Apocalypse PB2: Archangel PB3: Cable PB4: Cyclops PB5: Gambit

PB6: Magneto PB7: Rogue PB8: Sabretooth PB9: Wolverine

Series 4 - 1995

This set consisted of 151 standard cards, 22 "Canvas" cards, 8 "Holoflash" cards, and 2 "Mirage" cards. Artwork for the set was done by four artists: Dave Devries, Dimitrios Patelis, Peter Scanlan and Nelson. Continuing from the previous set, these cards came with parallel cards this time in the form of “E-Motion” signatures. Once again these were inserted one-to-a-pack. The two mirage cards were particularly rare coming one to every 360 packs. They are highly sought-after and have gone for hundreds of dollars on auction sites.

Canvas Cards

1: Archangel 2: Beast 3: Bishop 4: Cable 5: Daredevil 6: Galactus 7: Gambit 8: Ghost Rider

9: Human Torch 10: Ice Man 11: Invisible Woman 12: Jubilee 13: Magneto 14: Namor 15: Professor X 16: Psylocke

17: Punisher 18: Rogue 19: Silver Surfer 20: Spider-Man 21: Thing 22: War Machine

Holoflash Cards

1: Apocalypse 2: Carnage 3: Dr. Doom

4: Mandarin 5: Mr. Sinister 6: Sabretooth

7: Thanos 8: Venom

Mirage Cards

• 1: Classic Avengers: Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor
• 2: X-Men: Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, and Wolverine

Series 5 - 1996

This set included 100 standard cards, 6 "Gallery" cards, 6 "Double Impact" cards, and 9 artwork redemption cards. The artwork redemption cards were extremely rare and bore the text "Congratulations! You have just won an original piece of painted art from the Marvel Masterpieces 1996 set!" This series was drawn entirely by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. It saw extremely limited distribution and therefore is one of the most expensive marvel card sets to date, with single common cards fetching around $5 on eBay, and the entire set consequently selling for hundreds of dollars.

Gallery Cards

1: Cyclops 2: Hulk 3: Magneto

4: Sabretooth 5: Spider-Man 6: Wolverine

Double Impact Cards

1: Bishop/Beast 2: Punisher/Psylocke 3: Rogue/Human Torch

4: Silver Surfer/Captain America 5: Storm/Spider-Man 6: Wolverine/Venom

Artwork Redemption Cards

1: Beast 2: Elektra 3: Gambit 4: Human Torch 5: Silver Surfer

6: Spider-Man 7: Storm 8: Venom 9: Wolverine

Series 6 - Oct 2007

A new series bearing the name "Marvel Masterpieces" was planned for release by UpperDeck in October 2007. Previews have shown that much (if not all) the art is that which UDE already owns and has used in its Vs. System TCG.

This set consists of 90 base cards, 9 Spider-Man subset inserts, 9 X-Men subset inserts, 3-artist splash page subsets (triptychs)featuring Art by Alex Ross, Art Adams, and Drew Struzan.

Each base card in the set has two parallel versions: a "holo-foil" version, and a gold-foil border version. Each of the Spider-Man and X-Men subsets has a holo-foil subset version.

Additionally, there are randomly inserted "Artist Sketch Cards" each featuring an original sketch by a noted artist. These are all one-of-a-kind, and it is not clear how many sketch cards were put into circulation. The odds on finding one is approximately 1:36 packs, or 1 per box. More information about the sketch cards can be found at [1] Also, the art from the Alex Ross splash subset was made into ashcan box-toppers (black-and-white versions) and inserted randomly 1 per box, not in a pack. Plus, the artwork from the Art Adams splash subset was made into ashcan case-toppers, one included per factory case.

Each Hobby pack (packs bought from hobby/comic shops) contains a card with a code for 100 UDE points which can be redeemed at www.udepoints.com and then spent on various items in the ude points store.

Series 7 - July 2008

After the successful re-launch of the Marvel Masterpieces set in 2007, Upper Deck decided to release another set. The second set, Marvel Masterpieces 2 came out in July 2008. This set consisted of a 90-card base set, 9 Marvel Heroines Chase Set, 9 Avengers Chase Set, 5 Fantastic Four Movie Memorabilia Chase Set, and 3 Hulk Chase Cards and 3 Iron Man Chase Cards. Also available one per box was a hand-drawn sketch card drawn by an artist. There were more sketch cards with this set then the 2007 set because this saw a release of 18,000 boxes as opposed to 13,000 in 2007. Upper Deck plans on releasing Marvel Masterpieces 3 on December 9, 2008.

Series 8 - December 2008

Series 8 has 90 base-set cards, with the following Chase cards: 9 "Bronze" Marvel Knights cards, 9 "Silver" X-Men Secret Identities cards, 9 "Gold" Marvel Moments, 27 Writer Autograph cards, Artist Sketch cards, Promo card Spider-Man.

References

1. ^ "The Marvel Masterpieces Collection (1-4)", newkadia.com.

External links

• "The Marvel Masterpieces Collection (1-4)", newkadia.com.