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).
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.
The production run of sealed boxes is 350,000 according to the gold-colored stickers (within the factory applied cellophane wrapper) used to indicate that a box is factory sealed. The production run of tins (containing the "Lost Marvel" cards) is 35,000 according to the gold-colored sticker found on the bottom of the tin, within the factory cellophane seal.
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.
She-Hulk, Daredevil, Venom (Black printing San Diego Comic Con), and Hulk 2099.
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. One exception: there are Jumbo and Walmart retail store boxes of the Hildebrandt 1994 set, and those have Gold and Bronze versions, respectively, of the usually silver Holofoil cards. Sealed boxes of those non-hobby or standard retail kind, especially the Walmart retail store ones with the bronze foil versions, can be quite valuable. Factory sealed boxes have been known to sell from ranges of $1500 - $3500.
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