Like most kids my age back in 1992 I sweated a lot of $%^&. Sports,sneakers, video games, sports cards, comics and oh yea comic trading cards. In the earliest part of the 90’s I had them all (all of which I will cover over the coming days) but none stood out to me quite like Marvel Masterpieces series 1 did/does. Published by Skybox each card was a beautiful portrait painted by Joe Jusko.
These literal masterpieces showed up via a dealer sheet with one card glued to it declaring “coming to your store soon!” -these dealer sheets have gone on to become very rare and thus highly collectible but ultimately a piece of comic history.
For a card in 1992 the quality was beautiful and seeing these cards for the first time was exciting because within two short years the comic card industry was EXPLODING and quality and graphics getting better at a head spinning rate.
For me back in the day there were a few spots I’d hit up for cards but the number one destination for me was a place called Cosmic Comics -which sadly closed up shop this year-.
It was here I recall seeing Marvel Masterpieces early on and it was here I realized -while drooling over the latest comics on the wall that were well out of my price range- that I had to try to get as many of these things as possible. Now while my thirst for these beautiful cards may have clouded the money aspect of obtaining them all I quickly realized that it would be expensive
and trying to track down the 100 card set including the 5 battle spectra cards, 5 lost Marvel cards, 6 promo cards and 3 pre production prototypes was just out of the question. It was nearly impossible during the pre-internet age especially for an 11 year old.
Then there are the 4 comic size prints that came both signed and unsigned, which if you are a fan of the cards is a must have for the collection. But it doesn’t end there. Nope, then there were the Marvel Masterpieces vending machine stickers which have become very difficult to come by and as the years pass are becoming more expensive (they are still affordable but who knows for how long) and
a buy back Series 1 chase card available in packs of 2016 Upperdeck Marvel Masterpieces . All in all the set for me is not only nostalgic to look back at but amazing to look at for the artwork and attention to detail some 26 years later. This isn’t a super valuable set but whether you grew up with them or not if there was a set of comic cards that should be in everyone’s comic collection then this would be one of them.