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- ULTRA SPIDEY '97 - MCC '98 - SILVER AGE - LEGENDS - MARVEL MASTERPIECES - - CUSTOM SKETCH CARDS - UNCUT - LINKS - |
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Over the years, there've been times that special "hand-drawn sketch cards" were
randomly inserted into packs of cards. The first time I'm aware of this is in the Image Groo cards.
I'm not sure if they were the very first or not. If folks have any info one way or the other on this,
I'd love to hear from you. In 1997, Marvel turned these hand-drawn sketch cards into a new type of "chase" card: the "sketchagraph". This new concept combined with the recently available collectors tool, the online auction, made these cards highly sought after and heavily traded collectibles. The size of regular trading cards, each sketchagraph had a hand done sketch drawn on it by one of Marvel's artists. Sketchagraphs sell on ebay (an online auction site) for anywhere from a few bucks to over $300 depending on the character, the artist, and of course the bidders. Some artists varied their sketches quite a bit from card to card (as you'll see below), and some basically just did the same pattern over & over. Many of the cards shown below are my own (these have a small DD symbol in the bottom left corner of the card), but I've taken the liberty of including some scans from ebay or other sources. If you have a DD card that you'd be willing to let me add to the gallery, please let me know. |
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Spider-Man '97 Sketchagraphs were included 1 per 288 packs (24 packs of cards per box - or 1 sketchagraph per 12 boxes). One artist who worked on this set said that he was paid $10/sketchagraph. I can't say whether that was the standard rate or not. It's not unusual at all for '97 Spidey Sketchagraphs to fetch around $100 on ebay. While the official lists for the '97 set show DD sketchagraphs by Mark Irwin, Michael Ryan, and Mike Wieringo, as of this time (May 2004), I've been unable to find any of the DD sketchagraphs or even an image of a sketchagraph other than the Colan ones shown below. Update: during 2006 I was shown the image of the Ryan sketchagraph listed below. Still haven't seen any Irwin or Wieringo from this set. |
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| Gene Colan |
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| Michael Ryan |
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Collection '98 Sketchagraphs were included 1 per 36 packs (36 packs per box). There've been attempts by a number of collectors to create a "checklist" for the Marvel Creators Collection as no one really knows how many artists participated or what characters they drew. You can find links to some of those partial checklists at the bottom of this page. A teacher from the Kubert school recently confirmed a theory of mine: many of the sketchagraphs for this card set were drawn by 3rd year students at the Kubert Art School as "student projects". Other artists who are known to have done MCC sketchagraphs of DD, for which I haven't been able to obtain a card or image include: Victor Gatmaitan, Clint Hilinski. The image to the right is on the back of all the MCC sketchagraph cards. |
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| Rick Acosta |
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| Darren Auck |
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| Bob Bowen |
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| Denver W. Brubaker |
The second & third images are actually from a "complete listing" of Brubaker sketchagraphs grabbed from another sketchagraph site. I haven't actually seen those cards in person or on ebay yet. I suspect Brubaker xeroxed all the cards he did (hence the lack of blue lines?), and this person got hold of the scans. The fourth image is from a set of card-sized "sketches" Brubaker decided to do in 2001 in an effort to capitalize on the success of the sketchagraph cards. This was #6 in the series. |
| Steve Bunche ("Stan Bunch") |
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| Gil Butcher |
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| Anthony Carpenter |
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| Manny Clark |
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| Jon Conkling |
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| Wagner Coutinho |
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| John Czop |
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| Rob Davis |
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| Richard Fraga |
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| Dærick Gröss |
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| J Hernandez |
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| Clint Hilinski |
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| Tony Hong |
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| Frank A. Kadar |
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| Kjær? |
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| Kraiger |
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| Fabio Laguna |
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| Ron Lim |
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| Warren Martineck |
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| McCluskey |
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| Mariano Nicieza |
The fifth card shown above was a bit of a mystery for quite a while. Another collector showed me a scan and asked if I had any idea which artist had done the work. I had the sketchagraph posted under "UNKNOWN" for a good 4 years or so, when finally I heard from someone who recognized that it was Nicieza's work: Mariano Nicieza himself! -grin- You have to love the internet! Thanks kindly, Mr. Nicieza, for clearing up the mystery! |
| Jimmy Palmiotti |
These are a bit odd. The first one was "unofficial", ie it doesn't have the "official" MCC stamp. The signature goes off the card, and it doesn't even match the signature Palmiotti seems to usually use (see: Authentix Gallery). However, the second one is on an uncut card (much of the blank uncut card is not shown). The signatures seem to be closer...maybe the first one was a trimmed down "uncut" card? However, the DDs seem awfully different from each other for the same artist... |
| Mike Pellerito |
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| Alvin Perez |
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| Joe Prado |
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| Arlem Renato |
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| Al Rio |
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| L.Ross |
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| Corey Sauer |
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| Scott |
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| D. Sharpe |
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| Ethan A. Slayton |
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| Uko Smith |
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| Mark Texeira |
Special note: While I have no way to confirm it, I've been told by an avid collector that Texeira only did 30 watercolors total (including ALL characters), and that there may only be 1 watercolor of any given character. Update: while there may be only 30 watercolors total, there's obviously at least four Daredevil watercolors. |
| Eddie Wagner |
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| Yancey (Yancey Labat) |
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Silver Age |
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| Sal Buscema | ~125 same? (1000 sketches/8 chars) |
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| Gene Colan | ~112 varied (900 sketches/8 chars) |
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| John Czop | ~87 same (x2 patterns for DD) (1400 sketches/16 chars) |
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| Emil Ribiero | ~36 same (400 sketches/11 chars) |
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| John Romita | ~114 same? (800 sketches/7 chars) |
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| Marie Severin | ~18 highly varied (800 sketches/42 chars) |
Special note: Severin is listed in the "official" Fleer checklist as not having done any Daredevil sketchagraphs. Add this to highly varied sketches, with as much or more detail in action/background as any other artist, AND a lower number of sketches per character (and more characters!) than any other artist, and I think the Severin cards are some of the best & most collectible in this set. |
| Joe Sinnott | ~? varied (? sketches/? chars) |
Special note: Sinnott is not listed in the official lists for DD (but neither was Severin for DD), and I don't think I can see an official seal on this card either. Not sure if it was done as part of the set or after the fact. |
| George Tuska | ~47 highly varied (700 sketches/15 chars) |
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| Roberto Flores |
The Marvel Legends "sketchagraphs" are actually called Custom Cover Sketch Cards. Apparently, they each have different rarity values. The DD sketchagraph is listed as "level 6" or 1:50 packs. Disappointingly, Topps apparently decided to limit each character to just one main artist. And while there are a few Legends sketchagraph artists who vary their drawings, it seems the majority do not. Most of Flores' cards that I've seen look like the above examples. The biggest variations being how he signs his name (Otrebor=Roberto backwards) sideways or up & down. However, Flores did do a few more interesting variations, and I've listed all the ones I've been able to find on ebay or elsewhere below.
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| John Romita |
One of these Romita cards was sent to me by another sketchagraph fan. My apologies for not getting it up on the site sooner. These are some examples of some of the very few cards not done by Flores. |
| Zapata |
This card was obviously not done by Flores. A collector friend told me that Zapata was/is a VP over at Topps and brought along some blank cards and drew characters on request for the 2001 Comic-Con to promote the Marvel Legends set. |
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Sketch cards were included 1 per 36 packs (or 1 sketch card per box). The good news is that Marvel went back to the days of the Silver Age and Creators sets by having a *lot* of artists involved in drawing sketch cards. Variety returns!! The bad news is that the cards immediately took off for high prices on ebay. The combination of speculators, opportunistic dealers, and fanatic collectors drove the prices out of the reach of the casual collector from the start. The Charest card shown below was listed at $1200. And there were other cards listed at over $3000 or $4000. The funny thing is, you could get a full-sized commission for what some of these dealer/scam artists are trying to charge -- especially from some of the artists who are still really trying to break into the market. |
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| Anjin Anhut |
It's an interesting "interpretation" of DD. Can someone let me know if this is some alternate universe version of DD or something. I guess it sort of looks like the Earth X version...? Update: Anjin was kind enough to contact me and share scans of some of his other cards with me. He also told me that he likes to have fun with his drawings and throw his own slant or interpretation on the characters. Do yourself a favor and check out Anjin's Gallery of Sketch Cards to see many more Masterpieces sketch cards (including some nice full color work). |
| Lui Antonio |
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| Chris Bachalo |
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| Carlo Barberi |
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| Travis Charest |
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| Jim Cheung |
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| Adam Cleveland |
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| Adam Cline |
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| Conan (Conan Momchiov) |
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| Dan Cooney |
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| Chris Copeland |
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| Dennis Crisostomo |
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| Ragan delaRosa |
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| Colleen Doran |
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| David Esbri |
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| Tom Feister |
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| Bo Hampton |
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| Tariq Hassan |
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| Chachi Hernandez |
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| Polo Jasso |
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| Jim Jimenez |
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| Brian Kong |
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| JonBoy Meyers |
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| Steve Miller |
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| Jon Mills |
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| Rich Molinelli |
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| NAR |
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| William Neff |
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| Tom Nguyen |
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| Richard Pace |
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| (Michael) Jason Paz |
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| Jason Pearson |
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| Jason Keith Phillips |
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| Zak Plucinski |
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| Dan Quiles |
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| "Red" (Kate Bradley) |
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| William Reinhold |
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| Andrew Robinson |
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| Mark Romanoski |
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| Noah Salonga |
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| Brent Schoonover |
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| Tony Shasteen |
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| Brian Shearer |
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| Blair Shedd |
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| Ethan Slayton |
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| Taki Soma |
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| Aaron Sowd |
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| Ron Spencer |
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| Harvey Tolibao |
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| Scot Terry |
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| Bill Thompson |
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| Brad Vancata |
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| Anthony Winn |
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| Leinil Yu |
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| unknown artist(s) |
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| Sketchagraphs became really big after '97 or '98, and some artists started to put out "custom" sets of sketch cards. The cards were usually done on heavy cardstock of some sort cut to the same dimensions as standard trading cards. |
| Brian C. Kong |
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| Danny Kuang |
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| Tony Perna |
Originally, I was only interested in "official" sketchagraphs from commercially available card sets. But then I saw this beautiful card (card on the far left) by Tony on ebay. So, this became the first "sketch card" that I picked up. It's the same size as a standard trading card and has #18 marked on the back. You can find other wonderful work by Tony at his website: http://www.pernastudios.ca. |
| Speers |
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MSA & MCC '98
These cards were not part of the official sets and lack the official stamp that cards included in the
set received. Some of the uncut cards shown below are from the Marvel Silver Age set and some are from the Marvel
Creators Collection. From what I've been able to tell they come in a few flavors: oversized art that the artist just had fun
doing (before or after the sets were done), commissions that artists took to do on extra blank cards they had when they
were done with the set, and cards that they just decided not to include when the sets were assembled. The uncut cards
are 5.5 x 4.5". Standard cut cards are 3.5 x 2.5". I've tried to make the thumbnails shown here proportionately bigger
than their cut counterparts.
A special thanks to fellow sketchagraph hound Andrew Allen for the Castrillo uncut. Above & beyond the call of duty!
If any of you spot some nice Dr. Doom sketchagraphs out there, be sure to
let Andrew know.
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| Anthony Castrillo |
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| John Czop |
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| Fred Haynes |
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| Ray Lago |
![]() While Mr. Lago does very nice work, I don't recommend him for commissions. If you do want a commission by him, do not pay him in advance. I paid him for two uncut sketchagraphs and a sketch for a friend of mine. After a few emails back and forth, he sent me an email saying he was wondering if I still wanted the art as he hadn't heard from me in a while. For the next 2-3 years I sent him reminders every 3 months or so... I've never received the work, and he hasn't had the courtesy to return my emails or my money. |
| Marie Severin |
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| Joe Sinnott |
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| George Tuska |
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| The sketchagraph world is a pretty tight group of collectors & artists. The collectors seem to be a blend of non-sport or comic card collectors and character fanatics. But regardless of their particular passion, they're a really neat bunch of people who try to help each other find their favorites & enjoy their hobby with a passion. The artists have been super at communicating with their audience, providing checklists, and even doing superb commissions on these miniature pieces of "art board". Below you'll find links to some of the collectors & their galleries and to the artists who've graced the sketcagraph world with their pencils, pens, and markers. |
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If you're interested in purchasing an uncut sketchagraph or other artwork
from one or more of the artists listed below, just click their name for an
e-mail address. You won't be disappointed!!! Some sample uncut sketchagraphs are shown above
in the section immediately before this one. If you're an artist taking commissions and you'd like me to add your
name to the following list, please contact me.
Anthony Castrillo John Czop Dave Devries Fred Haynes Warren Martineck Joe Rubinstein (view some of his cards) George Tuska I've heard great things about all the folks above, and I've had good commission experiences with a number of artists, but I can't recommend Ray Lago. For more details see the section of "Uncuts" above this section. |
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The sketchagraph hounds, as I said above, are a really neat bunch of collectors. Below are
links to some of their sites/galleries (listed alphabetically). As you browse their sites, you'll see there are
some beautiful collections out there! And though all of the sites listed here are worthwhile, some stand out from
the rest either because of the sheer content of their sketchagraph galleries, or how easy it is to navigate the
site. I've highlighted those with a pale rose color. If you're not sure where to start, those are my personal
favorites.
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