2023 Upper Deck Marvel Masterpieces - Dan dos Santos

[MMguy]

Originally Posted by Talyn

https://www.ebay.com/itm/36441100672...Bk9SR6TA0Jm8Yg

most listings are calling it 2022.

Ah, thanks!

That Colossus that is up for $25,000 has to be a typo...right?!

[Xazark]

Originally Posted by R2mi

Does anyone remember the pre-sales prices of MM 2016 & 2018 ?

I pre-ordered MM16 and paid $135/box.

The art on this set is absolutely amazing, I have avoided the last 2 MMs because of the art being mostly dull and dark but this set is vibrant and colorful, exactly what I like to see in marvel but the price is just way too far out of my range. I might pick up a pack or 2 on epack when it releases if it doesn't instant sell out which I am sure it will. Likely just resort to having to pick up singles, but either way we have an awesome new artist on the scene in dos Santos - hope he sticks around and contributes to more sets in the future!

[Xazark]

Originally Posted by Talyn

A Venom Variant Cover /50 already sold for $700 alone.

That is a steal imo, tier 4 what-if venom for less than the box price is leaving a lot on the table I would think.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by MMguy

Ah, thanks!

That Colossus that is up for $25,000 has to be a typo...right?!

Im sure they meant it to be 25k. They can ask anything of course, but I dont see someone paying 25k or close for a colossus 1/1 card...perhaps fishing for offers. Perhaps living in pandemic era PMG crazy prices, which doesnt exactly apply here. The ridiculous thing is that 25k is only like 25-30x box price, which isnt that outside of the normal to price a 1/1 card like that, being only one in multiple cases. But yea I dont see someone paying new car money for a colossus card.

Looking at it though...looks like a gold gallery from previous years MM sets. They are the 1/1s now....so confusing from Upper Deck. They could have made this a cool black-border 1/1 gallery, something that stands out like that, but I look at it and just think of the old gold galleries...

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by glorbgorb

Kinda funny--what would his cards go for if he were just a 'regular' contributor to MM? I know it's not an apples-to-apples comparison since we can't compare his base card/insert artwork to what a pack-pulled sketch would go for.

Even better, what is he charging for APs? Not that it matters--I imagine I know at least a few people who already snapped them up assuming he made them available.

As for the Palumbo for $750, that was probably the lowest his cards will ever go for. Palumbo's stuff was always a little too dark for my tastes, though clearly it's part of his aesthetic so I can respect it. Of course I would have probably kept anything of his I pulled anyway!

There is definitely a sizeable premium for set-artist sketches. I mean they are generally good sketches anyway, but being the set artist probably doubles the price if not more. I dont know what Dos Santos is charging for the APs, but you kind of have to be on the 'inside' for much of that I think- longtime subscribers of his Patreon, members in FB groups in contact with him and such.

I inquired via email as a serious buyer regarding original paintings, as they said to do, but the response was underwhelming- said a lot of it was to be sold at a private gallery exhibit he had with friends and supporters, and the rest Im sure will go to people in the inside circle...I imagine little chance for a regular collector to get anything directly probably, even if they are willing to put up the money. That is the vibe Im getting from this set at least.

[smanzari]

Because I'm an Idiot who obviously hates money and swung a "deal" at the LCS, did 2 boxes. I think I did well. I did get 4 doubles in 2 Boxes though so that was kind of a bummer (Level 1 Base). Was going to keep a couple (Most notably the Thor) but after seeing how much that Venom sold for, I listed them at auction

It was a lot of fun, these were probably my best hits:

Purple /199


Speckle /99


Level 4 Variant Cover (/50) -


Red Foil /149 (OC Back)


Leon Brajos Sketch of America Chavez



Hate me, but I wish they'd take away the serial numbered "base," lengthen the odds on the sketches and autos, and mass produce this stuff like Marvel Beginnings; would be as popular as BOWMAN if there was a low entry point for a casual-buy. (and I want to do a case or three!)

[DynaEtch]

Nice hits! yea that Thor tier 4 /50 will do very well. And Im sure there will be tons of Wolverine collectors interested in that red gallery..

[DynaEtch]

I like this Iceman variant card. Partly because Iceman looks great in cards, and it really pops with the logos. They used a new series X-men 67 for some reason. If you compare it to the base Iceman, they zoomed up a bit for the what if, it looks different.



and the Kitty Pryde is a cool depiction



So many others I like, and agree with fabiani, the Rogue/Mystique battle Spectra is such a neat card.

One card I was disappointed with was Eternity, love the character and had high hopes, but went with an up close portrait when I would have liked to see a more classic depiction of the character, below. Cant like them all I suppose.




1992 Impel Marvel Universe Series III - [Base] #155 - Cosmic Beings - Eternity
Courtesy of COMC.com

[BobCollects]

I'm curious what set collectors consider a "master" set of Marvel Masterpieces. Or mini-master if you prefer.

• Base Set #1-90
• Battle Spectrum #1-15
• Canvas Gallery #91-100
• Holofoil Small Dots #1-20
• Metallurgy #1-90
• Mirage #1-9
• Preliminary Art #1-90
• Preserved in Amber #1-90
• Variant Cover #1-90

Are there any collectors actually trying to put together any sort of master set with so many low-numbered cards?

[MMguy]

I'm confused on some of the cards on eBay; there's en Epic Purple Wolverine and a Holofoil Wolverine with the same artwork, but the checklist shows that Colossus is #3 in the Holofioil set.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by MMguy

I'm confused on some of the cards on eBay; there's en Epic Purple Wolverine and a Holofoil Wolverine with the same artwork, but the checklist shows that Colossus is #3 in the Holofioil set.

Interesting. Never seen that, reusing the base for an insert in these new Masterpieces sets. Is it a mistake? is there a colossus holofoil out there?

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by BobCollects

I'm curious what set collectors consider a "master" set of Marvel Masterpieces. Or mini-master if you prefer.

• Base Set #1-90
• Battle Spectrum #1-15
• Canvas Gallery #91-100
• Holofoil Small Dots #1-20
• Metallurgy #1-90
• Mirage #1-9
• Preliminary Art #1-90
• Preserved in Amber #1-90
• Variant Cover #1-90

Are there any collectors actually trying to put together any sort of master set with so many low-numbered cards?

I think everyone will define what they think a mini master set is, but I think most people would not include numbered cards like metallurgy, preserved in amber. Can you imagine trying to put together a complete metallurgy set? I mean that could cost $20k+

A 'basic' mini-master I consider:
-Tier 1-3 base, gold sig, what if (either all 3, or pick one)
-base canvas
-base holofoil
-base battle spectra

And that's about it. I go a little nuts with the new MMs, going for these

-Tier 1-4 in base (Im trying to get one of every masterpieces base card going back to 1992, so tier 4 unfortunately has to be included)
-Tier 1-3 gold sig, what if (no way Im going for tier 4 entire sets in those)
-base and gold gallery canvas (this has to change now since it's not gold gallery /99)
-base battle spectra and battle spectra gems
-base holofoils and speckle (I may include checkboard here since its not that bad)
-mirage
-preliminary art
-epic purple set.

Used to try to put together an orange set, but it's just too much.

[MMguy]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Interesting. Never seen that, reusing the base for an insert in these new Masterpieces sets. Is it a mistake? is there a colossus holofoil out there?

I haven't seen one yet; there are only 3 Colossus Gallery cards up right now.

[MMguy]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

I think everyone will define what they think a mini master set is, but I think most people would not include numbered cards like metallurgy, preserved in amber. Can you imagine trying to put together a complete metallurgy set? I mean that could cost $20k+

A 'basic' mini-master I consider:
-Tier 1-3 base, gold sig, what if (either all 3, or pick one)
-base canvas
-base holofoil
-base battle spectra

And that's about it. I go a little nuts with the new MMs, going for these

-Tier 1-4 in base (Im trying to get one of every masterpieces base card going back to 1992, so tier 4 unfortunately has to be included)
-Tier 1-3 gold sig, what if (no way Im going for tier 4 entire sets in those)
-base and gold gallery canvas (this has to change now since it's not gold gallery /99)
-base battle spectra and battle spectra gems
-base holofoils and speckle (I may include checkboard here since its not that bad)
-mirage
-preliminary art
-epic purple set.

Used to try to put together an orange set, but it's just too much.

Wow, impressive.

For the newer MM Sets I only go for:

Tier 1 - 3 Base
Tier 4 Epic Purple
Gallery
Holofoils
Battle Spectra

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by MMguy

Wow, impressive.

For the newer MM Sets I only go for:

Tier 1 - 3 Base
Tier 4 Epic Purple
Gallery
Holofoils
Battle Spectra

Actually that does seem like a popular master set definition. Combine the base 1-3 tiers with the purple tier 4.

What you have is a good way to do it because it includes every painting artwork in the set (and just once). The mirage do not have new paintings, they reuse base cards.

So your master set includes each image.

[Fenian95]

1/1 Shatterstar pulled in a Facebook group. Red spectrums look great, as do most of the cards. Will have to try and grab a few of my characters base after EPack

[LittleJimmies]

Originally Posted by Chrominator

Yeah, same here.

I could also go w/o Jason Aldean's commentary throughout




The preserved in Ambers seem to be one of the better chases.

That Mirage card is amazing. I love lenticulars and that's got to be the cleanest execution I've ever seen.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Looking at it though...looks like a gold gallery from previous years MM sets. They are the 1/1s now....so confusing from Upper Deck. They could have made this a cool black-border 1/1 gallery, something that stands out like that, but I look at it and just think of the old gold galleries...

Right? Why muddle up what has been successful in the past? If they just wanted to add more color parallels, they didn't need to rearrange the existing ones so much.

This is maybe what I would have done instead:

1/1: Black
/10: emerald green
/25: Red
/99: Gold (like 2018)
/149: Silver holofoil

Edit: I swapped the red and silver because the red had been numbered to 25 the last two iterations.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

Right? Why muddle up what has been successful in the past? If they just wanted to add more color parallels, they didn't need to rearrange the existing ones so much.

This is maybe what I would have done instead:

1/1: Black
/10: emerald green
/25: Silver foil (the 2016 version)
/99: Gold (like 2018)
/199: Red

I would have definitely kept the gold at /99. I have a complete run of gold galleries 2016-2020, and now they do away with the color and make it 1/1. dunno what I'll do, maybe look into the blues that are now the /99s.

I think your list is fine except the red being high number is confusing. 2018-2020 had legit reds /25, so it seems weird having them high number now. I would have kept red be 25 and just neglected the silver probably. Either way, gold 1/1s was a bad decision, and might even hurt the value of them a bit since people like me probably look at them and just think of the old gold galleries too much.

Edit- just saw the edit. I agree

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by smanzari

Level 4 Variant Cover (/50) -

There is a picture on cardboard connection of a Thor holofoil with this image



I havent been able to find the physical card yet though. Possibly a mock-up that isnt accurate? Or did they make another holofoil the same as the base like the Wolverine. Anyone find a thor holofoil out there? He is in the checklist. Not sure what's going on with some of these holofoils.

Also cardboard connection checklist of holofoils is totally off with the numbering. Numbers on physical cards are all over the place.

Oh wow...I think the holofoils are all just copies of the base.....really? They were original paintings in the previous MMs…

[Sushiyoshi]

From the breaks I've seen, yes the holofoil and base use same art.

[fabiani12333]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet -- some of the base cards form a triptych:

--Longshot, Mojo and Dazzler fighting inside Mojoworld arena

--Iceman, Archangel and Gambit fighting a sentinel

I know Dyna would like this.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by Sushiyoshi

From the breaks I've seen, yes the holofoil and base use same art.

Another break from tradition. This basically means the holofoil cards are parallels now -- not inserts.

[fabiani12333]

Dan dos Santos has definitely delivered the best artwork for Marvel Masterpieces since Jusko's 2016 set. But I will say, his depictions of Venom are awful. The base card artwork of Venom might be the worst artwork in the entire release, and the battle spectrum depiction looks cartoonish. Have you ever seen the 1993 live-action movie adaption of Super Mario Brothers?:

[BobCollects]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

I think everyone will define what they think a mini master set is, but I think most people would not include numbered cards like metallurgy, preserved in amber. Can you imagine trying to put together a complete metallurgy set? I mean that could cost $20k+

A 'basic' mini-master I consider:
-Tier 1-3 base, gold sig, what if (either all 3, or pick one)
-base canvas
-base holofoil
-base battle spectra

And that's about it. I go a little nuts with the new MMs, going for these

-Tier 1-4 in base (Im trying to get one of every masterpieces base card going back to 1992, so tier 4 unfortunately has to be included)
-Tier 1-3 gold sig, what if (no way Im going for tier 4 entire sets in those)
-base and gold gallery canvas (this has to change now since it's not gold gallery /99)
-base battle spectra and battle spectra gems
-base holofoils and speckle (I may include checkboard here since its not that bad)
-mirage
-preliminary art
-epic purple set.

Used to try to put together an orange set, but it's just too much.

It’s too bad so many of the inserts are numbered (and numbered low) but on the other hand they sort of feel like an additional parallel and not a true insert. So it makes sense not to include them.


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