Thanks for visiting my Gallery of the Sketchagraphs that I have collected over the past several years. Sketchagraph is a term coined by Fleer/Skybox in 1997 to describe "chase" cards that were inserted into packs of some of their Marvel-related trading cards. These "chase" cards were not the typical mass-produced reproduction of some artwork, but each is an actual hand-drawn piece of artwork, done in pencil or pen or both, usually by an artist in the comic-book field !! The card is initially produced as a "blank format" by the card company. An assigned number of blanks is then sent to each artist. The artist draws on the blanks, and then sends them back to the card company, who later inserts them "randomly" into the packs. So in theory, every one of them is different, though in many cases, some artist drew "essentially the same" image over and over again. However, in those cases where an artist only drew an image once, those sketchagraphs (or sketch cards) are considered "unique", and that makes them even more "collectible" and/or "valuable", among us sketchagraph collectors.

 

I mainly collect the sketchagraphs that were produced in 1998 for Skybox's 'Marvel, The Silver Age' (MSA) series. Sketchagraphs in this series were inserted at 1 per box. This series focused on the Marvel comics, characters and artists from my childhood, back when I collected ALL of the Marvel titles. Since there were 11 autographers in this card set, 10 of which did sketchagraphs, my goal was to get at least one sketchagraph from each of those signers. Also, there were five "modern" artists that also drew sketchagraphs for this series. I decided to get at least one from each of them. As you will see, I got "carried-away", and for the most part, I got more than one sketch from each of these fifteen artists .

Over the past several years, I have added other sketchagraphs. In 1998, Skybox also released the 'Marvel Creators Collection' (MCC) series. Sketchagraphs in this series were also inserted at 1 per box. The sketchagraphs for this series were drawn by a "large number" of current artists in the comics' field, and varied widely in quantity, characters, style and "quality". I added some of those sketches that I deemed had a "Silver Age" look to them. In 2006, I decided to add a whole page of ones for Silver-Age villains because they "looked cool". Then in 2007, I added a whole page of Spider-Man related ones !!

Other Marvel Comics Sketch Card Releases
Date	Title / Link	Comments
April 2001	Marvel Legends	In 2001, Topps got the Marvel comics trading card license, and they came out with the ML series. They called their hand-drawn sketch cards "Custom Covers", and were inserted at 1 per box. There were nine variations (characters) of the blank Custom Covers. Topps was the first to define "rarity levels" for their sketch cards, based on how many sketches each assigned artist did, and thus had inserted into the packs. In theory, the fewer sketches a certain artist did, than the "higher level" his sketches were, and thus more sought-after, and thus pricier, than those at "lower level". As with MCC and FUSM, I decided to collect the Custom Covers that had a Silver Age look to them. As it turned-out, I got only ones that showed Jack Kirby originated characters. NOTE: In December of 2007, since I had a few "common" ML sketches that had "no home" in my collection, and since I realized that there were nine variations of the blank Custom Covers for the Hobby boxes, I decided to make a 9-pocket showing an example of each Custom Cover.
Fall 2003	The Incredible Hulk	Topps made a card set for IH03. The sketch cards for these were the same Custom Covers format as they used in the Marvel Legends series, but these were extremely limited (and thus pricey) ... less than 1 per 20+ boxes !! I eventually managed to get at least one from each of the four artists for this series.
October 2006	'Marvel Heroes: The Complete Avengers	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released a card set for MHCA. RA calls their sketch cards "Sketchafexes", and for this series, every sketchafex was colored !! There was one sketchafex per box. There were 50 "approved" Avengers-related characters for this set, but some artists included characters that were not on the "approved" list. At first I was just going to collect ones that I deemed had a "Silver Age" look to them, or Silver-Age character, though you will see that I got a little bit carried-away with these, since I was able to complete both a Master Artist and Master approved-character sets.
October 2007	Marvel Masterpieces: 2007	Upper Deck (UD) released a card set for MM07. To me the sketches for MM07 is very much like those for MCC98, where all characters in the Marvel Universe could be drawn, by a "large number" of current artists in the sketch card and comics' field, and varied widely in quantity, characters, style and "quality". My opinion as of this writing, is that aside from those from a few artists (and most of those few drew ony 1 - 20 sketches), these sketches are "not as good" as those for MCC98 !! In 2008, UD followed-up on the "relative success" of MM07, by releasing two more MM sets with even more sketches. The third set was "rushed onto the market" at the end of 2008 just before UD's license with Marvel expired.
April 2008	Women of Marvel	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released WoM, and basically ANY female whoever graced the pages of Marveldom was allowed, and there were IMHO some very obscure characters drawn !! As with prior releases, every sketchafex was colored !! There was one sketchafex per box. I did NOT collect many of these sketches.
April 2008	Iron Man Movie	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released IMM. There were two types of sketches, those based on Iron Man as seen in the movie, (which I refer to as IMM sketches), and those drawn to represent Iron Man and related characters, as seen in the comics over the past 46 years. These latter sketches were on sketch cards titled 'Invincible Iron Man', which I refer to as 'IIM'. There was only one IMM or IIM sketchafex per approximately every FOUR boxes.
November 2008	Fantastic Four Archives	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released a card set for FFA. As with prior releases, every sketchafex was colored !! There was one sketchafex per box. There were 55 "approved" FF-related characters for this set, but some artists included characters that were not on the "approved" list. At first I was just going to collect ones that I deemed had a "Silver Age" look to them, or Silver-Age character, though you will see that I got a little bit carried-away with these too !!
April 2009	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released a set (XOW) based on the X-Men movie. There was only one sketchafex per approximately every 3 - 4 XOW boxes. There were only 5 approved characters for this set ... Wolverine, Deadpool, Sabretooth, The Blob and Gambit ... but some artists included characters that were not on the "approved" list.
July 2009	X-Men Archives	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released XMA, based on the X-Men comics. Any character appearing in X-men comics was allowed.  There was one sketchafex per box. Again, every sketchafex was colored !! For both of these X-Men releases, at first I was just going to collect ones that I deemed had a "Silver Age" look to them, or Silver-Age character, though you will see that I got a little bit carried-away with these too !!
October 2009	Spider-Man Archives	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released a card set for SMA, and was based on the Spider-Man comics. Any character appearing in Spider-Man comics was allowed, but since Spider-Man has teamed-up-with or fought almost every character in the Marvel Universe, it seems as though all characters were allowed ? Per their now usual format, every sketchafex was 1 per box, and colored !! At first I was just going to collect ones that I deemed had a "Silver Age" look to them, or Silver-Age character, though you will see that (as usual) I got a little bit carried-away with these too !!
April 2010	Marvel 70th Anniversary	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released  M70 which basically covered the entire Marvel Universe. As the name implies, the sketches were to show characters and events from Marvel's 70 years of existence. Per their now usual format, every sketchafex was 1 per box, and colored !!
October 2010	Marvel Heroes & Villains	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released MHV. The new concept here was that every sketch had to show at least two characters, and supposedly those two characters had to have some sort of connection in Marvel lore/history. Per their now usual format, every sketchafex was 1 per box, and colored !! For these two 2010 releases, I decided to mainly collect ones that I deemed had a "historical perspective" i.e. told some part of the 'History of Marvel'. Of course I started-off looking for ones that represented the Silver-Age, but expanded to post-SA too. I mainly concentrated on my four now-favorite artists from these two releases, as a way of limiting the sketches I collected; though you will see that (as usual) I got a little bit carried-away with these anyway !!
March 2011	Marvel: Dangerous Divas	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released MDD, which I considered a "rehash" of their 'Women of Marvel' release from 2008. As with WoM, I collected "very few" of these sketches.
October 2011	Marvel Universe 2011	Rittenhouse Archives (RA) released MU11 which again basically covered the entire Marvel Universe. Per their now usual format, every sketchafex was 1 per box, and colored !! The original intent of this release was to highlight 10 of Marvel Comics' Crossover Events: The Korvac Saga, Secret Wars I, Fall of the Mutants, Age of Apocalypse, Heroes Reborn,Civil War, World War Hulk, Secret Invasion, Shadowland, and Fear Itself. However, I felt as though only a small percentage of the artists drew sketches representing these Crossover events ... most were just "static character" sketches. So I only collected some that I deemed represented certain Crossover events.