Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Masterpiece Series V

Fleer/Skybox 1996

Vital Statistics 

100 base card set (including a checklist card, plus a six card "Gallery", six card "Double Impact", and nine card "Painting Redemption" chase card subsets. 

Card fronts feature full bleed artwork with holofoil character and subset names, as well as the Marvel Masterpiece logos. 

Card backs feature a portion of the card front image overlaid with the character's name, a fact about them, their first appearance, and the names of their creators. 

Firsts and Other Notables

The final "Marvel Masterpieces" set of the initial 90s run (Upper Deck would relaunch the series in 2007, with sporadic releases over the next few years, most recently w/a set in 2020), these cards are amongst some of the most rare and sought-after cards of this vintage (and that was even before the recent boom in the trading card market) due to the small print run of the series, published as it was while the trading card market was in the midst of collapsing. 

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Ultra Onslaught

Fleer Skybox 1996

Vital Statistics

100 cards, plus a three card promo set (featuring Heroes Reborn Captain America, Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man), a four card Autographs chase set, a three card "Mirage" chase set featuring lenticular cards, and four exclusive Overpower hero cards and nine exclusive Overpower mission cards. 

Categorically Speaking

The majority of these cards are standard hero/villain portraits, with the standard 100th card checklist, plus twelve cards smack in the middle of the set that summarize the plot of "Onslaught" (these basically functions as an additional category but are not labeled as such). 

Firsts and Other Notables

"Marvel Ultra Onslaught" functions, essentially, as a trading card set featuring the major players in the "Onslaught" crossover. Each card front image is full bleed (no borders) and enhanced with CGI coloring/effects. Card backs list the character's real name, team affiliation and power, with brief biographical information about the character written either from the perspective of Professor X or Onslaught, along with information about the artists who worked on the card. 

Unstacking the Deck: Fleer Ultra X-Men: Wolverine

Fleer 1996

Vital Statistics 

100 cards (including the checklist card), plus a nine card Holoflash foil and three card "mirage" insert sets. 

Categorically Speaking

Weapon X, Department H, Second Genesis, Japan, Allies, Madripoor, Mojoworld, Enemies, X-Men, Age of Apocalypse, Savage Beast 

Firsts and Other Notables

While not Fleer's only offering of X-Men cards this year (they also put out the higher end chromium set, as well as a set of "Onslaught"-specific cards), this is the set which is the most direct sequel to the previous two years' "Fleer Ultra X-Men" sets. It is, however (in perhaps the most 90s thing ever) focused on Wolverine, rather than the full X-Men team/universe. 

As such, aside from the more standard "allies" and "enemies" categories, most of the categories represent a specific time or setting from Wolverine's history, with each nine card subset featuring characters culled from that era/setting alongside the relevant Wolverine card (so the Department H cards feature Wolverine in his first costume along with cards for Alpha Flight characters, the Madripoor subset his Patch outfit and cards for Tyger Tiger, Roughhouse, etc.). 

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Masterpiece Series IV

Fleer 1995

Vital Statistics
151 standard cards (including the checklist card), plus a 22 card "Canvas", 8 card "Holoflash" and two card "Mirage" insert sets and a "E-Motion Signature Series" parallel set.

The cards are almost presented entirely in portrait layout, with the card fronts featuring only the Marvel Masterpieces logo in the bottom left corner and the character's name in gold-foil writing in the other corner.

The cardbacks feature the name of the artist who painted the front image, along with a relevant quote about the character written from the perspective of a specific ally, enemy, or love interest of the character, all overlaid atop of smaller, skewed, copy of the cardfront's main image.

Firsts and Other Notables
Art for this series cards came from four artists: Dave Devries, Dimitrios Patelis, Peter Scanlan and Nelson, with each artist painting 38 characters along with two other artists, so that the first 114 cards represent 38 character who each receive three cards, each painted by one of the four artists. Each artist then contributed paintings of nine unique characters each, such that the final 36 cards represent characters receiving one card each (each of those "solo" cards features a comment on the cardback from the artist, usually explaining why they picked that character or detailing their artistic choices).

Unstacking the Deck: Fleer Ultra X-Men Chromium

Fleer 1995

Vital Statistics 
100 cards (including the checklist card) plus a twenty card "Alternate X" chase set, a nine card "Lethal Weapons" chase set, and a gold signature parallel set.

Categorically Speaking
Teams/Superheroes/Supervillains, Wolverine Timeline, Haunted Mansion

Firsts and Other Notables
The cards in this set are all "chromium", which as far as I can tell, means they have a slicker finish and a more embossed, nearly-3D look to the art (it's the same gimmick that was applied to the covers of Generation X #1, X-Men: Alpha and X-Men: Omega). All of the card art is fully painted and from either Andy Kubert (the regular X-Men artist), his brother Adam (the artist on Wolverine) or their father Joe (a classic artist of the Silver Age who founded a school for comic book art).

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Flair Annual '95

Fleer 1995

Vital Statistics
150 card (including the checklist card) plus a 12 card Chromium card chase set, a three card foil-enhanced Duo Card chase set (featuring cards with mirrored art on both sides of the card, ie Spider-Man & Scarlet Spider), a 10 card Flair Print chase set, a 12 card HoloBlast chase set in which each card features a battle (ie Wolverine vs. Cyber) in which one of the two combatants is holographic, and a 24 card Power Blast chase set.

Card layout and approach is the same as the initial Flair Annual set, and like that set, these cards are printed on thicker card stock, with foil-enhanced writing on the fronts, featuring re-used artwork culled from covers and interior pages of comics both within the covered year and without, with computer-enhanced backgrounds augmenting the sampled artwork.

Unstacking the Deck: Fleer Ultra X-Men Series II

Fleer 1995

Vital Statistics
150 cards (including the checklist card), plus a nine card "Hunters & Stalkers" insert set in gold, silver & rainbow variations, a ten card "Sinister Observations" insert set, and a ten card "Suspended Animation" insert set.

Categorically Speaking
Teams, X-Overs, Greatest Battles, Spring Break

Firsts and Other Notables
As with the previous Fleer Ultra set, this series features high-end production values (though not as high end as the "Flair Ultra" line), such as thicker card stock, glossy fronts, and foil-embossed lettering featuring art from a variety of comic book, sci-fi & fantasy artists (including Boris Vallejo, John Romita Sr., and former X-Factor artist Larry Stroman).

The main card fronts feature simply the image, with a black box on the bottom listing the character's name. Cardbacks are fairly limited as well, just the character’s name(s), a short bio, and the card artist’s name. No first appearance or power info, no group affiliations, etc.

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Masterpiece Series III

Fleer 1994

Vital Statistics
140 cards (including the checklist card), plus a ten card holofoil insert set, available in four variants (red, bronze, silver & gold), a ten card Masterprints insert set, and a nine card PowerBlast insert.

Additionally, there is a parallel set in which all 140 of the main cards are produced with the Hildebrandt brothers' signatures reproduced on the front of each card in gold foil.

Cardfronts are full bleed, featuring only the character name center-bottom and the Marvel Masterpiece logo on the top left corner, both presented in gold foil.

Cardbacks are landscaped, featuring a zoomed-in reproduction of the cardfront image, along with a brief character bio and a behind-the-scenes quote from the Hildebrandt brothers regarding the creation of the card specifically (or the set in general).

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Flair Annual '94

Fleer 1994

Vital Statistics 
150 card (including the checklist card) plus a 18 card "Power Blast" chase set, featuring foil on one side and a larger portion of the front image, without foil, on the back. The last 18 cards of the set (before the checklist) are dedicated to "Maximum Carnage" and "Mutant Genesis" (the story which launched the second X-Men book).

The card fronts feature previously used artwork (including from covers, internal pages, and other trading cards), featuring both specific characters and significant moments from Marvel history, recolored with computer coloring techniques and, occasionally, added computer-generated effects. The character name/moment is written in shiny foil lettering.

The landscape orientated cardbacks feature a brief description of the historical moment featured on the card front, alongside a sphere overlaid with the cover of the issue featuring the moment (usually).

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Universe Series V

Fleer 1994

Vital Statistics 
200 cards (including the checklist card), plus three chase card subsets: four card holograms, nine card "Power Blasts" and ten "Suspended Animation" cards featuring cel-like renditions of characters from Marvel's current animated series.

The front of the main hero/villain cards feature an image of the character, with a solid color border running top to bottom on the left hand side, with the character's name in the top left written in shiny foil lettering.

Like the Marvel Masterpieces and the recent Fleer Ultra X-Men sets, these cards are pretty on thicker stock, with a glossy finish.

The hero/villain card backs are all landscape orientated, with a short bio above a power ratings graphic on the right (the power ratings *really* need an "energy projection" category, to balance out characters who may not be super-strong or great fighters, but still powerful). On the left, a “moment of truth” featuring a significant event from the character’s history (depicted via an original art recreation of the event) with the issue in which it occurred, above the character’s names and group affiliations. The card’s artist(s) is also listed on the back.

Unstacking the Deck: Fleer Ultra X-Men Series I

Fleer 1994

Vital Statistics
150 base card set (including the checklist card), as well as several insert/chase sets: a nine card "team portrait" set that combines to form one image, a six card foil-etched "Fatal Attractions" set, a six card foil-etched "Greatest Battles", and a six card foil-etched X-Overs set. Additionally, there is a six card Team Triptych that is exclusive to packs sold from Wal-Mart, and a five card "promo pack" sold with Sega's X-Men video game (which contained versions of the base set cards with the Sega logo on the back).

Categorically Speaking
Super Heroes, Super Villains, Original Team, X-Overs, Team Tryptichs, Deceased, Wolverine's Greatest Battles

Firsts and Other Notables
Fleer is the company which, in the early 80s, helped breaks Topps' monopoly on the production of baseball cards, and by 1991, with the sports card market in the midst of a booming sales bubble (helped, in part, by the opening of the market by Fleer), it released its first "Fleer Ultra" set of baseball cards, a high-end series produced in smaller quantities than the "regular" Fleer set, featuring thicker card stock and silver ink (not unlike how the Marvel Masterpieces card sets are, essentially, an upscale version of the regular Marvel Universe sets). In July of 1992, Marvel purchased Fleer outright, which is why this series (and subsequent X-Men series) are produced by Fleer instead of Skybox, as with the previous sets (though Marvel would, in turn, purchase Skybox as well, in 1995, with both acquisitions often cited as two of the numerous bad business decisions that led to their bankruptcy in 1996).

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Masterpieces Series II

Skybox 1993

Vital Statistics 
90 cards (including checklist card) with an eight card subset of chase cards.

Card fronts feature series title on the top, with the character name on the bottom, with no other borders.

Cardbacks feature character's real name, group affiliation (where applicable). first appearance ( including publication date and art credit), with the cardback text laid over a scene from the character's first appearance. The bottom of the cardback lists a "In the Beginning" factoid.

Firsts and Other Notables
Whereas the first series of Marvel Masterpiece cards were all from artist Joe Jusko, for this series, Marvel enlisted multiple artists (including Jusko again).

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Universe Series IV

Skybox 1993

Vital Statistics
180 cards (including the checklist), plus nine red foil chase cards featuring characters from Marvel's 2099 imprint, and one rare Spider-Man vs. Venom hologram card, available in three different colors (red, green or the rarest, blue), inserted at the odds of one in every 180 packs.

The big change in this series that the bulk of the cards, comprising the various heroes and villains cards, are 1/9 of a larger image that forms when each batch of nine cards are placed in a nine-pocket plastic sleeve.

As a result, the border around each card varies, depending on where in the grid it falls (so the middle card has no border, the bottom right card a border on it's right and bottom, etc.), with a line across the top of each card denoting whether the character is a hero, villain, rookie, or alien race, along with the Marvel logo with the year inside it.

The back of each card is laid out in landscape, with a large headshot and a smaller full body image of the character in the center. Their real name and team affiliation is listed, followed by their ranking (by numeric value) in four ve categories: Strength, Intelligence, Fighting Ability, and Speed. Beneath that is a one sentence origin for the character, along with their first appearance. On the very bottom of the card is a "did you know" fact for each character.

Unstacking the Deck: X-Men Series II

Skybox 1993

Vital Statistics
100 cards (including one checklist card), with four hologram chase cards featuring original art, and nine 30th anniversary gold foil chase cards.

Categorically Speaking
Super-Heroes, Arch-Enemies, Super-Villains, Teams, Animated Series

Firsts and Other Notables
While the first series of X-Men-specific trading cards served as a showcase for the work of superstar artist Jim Lee, Lee had, of course, left Marvel in fairly notable fashion, and wasn't about to contribute to a second series of cards. But Marvel, at the height of not only the comic book speculator boom but really an overall boom market in collectible hobbies, wasn't about to not release a second series of X-Men cards. And so we have X-Men Series II.

In lieu of Jim Lee, this series features artwork from all the then-current X-book artists, including Alan Davis, Brandon Petersen, Andy Kubert, Joe Quesada and Greg Capullo, with each artist (more or less) drawing the cards of the characters from his respective series, with series fill-in artists Art Thibert, Liefeld clones Marck Pacella & Dan Panosian, and Joe Madureira also pitching in artwork, particularly in the Super-Villains category.

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Universe Series III

Impel 1992

Vital Statistics
200 cards (including the checklist card) and five hologram chase cards.

The background on the front of each card is a star field, with a varying geometric shape set between the background and the central image of the character.

The card backs are landscaped, with a headshot of the character along with a quote and the series, issue number and date from which the quote is taken on the left of the card. Beneath that is the character's real name, group affiliation, and first appearance.

To the right of the headshot is bar graph mapping each character's aptitude in strength, intelligence, energy projection, mental powers, fighting ability and speed. Beneath that is the character's biographically information.

Unstacking the Deck: X-Men Series I

Impel 1992

Vital Statistics
100 cards (including one checklist card), with five hologram chase cards featuring original art.

Categorically Speaking
Heroes, Villains, Teams, Ex-X-Men, Allies, the Danger Room

Firsts and Other Notables
After releasing two full sets of Marvel Universe cards (with a third following shortly behind this one), this is the first set of trading cards to exclusively feature Marvel's cash cow X-Men, with the added conceit that every card is drawn by Jim Lee, arguably the most popular of Marvel's artists at the time. Lee provides not only the central image on the front of the card, but the headshots on the back, as well five additional, original images for the hologram chase cards.

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Universe Series II

Impel 1991

Vital Statistics
162 cards, plus five hologram chase cards (Spider-Man, Hulk, Punisher, Doctor Doom, Fantastic Four vs. Mole Man).

The front of the cards, feature an orange exterior border for heroes, gray for villains, with a shifting interior border color surrounding the central image . The card back features a headshot next to the power rankings, a bar graph displaying each character's aptitude in six areas: strength, speed, agility, stamina, durability, and intelligence. Beneath that are vital stastitics, linclduing group affliation (where applicable), height, weight and first appearance (the character's real name is listed below the head shot). Beneath that is the biographical data, with a "Did You Know?" fact along the bottom.

Categorically Speaking
Super-Heroes, Super-Villains, Arch-Enemies, Weapons, Legends, Rookies, Teams, Power Ratings. and checklist card.

Unstacking the Deck: Marvel Universe Series 1

Impel, 1990

Vital Statistics
162 cards plus 5 Hologram chase cards (Cosmic Spider-Man, Magneto, Silver Surfer, Wolverine, Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin).

White border framed front image, cardback features headshot, statistics, biographical info, and "Did You Know" box at the bottom.

Cardback Statistical Categories: Real Name, Group Affiliation, Height, Weight, Battles Fought, Wins, Losses, Ties, Win Percentage, Nicknames (when applicable), Arch-Enemies and First Appearance.

Categorically Speaking
Super Heroes,  Super Villains, Rookies, Famous Battles, MVCs (Most Valuable Comics) , Team Pictures, Spider-Man Presents.