150 cards.

The 1994 launch

Marvel and Fleer announce the set.

1994. Marvel and Fleer announce Flair Marvel 1994, set to hit stores in mid-June. The sentence is from the July magazine, Jerry A. Novick’s feature, “Where the Past and Future Collide,” pages 26–28. It is a preview. The issued checklist came later.

“This set, scheduled to hit stores in mid-June… every card in the 150-card Flair Marvel 1994 set will portray a major milestone in Marvel’s hallowed history.”

Marvel Age #138, page 26 · Open the page

The name was borrowed.

The brand was borrowed from Fleer’s Flair Baseball set from the year before. John Taddeo, Fleer’s marketing manager, told Marvel Age that Flair was the way the cards were made: the stock, and the package. The magazine printed the baseball pack beside the new one.

“Flair” meant the card in your hand.

Thick stock, double UV coated on both sides, and foil stamped on both sides. No wax packs. The article said ten cards in a resealable card-stock box, $4.00 a pack, 36 packs in a display box.

“This cardboard stock is double UV (ultra-violet) coated with a special plastic on both sides, and the card has foil stamped elements on both sides… $4.00 per pack… 36-packs per box.”

Marvel Age #138, page 28 · Open the page

The issued packs match the description: thick cardboard mini-boxes, shrink-wrapped, four covers. Venom, Magneto, Cyclops, Wolverine. Pick a cover.

A limited run, and a chase set that wasn’t finished.

Fleer promised a limited press run, plus a single 20-card chase set. The theme was Marvel’s history, “from Marvel’s beginnings straight up to the present day.” Bob Budiansky, Marvel’s executive editor of special projects, listed what the art had to carry: “Classic battles, monumental first meetings, character origins, deaths…”

“Fleer plans to produce just one 20-card chase set… The nature of the chase set had not yet been finalized at press time.”

Marvel Age #138, page 28 · Open the page

The Marvel Age #138 reveal

This is the part most people never knew.

Nobody painted new art for Flair.

“Each card in the set will consist of a previously published piece of artwork, be it a cover or an especially dramatic piece of interior art, freshly colored on computer.”

Bill Jemas, quoted on page 26 · Open the page

Black line art, then a studio.

Marvel’s Special Projects team pulled that art as uncolored black line art and shipped it, with color guides, to McGrew Color Graphics.

“We… chose previously existing artwork that would present vivid images as uncolored black line art. We then provided these black line pieces — along with color guides to ensure accuracy — to McGrew Color Graphics who then “painted” each piece on computer, adding context-sensitive special effects to the art along the way.”

Bob Budiansky, page 26 · Open the page

Painted on a computer.

McGrew “painted” each piece on a computer. Nine computer artists. Three programs: Kai Power Tools, Fractal Painter, and Adobe Photoshop. Richard Quinlan named them. Mariano Nicieza, the Marvel editor watching the job, put a line on it that the magazine printed whole.

“First of all, we’re witnessing the birth of an art technique we’ve never seen before.”

Mariano Nicieza, page 27 · Open the page

Three stages, one page.

Marvel Age showed the method on a page from Spider-Man 2099 #6: the printed comic, the black-and-white copy, and the computer-enhanced Flair version. Card #94, “The Origin of Spider-Man 2099,” is that page, penciled by Rick Leonardi. The magazine’s third frame is the process, not a claim that the photo is the issued card.

The yellow caption is on page 28.

The art detective

#58 Jubilee, the right page.

An earlier match pointed at the Uncanny X-Men #244 mall page. That was the wrong image. The source is Jim Lee and Scott Williams, Uncanny X-Men #258 (1990), page 9, panel 1. Jubilee in mid-leap. Flair cropped the ninja at the bottom left, added color, and filled the background with fireworks. The art was not flipped. The owner of the original art has said on ComicArtFans that this panel was used for the card.

Drag the bar. Source on the left, card on the right.

#44 Hobgoblin, cut from a shop display.

“Hobgoblin Appears” is not from a comic. It is a crop of Marvel’s 1987 Hobgoblin stand-up, a five-foot cardboard figure made for comic shops. The card matches a photograph of that display. No signature is visible. The artist is unknown.

#85 Bishop, from a T-shirt.

The card is titled “The Origin of Bishop.” The figure is a 1993 Comic Images T-shirt, item MVS868. Flair kept the pose and repainted the background. The artist is unknown.

Powerblast #14, flipped.

Silver Surfer (1987) #31, the 1989 cover. Flair flipped it horizontally, so the Surfer faces the other way. The checklist gives no artist, so the artist is unknown here.

#93 Nightstalkers, recolored.

The bonus mini-poster in Nightstalkers #1. Andy Kubert pencils, Adam Kubert inks. McGrew took it blue and purple, added a burst of light, and dropped the chain and the fiery sky. One of the larger changes the studio made.

#10 Xavier, one sketch on many products.

Not a comic page. Ron Lim’s in-house sketches. Marvel kept reusing them: X-Men playing cards in 1994, a store counter standee in 1995, X-Men magnets in 1996.

#57, swinging into the wedding.

John Romita Sr.’s drawing of Spider-Man with Mary Jane, inked by John Romita Jr. Flair swapped the heart backdrop for a city. The art match is high-confidence. Its first appearance in the Web of Spider-Man Annual #4 (1988) wedding pin-up is likely, not verified, and the page number is unconfirmed. The picture here is the 2022 Spider-Man: The Wedding Album Gallery Edition reprint.

The unsolved files

Not every card gives up its secret.

The ’94 Flair cards credit no artists. Collectors have long said the designs were taken from comics and retouched. Most of the set has been traced. A few files are still open.

#37 Black Cat.

She leaps toward you, fist raised and hair streaming, with the moon and a city skyline behind her. The card is “Spider-Man meets the Black Cat.” It is unsolved.

We compared her against about 45 Black Cat covers and pin-ups from 1979 to 1994, including all four covers of her 1994 solo series. We also tried two reverse image searches, 1994 Marvel Age previews, TSR’s role-playing game books, toys, pinball, and View-Master. Not one matches.

The only other place this art turns up is the 1994 Mexican Pepsi set, card #28 “Gata Negra,” which reprints Flair. Its back has a Marvel copyright and no artist.

The leading theory, drawn from Marvel Age #138’s account of art prepared in-house, is that these are unpublished in-house inks. That is a theory. No evidence has turned up for it.

#78 Deadpool, a loose repaint.

The checklist credits Deadpool: The Circle Chase #2, page 5, Joe Madureira. The crouch, the swords, the gun blast, and the rooftop line up. The head, the gun arm, and an extra open hand do not. It stays labeled a loose repaint. The card back cites New Mutants #98, Deadpool’s first appearance. That is the story the card refers to, not where the art came from.

Phoenix. Closest lead, not confirmed.

The closest lead, not confirmed, is Toy Biz’s Dark Phoenix Saga 4-pack box art (item 49050, an FAO Schwarz exclusive, with Phoenix, Corsair, Ch’od, and a space-suited Wolverine). The same art appears on the Phoenix Saga figure card (49385). The poses are near, about a 15 to 20 percent match: the arm and leg are close, but the head, the hair, and the collar are not. The artist is unknown. Bart Sears designed the figures and has said other artists drew the package art. FigureRealm’s catalog dates the 4-pack to 1995, after these cards came out in 1994, so the release date of the box art is unresolved.

Two artists still missing.

#44 Hobgoblin is the 1987 five-foot store display. #85 Bishop is Comic Images T-shirt MVS868, 1993. The sources are above. The artists are unknown.

If you have a 1990s Marvel store display, a style guide, a licensing sheet, or original art that looks familiar, the checklist is where it belongs. Collectors solved most of this set. They can solve the rest.