Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to the monthly Masterpiece Theater feature covering the 2022 Marvel Unbound Set, only on Hipsters of the Coast!
For anyone new to this series, Unbound 2022 is once again an Upper-Deck ePack exclusive trading cards set, illustrated entirely by French artist and illustrator Fred Roy and his studio assistant Ian. They’ve been working traditionally in oils in the comic industry for nearly a decade, and you can find their sketch cards in various Upper Deck sets as far back as 2017. After the smash success of the initial Unbound set, they’ve reprised their role with that unmistakable hyper-realistic style for this new 2022-23 iteration
As a reminder, this year’s set is a bit different than its predecessor in both blueprint and breadth. The time is the same: the cards are released at 9 AM PST every week on Upper Deck’s ePack trading platform, but this time it’s 1999 packs. Collectors may purchase a maximum of two packs per transaction and could open any of the following: A Base Card, numbered to 999, a Canvas Parallel numbered to 299, an unnumbered Rainbow Foil (estimated at approximately 646 each week), a Gold Autograph Parallel hand signed by fred.ian and numbered to only 50, one of four different 1/1 CMYK printing plates, or a 1/1 hand drawn sketch card, often corresponding to that week’s character!
Complete sets of each parallel can be redeemed each quarter for Quarterly Achievement Cards, and then those four Quarterly Achievements within a parallel series can be redeemed at the end of the year for even more scarce and exclusive cards.
It’s been another two months this time so we’re again looking at this batch double-feature style. That means 8 artworks, 9 sketch cards, one of those Quarterly Achievement battle scenes, and even a lightning round of Ask Fred with some of his best answers yet! This is Weeks 33-40 of 2022 Unbound, and cards #85-92.
Unbound Year 2: Cards #85-92 & Weekly Sketch Cards, and Quarter 3 Achievement
#85 Vulture
Vulture by fred.ian, oils on paper, 29.7cm x 40cm (11.7” x 15.7”)
Vulture never gets the respect he deserves, and while I’m anxiously awaiting seeing both the MCU version and the Spiderverse Renaissance version on a trading card, fred.ian is able to capture the criminal’s classic cadence at card size. Wings, a bubble, and a skyscraper; the Vulture has landed.
#86 Vision
Vision by fred.ian, oils on paper, 41cm x 51cm (16” x 20”)
This could very well be my favorite piece from the set, and is certainly the most inventive. While it’s Vision’s card, the omnipresence of the Scarlet Witch is unmistakable, pixelated in the background. In speaking to the owner that hangs the original in his home, at 25 feet you see Scarlet Witch, and it’s only when entering the room does Vision take focus. A true masterwork in this series.
#87 Scorpion
Scorpion by fred.ian, oils on paper, 29.7cm x 40cm (11.7” x 15.7”)
Regular readers of mine know I’m a sucker for forced perspective and breaking the frame, and this iteration of Scorpion does both! Another character that often doesn’t get the character-collecting popularity he deserves, this artwork could be a turning point for that; it showcases Scorpion in all his glory like we haven’t seen him before.
#88 Miles Morales
It’s no surprise that Miles Morales was one of the most popular cards of the entire set so far. Miles is shown ‘hanging out’ on the side of a building, and the perspective gives me sweaty palms just looking at it! The artists have rendered Morales’ suit exquisitely, and this will be a set highlight, no doubt.
#89 Odin
Odin by fred.ian, oils on paper, oils on paper, 29.7cm x 40cm (11.7” x 15.7”)
There is A LOT going on in this artwork: Odin, our hero, his raven, his wolves, a flowing cape, an Asgardian backdrop, and yet when shrunk to card size, it’s still legible despite all these design elements. That’s no easy feat, and I think this artwork of Odin will be remembered for both its splendor and its completeness.
#90 Warwolf
Warwolf by fred.ian, oils on paper, oils on paper, 29.7cm x 40cm (11.7” x 15.7”)
The first character I’m not familiar with, Warwolf, is the leader of Nick Fury’s Howling Commando and is painted as if he’s fresh to the front line. This is a straightforward painting, and there is nothing wrong with that: badass wolf, big gun, and a red rising sun; done and done.
#91 Ronan the Accuser
Ronan the Accuser by fred.ian, oils on paper, oils on paper, 29.7cm x 40cm (11.7” x 15.7”)
Ronan the Accuser was the big bad of one of the MCU’s greatest movies, Guardians of the Galaxy, and before this year’s Fleer Ultra Avengers, hadn’t been seen in trading cards for quite some time. The artists have captured the Kree warlord at the peak of his power, charging his Universal Weapon by way of lighting, ready to strike at any moment.
#92 Surtur
Surtur by fred.ian, oils on paper, oils on paper, 29.7cm x 40cm (11.7” x 15.7”)
Ragnarok made flesh (ish), the mighty Surtur has stomped into Unbound to finish off this article. He’s seated, so realistically, this is after his fiery conquest, with a menacing grin of pure evil pleasure at all he’s accomplished.
Weekly Sketch Cards Inserts
The Unbound of last year required 52 weeks of perseverance and collecting autographed parallels to land a fred.ian sketch, but this year a single (usually) sketch card is released at random amongst the 1999 packs each week. They are showcased each Monday morning with the Base Card for that week.. Here are the most recent sketch cards for these Weeks 25-32
Week 33 Vulture & Electro, Week 34 Vision (5” x 7”), Week 35 Scorpion, Week 36 Miles Morales, Week 37 Loki, Week 38 Warwolf, Week 39 Thanos (5” x 7”), Week 40 Surtur
This group of sketches is the whole gambit: regular size, 5” x 7”, full color, white background, matching characters, oddball characters, double sketches in one week; it’s literally every option that has been made available. The Spidey villains will always be a favorite of mine, and I think this is the best sketch of Scorpion I’ve honestly ever seen. I’m also a forever sucker for Fred’s fire, and that Surtur is hot, hot, hot!
Quarterly Achievement #3: Ghost Spider vs. Vulture
Ghost Spider vs. Vulture by fred.ian, oils on paper, 29.7cm x 40cm (11.7” x 15.7”)
At the end of each thirteen weeks, collectors can redeem their sets for a Battle Scenes Quarterly Achievement card.
The third Quarterly Achievement enters the Spiderverse, pitting two unlikely but recently cinematic foes against one another. Take note of what Vulture clutches in his hand- Gwen’s mask, but it’s revealed the face of Ghost Spider. She is one of the artists’ most masterfully captured subjects, and this head-to-head is one for the ages.
Ask Fred
As I mentioned in my first article, each piece covering this set will have an interview question for Fred and Ian, and we’ll keep with our sketch card subtheme for this query. Today was a bit of a Lightning Round Fast Five; I asked them the following:
Favorite subject to paint—men, women, or anthropomorphic (looking at you, Warwolf)?
These are the faces I prefer to paint; if I had to choose, I would only paint women’s faces.
I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this anecdote? When I was doing fashion sketches a long time ago for a big, well-known French company, I was taken off women’s sketches because they said I didn’t know how to do them right. I’ve had to make progress ever since.
Background first or figure first?
I start with what I like best: the eyes, then the face, then the rest.
Do you prefer working large (full paper) or small (sketch card)?
Definitely, we prefer large formats; at our beginnings we started with classic (no superheroes) portraits, we did very large format portraits on canvases up to 1m x 2m. When Upper Deck asked us to work on sketch cards, we immediately agreed, wondering how we could achieve the same quality on a much smaller format. We’re still working on that by the way.
Who is someone from Marvel you haven’t painted but that you’d like to?
We’ve already made a sketch once, but never on official stuff: Nightcrawler because he is still on the banned characters list. Otherwise, we have never worked on the heralds of Galactus (apart from Silver Surfer), Terrax, Nova, Firelord or the Air-Walker. We’d love to!
And finally, does pineapple go on pizza?
Two answers:
Mine: I join my Italian friends in calling for the heretics who dare spoil a pizza with this stuff to be put to death. Slowly, and painfully…It’s too serious to show mercy.
Ian’s: Yes, it all depends on the level of alcohol in your blood; when you lose all awareness of what’s right, you can do some very stupid things.?
Wrapping Up
If you can believe it, there will likely only be one more Unbound article covering the 2022 set, another eight-work double feature near the end of the year. Even though this run, in particular, hasn’t been selling out with the regularity seen during the first few quarters, I think that’s much more an economic result than a reflection on the quality of the artwork. Unbound is still one of the most inventive things Marvel is doing, and I’m looking forward to the homestretch.
Looking ahead, we’ll finally get to deep dive into the flagship set that is Marvel Masterpieces 2022, and look at the First 15 artworks shared by this year’s artist, Dan dos Santos. Stay tuned here to Masterpiece Theater for all your Marvel Trading Card art news, and as always, thanks for reading.
Donny Caltrider (he/him) is a Senior Writer at Hipsters of Coast, writing about all things related to the art of Magic: The Gathering and the larger imaginative realism genre. He has an M.A. in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University and enjoys telling stories about art, objects, and the intersection of fantasy with real-life. When he’s not writing for Hipsters or working with artists, you can find him traveling with his wife, petting his two cats, and watching the Baltimore Orioles.