Why are you calling them packs?

I think that's what they call them.
They aren't packs in the regular card sense, as in a small stack of cards in a sealed wrapper, but rather you get a comic book and a sketch card "packed" in a sealed bubble envelope.

So has anyone picked any of these up then?

quote:

Originally posted by X:
So has anyone picked any of these up then?

As I said, I bought an AP long ago.

I ordered 4 of the single card editions from the half price sale and should receive them on Tuesday the 21st or maybe Wednesday the 22nd. I'll post pix of the results once I have them.

The crazy thing is, I'm not a huge X-Files fan and I don't really collect sketch cards, but this artist list was tremendous so I just couldn't pass them up at the bargain price.

I'm hoping for a Tim Proctor or Mark McHaley (they did just 5 each though), a Cat Staggs (20 from her), Sean Pence or Charles Hall (15 each), one of the 10 done by Topps Comics X-Files cover artist Miran Kim, or else one of the 7 by Ted Dastick (all highly imaginative, I'm sure), and finally, it would be pretty cool to find the lone sketch in the series by original "Lone Gunmen" Dean Haglund.
There are 30 from the excellent Joe Corroney, so I've got a good shot at one of those, but two other artists also did 30 and I'm not familiar with their names. Hope they did good work. Between those two and Corroney, that's half of the 178 cards in total.
But with that few issued, even the odds on finding that truly one-of-a-kind card from Dean Haglund are only 1 in 178, so odds on all of the others are substantially lower than that.

I'm not too worried about it at these prices, though. I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with whatever I get. I just hope they mixed them up some. I wouldn't mind getting cards from the three "common" 30 cards each artists, I would just hope to not get them all from the same guy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chesspieceface,

Fantastic stuff from MIRAN KIM on the Scully and Mulder. The card is thick with paint!

Cat Staggs is right up there with the best of the "likeness" artists and she shows it off and how with this fantastic Dana Scully.

Those two are from the list of "rare" artists who combined for a total of 88 cards.

I got two from artists who did 30 each, Joe Corroney on the Monica Reyes and Richard Cox on the paranormal character I can't name offhand. These are also very nicely done.

Since I got two of the "easy" 90 and two of the tough "88", I do wonder if they keep the varieties in two separate boxes and give you one from each pile with each order of two sets.
Either way, I'm glad I got a nice mix and am very happy with these. Great job on the artist list, IDW. Not a bum in the bunch. Keep 'em coming!

Thanks for posting your sketches chesspieceface.

Until your post above, I had not "done the maths" and realised this is a pretty small run of only 298 sketch cards total in 'packs'.

The artists got 10x return cards each so we need to add another 120 cards to the total. These are all 'red label' also but can be differentiated by the words 'Artist Sketch Card' at the top of the card front.

Also, one of the artists I have found is selling 12 cards. 10 red label return cards and 2 ordinary red label cards... so does that mean this artist did more cards than were inserted or were his cards fewer in packs than stated?

Anyway, whatever the final total number, all great artists and better odds at pulling something great than your average sketch set - as your pulls prove. I think your Staggs Scully looks fantastic. A great likeness.
(PS. your bottom left is one of the 'faceless' Alien Rebels).

I'm not a risk taker when it comes to packs/boxes so I have bought one of Mark McHaley's return cards. I have wanted one of his colour cards for the longest time but they always went for daft money. The chance to get a commission from him, my favourite sketch card artist, was too much of an opportunity to pass up.

The Staggs sketch is the best of the lot by far, but I also like the faceless Alien. The Kim "painting" is well done and has both main characters, so I would guess that it would the most sort after, as well as being the rarer artist.

Staggs did 20 sketches, so she is the next below the highest 30 number. I don't know that it would mean there are two piles, I think one rare for every 4 is about what you could expect.

You came away with a nice package.

Great cards, chesspieceface! I love Miran Kim's work in this set.

quote:

Originally posted by X:
I'm not a risk taker when it comes to packs/boxes so I have bought one of Mark McHaley's return cards. I have wanted one of his colour cards for the longest time but they always went for daft money. The chance to get a commission from him, my favourite sketch card artist, was too much of an opportunity to pass up.

Congrats on that. I've been waiting over 5 years on a commission from him.

quote:

Originally posted by Ted Dastick Jr.:
Great cards, chesspieceface! I love Miran Kim's work in this set.

quote:

Originally posted by X:
I'm not a risk taker when it comes to packs/boxes so I have bought one of Mark McHaley's return cards. I have wanted one of his colour cards for the longest time but they always went for daft money. The chance to get a commission from him, my favourite sketch card artist, was too much of an opportunity to pass up.

Congrats on that. I've been waiting over 5 years on a commission from him.

Well, it's not in hand Ted as its a commission on one of his blank returns. I've heard as much about delays but here's hoping the wait won't be anything like that. I couldn't miss the opportunity nonetheless. What's the story if you don't mind me asking?

Combining the cards done by each artist from the Red (188 cards) and Blue (120 cards)editions, here are the 308 pack issued cards in order of rarity

33 x Sean Pence
30 x Richard Cox
30 x Mark Torres
30 x Joe Corroney
28 x Ted Dastick
26 x Mark McHaley
26 x Tim Proctor
26 x Dan Harding
23 x Chris Mason
20 x Cat Staggs
15 x Charles Hall
10 x Miran Kim
1 x Dean Haglund (Lone Gunmen)

Looking at it this way, Sean Pence is the most common artist.

quote:

Originally posted by Ted Dastick Jr.:
Great cards, chesspieceface! I love Miran Kim's work in this set. (

Thanks, Ted. The Miran Kim card is actually a card that would be better shown off as a GIF (if I knew how to do that), since she did something with the paint that makes the shadows on their faces shift as you tilt it in the light. Not exactly lenticular, but still pretty cool, and something that takes time to learn to do, I'm sure.

There are many fine artists who work on these various cards, and lots of them I do covet, but none more so than sketch cards from artists returning to a subject that they'd played a part of in making popular in the first place.
(This is why Marvel Silver Age is the finest sketch card set ever, in my book. A great subject with thousands of cards drawn by actual 1960's Marvel Bullpen legends whose names were all over those classic comics that modern Marvel Comics are a sad shell of.)

Where X-Files history is concerned, I'm not sure there is a more relevant artist that could've been selected to draw cards for this set. Miran Kim's covers for the Topps X-Files comics of the 1990's comprises an all-time classic cover run in my book, right up there with Brian Bolland's on "Wonder Woman", Arthur Adams' on "Classic X-Men" and Adam Hughes & Alex Ross on a whole bunch of titles.

I'd actually only intended to keep one of these cards for myself, but I'll likely keep the Staggs as well as the Kim. That card also looks even better in person. I really am thrilled with these.

Just received the scan of my completed commission card...



Can't wait to get it!

Gorgeous McHaley sketch there. I would really like some great X-Files sketches.

This is an AP Tim Proctor did for me .




Great work and really fast. Six weeks from me contacting him to having the card in my hands.

quote:

Originally posted by X:
Just received the scan of my completed commission card...
Can't wait to get it!

X that sketch card is unbelievably amazing!

when you say you just received the scan, how long have you been waiting on that commission? either way it was worth they wait!


I hope someone picks up the license for the new mini-season.

Thanks for the complements Sidewinder and Juelle Lou. I commissioned it last October so coming up for 8 months now. Really didn't mind waiting as I have always wanted a colour card from McHaley and he is not always available for this sort of work and seems to be doing fewer sketch card sets these days.

I would love if RA picked up the X-Files licence and gave us some full-bleed autos to coincide with the relaunch in January. So long as it didn't turn into a Buffy type set...

Really nice Scully AP you've got there Triple-Frog. I've always liked Tim Proctor's stuff and he has captured her well. The flame red hair is great!

Well I've been slowly plugging away at this set, trying to get one AP card from each of the participating artists. So far I have managed Mark McHaley, Joe Corroney, Tim Proctor, Miran Kim, and am just waiting for the Charles Hall to arrive...

Really like the first one at the bottom. Is that the Kim? I prefer the portraits that are very sharp and have a facial expression that is recognizable to the actor, rather than a stylized sketch.

I also tend to find more depth and contrast in a portrait done as a B/W pencil drawing, so long as it is dark. The colored ones are more flashy, but the paint is harder to detail and shade properly. That one is a particularly well done color sketch. Congrats.

Thanks Raven. Yes, the bottom left is by Miran Kim. I was really happy at how it turned out - basically a mini oil painting. She was a pleasure to commission and priced her work very fairly for the quality given. Such a great name to have in X-Files artwork fandom too. Amazingly she hadn't done an X-Files AP card until I got in touch. It was the same story with a couple other artists who worked on this set as well, which I found very surprising.

I recall I speculated earlier in this thread, when the set came out, that there may not be enough sketches for all the X-Files fans out there but interest seems a bit flat.