Hi everyone, welcome to the Mirror Gallery here on Hipsters of the Coast. This column started as a way for me to explore my collection of original Magic art, and it’s high time I provided a space for others to do the same.
Today’s interview is with a collector new to Magic but not published trading card art, who managed to pull off a feat most only dream of. I’ll let him tell the story- this is “Of Spiders & Gwen”
Interview: Of Spiders & Gwen
Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from, and what you do?
My name is Jason Schleweis, but I go by Run It Back Collectibles online. I’m from Denver, CO, and I lead Marketing Technology and Automation teams at a Fortune 400 cyber resilience company.
What sort of artwork (or other things) do you enjoy collecting?
I’m a ’90s kid and started my collecting journey with comic books such as X-Men by Jim Lee and Spider-Man by Todd McFarlane. My love of comics turned into a love for Marvel trading cards around the mid-’90s, with sets such as 1994 Marvel Masterpieces and 1995 Fleer Ultra X-Men. I still collect Marvel cards to this day and am currently attempting a mixed PSA 9 and 10 set of 1996 Marvel Masterpieces, which is the rarest and shortest-printed vintage Marvel trading card set from that era.
In the late ’90s, I got absolutely hooked on Pokémon, starting with Red for Game Boy and the Base, Jungle, and Fossil first edition TCG sets. Collecting Pokémon with my three daughters is my favorite part of the hobby today.
It’s probably no surprise that my biggest interest in original art is collecting the comic book and fantasy heroes I grew up with.
How do you feel about Magic’s foray into Universes Beyond? What’s it mean for a collector like yourself?
I’m part of the Magic community because of Universes Beyond. As a kid, my foray into playing and collecting Magic was very short-lived. I grew up in a conservative Christian family, and my parents got caught up in the “Satanic Panic” of the ’90s and promptly threw out all of my cards. My attempts to build a mono-white Angel deck to stay in their good graces weren’t enough to save me!
Decades later, I learned about Magic’s Universes Beyond partnerships with The Lord of the Rings (my favorite book as a kid), Final Fantasy (VII is my all-time favorite video game), and Marvel, and knew it was time to give the game another try. I have a slightly addictive personality, which means I go all in. I downloaded MTG Arena, faithfully followed every tutorial, and very quickly fell in love with the strategy of the game. I made it to Mythic in Standard Ranked in my second month of playing.
I never would have come back to Magic if I couldn’t collect all of my favorite characters under one umbrella.
Spider-Gwen
Jason collected both the Gwen Stacy & Spider-Gwen original artworks by Victor Adame Minguez from Magic: The Gathering x Marvel’s Spider-Man
Tell us about your connection to Gwen Stacy & Spider-Gwen?
By far my favorite character is Spider-Man. Growing up as a shy but noble kid, I loved the idea of doing good but using the mask to personally stay out of the limelight I would have been terrified to be in. I connected with Peter Parker so deeply that, to this day, I don’t know if my snarky sense of humor as a way to deflect awkward social moments was always innate in me or if I learned it because of him.
Now, as an adult, I’m a girl-dad to three daughters, ages 11, 9, and 5. Everything that Spider-Man has meant to me my entire life is now represented in Spider-Gwen for the next generation of young girls, who get to learn what it means to be brave, courageous, and to stand up for what is right when it might not be the easiest or most popular choice. Gwen Stacy was more than a way to involve them in the hobby I’ve loved my entire life; she was a way to teach them that “with great power comes great responsibility.”
This is perhaps a chicken or the egg question: what made you want to collect these? Was it Gwen coming to Magic specifically or Magic having now having Marvel artwork in general?
Magic having Marvel artwork is what made me excited. I owned a handful of Marvel trading card original art pieces, including multiple published Spider-Gwen pieces, but had never owned a Magic original art piece. I immediately recognized the historical importance of being able to collect the first, and potentially only, original artworks of one of my favorite characters in Magic, which is an orders-of-magnitude larger market than Marvel trading cards.
I mentioned earlier that I went all in on Magic, which included spending countless hours familiarizing myself with all of the top artists, who, in my opinion, are peerless in the fantasy art genre. Among my favorite artists was Victor Adame Mínguez. His mix of classical realism, dynamic lighting, and character-driven storytelling instantly captured my imagination.
There are very few traditional original art pieces in Marvel’s Spider-Man. Against all odds, one of my favorite artists painted one of my favorite characters. What are the chances? I knew then and there that I had to have them.
Walk us through how it happened, because these two weren’t sold together, or even at the same time.
The first thought I had was, this isn’t going to be easy. Being new to Magic original art, I started to network and sought out friends of friends through the Marvel trading card community. That’s how I first met you, Donny. Your advice was invaluable in teaching me how to reach out to artists, research comps, and use the best bidding strategies.
Gwen Stacy was the first piece to become available in July 2025. After weeks of research, I decided to bid privately to reduce the chances of getting headhunted on the pair, and to bid early and often. My thought was, “Let’s get to where we’re going faster so I know if I can afford to be in the game.” After a week-long auction, I won the first piece! But in a strange twist of fate, Marvel intervened and reversed Wizards’ approval to sell the original artwork early, and Victor wasn’t allowed to ship the painting to me for two months until the set’s release date.
But the biggest piece still loomed: Spider-Gwen. All of the friends I had been networking with were giving me eye-watering estimates on the piece, comparing it to the Marvel Secret Lair Commanders that had been released a year prior. At those estimates, I was feeling deflated because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pair the pieces. Victor finally ran Spider-Gwen as a separate auction in October 2025, and I was going to give it everything I had.
As the final minutes wound down, I used the remainder of my budget more aggressively in an attempt to shake off the underbidders. My hands were shaking when Victor messaged me that a new bidder had come in at the end and it looked like we were going higher. After 20 excruciating minutes of extended time, I won! My plan worked!
What’s it mean to you now, to have both of these works from a seminal Magic: The gathering AND Spider-Man set?
To be honest, I didn’t realize the significance of keeping two pieces paired together like this until much later. It’s rare because it’s so hard! When I started on this journey, I did recognize these pieces as the most historically important original artworks in this character’s history. Nothing else compares when you think about the number of people who will engage with the artwork through the cards in this set.
When I had them framed, it was important to me to honor the long and rich history of Magic, so I chose inverted red and gold inner fillets to pay homage to Spider-Gwen’s Jeskai color identity.
Now, to own them from the first set in Magic’s multi-year partnership with Marvel makes them extra special. It’s one of my proudest moments in the hobby, and I get to enjoy them every day in my home office.
Wrapping Up
Are there any grails out there for you? Things you’re looking for, or would love to chase in the future?
My next grail is owning a piece of original art by Julie Bell. I grew up admiring her artwork through the 1996 Marvel Masterpieces set that I’m still collecting today, and it was one of the first times for me that Marvel art transitioned from the pencils and inks of the comic book medium to museum-worthy pieces. For decades, I assumed either Marvel or the trading card publishing companies would have kept all of the original artwork in a warehouse somewhere.
I’m almost embarrassed to admit it wasn’t until around 2022 that I learned her artwork was in the hands of private collectors, and that began my next quest. I’ve had the privilege of meeting Julie each of the past two years at the Original Art Expo (OAX) in Orlando, FL. She is so sweet and kind and loves hearing our stories of nostalgia for collecting her work.
Now that she is doing Marvel artwork for Magic, I’m keeping a close eye out!
What’s your next collecting goal?
I am beyond blessed to say that my Magic original artwork collecting journey didn’t stop at Spider-Gwen and has, in fact, only just begun. I’ve spent the past few months consolidating my collection and moving the vast majority of my art collection into Magic. I just acquired the crown jewel of my collection: a piece from an intellectual property from my childhood that I mentioned earlier, and one I still can’t believe I own.
And if folks want to chat about anything you’ve talked about here, where can they find you online?
I’m looking forward to connecting with new friends in the hobby on Instagram at runitbackcollectibles!
Jason, thanks so much for sharing the story of your journey into Magic. It’s refreshing to see these marquee pieces in such a cherished collection, and I for one appreciate you being the steward of such storied artworks
Wrapping Up
I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with Jason over the last 18 months or so about this wonderful little world of collecting we both circulate in, and he’s one of the most astute and passionate collectors I’ve ever encountered. Universes Beyond, as controversial as it can be, has welcomed a handful of folks like him into the Magic art collecting spaces, and this niche is better for it. It’s that consistent enthusiasm, infused with folks finding Magic for the first time, that keeps the market moving upwards. And that ultimately benefits everyone in the art-loving community. So thank you to Jason, and to all those who have found these spaces and supported the artists that make Magic what it is.
I’m excited to see what the future will bring: more new art, more new collectors, and continued zeal and fervor for supporting the artists who make the cards we love.
Donny Caltrider (he/him) has been writing about Magic: The Gathering art since 2018. He has an M.A. in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University, and works in varying capacities as an agent with nearly 50 Magic artists.
He likes baseball, Magic, good cards, great art, whiskey, and you.