A set of 12 stamps celebrating some of the most iconic X-Men superheroes to have featured in the comic book franchise since 1963. An additional set of 5 stamps are included on the Miniature Sheet, featuring five of the mutant enemies faced by the X-Men.
All 17 stamps in the X-Men collection are original illustrations created exclusively for Royal Mail by renowned British comic book artists: Mike McKone (stamp set) and Lee Garbett (minisheet), making them a must-have for any X-Men fan.
Plus, each of the 12 stamps in the main set has a unique Augmented Reality animation which shows the artwork being created from pencil sketches through to the finished colourised stamps. This can be activated by downloading the Royal Mail App and scanning the stamp with a smartphone or tablet.
The stamps and miniature sheet
2nd class: Professor X, Kitty Pryde, Angel, Colossus, Jubilee, Cyclops; 1st class: Wolverine, Jean Grey, Iceman, Storm, Beast, Rogue.
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| Set of 12 stamps, 6 x 2nd class and 6 x 1st class: X-men, 16 February 2023 |
Miniature sheet, featuring five of the mutant enemies
faced by the X-Men: 1st class: Juggernaut,
Mystique,
Emma Frost,
Sabretooth, £1.85
Magneto.
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| Miniature sheet of 4 x 1st class & £1.85: X-men, 16 February 2023 |
Prestige Stamp Book
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| X-men PSB pane 5: two each 2nd class & £1.00 coded MPIL M22L |
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| Cover of Limited Edition PSB. |
Technical details and acknowledgements
The stamps and miniature sheet are designed by Interabang with design by Mike McCone (stamps), Lee Garvett (MS) and colouring by Chris Soto. The 35 mm square stamps are printed by Cartor in litho in 2 sheets of 60, in se-tenant strips of 6, perforated 14.5. The 192x74 mm MS contains three stamps 35 mm square (perf 14.5) and two 27 x 37mm (perf 14). The MS is printed in litho by Cartor on self-adhesive paper.
All images are copyright Marvel.
Collectors Sheet and Fan Sheets
The collectors sheet contains all 12 stamps with additional labels, all printed in lithography by Cartor Security Printers on self-adhesive paper.
The fan sheets are gummed with perforated stamps.
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| X-Men Collector Sheet £10.99 |
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| Jean Grey Fan Sheet - edition of 5,000 - £7.00 |
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| Wolverine Fan Sheet - edition of 5,000 - £7.00 |
Products
Set of Stamps, Miniature Sheet, First Day Covers x2, Presentation Pack, Stamp Cards, Prestige Stamp Book, Press sheet of 12 miniature sheets.
Additional products
Limited Edition PSB, Collector Sheet, Fan Sheets, Medal Coversx2 (£19.99), Stamped Ingots (Professor X, Wolverine each £24.99), Framed Stamps and Sheets, and Frames Print of Wolverine stamp.
All products are available to order on Royal Mail's website.
UPDATE 12 February. It's many years since I've seen any criticism of modern special stamps in the mainstream media, but there is a paywalled article in The Telegraph which may be of interest to anybody who has a subcritpion. Aside from bsurdly thinking that these might be aimed at children and their pocket money, Simon Heffer may just say something pointed.
There is a once-notable aspect of our culture that has reached a dead end, apparently for reasons of naked cynicism. I refer to the subjects of what are now called by Royal Mail, without humour, our special stamp issues. This absurd programme presents second-rate designs highlighting populist trash in the interests of relieving children of their pocket money, all while devaluing philately as an art form. It shreds an opportunity to put intelligence, beauty and history in the hands of anyone who sticks stamps on a letter.
Further update: A reader tells me:
It draws attention to the inappropriateness of many of the subjects, the generally poor designs and expresses amusement that Shirley Bassey should be thought worthy of philatelic commemoration when the 150th anniversary of the death of Vaughan Williams, last year, was not.
And
He notes that the BBC centenary was overlooked and states, “But then Royal Mail now churns out Mickey Mouse stamps as if it is the postal service of some banana republic, not of a supposedly serious country.”
He concludes that he hopes the new king “will put a stop to this nonsense once and for all”.
Another celebration of the UK, its history, its culture, its scenery, its wildlife and its people and their achievements and their character. Those who plan these products must be very proud of the country where they earn their whopping salaries.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those people who buy special stamps to use on letters and packages, not to collect, but because of the unappealing choice of subjects for the first issues of this year, I won't be buying anything until the Coronation issue comes out.
ReplyDeleteThe flowers are very attractive, and there is the Flying Scotsman set for anybody who likes steam locomotives/trains.
DeleteFlying Scotsman is the issue I am waiting for being an ex footplate man on LNER at King's Cross Depot
DeleteI take a similar approach. I probably will buy a set for postage but I do find these, and the record covers series, spectacularly ugly. BTW many thanks to Ian for this immensely helpful blog.
DeleteI imagine these will do very well with collectors of X-Men merchandise, but the designs to me look the same as the "Marvel" stamps issued in 2019 - which I've just noticed are still on sale on the Royal Mail shop. Perhaps they aren't as popular as RM would have hoped!
ReplyDeleteOh dear.
ReplyDeleteIan no info on RM site but do you know if the PSB definitive stamps are Litho or Gravure?
ReplyDeleteOfficial information is that they are all litho; I believe the book also says litho but I don't have it now. We'll wait for the experts again.
DeleteThank you Ian we wait further news .
DeleteAccording to the information in the PSB, the machin pane was printed in gravure. However, given that they said the same in the Tutankhamun PSB and the consensus amongst the experts is that the pane there was litho, I'm not sure we can believe what we read.
DeleteThe Flying Scotsman PSB only has the printer, not the process. I guess they've given up!
DeleteWell at least the PSB non-Machin panes are all 1st class and can be easily used up. And hopefully it is the last one I will ever buy.
ReplyDeletePane 1 is 2nd class; Magneto on the MS pane 3 is £1.85 - although all the pre-issue data we had from RM said that the MS was all 1st class - the pictures showed differently!
DeleteIf the imagery is correct on the RM website they have jumped from Presentation Pack no. 627 for Iron Maiden to no. 629 for X-Men.
ReplyDelete628 is the platinum issue Eddie Stamps according to RM website
DeleteAs a comic geek, for some reason these stamps, don't tick any boxes for me, I just hope when they released Terry Pratchett Discworld which marks 40th Anniversary since its first inception of the novels, they are treated better, I should imagine there will be at least 10 to 12 book covers of some of his novels, with the first novel and the last novel included, so I hope they choose wisely as there is at least 42 books in the series. I'm just looking forward to the Flying Scotsman's, Flowers, Legend of Robin Hood, this will probably be like the recent issue of King Arthur's stamps released a few years back, Blackadder and River Wildlife.
ReplyDeleteMartin,
DeleteI understand that Terry Pratchett's Discworld has issued dozens of different stamps, though of course not postally valid ones, so this must be a rare opportunity for a "stamps on stamps" issue.
I hope they'll be going postal! Love that Lord Vetinari can decipher terrible handwriting!
DeleteDoes anyone know when the late Queen's head will be replaced by the new King's?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that it will be once we've had the last issue that the late Queen approved.
DeleteSince that pricess can be a year or so ahead, we may still have a few to come yet and it might even be that they'll carry on up to the King's Coronation.
Is His Majesty's profile definitely going to feature? Numerous other jurisdictions have opted to use his cypher - not entirely unpleasing - and Royal Mail is already well behind the curve.
Delete(I wish I could believe that the delay in changing over is because the new King has put his foot down and said that there is no way that his face/name is going to be associated with RM's current philatelically-exploitative programme.)
Anonymous it may be sometime yet, as King George VI died on 6th Feb 1952, but the 1st stamps bearing the late Queen's portrait did not appear until 5th December 1952
DeleteMaybe the Coronation issue will be the first, only three months away now.
DeleteOr the definitives for the price increases the month before.
Coronation 6th May 2023, April is the month before. On another thread someone states it looks like increase will be 27th March 2023. So, speculation or guess work or wishful thinking?
Delete27th March is speculation; any rise must be communicated to the Stock Exchange and the regulator a month before it takes effect.
DeleteExpect to see news about new definitives soon. Early April is realistic for a price rise.
The X-Men PSB seems to have 22 dated definitives, suggesting they were printed in 2022, possibly before the Queen passed away. When did the first PSB in 2022 with 22 dated definitives get released? That might give some indication as to how long in advance issues are planned and printed e.g. if the first PSB with 22 definitives was issued in say, June 2022, that might suggest that generally issues are printed 6 months in advance. Of course, whether Royal Mail were still printing stamps with the Queens head after she passed away will remain an unknown as they could still have 22 printed on them.
DeleteNo 'seems to have' about it, they are M22L as stated in the caption under the image.
DeleteBut otherwise you seem to have covered all the unknowns as well as the 'never will be knowns'. Whenever previous years saw their new Machins, has little bearing on what happens this year.
I might be inclined, if I were in Royal Mail, to suggest that no year change was required.
Its been the case for quite a few years now, that PSBs issued in the first quarter normally have the previous year's code on the Machins inside.
DeleteSo this shouldn't raise any eyebrows.
"Numerous other jurisdictions have opted to use his cypher" because that was available three weeks after the Queen died. A portrait of Charles would, or should, need quite a bit of thought which would take time.
ReplyDeleteThe blog says in part "Plus, each of the 12 stamps in the main set has a unique Augmented Reality animation which shows the artwork being created from pencil sketches through to the finished colourised stamps. This can be activated by downloading the Royal Mail App and scanning the stamp with a smartphone or tablet."
ReplyDeleteHow does a non-resident get access to the app? It appears to be geo-locked.
Stephen
I expect some people readiing this actually know something about X-Men, unlike me. Unfortunately the prestige book does not have captions explaining who the characters are on the stubs of the stamp panes. Apart from Jane Grey, can any buffs enlighten me as to the identity of the purple guy on pane 2, the other one on the definitive pane and those on the two labels (I suppose the first is Professor X and the second looks like him wearing a helmet but if so, what does he then become?) Any help gratefully received.
ReplyDeleteNo idea on the Purple Guy - probably a villain. The second character on the definitive pane is Cyclops again and the two labels are presumably Professor X and Magneto. Different artist for the stamps themselves and the backgrounds doesn't help does it?
DeleteThanks. I had come to similar conclusions. But still no news of the purple guy. It's true he looks like a baddie!
DeleteThe purple guy is Angel, one of the X-Men crew, all the villains are on the miniature sheet.
DeleteI have asked Royal Mail to check with the designers and they say the purple guy is one of The Sentinels; the original illustration can be seen on X-Men comic #98.
DeleteSorry to be a pedant, but the Vaughan Williams' anniversary last year was the 150th of his birth, not death.
ReplyDeleteNot happy as usual my issue of X men has not arrived yet is it that hard to get mail delivered on time RM?
ReplyDeletePerhaps against my better judgement, I ordered the limited edition PSB @ £49.99, which arrived in a scruffy cover and not very pristine. Anybody else affected by this problem?
ReplyDeleteAt least yoour PSB arrived
ReplyDeleteWell my Xmen issue arrived today 6 days late, it came in an envelope with the r/h bottom corner ripped off showing the bottom corner & edge of the mini sheet I find this disgraceful service! however upon opening the envelope I found that no stamps had been damaged , and a bonus of 2 mini sheets perhaps divine compensation lol
ReplyDelete