In Your Face Jam - Mar 6, 2013

[CBR News]

Picking up on recent pop culture resurgences and cues, Brett reminisces about the trading card boom of the 1990s and practically begs a comic company to produce a decent set again.


Full article here.

[Push You Down]

The Jim Lee set were masterpieces. I can't think of a single one that wasn't iconic for that character.

[jjk1901]

Yes! I forget the title first Marvel set I collected, but 9 cards fit together to form one scene if you placed them in a 3x3 grid. It was awesome. I had a limited edition 8x7" print of Phoenix from the Fleer Ultra series and I could kick myself for having given that up with all the rest of my cards.

[sinister626]

That was Marvel Series 4! Man that set was awesome. I just completed my Marvel Series 3 set thanks to a lady at our local Flea Market. I really wish Marvel would come out with a good set of cards again. The thrill of the hunt...

[ENNISELLIS]

God I feel the same as a mid to late 70s child! In fact I recently filled in all the gaps in my X-men Series 2 collection. Those Marvel Universe cards were amazing - series 2 & 3 were just beautiful - the art, the design, the hologram chase cards. Just perfect. And I LOVED the 9 card 2099 character set in Series IV.

They perfectly captured the Marvel Universe at the exact point they were made, with the top artists working at the company at the time providing the artwork.

I've been pining for Marvel to do a new set like those. I'd snap up a box no questions asked if they were of the quality of series I to IV.

[chrissama200]

I have fond memories of fifth grade, where Marvel Universe Series 3 and Marvel Masterpiece cards were in full swing. For our school Christmas party, our class did a "Chinese gift exchange," and the big prize was a couple packs of Marvel Masterpiece cards. Even the girls were getting in on it. (I settled for a bagged 3-pack of comics, one of which was a Barbie Fashion comic I traded with a female cousin for an old Captain America #113. Probably my best trade, but at the time I was bummed because I missed out on the cards!)

[the_kaz]

Thing is, I'd love to see these kinds of cards again, but I doubt I'd ever actually buy them, and I'm guessing that this is exactly how a lot of other sentimental old fans would respond to them. So I can't imagine Marvel paying talented people to create a line of cards like this would be very profitable.

[Butch Mapa]

Marvel (and DC/Valiant/Dynamite/Indie companies) still make trading card sets from a variety of card set companies (Rittenhouse, Upper Deck, Cryptozoic, and Breygent being the largest I'd say). I'd say most have reused art, but a few use new art.

The newest "thing" these days are original art sketch cards. Usually found on per box, a lot of them aren't sketches at all, but full rendered/finished cards-- some are even painted. Wish they had those back in the Impel/Skybox days!

[Butch Mapa]

http://www.scoundrelpublishing.com/spart2/ being a good "hub" for non-sports superhero cards these days. Forgot to add that Topps is still around, although they focus more on stuff like Star Wars and LoTR.

[Spaced]

A 200 card set featuring original artwork for $50? Your nostalgia extends to 90s prices as well I see.

[funeralthirst7]

The first series of Marvel cards was my first real exposure to the Marvel Universe. I knew who the Hulk was from re-runs of the Bill Bixby show and I knew who Spider-Man was from a t-shirt I had as a kid. I think I was about 9 years old when I was in the toy store buying a G.I. Joe with my allowance and went up to the counter to pay. Staring back at me was the box of cards with all this strange, unknown artwork. Wolverine grabbed my attention and I was transfixed. This was the actual image that I saw that day:



I had never seen anything like this. I needed to know more. The toy went back on the shelf and I bought 2 packs of cards. I took them home and for the rest of the night I studied every word about them. I took them into school to show my friends and the collecting craze took hold. Now everybody was colecting the cards and soon we were all buying comics as well. I dont know how many of my former classmates still collect or even read comics but I have been going steadily since.

[SJNeal]

I still have every set of Marvel Masterpieces produced (except the elusive Vallejo/Bell set from '96!),and well as all the X-Men and Marvel Universe sets. The timing of this article is funny, since I recently replaced all the sleeves and binders for them.

I tried to get into the 2007/2008 Marvel Masterpiece sets, but they really sucked, and were quite honestly a waste of time.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Oh jeez. I have boxes and dozens of binders in the basement with 90s Card Sets. I shudder to think how much $$ was spent on them.
You're making me want to dig them out and reminisce!

[_Tim_]

Haha, I love the Wins/losses/ties numbers from the back of that series 1 card...

Yeah, I was very much in the same situation as everyone else here...6th grade when series 1 came out and I had all 4 series Marvel came out with...totally did open me up to the whole Marvel U, but don't know if that would help people collecting nowadays, especially since there's a lot less people, the ones who are being more knowledgable...

I typically would use mine to build teams and match-ups and then create my own comics, or stories...
also, learned about many events in marvel's past because of the cards as trades weren't as big of a deal back then...

[Loose Nucleus]

The first series of Marvel cards was my first real exposure to the Marvel Universe. I knew who the Hulk was from re-runs of the Bill Bixby show and I knew who Spider-Man was from a t-shirt I had as a kid. I think I was about 9 years old when I was in the toy store buying a G.I. Joe with my allowance and went up to the counter to pay. Staring back at me was the box of cards with all this strange, unknown artwork. Wolverine grabbed my attention and I was transfixed. This was the actual image that I saw that day:



I had never seen anything like this. I needed to know more. The toy went back on the shelf and I bought 2 packs of cards. I took them home and for the rest of the night I studied every word about them. I took them into school to show my friends and the collecting craze took hold. Now everybody was colecting the cards and soon we were all buying comics as well. I dont know how many of my former classmates still collect or even read comics but I have been going steadily since.

This sums up EXACTLY how I felt when I first encountered these in Grade Seven. I would love to see these again, but just the first set. For some reason, the subsequent sets just didn't capture my imagination like the first. As soon as I saw this pic, my mind raced back to the first card I saw from the first pack I bought: the Deathlok "rookie" card. who IS this mysterious fellow? Oh, wait, everything I need to know is on the other side. Hooray!