I was gonna write about comic books and how they were part of my adolescent years but I decided to talk about something else first which is very related to comic books itself. I'm talking about collectible trading cards. Nope, not the ones with the 'battle attributes' or 'ready to fight' trading cards (re: Magic The Gathering, Pokemon cards and the sorts) but I'm talking specifically about the plain ol' trading cards which show comic book characters or even sports personalities (I'll get into these later) which you can collect randomly through the purchase of blind bags from your comic book stores.
Let me bring you audience back to the early 90s, where comic book character trading cards first exploded into the pop culture scene. One good thing about collecting these actual physical cards (I'm not even gonna start with those pesky so-called 'digital' cards!) is that they make you get off your butts and interact with the outside world if you're serious into completing your collection. The thing about buying blind bags is that one can never really predict accurately the type of cards you'd be getting from each blind bag, unless you have x-ray visions that is. So with your 'doubles/triples' you can slowly search for the cards you need to fill in the gap in your collection via trade with your close buddies i.e. they might want the extras that you have and vice versa.
Remember, this was a time before the internet took over our lives and there were no online forums or eBay for you to randomly search for the missing cards in your collection. It's either you surround yourself with your other friends who collect the same trading card series or you'd be forced to make new friends who were into the same hobby. There ain't any other way for you to complete your collection if you're a hermit and kept to yourselves. So back in the day, human interaction is a must. It still is today. Sad to hear about kids who kept to themselves and faced computer screens all day long because it's easier to look for the stuff you want over eBay and the likes without ever having to speak to a real human being.
Anyway, let's get back into the whole comic book character trading cards.
I'm actually into all kinds of comic books although I tend to gravitate towards Marvel Comics more than anything else back in the early 90s. Don't get me wrong, I was also much into DC, Image, Dark Horse, Valiant comics and the likes at the time too. So what's with Marvel trading cards that made them better than the rest you ask? Well, first of all, Marvel was the first to give us comic book character trading cards before the likes of DC Comics and the rest followed suit.
In a nutshell, Marvel trading cards or specifically known as Marvel Universe Cards were defined as collectible trading cards based on the characters and events from the Marvel Universe. Each and every card in the series features a character or event on the front of the card. A number of attributes or statistics e.g. real name, strength, special ability, super powers, battle fought,first appearance and origin story/biography is usually placed on the back of the card.
And if you're lucky enough, you can get your grubby hands on the special edition hologram cards inserted randomly throughout the packaging in each box. And if you're adventurous (or rich!) enough then you'd buy a whole box to yourself and be assured of getting those hologram cards (most of them if not all) and complete the entire series collection in one sitting!
Yup, if you're lucky enough you'd get to buy an entire box and get to slowly open each packaging in your own gosh-darn time while you complete the whole entire collection in one day and be assured of some of the hard-to-find hologram cards!
Image source: Off the internet.
The first ever Marvel Universe Trading card series was published by Impel in 1990 and Marvel expanded it by producing several more series and even a separate series for the X-Men in 1992. DC Comics followed suit and introduced DC Cosmic Cards as their own version to grab a piece of the comic book trading card market share.
If you're into the whole complete history thing, then I suggest you follow the link below to get the full picture of the types of trading cards Marvel Comics gave us during the early 90s:
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Marvel_Universe_Cards
I was kinda late to jump into the Marvel trading card thing because I was only into it during Series 2 in 1991. I totally missed Series 1 a year earlier because I wasn't really that serious into collecting trading cards then.
Marvel Universe Trading Cards Series 1. Yup, totally missed/skipped this series.
Image source: Off the internet.
Then, advertisements such as this slowly made their way into our comic pages and sooner or later you just know that resistance will be absolutely futile!
Darn comic book advertisements! There goes my allowance!
Image source: Taken from one of the 90s comic book in my collection.
To be honest, I didn't start collecting the Series 2 of the Marvel Universe Trading Cards by buying the blind bag packaging but instead I started by buying the extras off some of my collector buddies. It was only after, I slowly made my way to the comic book stores myself on my trusty ol' BMX bike (God bless its soul!) to get my almost daily fix of them blind trading card packages.
I didn't really complete the entire Series 2 checklist but I got most that I wanted save for the hologram cards. That was enough for me as the ones I have from the series (to which most I proudly kept in mint condition till today) are the ones still highly sought after by some collectors, even after 28 years! Man, I still love the art on these cards! These are mostly drawn by Art Adams and Ron Lim back in the day and they still look superb by today's standards.
After Series 2 ended, I even dabbled into Series 3 hoping that it would give me the same magical feeling I had while I searched high and low for the cards of Series 2...but they were just meh to me. No disrespect to the great Marc Silvestri to who drew most of the card art right before he left Marvel Comics for Image Comics with the Infamous Seven comic book artists aka the Great Marvel Exodus of 1992 (and I shall be discussing this very soon on this blog too...so stay tuned!).
Obviously I never made it past the half way mark on these cards and I opted to keep only a few as a momento of a collection that was never meant to be.
Marvel Universe Trading Cards Series 3. Nope, not just feeling it bruh!
Image source: Off the internet.
I (seriously) tried to start collecting them DC Cosmic Cards (I love the name by the way!)....but again I just didn't have the will power to collect 'em all after about half way into the collection. Again, I kept only a few and sold the rest to a friend of mine who was at the time, very ecstatic to take them off my hands because of the bulk price I offered him.
DC Comics' Cosmic Cards. Uhm...still nope, still not feeling it bruh!
Image source: Off the internet.
I've also had a few accidental purchases along the way...of which most suffered the same fate as the DC Cosmic Cards...
Marvel Masterpiece Cards. I actually skipped this one, mostly, because I diverted my funds towards something else at the time....I think.
Image source: Off the internet.
Star Trek Trading Cards. I actually loved this, especially the classic TV series cards. In my opinion it was better off than most modern Star Trek series anyway. I still have these cards somewhere in my vault of forgotten stuff I-never-knew-I-still-had-em.
Image source: Off the internet.
Boxing cards, basketball cards, English football (soccer for youse Yanks!) cards....you name it, I TRIED to collect it!
Image source: Off the internet.
All of them failed to spark that same interest I had with the Series 2 Marvel cards.
But wait, 1992 also saw the launch of the X-Men Series 1 trading card which were drawn by the great Jim Lee! Having just been mesmerized by the X-Men comic relaunch a year earlier, this trading card series is just screaming 'must have' to my ears at the time!
And this time, I bought a whole box to myself! Well, not really. I remembered vividly at the time there 3 of us buddies who pooled our funds together to buy 2 complete boxes of the X-Men Series 1 trading cards....err.....box. The idea was to get the three of us to have a complete set of Series 1 cards each because technically there are one-and-a-half complete sets in each of the sealed box and 2 of 'em is enough for the three of us........and share the unknown number of hologram cards equally among ourselves. Easy peasy, no problem....right?
Oh yeah! So this means that I get to complete the whole collection in one sitting right? And the holograms too? Right???
Image source: Off the internet.
Wrong! Although we managed to find an even number of hologram cards from the two boxes, we were never prepared to settle on a way to properly divide the cards i.e. who deserves to get what? What if there's only one Magneto hologram cards and everybody wants it? What if there were only two Wolvies and one of us had to settle for second best? Too many ifs! But we did settle it amicably by flipping coins. There weren't many grouses at the time but I remembered the guys still being sore about it during lab period at school because I got the only Magneto and a Wolverine holo cards (sore losers! Hahah!).
Good times.
My better half and my son suggested that I could perhaps find the cards from the series that I want through eVilbay someday. Not a bad idea I must say. I'll keep you readers updated on that soon.
Till next time.
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