Review: The Medallion Card from G.I.Joe 30th Salute (Comic Images 1994)

Long time ago, I wrote in my blog a review about this G.I. Joe 30^th Salute card set for the 1rst box I opened. In the 2^nd box I found Chromium Cards (C3 and C6), Comic Anthology Card #3, Mini-press sheet of Tim Hildebrandt, and the Medallion Card (see Figure 1).

Figure 1- Inserts/Chases found in the 2^nd G.I.Joe 30th Salute box.

The Medallion Card has a nurse in the front and in the back some info of the limited card (see Figure 2). In the back is indicated that only 4 cards of this one are in every case. The card is stamped with #1336. It doesn’t have the maximum, but knowing Comic Images must be a minimum of 1500 to a max of 5000 cards created. Searching in Internet I found that a case of this series have 12 boxes. So the number must in that range. Now about the card condition is Excellent. The design is weak the only difference between this card and a base card set is the back. I didn’t notice it until I was looking the numbers of the cards in the back.

Figure 2- Medallion Card (front & back).

Update info:

I decide to make a search in Internet before posting this in the blog. In eBay a seller has photos from cards 2092 and 2367.

If you are interesting to buy G.I.Joe 30^th Salute (Comic Images 1994) cards sets, single/base/common cards or chase cards check my store:

Review: Marvel Heroes and Villains (Rittenhouse 2010)

I bought some opened boxes from Marvel Heroes and Villains. The card set was produced by Rittenhouse in 2010. The sealed box has 24 packs with 5 cards by pack. The base card set is composing of 72 cards. The card set has 5 types of inserts sets: 72 Parallel Cards (1:3 packs), 9 Marvels Most Wanted (1:8 packs), 18 Alliances (1:12 packs), 6 Lenticular Flip (1:48 packs), 6 Tri-Fold Poster Cards (1:48 packs), 1 Sketch Card in the sealed number boxes.

The base/common card set illustrations are based on artwork from some Marvel Comics covers. The front of the card has a nice design, but the back it just disappointing. It just has the same illustration of the front with some kind of pencil sketch effect (Figure 1). It only has the name of the card and the comic book cover of the artwork. Also the set miss a checklist card.

Figure 1- Card #1 War Machine vs. Iron Patriot (front and back).

The insert/chase cards illustration (except the Sketch Cards) are based also in Marvel Comics covers artwork. The Parallel cards difference is the silver Marvel logo and not black around the illustration (Figure 2). For my eyes was difficult to see these cards at first. I recommend recheck your cards and focus in the silver Marvel logo.

Figure 2- Common base card #2 Thor vs. Loki and its Parallel card version.

The Marvel Most Wanted Card Set (Figure 3) is printed in metallic foil. The set idea is to show the most dangerous villains, but it confuses to see Deathlok a Hero-Vigilante character surrounded with villains. Also it is making not sense that in this “Most Wanted” you forget somebody like Doctor Doom, Sabretooth, Green Goblin or a Loki for some not interesting villains like Sphinx or M.O.D.O.K. or Viper. The Alliances cards are print in metallic foil and just show some of the Marvel Universe Teams of Heroes or Villains (Figure 4). The Tri-fold poster card (Figure 5) is an interesting idea. The card has a 3 panel artwork that fold in a single card. The Lenticular cards (Figure 6) have a hero and a villain. The Sketch card I found was a Cyclops & White Queen by Arie Monroe (Figure 7).

Figure 3- The Marvel Most Wanted card set.

Figure 4- The Alliances cards A3 Mighty Avengers and A18 Masters of Evil.

Figure 5- The Tri-fold poster card PC4.

Figure 6- Lenticular card L2 Thor & Destroyer.

Figure 7- The Cyclops & White Queen Sketch card by Arie Monroe.

The condition of the cards is a mix. The most common defects are bends near the corners/edges and scratches. I was surprise to see card # (Figure 9) has a line role. At first I believe it was maybe a problem in the case of the first seller I bought the box, but I bought more from other sellers to found the same problem. For the base/common and parallel cards 1/5 of the cards in a box can be found in Very Good or Excellent condition. The Most Wanted and the Alliances cards can be found from Very Good to Near-Mint condition. The Tri-Fold and the Lenticular can be found in Excellent-Mint or Near-Mint condition.

My final thoughts

The cards in general has a good looking for little kids, but for old comic non-sport card fans it miss the feeling. We like to see interesting illustrations, but we like to read about it. The idea of has multiple types of insert/chase cards is good, but Rittenhouse isn’t really adding interest to collect the insert/chase cards with the bad card condition and no new or original artwork unless is a sketch card.

The Good

-          Some of the comic cover artwork is amazing.

-          Condition of the base/common cards.

The Bad

-          Recycle artwork from other card sets.

-          No checklist card.

-          Condition of the insert/chase cards.

If you are interesting to buy Marvel Heroes and Villains (Rittenhouse 2010) sets, single/base/common cards or chase cards check my store:

Review: Wolverine From Then Till Now 2 (Comic Images 1992)

Hello, another nice day and again looking in the vault of card collection from the ‘90s. I brought another review, Wolverine From Then Till Now 2 is card set produced by Comic Images in 1992. The box has 48 packs with 10 cards by pack (see Figure 1).

Figure 1- Wolverine From Then Till Now 2 card box and packs.

The base card set is composing of 90 cards. The insert cards for the set are 6 prism cards. I bought 3 boxes from 2 different sellers. As far I opened 2 boxes one from each seller. From a box I manage to get 3 base sets and from the other box only 2 base sets. In every box I found 3 prism cards. From a box I found (see Figure 2)

Figure 2- Prism Cards

The base set is about Wolverine’s origin, allies, and enemies (see Figure 3). Something very common from the Comic Images sets for the Marvel Heroes from the ‘90s was recycle some artwork from comics and present it with a nice info in the back related to the image. As I said in my G.I.Joe review this is the only thing I always like from Comic Images. Also in the back of the card except from the checklist you can see other recycle artwork in some way related to the card. Like card #89 were the front artwork is an X-Men Cover about “Days of Future Past” were Wolverine is kill by a Sentinel. Then in the back of the card you can see the Sentinel (see Figure 4). Also in the back of the cards you can find some comments from comic book writers and artist. For design of the cards in my opinion the only bad decision was choosing the artwork for card #1 (see Figure 5). Who will note that the set is about Wolverine? There are not claws or we can see Wolverine in his uniforms. Years ago, I remember see the local trading card sellers to show this set to sale with card #5 in top. In my opinion cards #43 or #61 is better to be card #1.

Figure 3- Base Cards

Figure 4- Base Card #89

Figure 5- Base Card #1, #5, #22, #43, and #61

The condition of the cards like always in Comic Images series is bad. As far I can see the base cards are in “Excellent” condition. So if you find “Near Mint” Cards in these boxes, you found a treasure. The most common defects are line roles that can only see in an angle respect to the light and scratches near the corners. The only surprise for me was with the Prism Cards because the prism cards are in “Near Mint” Condition.

My final thoughts

As a Comic Book fan, I found the set interesting. The design is simple like all Comic Images sets for Marvel Heroes. So if you like nice colors and nice cardstock, it will be nothing. The set pass any eyes without attention with a boring card #1. The really big killer interest of the set is the condition of the base cards.

The Good

-          Back of the cards have interesting info.

-          The Prism cards are in great condition.

-          Sealed boxes can still be found.

The Bad

-          The artwork for the first card of the set.

-          Condition of the cards.

If you are interesting to buy Wolverine From Then Till Now 2 (Comic Images 1992) sets, single/base/common cards or chase cards check my store: