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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 10

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Walt

This is another fairly generic image that doesn’t really do much for me. I can’t recall ever being “familiar’ with Hardcore, though I recognize “Marvel‘s Scarecrow” from an action figure or such, and the name Terror, Inc from somewhere through the years.

I can’t even begin to think of how She-Hulk got a car up to a rooftop or who she’s actually planning to throw it at. Punisher seems ready to attack Falcon, and Scarecrow doesn’t seem all that concerned about all these anti-heroes and such behind him.

I definitely would not have been familiar with Cage and Iron Fist at the time, though I’ve seen a lot with them in the years since; Cage being through the largest changes visually between Alias and the Marvel Max Cage mini around 2001/2002.

Not much else to say about these characters as they appear here, unfortunately; though Hardcore bugs me for some reason–probably looking so generic and being such a clear product of the early ’90s, at least in name and my own lack of further exposure to the character.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 9

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Walt

This is another “busy” image, though a bit brighter. Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and Lyja certainly sport the ’90s “look,” with the jacket, giant shoulder pads, and…needless “cleavage hole” for Sue.

Though I can’t remember the last time I saw Molecule Man show up, it’s Occulus who I’m least familiar with here.

The FF themselves as well as Doom, Lyja, and Klaw I’m fairly familiar with to varying degrees…though I associate Klaw moreso with Black Panther than I do the FF.

Outside of these cards, I’d nearly forgotten the “scarred Thing” phase, where Wolverine carved up Ben’s face a bit. I don’t recall how that subplot ever resolved, but obviously it did as Thing didn’t sport the fully-covered face bit for all that long.

I have a vague memory of an issue from the late-’90s where Ben and Wolverine actually meet in a bar to talk stuff over and bury the past. I find it interesting, though, to recall the enmity between the characters for awhile, and the lasting effects of stuff, rather than being a one-off event lasting a single issue and then being forgotten.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 8

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Walt

This is another fairly boring (to me) “page” in this series. I’m not all that familiar with Splice or Tiger Shark, though I definitely know of the other characters and have read a fair amount with all of them through the years.

While the image is simple enough to see what’s going on without being overly “busy” like some of the others in this set, the characters’ individual cards seem to be some of the more individualistic of the set so far. Tiger Shark definitely gets the raw end of things, being shown taking a repulsor blast, rather than getting a cool pose.

I remember Namor’s “savage, new look” from around this time…at the least, it’s interesting to see the character with long hair, compared to his usual style.

Not much else really stands out to me with these…though it IS interesting to realize that I would have been exposed to Wonder Man this early, despite my earliest conscious discovery of the character being his return early in Busiek‘s Avengers run and then backtracking to learn of his early-’90s fate.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 7

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Walt

I think this is one of my favorite “pages” from the set, particularly as it works quite well with having parts of a building (or webbing from a building) to contextualize all the characters!

I’m not all that familiar with Shock, though I’ve had experience with all the other characters…most recently Cardiac in an issue or two of Superior Spider-Man earlier this year.

It’s interesting to consider that–I believe–neither Venom nor Carnage are really the same characters in present continuity, though either way to generally consider how far the two have come individually.

The Spider-Man part of this seems quite iconic, certainly due in part to it being used on one of the foil wrappers for this card set.

I’ve seen a lot more of Daredevil since these cards; at the time I think he was mostly just a name-character that I recognized more than some, but hadn’t read much of anything actually starring him. The spider-villains I got a fair bit of exposure to, particularly during Maximum Carnage (which I think may have just finished around the time this set came out).

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 6

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Walt

Here we’re into an interesting mix of characters. Dr. Strange and Dormammu work; Loki and Thor fit, but it’s strange to me to not see Nightmare here sharing with Sleepwalker.

Loki looks much darker and more sinister here than I can think of seeing him in quite awhile. I’m vaguely familiar with Blackheart from something I’ve read in the past–possibly a Ghost Rider/Wolverine/Punisher book. Cobweb I don’t think I’ve ever read; and I’m not overly familiar with Hellstorm outside of reading an issue or two of his ongoing series sometime awhile back.

This is a fairly “busy” image, not really one of my favorites, though I definitely like seeing Sleepwalker here.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 5

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Walt

Here we have some tangential X-characters that I’ve come to know MUCH more about in intervening years than I knew at the time these cards came out!

To this day I’m not entirely clear on the Guardian character, and outside of these cards know nothing of Micromax or Wildheart (though I wonder at the Wild Child connection, and am obviously missing plenty of context there, even after Age of Apocalypse).

I certainly didn’t appreciate the Phoenix character at the time–though particularly after last year’s AvX, I’ve come to appreciate the enormity of the Phoenix Force…which seems a bit shoe-horned in given its regularity here in the early-’90s.

While I associate most of these characters with Excalibur, Havok and Strong Guy I strongly associate with X-Factor, particularly from this time-period; in Fatal Attractions and at least on up to just before Age of Apocalypse.

I’ve become most familiar with Captain Britain in the first Uncanny X-Force run, and certainly miss Nightcrawler, given his fate a few years ago.

This image these 9 cards make up would make for a cool (or hot?) poster, I think– nicely showcasing the characters.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 4

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Walt

This is one “full” image that doesn’t really fork for me as a whole…it’s more like a couple images crammed together…probably because of Deadpool, Cannonball, and Slayback being in the air  and not looking like they have any context (such as rooftops).

That said, outside of Slayback, I’d consider myself pretty familiar with the other characters to varying degrees. I got to know Cannonball and Shatterstar in old X-Force comics, and was aware of Sabretooth and Apocalypse from the X-Men cartoon series. I knew OF Cable and Stryfe and Deadpool thanks to my friend (I remember him having collected the X-Cutioner’s Song arc as it came out…something I never collected/read until quite a few years later in 2005/2006!).

Of course, Deadpool’s gone from what I remember as a relatively popular “minor” character to being one of “THE” characters in the Marvel Universe; especially a few years ago when he was carrying something like 3-4 ongoing series!

I haven’t seen much of Sabretooth that I can think of lately; ditto Stryfe. Mr. Sinister has been through some changes, and I recall seeing his newest incarnation(s) last year in AvX. Apocalypse, too, has been through some changes, and last I recall of him offhand was Kid Apocalypse, probably also while reading tie-ins to AvX.

And it’s quite interesting to see the evolution of Cable through the years–from typical ’90s oversized body, shoulderpads and gigantic guns to more rounded/developed character in recent years, into his current role with a new X-Force.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 3

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Walt

I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually read any of the original New Warriors comics, though I at least own some of the issues thanks to bargain-bin purchases. I believe there was a 7 or 8 issue series in 1997/98 that I’d read, though…but that was at least four years after being exposed to these cards!

The ones that stand out the most to me are Nova, Speedball, and Night Thrasher. Night Thrasher had a mini-series that I recall–whether it was from a friend having it or coming across it myself in bargain bins, I don’t recall offhand. Speedball of course would go on to much infamy during Civil War in 2006 or so. I also got to know Firestar a bit during Busiek‘s run on Avengers starting in 1998 with the Heroes Return stuff.

But back in 1993? These characters were virtual unknowns to me, outside of their appearance on these cards. It somewhat helps for me to realize that these characters were–in some cases–quite new at the time, and interesting to see who has lasted or otherwise gone on to notoriety since, and which ones (Cardinal, Turbo, Rage) I don’t recall ever even hearing of.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 2

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Walt

While these would not have been my favorite characters back in ’93 when these cards came out, looking back on them now 20 years later, these are indeed some of my favorite Marvel characters, especially this version of them!

Warlock caught my attention in ’95 or so with the Ultraverse Black September event where he wound up in the Ultraverse, in the Rune series. It was around that time that I “discovered” Thanos and a lot of the other “cosmic” Marvel characters.

It’s harder to “see” the actual full image on the individual cards in binder pages…but this one looks really good digitally, which makes me collectively like this page all the more. It’s also not nearly as “busy” as the first in this set, and works so much better for me.

Of all the characters here, I’m probably least familiar with Morg and Starhawk. The others are quite familiar for me.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 1

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Walt

I’m not a huge fan of this page…it seems overly busy and cluttered. The Hulk card is fairly “iconic” for me as card #1 in the entire set; first card that shows in the binder page, and so on. While I’ve become more familiar with these characters in intervening years, I ton’t think I really knew anyone BUT the Hulk in 1993.

I think I first learned of Moon Knight when a mini series premiered in 1998 or so, and probably learned of Doc Sampson and Deathlok from the Overpower card game. I know I discovered Silver Sable at some point…might have been this card…I don’t actually recall.

Outside of these cards, I don’t think I’m even familiar with Siege or Deadzone.

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