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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 16

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Walt

I’ve commented mostly on the visual/art side of the cards in this set so far…I don’t care at all really about the “stats” given to the characters, and kind of had a blind eye to the lack of truly informative value of backgrounds for the characters…at least they had the first appearance listed, team affiliation, and a random factoid for context.

But with these 9 cards we actually get some real “meat” in the way of text with some detail about the “mysteries.”

These all were mysteries in 1993 when these cards were published. In the 20 years since then, I’m pretty well aware of the revealed origin of Wolverine (Origin); the background of Cable (Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, and much of Cable’s own series); that more was touched on with Ghost Rider in his series and the Midnight Sons stuff; we’ve had Onslaught as I believe the “official” revelation of the X-Traitor (Xavier himself), though the issue was brought up again in Messiah Complex with Bishop turned into a villain. I’m not sure if we’ve seen Doom’s face as yet.

I believe that the sixth member of the Infinity Watch was actually revealed in 1992 as Thanos, unless the Reality gem was passed to someone else after the Magus rather than given back to Thanos.

I remember being disappointed at the revelation of Spider-Man’s parents and the involvement of Norman Osborn. And while I believe I own the arc, I have yet to read the actual issues with Nightcrawler’s “true” origin, though I’m aware of it, as penned by Chuck Austen.

Other than the discrepancy on the Infinity Watch, these are–to me–some of the better cards in the set, simply for there being more TO them than the single-character cards.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 15

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Walt

I’m not too fond of this page…though the backgrounds fit together, and there’s some carry-over of the various energy-blasts from one card through others, for the most part these don’t really seem to fit together as a clear singular image/scene…the characters seem staged more simply to be their own cards, and not much else.

Other than Death’s Head II and Die-Cut, who I believe I’ve seen on some “fancy” covers of Marvel UK comics in bargain bins, I’m really not familiar with these characters. Motormouth sounds vaguely familiar…though even as I type that, I think that might be due to Dark Horse‘s Comics’ Greatest World title Motorhead.

While I believe Death’s Head had some sort of interaction with the Transformers, I can’t think of any real interaction between these characters and what I consider the “mainstream” Marvel Universe…outside of a half-recalled image of Wolverine involved with Death’s Head, perhaps.

These characters all reek of the ’90s to me, and really not in a good way. Mostly my memories of the ’90s carry a certain fondness, if not outright recognition of a certain hokiness and such, but these just don’t even hold much interest for me, with the character names themselves seeming extremely “dated.”

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 14

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Walt

This is another page that most of the characters didn’t mean much to me at the time, though several have come to mean quite a bit in the years since I was exposed to them here.

I’m probably least-familiar with the Ovoids and the Rigellians. I know of the Brood and their history with the X-Men; the Titans and their history with Thanos; the Badoon I know of from issues of Warlock/Warlock and the Infinity Watch and their role in Gamora’s past, I believe.

The Asgardians I came to “know” more during the Heroes Return run of Dan Jurgens‘ Thor, the Skrulls I now most associate with Secret Invasion (though remember their significance to some X-Men stuff in the later-’90s/early-2000s). THe Kree and Shi’ar I most associate with Operation: Galactic Storm, which is one of the earlier “major stories” I was familiar with when my grandfather and uncle collected it as it came out.

Considering this rather “busy” image, this page works pretty well for me, and reminds me how much I’ve missed some of the “classic” cosmic Marvel stuff.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 13

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Walt

This is EASILY my favorite “page” of the entire set. Between the comics and the animated series, I’m quite familiar with all nine of these characters.

It’s kind of amazing to consider how far they’ve all come in the past 20 years; through multiple solo titles and mini-series, and their various developments in the “main” X-Men titles.

Storm’s card is probably the only one I’m not particularly thrilled with here; all the others look quite good to me individually as well as put together for the single image. Archangel benefits the most, I think, from the larger whole of the cards put together…and Magneto’s card looks fantastic even taken by itself…that energy burst blocks out most of the context of the image for his part, making it work especially well taken on its own. Wolverine’s also works well, with the bottom border being the main thing really indicating it’s even part of a larger image.

Because of the X-Men cartoon, I know I would have been quite aware of these characters from that alone, and with these costumes. I may not have been as familiar with Archangel at the time, though even he had appeared in a couple episodes of the cartoon by the time this card set was out.

While the X-Men “posing” doesn’t make much sense with Magneto (then an arch-nemesis) powered-up behind them doesn’t make much sense, on the whole I would absolutely QUITE enjoy having a poster of this image.

Perhaps it’s that I like these characters, at this time so much, but I think this is also some of my favorite artwork in this entire set, as well as the page makeup on its own.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 12

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Walt

This has to be one of my least-favorite pages of this series. I’m also not all that familiar with most of the characters. Deathwatch, Lilith, Heart Attack, Basilisk, Darkhold Redeemers I don’t even recall ever reading. I’m aware of the Nightstalkers from the Midnight Sons Unlimited stuff or whatever that crossover/event was.

I’m loosely familiar with Blaze and Ghost Rider; knowing that Blaze WAS Ghost Rider before Danny Ketch. I’m also a bit familiar with Morbius, though have probably seen more of him in the ’90s Spider-Man animated series than comics.

While this image is fairly dark and generic, I think seeing the cards together digitally is the first I ever really recognized the flaming skull in the background.

Most of these characters seem firmly rooted in the ’90s, and I can’t think of any I’ve actually seen lately outside of knowing Morbius had a short-lived Marvel Now series.

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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 11

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Walt

This is another kinda weird image to me…though the top six cards work quite well together, with the characters all charging forth. Can’t quite place Bloodaxe, Red Skull, and Proctor so calmly facing forward while the heroes charge ’em from behind, though!

I’m sorta familiar with all these characters except Proctor…though somehow I feel like even he is one I’ve encountered beyond just these cards. Hercules looks significantly different than I’m used to seeing…but hey, this WAS the early-90s!

Other than knowing Black Knight spent some time in the Ultraverse after Black September (1995-1996ish) , haven’t seen much with him, Crystal, or Sersi. I know Bloodaxe goes on to be a major character in Thunderstrike’s life/series prior to what befell at the end of the run.

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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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