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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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Marvel Universe Series IV Revisited, Part 0

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Walt

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It’s kind of hard to believe it’s been 20 years, but 20 years it’s been! Back in 1993, Skybox released their FOURTH annual trading card set based on Marvel Comics properties–Marvel Universe Series IV.

Of course, having been out of comics for a couple years, not really getting back in til mid/late 1992 with the then-pending Death of Superman, I was a stranger to trading cards, outside of baseball cards.

A friend and I spent much of the summer of 1993 collecting these, trading back and forth to see both of us get as close as possible to a complete set. I still have my original binder and cards from that summer, that original nearly-complete set (missing just a handful of cards).

I was able to buy a complete set awhile back off a bargain table at my local comic shop, finally having a definite full set. And partially through that, partially recognizing the 20th anniversary, I’ve decided to present a look through the entire set, with my present-day thoughts on these artifacts of the past.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting my thoughts on the entire set, based around the 9-card clusters that most of the set was grouped into–with 9 cards fitting together in a 3×3 grid to form a larger image (tailored to the 9-pocket binder pages many such cards get stored in).

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Even the original box the cards’ packs came in references the 9-card groupings.

20 years later, I still have an (empty) original box that I think I got from my then-local comic shop. I also have several of the original wrappers, from making a “cover” for the binder I kept my set in:

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So, over the coming weeks, I’ll be posting my thoughts on the cards, as well as low-res images of the cards themselves. Just in scanning all of these, I’ve gained a new appreciation for the cards that wasn’t there 20 years ago, and noticed things in the art that I never really noticed in all the years since!

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New figures…de-packaged!

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Walt

While I have a fair number of action figures sitting around in their packages…it’s not for value. I’m not planning on trying to re-sell them, I’m not trying to keep them (their packages/packaging) in “mint condition.”  No, my action figures tend to remain in their packaging because it can be a battle just to remove the figures FROM said packaging.  I’ve had to go at ’em with a knife, scissors, and quite a bit of patience in order to achieve successful extraction.

Following up my Sunday evening post about the Iron Man 2 toys and finding Thor at Walmart, here are Cap/Thor/Iron Man as promised, followed by War Machine, Thor, and Iron Man (my newest acquisitions).

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Iron Man 2, War Machine, and contemporary Thor

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Walt

I walked into a Walmart this afternoon planning to get the week’s groceries.  Unfortunately, they had no carts, and rather than go back out to the parking lot to get one, I decided to take a quick look at the toys, and head out.

Now, while the Marvel Universe/Fury Files 3.75″ line of action figures has been out for quite awhile, those usually only get 3-4 pegs in a single column, and they rarely have more than 2-3 figures per peg. However, the Iron Man 2 figures recently came out, and have a whole huge section–primarily 3.75″ figures as well as other related miscellany.

Unfortunately, there’s not really a whole lot for me in this series: I don’t care about having a whole bunch of different versions of Iron Man (even if it is a progression of the armors from the first version in the 2008 film to whatever we’re likely to see in the upcoming 2010 film), and I’ve never cared for the Iron Monger, nor am I all that familiar with Crimson Dynamo.

However, like last year’s Wolverine 3.75″ line, there is a sub-set of Comic-based figures. Though I took the above photo at Walmart, it was at Target that I bought the War Machine comic-based figure, as well as a Target-exclusive light-up Iron Man (mark VI armor) figure (Target has these on sale this week).

After looking at the Iron Man 2 figures, I turned around, and spotted a Luke Cage figure for the Marvel Universe line…and right below, Thor.  I’d seen the Secret Wars 2-pack of Thor and (Klaw, I think?) starting a few weeks ago…but the 2-pack was just the “classic” Thor. I saw photos from Toyfair that suggested a “contemporary” Thor was due out, so passed on the 2-pack to wait for the Thor I’d prefer. Went ahead and bought the figure–been waiting for a Thor to go with my Captain America and Iron Man.

I’ll probably post a Cap/Thor/Iron Man pic later this week.

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Star Trek toys at WalMart

Posted on April 16, 2009 by Walt
Well-stocked pegs of Star Trek Galaxy Collection toys at the local WalMart.

Well-stocked pegs of Star Trek Galaxy Collection toys at the local WalMart.

Since I was driving by, I decided to stop by the local Walmart tonight on the offchance that they might have re-stocked some of their toys, as the DC Infinite Heroes & Marvel Universe/Fury Files/S.H.I.E.L.D. pegs have been woefully empty the last few Sundays that I’ve been to the store (perhaps they stock mid-week and all the good stuff’s gone after the weekend shoppers get through?)

Well, the DC and Marvel toys were–as usual–quite the endangered species in this particular toy aisle.

On the other hand, the Star Trek toys–particularly the Galaxy Collection line–were VERY well stocked. Multiples of each figure in the line, and priced fifty-cents below the Toys ‘R’ Us asking cost (and fifty cents below the asking cost of the DC Infinite Heroes singles, and a whopping $1.97 below the asking cost of the Marvel 3.75″ lines).

Shame the DC Infinite Heroes line has never been this well-stocked ANYwhere that *I* have been…

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