90s Trading Cards are Awesome! [90s Week]


 You ain't a 90s kid unless you had one of these.

They're comics trading cards, a staple of 90s memorabilia that's as much a symbol of the decade as pouches. In celebration of 90s Week, let's shine a spotlight on the trading cards that defined my childhood...and maybe yours!




In the 90s, comics trading cards were all the rage. Fleer and Skybox ran ads in comics, which in turn got kids like me to buy some. My friends and I went nuts over them. We drooled over the kids with the authentic (and expensive) cards, while the poor guys like me settled for one or two real cards and a couple hundred fakes. But you know what? We traded each other for them either way, and the charm of these little paper cards never really went away.

And I'll make sure it stays that way, with a rundown of my favorite trading card sets from the 90s!


MARVEL UNIVERSE TRADING CARDS (Impel)


It remains one of the biggest bragging rights you could ever have as a 90s kid: having a set of Impel's Marvel Universe trading cards! Whip one of these out and you'll be the talk of the playground. Bullies would target you. Your best friends would either want to trade or scheme against you. It's like Game of Thrones, but instead of an Iron Throne, it's a Wolverine or Celestials card.

Impel didn't realize how much these cards meant to me as a kid. These things sparked my interest for memorizing useless comic book trivia. I learned how to draw by drawing the Wolverine and She-Hulk cards (which unfortunately meant I could only draw Wolverine and She-Hulk). My imagination blossomed as my mind filled the spaces between the power rankings found behind each card (Spider-Man has 6 agility! Watch out, Hawkeye you slowpoke!). And finally, it was the gateway that lead me to become a collector, making me appreciate the vast universe that was Marvel in the 90s.


X-MEN TRADING CARDS (Impel/SkyBox/Fleer)


One of my most cherished memories of childhood was when my mom came home with a surprise for me getting good grades at school: X-Men trading cards! Sure she got me bootleg copies (since money was tight) but I got myself a Wolverine, which automatically validated the whole thing. Moms are awesome!

Anyway, Impel and SkyBox's series of X-Men trading cards were an iconic part of my geeky childhood. Amazing art by Jim Lee and other X-artists up front, those power charts at the back (replaced by a dossier in Series II), those little X-tra Facts and DNAnalyses...my kid self ate it all up like Star Margarine on rice. It's one of the few trading card sets I promised to complete someday, including our next entry...


MARVEL MASTERPIECES (Skybox/Fleer)


Marvel Masterpieces was the be-all, end-all of trading cards when I was a kid. Imagine, having been used to seeing your favorite comic book heroes and villains in flat, 2D drawings on paper. And now here they are, painted in this realistic style like they're actually living, breathing people! My 10-year-old mind was utterly blown.

Marvel Masterpieces first came out in 1992, and remains one of my most favorite trading card series ever. I had a soft spot for the first set, painted by Joe Jusko, and I also used his art to teach myself how to draw. Series 3 then introduced me to Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, painters whose style I absolutely love to this day. Their work inspired me to become a painter, until I went to college and found out I suck at painting. Still, Masterpieces!

I'm still waiting for the day somebody relaunches Marvel Masterpieces into a sketchcard-less, fully-painted thing of beauty my kids will drool over just like me. Until then, at least I have my memories of this amazing series tucked away in the ring-binder in my brain like a super-rare.


Thanks for following me on my trip down the trading card-paved memory lane that was the 90s! Did you collect trading cards as a kid? Which ones were your favorites? Leave me a comment below and let's trade nostalgiabombs! Thanks for reading!

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8 Comments

  1. I guess these cards could be partly blamed why I eventually became more of a Marvel guy than a DC dude.

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  2. Well, they ARE completely awesome kasi. Besides, even if DC had trading cards, they left much to be desired.

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  3. Although I won't deny I also enjoyed collecting the Death of Superman cards back then - and cheating my playmates so I could immediately complete the series! Hahah! I miss my childhood :)

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  4. Hah! Nice! Forgot about those cards...but kids love using those for games back then, along with Impel's Marvel Universe cards!

    That's why I'm scouring the Net for these things...to recapture the wonders of my lost childhood!

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  5. Yes The trading cards were also my gateway drug into comics, love them.

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  6. Welcome to the blog, dantran1!

    I couldn't think of a better gateway drug into comics than these things. Too bad kids these days don't have cards this cool!

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  7. Do the cards have a trading value? I have these sets. What are they worth?

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    Replies
    1. Sorry I only saw this now, Gabe! The cards I mentioned above DO have trading value but small from my experience, since these were the times when "artificial rarity" didn't exist. A lot of unopened boxes of these sets are on ebay for a little over 100USD, and the value of the cards you'll get out of it is ridiculously low. If you have any of the rare "chase" or "insert" cards from these sets, then that's something worth trading or selling, and I'm sure plenty of collectors would love to get their hands on them. Hope it helps!

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