MARVEL TRADING CARDS

Through The Years

HIGHS, LOWS, AND HOLOFOILS.

BY JIM DANDENEAU

This story is part of an editorial series presented by eBay.

FOR ALMOST 35 YEARS,

Marvel lovers have had a different way of indulging their fandom than just voraciously reading the comics. In 1990, Impel released a set of licensed collectible cards featuring characters, battles, and key moments from throughout Marvel history (up to that point). Since then, not a year has gone by without more Marvel cards: some with exclusive art; some with special treatments like foiling, stamping, exclusive numbering, and holograms; and some with questionable art direction. But fans have always snapped them up. And now, with the secondary market hotter than it has been in years, we present, in partnership with eBay, a brief history of some of the highest highs of Marvel collectible cards—both financially and artistically—and some of the lowest lows.

The Beginning

Like with most collectibles, firsts matter. In the trading card space, the first big Marvel set was 1990’s Impel Marvel Universe cards. The cards were built to feel like sports card knockoffs—each one usually had great art on the front, showing a character as they were in the comics at the time, representing an early appearance, or showing a team or a historic fight. And the backs inspired countless hours of schoolyard arguments: they had made-up statistics about the characters such as “Battles Fought,” “Win Percentage,” or “Wrinkles on Face” (poor Aunt May). Later sets would go even further, adding relative power levels, but because of limitations posed by the scale, characters like Hulk and Galactus would end up being presented as equally strong. Speaking as someone who was a preteen at the time, arguing about this stuff rocked.

And because this stuff rocked, these early sets—especially the Series 1 cards from 1990—have greatly increased in value. A gem mint Captain America Series 1

THE LOWS OF THE ’90s

card will set you back $100+, and it might actually be a steal. A few of these cards have gone for four figures at auction, and a mint Venom could fetch four times that. And the value of the hologram cards continues to soar. The set had 167 normal finish cards and five special holographic cards: Cosmic Spider-Man; Magneto; Silver Surfer; Peter Parker vs. Norman Osborn; and Wolverine. A hologram 7.0 grade Wolverine—decidedly not mint, though not too beat up—will still run you upwards of $65.

THE LOWS OF THE ’90S

Let’s be clear: at no point have these cards ever had an actual, across-the-board downturn in quality. Marvel would frequently commission artwork from folks working on the comics to draw pinups that would be turned into these cards. So you would see Jim Lee’s X-Men team or Andy Kubert drawing Sabretooth.

You also had, for the first time, the Brothers Hildebrandt commissioned to paint artwork for the Marvel Masterpieces series of cards, and some of these cards are gorgeous.

However, cards were not immune to the excesses of ’90s comic culture. So the gimmicks came, and when they were bad, they were really bad.

Case in point: Spring Break 1995. Not the MTV Beach House celebrating the event. The X-Men

THE LOWS OF THE ’90s

The Future

cards celebrating the event. The Marvel Swimsuit Editions have been the subject of a deservedly large amount of ridicule over the years. And just as there is no logical reason for a book full of pinups of Gambit in a bikini bottom playing beach volleyball, there is also no reason for a card of Wolverine grilling sausages with his claws. Perhaps it’s not terribly surprising that you mostly can’t give these cards away. But they would certainly be amazing conversation pieces framed and on the wall—if you’re willing to go for it.

The Future

The ’90s were fun and silly for trading cards, but recent years have seen them get interesting. Cards can do a lot of the same things that comics can do artistically, but because they’re small and cardboard, and not flimsy, stapled pieces of paper, they can also try some interesting stuff—case in point: a ground-floor buy in Upper Deck’s 2021 Galactus card. With the Fantastic Four on their way into the MCU, it’s only a matter of time before Galactus the Devourer makes his way to the big screen, which should drive up the value of any and all memorabilia associated with him. But this card is great for a much different reason.

Galactus was created by the greatest comic artist ever to work:

Jack Kirby. He and Stan Lee introduced Galactus early in the Fantastic Four comics, and Kirby’s design was amazing. This giant was shimmering with power, Kirby crackle everywhere. Seeing him on page was intimidating and awe-inspiring. The foiling on this card feels like it was designed to give a similar effect—this is a being of immense cosmic power, and his look matches that.

The 2022 Upper Deck Kang card has a similar foiling effect for an equally weird character. Kang still promises to be the main driver of this latest phase of MCU movies, so the prices here should go up significantly, but the foiling on this art does the character justice, so whether that price moves or not, it’s still great to look at.

While outside factors will determine which yet-to-be-released cards will spike in value, if you’re collecting to feed your fandom, what’s coming out now should keep you fat and happy for some time.