The ’90s were huge for the X-Men. The growing family of X-Men comics has been selling better than ever. X-Men: The Animated Series The weekly adventures of Marvel’s hilarious mutants have brought home many soon-to-be obsessed kids. The third often-overlooked pillar of the X-Men boom of the ’90s was the trading card decks that included characters. Often the cards were unique and distinctive representations of characters, providing stunning visuals and new information about the characters for fans who didn’t necessarily have to rummage through past release chests to uncover every moment in X-Men history. A lot of young people in the ’90s spent their allotments filling folders full of these decks of cards.
Jim Lee was the connective tissue between the X-Men comics, Animation seriesand business cards. Draw me the record X-Men #1, his character designs are the basis of the X-Men’s look X-Men: The Animated Series. These designs were all displayed in . format The Uncanny X-Men 1 Series The Trading Card was released in 1992, which was the first Marvel trading card to be entirely drawn by a single artist. The 105 deck of cards included iconic X-Men characters like Wolverine and Cyclops, along with other characters who have since faded into the background, like Widget and Kylun, all drawn in Lee’s signature style. Lee’s artwork here—which has been reused on multiple occasions for many licensed Marvel products—is noteworthy for collectors and fans as it is a rare example of Lee inking his own work rather than relying on a custom inked like frequent collaborator Scott Williams.
Trading Cards The Uncanny X-Men: The Complete Series From Abrams ComicArts, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the original card release, collects each card in the deck, front and back, into a single folder, allowing fans to take in the artwork featured on one side and see character profiles and stats on the back. Before that, an introduction by Ed Pescor, the cartoonist who created X-Men: Grand Design, paves the way, reminding readers of what it was like to be an X-Men fan in the ’90s. Next, Bob Budiansky, the Marvel editor who oversaw the deck of cards, gives fans an introduction through the collection’s creation, from production to release and lasting impact.
Budiansky, fellow editor Tom Brevoort, Paul Mounts, a colorist who worked on the set, and two other people involved provide additional commentary on some of the cards in the book. While Budiansky and Brevoort’s commentary offers some fun trivia, Mount’s interpretation of what went into coloring Lee’s work shines most. Color Lee’s colorful stripes and often create entire canvas backgrounds to place behind Lee characters. His commentary offers insight into the hard work, skill, creativity and resourcefulness he brought to the cards, providing a whole new level of appreciation for artwork. It’s a shame Lee didn’t provide a comment, but that’s no surprise because he’s so well immersed in Marvel’s “premium competition” these days.
Abrams ComicArts includes a number of fun add-ons Trading Cards The Uncanny X-Men: The Complete Series. The book comes with four new promotional cards. One is a single card showing the complete artwork used for the nine connected Danger Room cards in the deck, which collectors can piece together by placing the nine cards on a nine-card binding page. The other three cards recreate Lee’s contact wrappers into recording mode X-Men #1. It’s a great bonus original collectors might want to add to their personal folders. Finally, the reverse side of the book cover features Lee’s iconic poster art that shows most of the characters starring in the X-Men and related titles at the time. The artwork is as stunning today as it was then, even in this miniature form, and makes a nice brooch for those who don’t mind missing out on the dust cover (the wrapping itself, featuring Lee’s Wolverine, looks excellent).
Trading Cards The Uncanny X-Men: The Complete Series It is a fun and nostalgic trip. And as a bonus, getting a copy for a bookshelf should be a lot easier than keeping track of a batch of this staple of X-Men history on the secondary market. The book will go on sale on August 9th.
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