2018 Toronto Comicon 'Spring edition'

It was a deceptively cold March weekend [-6 Celsius, but felt way colder with the wind chill], yet that didn't stop comic book and anime fans from coming out in droves to the Spring Edition of the FanExpo Toronto Comicon being held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. It was a 3-day event -- overlapping St Patrick's Day -- spanning from March 16th to Match 18th, and featured a diverse selection of special guests.

As an 80s/90s DC comics fan, I was very interested in meeting Dave Dorman, John McCrea and Howard Chakyin. Ty Templeton was around somewhere, but co-editor Mark Belkin already interviewed him at the 2016 Montreal Comiccon -- and I don't think I could ever top Mark's interview -- so he wasn't an urgent priority.

As a fan of comics from the 90s, I was hoping to chat with Howard Mackie and Richard Pace.

Also appearing at this convention, which I suspected was the reason we saw a lot of Flash cosplay, was John Wesley Shipp -- who is best known for playing Barry Allen/The Flash on the live-action TV series that aired on CBS during the early 1990s (and now has a recurring role in the new CW Flash TV series as Golden Aged speedster Jay Garrick). Thankfully, Shipp held a celebrity Q&A on Saturday, and we were lucky enough to attend.

This photo of John Wesley Shipp as the Flash was NOT taken by Samy Osman

As a special treat, my guest photographer for this event was Samy Osman -- probably the most famous person I personally know -- who did an excellent job of taking photos of the cosplayers and going-ons at this event. Almost every photo you see in this article was taken by Samy.

As mentioned, this was the Spring Edition of the Toronto Comicon -- I'd consider it a 'warm-up' for the main event: Toronto's FanExpo convention which is held late August/early September.

We arrived on a Friday evening around 6pm and the convention centre was already buzzing with fans. A few cosplay pics we snapped on Friday evening:

cosplayers dressed up as Marvel's Silver Sable and DC's Rorschach 

gang of Harleys cosplay

It wasn't the usual sea of Harley Quinns and Poison Ivys (don't get me wrong, there were some Quinns and Ivys), and there was lots of diversity in this event's DC cosplay. Amazons and Wonder Woman were a pretty big theme this time (no doubt inspired by the success of the recent film and rumor of a new Wonder Woman film in production), plenty of Flash-themed cosplay (due to John Wesley Shipp's appearance, naturally) and Teen Titans cosplay (most likely inspired by press release photos of the new Teen Titans live-action TV series in the works). As for non-DC cosplay, Marvel's X-Men was a pretty big theme this year -- and we saw a lot more X-Men characters than we were used to. Asgardians were also a recurring theme, thanks to last summer's Thor film (and because everyone secretly just wants to dress as vikings).

A tour of the convention floor showed us what to expect these next few days: a huge emphasis on Star Wars, Dr Who, Ghostbusters, anime, and -- of course -- comic books (not in that order).

The 501st Legion -- Star Wars cosplay enthusiasts -- has this rad life-size diorama of Jabba the Hutt and his Throne Room you could pose for photos with. Seeing as how that was my favorite part of Return of the Jedi, I though this was absolutely brilliant.

The Doctor Who Society of Canada (self-explanatory) had a cool little exhibit set up in which you can take photos with Daleks.

The Ontario Ghostbusters were also onsite with an interactive exhibit booth.

Kurt Lehnar & son

One of our first interviews was with Kurt Lehnar -- Canadian illustrator and animation artist. We talked at length about various DC projects he was involved in. He also told us about a few other cartoons from our youth he had a hand in. Kurt's enthusiasm for the medium is contagious, and we'll be posting a complete interview with him in the near future.

John McCrea

We had a chance to talk to John McCrea, and I really wished I had asked him about working with Garth Ennis on Hitman. Instead, we chatted a bit about pencilling chores on DC's The Demon and Hitman (and his contributions to the stories). McCrea is a really friendly and interesting guy, and speaks with a heavy Irish [?] accent. Stop by and talk to him if you ever see him at a convention.

Dave Dorman

Before Alex Ross, there was Dave Dorman. Well -- that's not completely true, but Dorman *IS* responsible for some of my favorite trading card art from the 1994 Skybox DC Master Series -- a set I truly do cherish.

Two Dorman-illustrated cards from the 1994 Skybox DC Master Series set

My mind went kind of blank talking to him and couldn't think of any profound questions to ask him. PRO TIP: Sometimes you meet an artist, and you really can't think of anything much to say except for how impressed you are with their work. Sometimes it's just best to leave it at that rather than strain yourself trying to look "knowledgeable".

Howard Mackie signing a copy of Marvel's Ghost Rider

Before the evening was over, Howard Mackie made time for us. Among the many Marvel titles he's written for in the 80s and 90s, Mackie is best known for launching the 'new' 90s Ghost Rider (of which he wrote the first 69 issues and then some). Marvel's Ghost Rider v3 had the unique distinction of being the ONLY Marvel title I wasn't allowed to bring into my very Catholic household during my teens -- mainly because the lead protagonist rode a motorcycle and had a flaming skull (looking very demon-like). I made a point to (jokingly) communicate this to Mackie in a stern way. Mackie's reply: "You should've told them that it was written by a Catholic boy, and all the characters were Catholic, and it was taking place in a Catholic cemetery."

While Ghost Rider had a bit of resistance from the sales team regarding a new series relaunch (ex: brand new 'unknown' creative team, combined with Ghost Rider v2 [1973 - 1983] being cancelled due to low sales), offending religious readers was not something that ever crossed the sales team's mind. "We'd done demonic characters before in a way without reflecting any religion (ex: Damian Hellstrom)", Mackie explained, "so they didn't give it a second thought. It was all about the numbers. Publishing is all about the numbers."

I had to hide this issue very carefully from my parents.

Unbeknownst to most fans, Mackie was one of the four comic pros (among John Byrne, Mark Gruenwald and Tom DeFalco) who had managed to turn Jim Shooter's self-imploding New Universe imprint (for Marvel comics) into something worth reading. Mackie told us how he initially didn't want the job:

"I had gotten a promotion [at Marvel], and there were a lot of things going on -- when I got the promotion, I was told the last guy who was editing the New Universe ahead of me was fired and they were giving me the job. And I didn't want it."

Mackie went to his supervising editor, DeFalco, and pleaded not to get the promotion. Mackie was concerned that he would be fired next, by Jim Shooter, when the doomed-to-failure New Universe imprint inevitably didn't succeed and would leave a black smear on Mackie's writing career.

Instead, it was Shooter who was fired from Marvel within two weeks of Mackie begrudgingly accepting the promotion.

With Shooter no longer imposing creative restraints, Mackie was able to bring on his own creative teams for New Universe titles (ex: John Byrne, Peter David, Fabian Nicieza and Mark Gruenwald). 

"Bringing John Byrne, at that point, bringing him back in [to Marvel] was kind of a coupe. Because at that point, he had been doing Superman [for DC comics]. He had left Marvel, and I had brought him back. Not only did I bring him back, but I brought him back in to do a book that, for all intents and purposes, he should not have wanted to do. I became known, for a long time, as 'the Byrne Whisperer' -- because I could always get John to do things he didn't want to do."

"The way I did it -- and he knows, because John is a good friend of mine -- I would call him up and I would say, for instance, "Hey John, you'd never thought of doing StarBrand? Ah, no no no -- what am I talking about? You'd never think of that." and I'd hang up the phone. And then the phone would ring back -- and I knew it was John -- and I wouldn't answer. Then... an hour later... I'd finally pick up, and he'd say "Goddamnit Howard, all I've been able to do for the last hour was think of StarBrand stories!" and I'd say "Okay, well if you WANT it... sure! You can have the book. You don't have to beg." And I did the same thing to him with Marvel's West Coast Avengers."

Star Brand v1 #12 (cover by John Byrne and Tom Palmer), Star Brand v1 #16 (cover by John Byrne)

We talked a bit how not too long after the New Universe imprint ended, elements of it still appeared in Marvel's Quasar. "That was Mark [Gruenwald]'s doing", Mackie assured me, "Mark was so tightly tied in to both."

Mackie explained that sometimes books are targeted for cancellation by the sales team, and there was really no way of getting around it. The New Universe creative team saw the writing on the wall. The only thing Mackie asked for was the ability to end the imprint the way the creative team wanted to, and that's what they did. In his own private joke, he made sure to have "#32 in a thirty-two issue limited series" above the title of each book. "I felt like we had told the story and we were allowed to wrap it up, which just wouldn't happen today." He felt that the New Universe imprint finally thrived when they were just free to create as they pleased. The key thing, he explained, was to "just let creators create".

Mackie's 'private joke'. Now you're in on it, too. ;)

Regarding the direction of the New Universe imprint: "'The World Outside Your Window'. That was the conceit of the New Universe, but the reality is that the first time that world changes, it's no longer the world outside your window. One outside event and it changes EVERYTHING."

I had way too much fun interviewing Mackie, and I feel a little guilty that we're not 'Marvel in the 80s' because I'm sure he had stories that could've entertained us for hours. A truly charismatic guy, that Howard Mackie.

...and that concluded day 1.

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We came back on Saturday and the attendance had seemingly doubled. Lots of cosplayers on Saturday sporting lots of DC-themed costumes. Some of the stand-outs included:

Golden Age Dr Fate (Kent Nelson) and Raven (of Teen Titans)

Teen Titans! Left to Right: Donna Troy/Troia, Kid Flash, Nightwing, Aqualad/Tempest, Changeling/Beast Boy. Also: Deathstroke's head photo-bombing us. 

Lobo and Wonder Woman. As mentioned above, Wonder Women and Amazons were pretty numerous in attendance this year (and they all looked great) -- we selected this WW cosplay pic because it's the classical costume we grew up with during the 80s.... and, if nothing else, we're a sucker for the classics over here at DC in the 80s.

Lobo's back

Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick) and more Teen Titans (Raven and Changeling/Beast Boy). FUN FACT: Friday's Rorschach (scroll way up and see Friday cosplay photos) was also cosplayed by the same guy who was the Golden Age Flash.

Teen Titans! Love this pic! Left to right: Raven, Nightwing, Starfire and Robin. FUN FACT: The lady cosplaying as Starfire also cosplayed as Silver Sable (scroll way up) on Friday night.

Harley Quinn and Joker to the left, Teen Titans (now including Cyborg) to the right. There were quite a few Harley Quinn and Joker cosplayers at this event, but we went with this duo since they looked like dead-wringers for the Batman: The Animated Series Joker and Harley. Upon closer inspection, I'm realizing that 2 out of the 3 Titans in the second photo where in the group shot several photos above, but what can I say? I'm just excited that Teen Titans are getting more attention.

This is writer Howard Chaykin. We appreciate that he took the time to answer our inane questions about comics he wrote 30 years ago. He's a stand-up guy and we truly admire him for being so patient with us.

We toured the convention a bit more and managed to fumble our way through an interview with Howard Chakyin. We'll post that interview shortly.



Richard Pace -- who has quickly become one of my newest favorite illustrators (the man draws like Bernie Wrightson -- seriously) sat down with us for almost an hour and told about the numerous DC projects he has worked on (including a few future projects we're not allowed to mention, yet). We'll be posting that interview shortly. Until then, please enjoy this photo of Pace attempting to describe the size of the trophy pike he caught last weekend while ice fishing in Ontario. ;)

Richard Pace

John Wesley Shipp (right) at the Celebrity Q&A panel

The last event we attended on Saturday was the Celebrity Q&A panel featuring John Wesley Shipp. Prior to this weekend, I really hadn't ever given the 1990 The Flash television series a second thought, but after this weekend, I'm thinking it's probably time for an episode guide. Shipp spoke for about half an hour regarding his experiences on the 1990 live-action television series (as the lead character, Barry Allen), and his experiences on the new 2014 The Flash live-action television series (as supporting character, Jay Garrick). After the first half an hour, he opened the floor to questions.

And now for the burning question you've all been wondering: was John Wesley Shipp a big Flash fan before he got the role?

Shipp did NOT collect or read Flash comics, or even know WHO the character was BEFORE he was offered the role for the 1990 TV series. "They said to me 'Flash', and I said "You mean Flash Gordon?" I didn't know anything -- it was a process of discovery." He elaborated, "I took everything I needed from the scripts, but then I got curious."  He acknowledges that fans have made The Flash the success it is, and wishes to respect that comic fandom legacy -- particularly the Barry Allen/Jay Garrick relationship.

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This article wouldn't be complete with a round-up of the other non-DC cosplay we saw, so here were a few that stuck out for us:

I really get a kick when kinda obscure Marvel characters are cosplayed. Here we've got Bishop and Jubilee. Jubilee left her pink sunglasses in the car, and her friend had ran out to retrieve them, she explained to us.

Black suit Spider-Man and Black Cat on the left. Kraven the Hunter on the right. I seem to recall Kraven hunting black suit Spidey during the 80s, so this all works out.

Doctor Strange cosplay on the left. Agent Venom (of the Guardians of the Galaxy) on the right. Yeah, I keep up with current Marvel comics -- I'm only human. ;)

By Crom! I'm pretty sure this is Conan the Barbarian cosplay -- but if I'm wrong, may the gods forgive me.

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The convention was packed all day long. Plenty of enthusiastic comic/anime fans. A great showing from Toronto.

One thing I will say about this event is that it just flew by so quickly. Lots of things happening, and before I realized it, the afternoon was already over. I didn't get to spend as much time in the retailers section as I would've liked to (I love looking for bargains) -- I normally like to poke around and look for complete trading card sets -- but I was on a tight schedule and didn't have the time to peruse the tables like I normally do. I did, however, pick up these:

Yep, I collect pins and patches now.

The 2018 Toronto Comicon "Spring edition" was an extremely well-organized and entertaining event. Lots to see and do: bring a reliable camera, a few comics you'd like autographed and prepare to be entertained for the better part of a weekend.

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Big thanks to Jen and Jess of Touchwood PR for allowing us to cover this excellent event. Another HUGE thanks to Samy Osman for taking the beautiful photos. Samy is sure to win an Oscar someday, so check him out now while he's still an up-and-coming indie star.

NOTE: If you didn't see your cosplay photo on this page, and we snapped a pic of you, check our 2018 Toronto Comicon spring edition Facebook cosplay gallery. There was lots and lots of great cosplay this year, and choosing photos to post in this article was a pretty difficult task.

One of our favorite trading card sets — 1994's Superman: Man of Steel Platinum Series by SkyBox

Note: This review was directly influenced by a house ad Micheal Bailey posted in his very excellent Fortress of Baileytude website. If you're a Superman fan and are seeking a great example of a well-organized website that discusses Superman in great depth, I'd recommend checking out Bailey's site. These cards had been sitting on our desk for the last 4 months now, and we swore we'd do a write up on them sooner... but, better late than never. ;)

Following DC's 1992 Death of Superman event, and then the subsequent Reign of the Supermen event, public interest in Superman was at an all-time high during 1993. [Comichron.com lists that 1993's Top 5 highest-selling comics were all Superman comics.] DC comics — recognizing a good thing when they saw it — quickly released a flurry of licensed products to capitalize on the renewed interest in the comic book property, and collectors were soon treated to a Superman: Man of Steel Platinum Series trading card set (published by SkyBox) in 1994.

Promo card for lower-budget 'Collector's Edition'. Painted by Daniel Horne.

In the early 90s, DC comics had always been 2 years behind Marvel comics when it came to producing trading card sets. Case in point: it was only 2 years AFTER Marvel had released their Marvel Universe I trading cards that DC had released it's first non-movie trading card set [Doomsday: The Death of Superman, SkyBox 1992]. By the time DC had released it's 1992 DC Cosmic Cards trading card set (it's first all-encompassing DCU trading card set), Marvel was releasing it's first fully-painted Marvel Masterpieces trading card set.

I'm sure this had to do with the fact that Topps held the Batman license as far as trading cards were concerned. [I bet you noticed the absence of any Batman and Batman-related characters in any pre-1994 Impel/Skybox DC trading card sets, eh?] I don't know why DC didn't just stick with Topps for trading card publishing. Maybe Impel/Skybox was offering them a better licensing deal? Either way, I'll probably come back and re-write these last few sentences someday when I have some hard evidence as to why DC didn't want to do business with Topps anymore.

Thankfully, this all turned around come 1994 when DC released about half a dozen trading card sets within the span of a single year. When I sit down and calculate it, I'm pretty sure I spent more of my disposable income on trading cards about comic books that year than I did on actual comic books.

Don't get me wrong — as a DC comics fan, 1994 was a great year for non-sports trading cards: we got our first REAL Batman trading card set, our first fully-painted DC comics set, and the introduction of over-sized/widevision trading cards. I think a lot of us DC fans exhaled a collective sigh of 'finally' as DC had finally caught up to Marvel in terms of variety of product and quality. Besides, I was getting tired of having my Marvel friends flaunt their Marvel Masterpieces cards and me wishing out loud that DC would produce something just as good.

#32: "Behold, A Dark Knight!" — painted by Dave Dorman

The Superman: Man of Steel Platinum Series trading card set had all the elements of an 'instant win'. A few details that immediately caught my attention included:

• it was a 90-card series of over-sized, fully-painted trading cards,
• it recounted Superman's life from Superman #1 (1987) up until then-current 1994,
• it was released at two price points: a collector's edition and a premium edition,
• and it was 'a limited collection, with production less than that of the celebrated "Doomsday: Death of Superman" trading card series'.

A fully-painted trading card set was pretty exciting for fans. At this point, a fully-painted anything was pretty exciting for fans. Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek's Marvels [published by Marvel Comics] was released earlier that year, and within weeks Alex Ross became a household name [among comic book fans, anyways]. As previously mentioned, Marvel had already released a set of trading cards with the realistic and highly-detailed painted art of Joe Jusko two years prior, so this was DC playing 'catch-up'. The Superman: Man of Steel Platinum Series was not DC's first fully-painted trading card series of the nineties, that distinction went to the DC Master Series (which was released a few months prior).

The over-sized/widevision aspect was a nice selling point — but, at this point, I remember collectors still being kind of unsure about this new format. On the plus side, you were getting more card [a widevision card measured 2.5" x 4.5" vs the standard 2.5" x 3.5" trading card], but the unusual size of these trading cards meant that you either had to buy six-pocket plastic card protector sheets or you had to keep 'em stacked up in a pile somewhere safe. Since the six-card protector sheets were a little more expensive and were only meant for widevision cards, a lot of us opted for the pile 'em somewhere safe option. Upon further recollection, I seem to recall collectors dismissing this as a 'flash in the pan' as far as the gimmick era of trading cards were concerned, so they didn't think to invest much into it. Surprisingly, the 'widevision format' did survive, and was heavily utilized by Topps (of all companies) for it's Star Wars trading card sets.

#64: "Panic in the Sky!" — painted by Bill Sienkiewicz

To me, the biggest achievement of this card set was getting me interested in Superman again. I'll be the first to admit, Superman is NOT my favorite DC character. Yes, I did follow the Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen! storylines, but only because I thought he was getting phased out and being replaced with someone more contemporary. Other than that, I had little to no interest in Superman or his history. To me, he was too powerful and lacked the frailties that made for an interesting protagonist.

#65: 'To Lead the Justice League' — painted by Nick Choles

This card set covered the first seven years of Superman's career since the John Byrne's 1987 reboot (most of the events spotlighted are from the Superman v2 ongoing series) and concluded somewhere shortly after Superman's return from the dead. I liked that not every card depicted 'the shot heard around the world' and sometimes revisited some of Superman's less-epic confrontations... like his first encounter with C-list villain Rampage (who later became a supporting character in Starman v1) or when Superman battled Massacre [a villain so forgettable I had to look up his name twice]. Many cards feature characters you already recognize, which piques your interest even more and makes you realize Superman's post-Crisis career may have been more entertaining than you originally gave it credit for. In short, it's really hard NOT to get interested in Superman after flipping through these cards.

#41: 'Rampage!' — painted by Hector Gomez

The two different price points (premium edition for the more serious collector, and collector's edition for the budget version) made this a very tempting impulse purchase for high school students who only had $10 to their name every week. My local hometown comic book shop sold the collector's edition for approximately 3 weeks before they were gone from the shelves and I never saw them again. I wasn't even aware a premium edition of this set existed until a few years ago.

The big difference between the two versions wasn't just the price, but the overall look & feel of the cards and the potential inserts/chase cards you could pull from a pack. While the collector's edition had a nice enough (if not plain) metallic ink border, the premium edition had a shiny reflective metal border with embossed rivets. The six chase cards in the collector's edition consisted of Spectra-Etch versions of cards found in the base set (1:7), and while they may have looked good, weren't exactly 'must haves'. Meanwhile, the premium edition contained the Kerry Gammill-designed SculptorCast insert cards (1:18) and the highly-coveted Man of Steel SkyDisc (1:240).

Forged-In-Steel SculptorCast FS3: "Showdown with Doomsday" by Kerry Gammill

The SkyDiscs were the holy grail of DC trading card collectors in 1994. I personally don't own any, but I've seen them before at trading card dealer's tables. They look like honest-to-God holograms — like you're peering down at a green 3D model of Superman through a little circular porthole (this was a big contrast to the early "holograms" Impel/SkyBox was using for it's DC Cosmic Cards and DC Cosmic Teams insert sets, which seemed more like several layers of foil enhanced 2D images than an actual 3D hologram).

SkyDiscs were pretty big in 1994, as SkyBox released 4 of them that year (usually as a cherry to top off a set). There was a Batman SkyDisc available in the Batman Saga of the Dark Knight trading card set, another Superman SkyDisc available in the DC Master Series trading card set, the aforementioned Superman SkyDisc from this set, and a Death SkyDisc in the widevision Vertigo trading card set. The widevision Sandman trading card set included a 3-D Stereo Hologram chase of Morpheus — but I've never seen it in person so I can't confirm if it looks like a SkyDisc or not. The DC Master Series contained 'SkyDisc redemption' cards (which you needed to send away for in order to receive your SkyDisc), and I'm not 100% sure if the Man of Steel Platinum Series had a redemption card system, as well. Nevertheless, as a lover of all things holographic, I'm seriously going to need to track these down someday.

A snazzy binder was also available to collect the trading card set:

I didn't know this binder even existed until I started researching this card set. I'm guessing this was something you needed to order directly from SkyBox? I have no clue if it came with the entire trading card set decked out in 6-pocket plastic card protector sheets, or if you were expected to buy the cards separately.

It's written right on the promo card [see Bailey's link] that this collection was 'limited' and had a 'production less than that of the celebrated "Doomsday: Death of Superman" trading card series'. So... how many Doomsday: Death of Superman trading cards were produced? Apparently, only 10,000 cases of the SkyBox Doomsday: Death of Superman trading cards were produced in 1993. That doesn't really feel that scarce — especially since I often stumble on dealers trying to sell the entire base set for $5 USD.

#49: 'Mongul!' — painted by Scott Hampton

I always have to laugh when the set boasts that 'Roger Stern wrote the text copy' as a selling point. I guess this was to add to consumer confidence? Stern was heavily involved in the Superman-titles from the late-80s to the mid-90s. I'm chuckling because I don't think anybody really cares who wrote the text copy, as long as it has some sort of coherent summary on the reverse of the card and isn't mistakenly confusing Superman with Spider-Man. If you're buying this card set, it's for the art and the novelty of it (and you might even be Superman fan), and probably not because Roger Stern added 50 words to the back of each card. Some of my favorite Roger Stern works include his 1980s Amazing Spider-Man run [co-created Hobgoblin] and his 1980s Avengers run for Marvel Comics. Check 'em out if you haven't already.

#47: reverse of "Enter Supergirl!" — text by Roger Stern

I'd be reluctant to call this is the first REAL Superman set from DC comics, considering both 1992's DC Cosmic Cards and 1993's DC Cosmic Teams gave a decent amount of attention to Superman, his allies and his villains, I'm just going to disregard the 1992 Doomsday: Death of Superman and the 1993 Return of Superman trading card sets (both produced by SkyBox), since I seem to remember them re-using a lot of art from the comics and not really bringing anything new or exciting to the table.

The art is the strongest selling point of this set. Illustrators included Bill Sienkiewicz, Joe Phillips, Joe DeVito, Les Dorscheid, Zina Saunders, Alexander Gregory, Hector Gomez, Donato Giancola, Eric Peterson, Dave Dorman, Scott Hampton, Denis Rodier, Dan Brereton, Steve Fastner / Rich Larson, Ray Lago, Nick Choles, Tom Fleming, Jon Bogdanove, Daniel Horne, Kieron Dwyer, and Nelson DeCastro — a lot of these same names contributed pieces to the 1994 DC Master Series (also by SkyBox). I believe a lot of this art was used exclusively for this trading card set, and sometimes, when searching original art auctions, you might see a painting of Superman by one of the above-mentioned artists and wonder "Where is that from? I don't recognize that from any comic I've read" and now you know why.

In a set with such amazing painted artwork, it's a little difficult to pick out my favorites. Bill Sienkiewicz's cards always stood out for their smoky, watercolor-esque effects:

#73:"Superboy!" and #74: "The Cyborg Superman" — both painted by Bill Sienkiewicz

Of course, anything with an entire shot of the Justice League was a card I cherished:

#40: "Living Legends!" — painted by Joe Phillips

[I never really understood why LEGENDS was the only DCU cross-over event that got a mention in this set. Nothing about Millennium, Invasion!, or Armageddon 2001. Probably because Byrne contributed quite a bit to LEGENDS?]


And who could forget the pivotal moment in which Cyborg Superman finally got what was coming to him?

#78: "The Man in Black!" — painted by Bill Sienkiewicz

A few of these cards do bring back fond memories of characters and/or storylines that were long forgotten. Like the introduction of the new villain Conduit (created by Dan Jurgens and Louise Simonson) who was being set up as a major NEW arch-nemesis in Superman's life [last seen in 1995]...

#88: "Conduit Means Power!" — painted by Joe DeVito

...or that time Supergirl/Matrix discovered Lex Luthor was just 'using her'? [as recounted in 1994's Supergirl v3 mini-series — written by Roger Stern]:

#82: "The Vengeance of Supergirl!" — painted by Nelson DeCastro

In summary, this trading card set was a card set done right — it was released at the right time (i.e., just as the non-sports trading card boom was picking up steam), featured the right talent and focused on something fans were excited for. Utilizing over-sized/widevision trading cards to give us more art was a brilliant use of the card, considering the talent working on these cards. Releasing these at two price points also made it accessible to both casual and die-hard trading card collectors. Prices on these trading card sets vary wildly (depending on the dealer), but a full base set of premium edition will almost always cost at least three times as much as the budget-friendly collector's edition. I found the base set cards nice enough on their own, and decided to skip out on collecting the SpectraEtch insert cards. If you ever do happen to chance upon a SkyDisc for a decent price (and you decide to buy it), send me a photo so I can envy you from a distance.

In the longview, I don't know if these cards succeeded in raising interest/readership for the Superman books being published by DC at the time. I do remember being very interested in Superman's history for a while after collecting these, but I also remember the landscape of the DCU had changed dramatically by this point and I suddenly didn't recognize many of the current characters running around anymore — so I'd mainly stick to collecting back issues from the late 80s. As far as raising awareness in John Byrne's post-Crisis work on Superman, this trading card set was successful.


-Justin