Random Hulk Cards!

Impel Promotional Hulk Card

I will be posting my review of TIH #614 tomorrow… working on it now – but I have just a few things left to show you as far as the cards are concerned.  The card above is from 1991 from Impel and it is part of a set of 5 or so other cards.  The card below is from the Silver Surfer series from 1992.  It’s shiny!  A prism card as they call them…

Silver Surfer Hulk Card

Same Card - Different angle - not as shiny this way

Silver Age Hulk

The card above here is from the Silver Age series.  It’s one of the chase cards and it’s pretty hard to find.  The Metal cards below came in a few versions – these are the Gold and Rainbow version….

Marvel Hulk Metal Cards

That’s it for about now – I think I will be able to finish this “Cards” theme by next week.  And even better – I am planning on a really special Ultra-Rare month next month showcasing some of the most unique and extremely rare pieces in the collection!

Marvel Superheroes – First Issue Covers (1984)

Marvel Superheroes First Issue Covers

Avengers #1

I found a box of this set on the Cape.  It’s a pretty fantastic idea of collecting just covers to the #1 issues.  So, of course we have The Incredible Hulk #1 and Avengers #1 – also both first appearances of the Defenders – Defenders #1 and Marvel Feature Presents #1 (Yes Gary, I know – that’s not the correct title) but also the Marvel Premiere Featuring #1.

The Incredible Hulk #1

The Defenders First Appearance!

It’s interesting to me when these supergroups form they want the Hulk to be part of it, and why?  It’s obvious really – he is the powerhouse you want on your side when things get hairy!  But the real point is – the Hulk can’t be controlled – can’t be part of a team… yet they won’t stop having him join!  Anyways, this is a great set – everyone should seek one out!

Marvel Premiere #1

Defenders #1

Incredible Hulk Topps Set (2003)

Some of the Byrne cards

This set – released at the same time as the Hulk movie set - is one of my favorite sets!  The images on the cards cover a lot of artists and span the Hulk’s history.  Byrne, Garney, Keown, Kubert and Larsen - and some of the most classic covers are in this set.  A lot of the images from the 70′s Hulk magazine also find their way into this set.  If you don’t have that series – it strarted out as Rampaging Hulk and then turned into the Hulk – you should pick it up, even for the artwork alone!

Some Garney, Kubert and Larsen

This is an impressive base set – but the chase cards are even better!  I really like the 2 chase sets – and one of mine is still incomplete, if you can believe that!  I will talk about that set first.  They are called the Gamma Ray chase cards – and each card has an image of the Hulk behind a shiny green backround.  These are great – the only problem is – they aren’t easy to find!  These is one set on ebay – but all I am missing is #7 – and I can’t find it ANYWHERE!  If anyone has it I would be willing to trade or whatever.

Some of the Gamma Ray Cards

In fact, I have a few extra of the next set right here – the Crystal Clear Hulk set – this has some of the most classic images from the Hulk ever – that encapsulate most of the card – the edges are green brick and other than that it’s see-through.  This was a hard set to complete – I had #1 and #4 – and then found a #2 – I was looking for #3 and #5 for a good price when I was lucky enough to snag an entire set from a international seller for about $5.00!

These are my 2 favorite of the set of 5

The Whole Set

Incredible Hulk Movie Card Set (2008)

2008 Hulk Movie Set

This here is just a 6 card set that has all of the actors in their roles and a Hulk and Abomination card.  The set is very limited to only 999 - I found this set at New England Comics in Quincy.  I was bummed that they didn’t make a full set movie cards for this movie – but this is at least something!  Each card has the actor’s name on the back and who they played in the movie.  I’ve never seen this set anywhere else and I am not really sure where it comes from – but if anyone knows I would be thankful for the info!

Come on back tomorrow!  I will be taking a break from the all the cards and reviewing… oh – that would be cheating – you have to come back tomorrow!

Hulk Movie Trading Card Set (2003)

They combined both comic and movie images

This was a fun set to collect.  I remember this set being one of the first sets that I tried to get every card – remember, these other sets I have were given to me – even the Marvel Masterpieces that I collected – I never really tried to collect the whole series.  I just got what I got.  But this set was one where I actually continued to buy packages to try to get the cards I needed.  Of course, that left me with several incomplete sets – missing just a card or two – also missing a few of the chase cards.

I love this two-some

... and the Big Guy!

I went into Larry’s Comics and saw they had 2 whole boxes – so I haggled for one of the boxes down to a price we both were happy with – and I went to town ripping these packages open trying to find the few missing cards I needed.  I needed base card #35 – got it.  Base card #50 – got it.  I needed chase card, Illustrated Film Scene, #3 -got it – and needed chase card #10 – DIDN’T get it.  I also had every famous cover card – except for #10 – and I didn’t get that either.  I was fuming!

JRJR does the Illustrated Film Scene set

All... bu #10 - which I have, but it's on another page...

I only needed a few cards to complete the set – so to ebay I turned.  I was able to get the Illustrated Film Scene #10 – but the famous covers #10 was impossible to find!  Unless I wanted to pay $30 for the entire set and have another ALMOST complete set of these… so I waited.  I have told the followers of this blog many times about patience… and this is yet ANOTHER story where it worked out.  I continued to browse ebay – and then one day I found an international seller – selling the exact card I needed – but he listed it under the year the comic featured on the card came out!  And there it was!  $2.00 later it was all mine!

The First Two Covers

Famous Covers Chase Cards

Anyways, great set – worth picking up!  I loved how the base set had both movie and comic images.  Again, this set is worth picking up!  And it’s actually pretty easy to snag off ebay for a pretty nice price – not like I did, the old fashion way, which cost me a fortune!

Marvel/Fleer Hulk Gold Card (1998)

Here's a hint - the artist is a legend...

This card comes from a set of 4 that included Iron Man, Spiderman, Wolverine and this guy right here!  While I have only this card – I will give a No-Prize to anyone who can tell me who drew this image AND where it’s from…

With 465 back – good luck to anyone who answers this before he gets to – because he already knows the answer and I haven’t finished typing it yet…

Marvel Universe Cards (1993)

Hulk Card - #1

Back of Card

They did something REAL interesting for this set.  While each character still had their own card – they made it so that each 9 cards made up a bigger scene together.  Hulk takes the #1 position in this set as well – just like in 1993′s Marvel Masterpieces… kind of odd… but Samson also gets his first spot in a card set as well!

Doc Samson -#7

The Whole Shebang!

There are many Hulk vs. cards, including the Hulk vs Leader, Hulk vs. X-Factor and Hulk vs. Hulk.  The art for this set is pretty nice – although, the chase cards for this set left something to be desired.  Mostly they were Red foil cards of the 2099 characters – none for Hulk 2099 even – but the major card to snag in this series… which I have… was the Spiderman vs Venom hologram card.  There are even variations on those cards… but hey, they aren’t the Hulk so I don’t care…

Hulk vs Leader

Hulk vs X-Factor

 While I do have this whole set and am not looking for any – I do have a couple extra 2099 chase cards – if anyone out there need them.  Email me and we’ll talk!  Maybe you have something I need!  Next up?!?  Ummm… the new Marvel Masterpieces?  I’m not sure – I’ll have to look and see what I have posted and what I have left!

Hulk vs Hulk

FF vs Secret Defenders

Marvel Universe Card Set (1990)

1990 Green Hulk Card

1990 Grey Hulk Card

There are a few great things about this set – and I will say this – one of the best things is that they have both a Green Hulk AND a Grey Hulk card.  1990 was certainly a big year for the Hulk – that saw the return of the Green Hulk after years of Grey Hulk stories, even if it was for one issue – and the end of the year was the beginning of the merged Hulk era! 

1990 Leader Card - or is it Larry Flynt?

One of the worst cards in the series… the Leader!  Look how freakin’ BIG they made his head!  While I see that in these early series they tried to get the whole character’s body in the limited space – the Leader’s greatest quality is that awesome porno ‘stache of his!  Instead they gave him a noggin’ 3 times the size of his actual head and… is it lighting up?  What’s up with that?  Why are there ray of light shooting out of it?

Hulk vs Thing

Fixit vs Spidey

Wolverine vs Grey Hulk

There are also a few ”Battle” cards – Hulk vs Thing, Fixit vs Spiderman, Hulk vs Wolverine.  Again – I will say it again, I don’t get what was so great about the Wolverine vs Hulk fight – I mean, I know that’s where the world was introduced to Wolvie – but really – most people don’t even know what happened in the fight.  Mainly because the truth is – Wolvie was beaten and inconsequential.  And the Fixit/Spiderman fight?  Another boring fight!  We’re not talking the Cosmic Spiderman/ Grey Hulk fight – because that one was awesome! 

Avengers #1 M.V.C.

Hulk #181 - M.V.C.

Alright, let’s move on.  There was another small series of cards dubbed the MVCs: Most Valuable Comics.  Some of them actually were the valuable comics – while some were recently released and hyped as “going to be valuable”.  Lastly, the last half dozen cards were “joke” cards featuring Spiderman interviewing other heroes.

Oh Spiderman - you're such a ham!

The chase cards were 5 holograms – off the top of my head here – Magneto, Cosmic Spiderman, Punisher, Wolverine and Spiderman vs Green Goblin.  Nothing Hulk here – so I didn’t post pics – but I do have a complete set – including the Wolverine hologram which was missing when I got the set.

And – before anyone asks – yes, I will review Hulk #613 this week.  First I have to read it!  Expect it on Wednesday!

Back of the Card

Marvel Masterpieces (1993)

Hulk - #1

This set was an interesting one.  While it was very light on the Hulk side there are some exceptional pieces of art in the set!  Hulk is the very first card, and while I think he looks maybe a bit too skinny, he shows a fantastic rage.  A screaming anger – or an emotional pain – that really sets this piece aside.

The Absorbing Man - #58

The other pieces are Abomination – which I am not a big fan of this card – and the Absorbing Man – which is fantastic!  This set uses different artists and it works well here.  I usually like when they commission a specific artist to do the whole series – but here the variety is refreshing.

Abomination - #61

The chase cards were VERY disappointing in this series.  There were 9 Dyna-Etch cards – another word for pretty! - of the 2099 X-Men.  You read right, the 2099 X-Men!  Who even remembers them?  Who wants to?

Marvel Super Heroes Cards (1992)

#13 Hulk - looking like he would fit well into the Disco scene!

# 76 - Hulk & Wolverine!

I have a bunch of extras of these cards!  This series had some of my favorite artists, Larsen, Kieth, and there were 162 cards in the base set!  Which seems like a lot, but this series showcases the heroes, villians, team ups, storylines, origins… everything!  The Hulk in the set is the merged Hulk – in his brown jumpsuit – not my favorite Hulk to be showcased, but it was the most popular at the time.

#98 - Hulk & Thing

#101 - Abomination!

Abomination also gets a card – dressed in a trenchcoat living in the sewers – with his melted face.  Classic stuff!  There should be cards for the Secret Wars and the Infinity Gauntlet storylines in every series!  As much as I like the Marvel Masterpieces lines I would’ve liked to see some cards like that!

#161 - The Origin of the Hulk

#187 - The Secret Wars!

My favorite card in the series by far is the “All Hulks Unite” card.  It has an illustration of Banner, the Savage Hulk, Fixit – and right in front, the merged Hulk!  Love it or hate it this storyline will remain one of the most memorable in Hulk’s history.

#189 - Infinity Gaunlet

As an early set goes, the chase cards were cool.  There are  just 5 holograms – Wolverine, Venom, Thing, Ghost Rider and Hulk.  Funny thing is – I found a box of these in an antique store.  I bought it – even though all I needed was the Wolverine Hologram.  I went through each pack – there were something like 36 packs with 12 cards in each pack – and amazingly, I only found 4 holograms in the whole box.  There were 3 Ghost Riders and a Thing.  I was so mad! 

#194 - All Hulks Unite!

Then, a bit later, I went into Bedrock Comics in Framingham.  There was another man walking in behind me who the owner knew.  He said “Hey, I have a hologram you might be interested in!”  and he pulls out… you guessed it!  The freakin’ Wolverine Hologram!  The one card I needed to complete the whole set!  I waited patiently, hoping the guy was going to pass on it and practically jumping out of my skin, but alas – the man bought it.  Foiled again.  I finally broke down and bought it off ebay.  So, like I said before, I have a bunch of extras of these cards – including some of the Holograms – email me if you have anything to trade with any other sets.

The Sam Kieth Hologram! H-1

Marvel Masterpieces (1994)

Marvel Masterpieces 1994 Hulk

Signature Series Hulk

Here’s another very popular Marvel Series, although not very Hulk heavy… in fact, there is just one Hulk character – and it’s the Hulk.  The Hildebrandt brothers created the whole series in this set – each of the characters look larger than life and amazing!  The Hulk is pretty well done – although looking at some of their other characters I think it could have been a bit more imposing!  But each of the cards in this series has 2 issued base sets – one is regular and the other is the “signature” series where the brothers signatures are in gold scrolled across the image.  While there is no other characters in the Hulk Universe to speak of – there are some chase cards… yes, I said chase CARDS.

Silver Holofoil Card

This series has Powerblast Cards and Holofoil Cards.  The Powerblast Cards are made up if the 9 X-Men and not of consequense at the moment – although I do have the complete set of them.  But the Holofoil cards are quite interesting.  There are 10 cards - Captain America, Carnage, Daredevil, Hulk, Iron Man, Punisher, Scarlet Witch, Spiderman, Venom, War Machine – and they are silver.  But there are a couple of rarer sets. 

The More Coveted Bronze and Gold Variant Holofoil Cards

Gold Holofoil Hulk

The Gold Holofoil cards came in Jumbo packs of Marvel Masterpieces and are somewhat rarer.  Jumbo packs apparently were filled with 14 cards – the regular packs had 10 I think – and the Gold Holofoil were only in the jumbo packs and only in 1 per 4 packs.

The Very Expensive Bronze Holofoil

Even Rarer are the Bronze Holofoil cards – the bronze holofoil were in packs exclusively sold at WalMart.  Back in 1994 WalMart wasn’t everywhere like they are now – so it was harder to obtain these packs.  Single Bronze Holofoil sell for somewhere in the area of $50-$80.  Sets sell for as high as $460-$500.  I have to thank a reader of this blog who wanted to remain nameless who not only turned me onto the fact that these exist – but was generous enough to actually send me one!  Thank you!

The Three Amigos!

Marvel 70th Anniversary Set (2009)

Base Card #29 - Hulk vs Herc

Here is a set that I didn’t think I was going to be crazy about but I was wrong!  I love this set – although mine is not complete yet… I have the 75 base cards, I have the 9 tribute cards, I even have all 9 of the character cards – what I am missing are 3 of the “Clearly Heroic” cards and a bunch of the freakin’ stickers.  I would totally be willing to trade whatever I have for anyone’s doubles of the cards I need… Let me know soon – otherwise I have to hit the ‘bay again…

Base Card #34 - The Defenders!

Base Card #51 - Hulk vs Wolvie!

But if it’s one thing that Marvel has learned with these card sets it is about the chase!  While I have the base set, there are 2 versions – one set is on a thin, cheap feeling cardboard – the other is a shiny, thicker card – guess which set I have completed?  I would like to get at least the Hulk cards on the shiny cardboard, but alas I have none yet…

Base Card #47 - Secret Wars!

These cards feature covers from the 70 years that Marvel has been putting comics out.  The Hulk has a few, including a TTA – Hulk vs Herc cover – The Defenders 1st appearance, the Secret Wars #1 cover, Issue #340, and a WWH cover.  The one cover omitted that I think should have been included?  You guessed it, TIH #165!  I know, I am living in a dream world…

Base Card #68 - WWH!

The Tribute cards feature Cap, Human Torch and Namor.  Like I said – I have those – on the thinner cardboard.  But let’s get back to Hulk!  There are 9 character cards, on the front you see an image underneath the word Marvel.  On the back is the same image, unobstructed, with the year they first appeared.  I have all of these cards – and actually an extra Hulk. 

Hulk Character Card #C3 - Front

Aaaaannnnddd... the back!

The “Clearly Heroic” cards are clear cards that have two images of a certain character.  I have the Hulk, the Thing and Iron Man – I need the Spiderman, Wolverine and Captain America cards.  And they have yet another set to chase in this series – they have stickers!

Hulk Clearly Heroic #P2 Card

There is a set of 18 stickers – I have a few of these, including the Hulk, but don’t have them all.  So, this is a great set – some ebay seller was selling a complete set – and I mean complete!  It had the base set, the foil base set, the tribute set, the foil tribute set, the character cards, the clearly heroic cards, the stickers and a box with the promo cards.  Insane!  And it’s just over a hundred bucks!  Anyways, if you need any cards, have any that I might need, want to trade – just email me and we’ll talk!

Hulk Sticker #S3

Lastly, this set had sketch cards inserted into the mix.  One sketch card per box – and I have to say, I was lucky enough to obtain 2 of them  a Dr. Doom and a Human Torch.  I sold those already – as I would only have been interested in a Hulk card- but some of these sketch cards are selling for insane prices!  You can get a full sized commission for the prices of these cards!  It’s ridiculous!  I’m not sure if people have just gone off the deep end or what – but they are paying upwards of $100-$200 for these!

Marvel Masterpieces Card Set (1992)

Jusko Hulk Card

One of the most memorable things about this whole set is the amazing artwork on the Hulk card.  In fact, this is the card that lined practically EVERY Marvel book that year – they used it as the promotion for the whole series!  And while there wasn’t a whole lot of Hulk loving going on in this set – we have a Hulk and a Leader card – and one chase card featuring the Hulk – it still is one of the most impressive to me.

Jusko's Leader Card

This set came out in the craze of the collector years – comics were selling by the millions, cards were worth SOMETHING, people were buying comics for investment – not even reading the things!  Some people believed – and some still do – that actually reading the issue will decrease it’s value.  Well, do you want me to tell you what REALLY decreases a comic’s value?  It may shock and offend some – so if you want to be left in the dark then stop reading here! 

Alright, I think the pansies are gone now… here is what really decreases a comics value… I mean besides condition… it’s… HAVING MILLIONS OF COPIES OUT THERE!  Remember that “Collector’s Item” they called X-Men #1?  Remember that the young, hot artist Jim Lee was drawing it?  Yeah – you can snag one for a buck on the bay.  This series had 350,000 boxes released – and we know this because every box was stamped with it’s own personal number.  But, if there is 6 cards in a pack – and each box had 36 packs… that’s 216 cards per pack and… hold on, having to punch it into my calculator… that’s 75,600,000 cards out there!  Divided by 105 (A complete set with chase cards) that’s about 720,000 sets!  WOW!

Spectra Etch Card: Hulk vs Thing

But this set does something I like – it has one artist make every card!  I know some people who enjoy the diversity of other sets – but sometimes it’s great to see the same artist take on each of the characters.  The chase cards in this set were called “Spectra Etch” cards – which is a fancy way of saying they are shiny!  But they also released some comics featuring the artwork of these cards, like so:

1992 Marvel Masterpieces #3 of 4 - don't mind the tape at the top...

There were 4 of these comics with 5 new paintings in each one.  A cool little tidbit if you were not aware… alright, I am tired and am heading to bed!  Later, you Hulk fanatics!  It’s good to be back!  I will be posting my review of TIHs #612 this weekend sometime…

Marvel Super Hero Cards (1991)

Hulk #53

The only Hulk villain in the set… Absorbing Man

 One thing is for certain – this summer may have been one of the worst to take off of blogging!  I have so many NEW things to show you it’s ridiculous!  But, like I said before, I will be blogging on a new schedule – not really sure what it’s going to be right now – but a few times a week to be sure.  Anyways, let’s get started again!  It’s good to be back!

This is one of the sets I was given by my friend Bill.  There were about a half a dozen cards missing and a few Holograms – but I plugged those holes just recently.  The funny thing is – one of the holograms missing was the Hulk – and base set card#53, also the Hulk, was missing.  Art Adams did a lot of the art for this series – and it’s fantastic to look back at them.  It also looks like Larsen did some of the art on certain cards.

Hulk vs Thing!

Hulk vs Wolverine! This looks like Larsen's work - but I am not sure...

While I now have a complete set of these cards – I also don’t have any doubles of these – so I am sorry – but I can’t help anyone complete their sets as well.  Full sets of these are on the bay for relatively good prices – without the holograms of course.  If you want the holograms you’re gonna have to shell out a little extra.  The holograms in this set are Spidey, Hulk, Punisher, Doom and Mole Man vs the Fantastic Four.  I do have them all – and the Spidey, Doom and Hulk ones are pretty boss.

Hulk vs Leader!

I think it was a fun set to begin blogging again.  The art is especially nice on these compared to some.  Check back Friday as I will be posting another set then – one of the Marvel Masterpieces sets!  I’ve never been a huge card set collector – and after completing the sets I do have – I must say I now know why!  Although – since the invention of ebay it’s pretty easy to finish most set now!  I can’t really remember trying to complete sets before – but the newer sets are even harder to complete now… they have specialized base sets that are a pain in the ass to acquire them all!

The Hulk Chase Card in this set - Hulk Hologram!

Marvel Heroes Figures and Stickers (2008)

Sorry it is blurry - these guys were a pain to photograph

When these first appeared on the shelves I was pretty certain I would be able to easily identify which packages contained the Hulk.  Well, I was wrong.  Really, really wrong.  About 30 packs later I had a ton of figures – none of them Hulk and more and more frustration.  I kept picking up Daredevils because he’s HUGE!  Not to mention way out of scale with all the other heroes.  Check it out:

Why is DD so frickin big?

Don’t be fooled by DD crouching – he’s almost as tall as the other heroes and isn’t standing up straight!  Spiderman is a dwarf compared to DD – and since when is Wolvie taller then ANY of the other heroes?  Yeah, the scale is way off on these characters.  I had almost every character except for the Hulk when I decided to not spend any more money on this line.  But obviously I did not stop – because I am both dedicated and a sucker – but I didn’t pick up another package.  Instead I found these boxes at Target the other day.  I decided to try my hand at finding a Hulk one more time. 

The Golden Ticket

I picked up 2 boxes – each box comes with a 2 figures and about 52 cards – this was the last attempt at getting a Hulk.  Amazingly, this had to be my lucky day, I ended up with 2 Hulk figures!  Sorry Hulk fans – the other one is already spoken for by our ever lovin’ JG!  He’ll be shipping out this week for ya!

Found at Target

The bases are all pretty much the same – except the Surfer and the Goblin – they actually use their modes of transportation as the base – which is sweet!  Lastly, the card set (which I almost have them all – hoping to complete the set through a series of trades)  is full of Hulky goodness!  One point of contention – No grey Hulk stickers!  What is up with that?  He’s like the dirty little secret Marvel tries to ignore most of the time!

The Hulk stickers and cards I have so far...

Here’s a few more pics – including all the figures except Invisible Woman – and a shot at Hulk’s backside – a blurry one because it wouldn’t come out – but notice it looks as though the Hulk is showing a little crack?  Anyways – here you go…

Boy, it is a sausage-fest in here!

Blurry Hulk ass crack...

The Marvel Universe figure with the Marvel Heroes figure