My Favorite Cards of 2009

There's still a few months left in the year but I'm starting to think about my highlights of the year. Honestly, baseball hasn't caught much of my attention this year. There's some bright spots, but by and large it has been much of the same old stuff. A couple of weeks ago I received an insert set in the mail that contains my favorite cards of 2009 and they're from a subject I don't really consider myself to be a fan of. These scans do not do the cards justice:

The cards come from Press Pass' KISS 360. They're a six-card insert set titled Transformation, which uses lenticular technology to show band mates go from  their regular selves and into their rock n' roll personas.

I'm a sucker for lenticular cards but Press Pass truly hit it here. It's using the technology to enhance the subject matter rather than just using it as a gimmick. To top it off, the cropping of the matching photos is spot on for almost all of them. So when you tilt Gene Simmons, his head stays in the same spot and his make-up and tongue simply appear.

KISS scared me as a youngster and I haven't totally forgiven them yet. However these cards are a perfect example of how card companies can still use old technology to make something cool.

The Transformation cards aren't hard to come by, especially considering a lot of the dealers busting KISS 360 are busting lots in hopes of landing the autographs. I picked up the entire set for under $10, or roughly how much two or three packs would have cost me.