2009: The Year in Non-Sport Cards

This past year was a strange one for the non-sport realm. Several stories emerged, the biggest of which was the loss of Inkworks. Not only did the manufacturer shut down, but the ripples of the closure created other angles. When the dust settled from the sell-off of excess inventory, a glut of product has now emerged. This presents both good and bad scenerios. From a dealer's perspective, Inkworks autographs have lost a lot of their value. All of a sudden cards that might pop up online one at a time can now be had much easier. However, the lower prices have been great for collectors looking to fill in holes in the collections or expand them. I know I've picked up a bunch of stuff I never thought I'd own and even started building some sets that seemed too costly in the past. Razor is largely responsible for getting a lot of the autographs to market so quickly releasing two sets that highlight the one-time hits. Ink Archives offered a random Inkworks autograph in pack form. Ink Vault packaged three autographs with a random unopened box (often from Inkworks, but not always). If this list was for Product of the Year, personally I'd put Ink Vault at the top as it offered collectors the biggest bang for their buck, even when they didn't find the high-end hits.

Another spin-off of the Inkworks closure was the shuffling of licenses. Breygent did a quick turn-around on The Ghost Whisperer license that was set to be Inkworks' next set before they went under. Not only did Breygent make a set for the Jennifer Love Hewitt show, but they also used Inkworks autograph stickers in the set so the signatures wouldn't go to waste. Along with The Ghost Whisperer, Breygent produced a set for Showtime's Dexter. This pair of releases represented the company's expansion from strictly nostalgia-based products to current licenses. Breygent will continue to expand in 2010 with new licenses based on the box office smash Pananormal Activity and TV's royal drama The Tudors.

NECA grabbed the Twilight license and immediately reprinted the Inkworks set that was released and subsequently sold out just months earlier. The only difference, other than secondary market value, between the NECA and Inkworks releases are the logos and the Pieceworks costume cards Inkworks included that were absent in the reprint set. Although released in 2008, Inkworks' Twilight

set was the hottest set of the year, perhaps in the entire decade. Despite the fact that the only "hit" per hobby box was one Pieceworks costume card, they skyrocketed in price to $300. Good luck finding a base set for under $50. You can find most every other base set from the past decade for about 10 percent of that.

The final Inkworks license going elsewhere is LOST, which quickly went to Rittenhouse Archives who will be releasing a massive set at the end of January that covers the first five seasons of the show. The Supernatural and Smallville licenses have not emerged and it's unclear if a North American release will happen for Doctor Who. Rittenhouse Archives has also taken over the Heroes license from Topps and will be releasing their first set for the franchise in 2010.

On the autograph front, there was some notable first-time signers. As a child of the 80s, none got me more excited than the Peter Cullen card from Topps' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen set. Cullen might not be a Hollywood superstar but as the voice of Optimus Prime he is a cornerstone of my childhood. Other personalities appearing on autograph cards for the first time in 2009 included the members of KISS (KISS 360), Ryan Reynolds (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg (Star Trek), John Cho (Star Trek), Bill Nye the Science Guy (Stargate Heroes), Saw master-Villain Tobin Bell (Stargate Heroes), the original Karate Kid Ralph Macchio (2009 Americana), American Idol finalists Kris Allen and Adam Lambert (American Idol: Season Eight) and real-life heroes turned Hollywood subjects Frank Serpico and Erin Brokovich (American Heritage: Heroes Edition).

Although one manufacturer closed down this year, two others emerged. 5finity caters to sketch card collectors by offering sets that get right to the chase. In their first handful of card sets, the company hasn't included one base card - just sketch cards and other spin-off goodies like sketch commissions and sketch cards autographed by the featured stars and personalities. 5finity's first two sets, Archie and The Greatest American Hero, both saw all of their proceeds go to the March of Dimes charity. 5finity also released sets based on comic properties Mandy (the cartoon featured in Playboy magazine) and Moonstone Comics. The company also produced a new set entitled Zombies vs. Cheerleaders, which allowed artists to cut loose without any licensing limitations. Another new company is Factory Entertainment. Based out of the UK, Factory Entertainment is similar to NECA in that they're not just in the business of cards but other licensed collectibles such as replica props. Factory Entertainment is just starting to enter the card market having distributed a set in Europe for the video game Mario Cart Wii.

Although the economy is starting to show signs of rebounding, it's probably safe to say that non-essential items like trading cards will still suffer as people continue to be cautious with their spending. With that in mind, I'm interested to see what 2010 holds for this side of the hobby. I suspect there'll be some safe bets on proven licenses but I also think that collectors are ready for new things as well. And that's exactly what the early release calendars show: a mix of old (Star Wars Galaxy 5) and new (The Tudors, Voltron).

The challenge for manufacturers and dealers is to continue to expand the non-sport market. I believe lots of collectors on the sports side are tired of relatively the same cards and the same autographs over and over. There's so many corners to the non-sport side that there truly is something for everyone. Brands like Panini's Americana and Topps' American Heritage are providing a bridge by providing a handful of sports figures and their large distribution networks to bring collectors in. The same could be said for Razor's Inkworks releases. They managed to take something from a niche market and get it into the hands of sports collectors, who may have very different collecting sensibilities than a lot of non-sport collectors but they're also much greater in number.

Stay tuned for my picks for the top 10 non-sport sets of 2009.