Super Sunday: Mail-Order Brides

After a three-week hiatus, Super Sunday is back, not that anyone's been asking for it. Super Sunday highlights oversized gems from the hobby. Okay, it's about oversized cards and such, not all of which are gems.

A couple decades ago, if you didn't want to subscribe to entire magazines you could subscribe to things like Sportscasters: oversized trading cards that would show up in your mailbox much like the Columbia House CD of the month. If you like what they offered, you'd keep them and pay via the old credit card. Smaller and much shorter than a magazine, these oversized subscription cards offered great information, just as long as you were hoping to get to the point.

These weren't reserved just for sports subjects, though. History got a chance as well. One such set is Panarizon's Story of America set. According to this site, the entire set consists of a whopping 2,256 cards (or 94 decks of 24 cards). The cards are copyrighted 1979.

I recently picked up a couple to stock up for Super Sunday. Here's the first from the pile:

1979 Panarizon Story of America "Mail-Order Brides"

1979 Panarizon Story of America "Mail-Order Brides" (back)

As Europeans first started coming to North America and colonizing it, most who came were men. That poses a major problem for a place that was looking to grow. This card describes how men enticed would-be wives to make the dangerous journey to the New Land.

The picture on the card front reminds me of high school. Whenever a new girl registered there was a swarm of boys around her vying for a little attention. The girls did the same thing when a new boy registered too. The result was many broken hearts and awkward moments as the new student quickly established themselves in any given clique. 

These Story of America cards pack in a tremendous amount of information for one roughly 4" x 6 " card. On the front there's a large picture as well as several icons at the top that show how the card fits into history. I also really like the map that shows what part of America the subject affected. 

The back offers a nicely annotated story that sums up not only the event in question, but also a fair amount of details. I could see it getting a little tiresome if one were to put together the entire set and try ploughing through a bunch at once, but read isolated as a single card, it's not bad at all. 

My fascination with Western folklore had me pick up a few other similar cards that I'll unveil eventually, as well as some other subscription cards. While I don't have any intention on completing any of these sets, they seem like a nice way to learn - much more exciting than the textbooks I had to read that came out around the same time.

iCardz Offers Christmas Present to America at War: Series 1 WWII and Band of Brothers Box Preorders

A couple of months ago I previewed iCardz's soon-to-be-released America at War set, a two-n-one kind of product that offers separate sets focusing on both the US involvement in World War II as well as looking at the real-life Band of Brothers made famous in recent years by the HBO miniseries. Just in time for Christmas, iCardz is offering collectors the choice of three bonuses with any box pre-orders through their website.

With each box, collectors can choose from the following:

1. Two free promo cards.
2. One Band of Brothers autograph (one should also be in the box itself).
3. One hand-drawn sketch card from Ingrid Hardy.

Boxes are a little pricey at $89.95, but this is a limited release done by an independent producer. That's going to make banking on the secondary market pretty tough as well as I don't see a lot of dealers breaking these to resell.

Real Band of Brothers Celebrated in Upcoming Release

Growing up I was never much of a military history buff. In high school I remember my teacher drawing maps of the German Blitzkreig on the floor and thinking, "Man, the janitor's going to be ticked!" and not being drawn in much more than that. In fact, I remember listing Brady Bunch episodes with a substitute we had in that class almost as much as the regular teacher as he tended to his moonlighting career as mayor of the local munipality. Between myself and the substitute we managed to come up with 84 of the 117 episodes.

Most of my knowledge of the conflicts of the 20th century have come from the few tidbits that seeped in combined with a steady diet of Hollywood war films. The opening 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan I will never forget like I did the remaining two hours the second I walked out of the theatre. Apocolypse Now still haunts me with its creepiness. Letters From Iwo Jima is way better than Flags of Our Fathers.

But my favorite war film in recent years is the epic mini-series Band of Brothers. Despite being made for cable, Band of Brothers seems to be a benchmark in WWII films. It's consistently among the top sellers on Amazon despite having been out for years. I'm sure the ever-dropping price has something to do with it, but garbage doesn't sell in volume unless it's in a bin at Walmart marked "$1.89." As the title suggests, Band of Brothers is so powerful not because of the attention to costume details, sweeping scenery or massive battles. It's great because it looks at the human side of legendary Easy Company.

The real-life Band of Brothers will soon be immortalized on cardboard as part of Canadian manufacturer iCardz's upcoming dual series America at War: WWII. America at War: WWII will package two sets in one box, kind of like 2001 Topps Traded Baseball or 2008-09 O-Pee-Chee Update Hockey. Band of Brothers is one focus, while D-Day is the other. Both will have similar designs but by breaking the sets in half iCardz will be able to tell separate stories.  This also enables iCardz to expand the Band of Brothers series in future sets that will focus on other aspects of WWII.

In total both sets will have 192 cards. Card fronts feature a mix of action and portrait photography as well as several artistic renditions. And although card backs are a somewhat neglected part of the hobby, iCardz prides itself on the informational possibilities of their cards. I know I'd rather learn about history sorting through cards that ploughing through another assigned reading from a bland textbook.

Each box of America at War: WWII promises complete base sets of both Band of Brothers and D-Day. There's also some extra goodies to chase. Each box will also have at least one autograph from a Band of Brothers veteran. A total of 2,000 cards have been signed for inclusion in packs. The autograph list includes:

William Guarnere
Forrest Guth
Amos "Buck" Taylor
Ed Tipper
Clancy Lyall
Edward Heffron
Donald Malarkey   
Lynn " Buck" Compton
Earl McClung

Other inserts include sketch cards from Ingrid Hardy and instant win cards for WWII memorabilia and limited edition prints from Valor Studios.

 

Please note that the above images provided by iCardz are prototypes. The Buck Compton pictured is not of his actual autograph as they are waiting upon the arrival of the actual cards, so the final autograph might look a different signature-wise.

Moment in History Passes With Death of Millvina Dean, Last Titanic Survivor

Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the Titanic, has passed away at the age of 97. Much will be written in the coming hours and days about the fateful voyage of the 'unsinkable' liner and its place in history. While the sinking of the enormous ship and the tragedy that went with it is very saddening, I'd argue that the Titanic has become just as much a part of pop culture as it has become a part of history.

From T-shirts to books to 3D puzzles to the highest grossing film of all-time, Titanic-mania is a historical brand up there with Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana. It's pretty creepy how tragedy solidifies our collective imaginations. Non-sport cards have not been immune to Titanic-mania, especially since teenage girls first fell in love with Leonardo Dicaprio.

It was only after the film came out and was a huge success that Inkworks produced a set based on the Titanic movie in 1998. Available only as a factory set, the 25 movie cards came in a fancy steamer trunk. The set was "limited" to 10,000 copies and included a certificate of authenticity. It turns out 10,000 isn't all that limited when it comes to card collecting so the set can still be tracked down. Buy It Now prices on eBay have it going for around $30-40.

Another closed non-sport producer, Dart Flipcards, went the historical route for their 1998 set. The 72-card base set features a mix of photographs and artwork on the card fronts and informational text on the back. Inserts included six die-cut gold-foil White Star cards inserted 1:18 packs. Two autographs, one from Dean (pictured above) and one from Ralph White, the late filmmaker who documented the discovery of the Titanic in 1985, were inserted at a rate of 1:246 packs (one in seven boxes). Factory sets also included four bonus cards. Dart made three promo cards as well as four show exclusive promos to help generate buzz for the set.

The Titanic hasn't escaped the pop culture craze that has invaded sports sets either. 2008 Topps Mayo Football included a card of the ship in their mini inserts dedicated to famous ships.

Stretching It: Obamna and Robinson Dual Cut Autograph

So Topps has announced they're including a dual cut signature card featuring Jackie Robinson, the first African American Major Leaguer, with Barack Obama, the first African American president of the United States in their American Heritage set. While both accomplishment are and will be major parts of US history, I think featuring them both on a single card is stretching the connection a little bit. Personally I would've rather seen them on separate cut signature cards as either one would be "lifetime" pulls that any collector would have been ecstatic over. That being said, if I somehow manage to pull it, I'm not cutting off one side and sending the other back.