In the far off year of 1992, trading cards were very popular. Many of us can trace our love of pop culture card sets to the baseball card boom of the 1980s. Sure, it was fun to collect Topps, Donruss, Upper Deck, and more featuring your favorite players. But really, how many of us actually cared about baseball?
My comic book obsession started in 1987 and I could already feel my family and society pulling me away from funny books and towards serious hobbies like sports. I can enjoy the experience of a live game, and I can be in the room while someone is watching an event on TV, but I’m going to need a book to get me through the night. I guess my favorite baseball team is the Yankees because I’m from New York and that’s who most of my family cheer for. I don’t have a favorite basketball team. Football? I only wore clothes with Raiders logos on them because a lot of cool people on MTV were wearing it. Yet I was living in peak baseball card boom with at least 5 and up to 10 card shops in my town. I remember sitting down with a binder and sleeves trying to complete a set of Topps 1988 series while my mom was watching a Yankees vs. Brewers game. Opening pack after pack that someone (my parents? One of my uncles?) gave me and my brother, putting them in order, and having a bit of excitement when I found a card featuring the current batter. The set was completed, and it went on a shelf. I give credit to family members who tried, but me and sports were not destined to be.
Then in 1990 the legendary Marvel Universe Cards debuted. Suddenly cards weren’t for sports anymore. All of those shops full of rookie Bo Jackson or Don Mattingly cards now had boxes of these Marvel cards and I had to complete the set. I opened pack after pack before we live-streamed such things. I traded at school to get rid of my doubles. I made a second set for my brother. I found hologram cards! Best of all, I read the back of these cards over and over again. I learned about the world of Marvel. I discovered new characters (new to me) and then as I discovered the local comic shop not only did they have those comics, but they had the cards too!
Marvel announces a second set coming in 1991 and the local comic shop asked me if I wanted a box. A box? The whole box just for me? I might get an entire set in the box. Some holograms too. But how would this work? I was quoted a price for the box and realized that instead of spending X amount every week for a pack or two I could save that money and by the time the box came into the store I would have enough money saved. Win/win!
The box showed up months later, I bought it, took it home, opened every pack, put them all in order in the binder, and … that was it. I still flipped through, read the backs of the cards, and learned things about characters. But not as much as I did while building a set here and there. I had the same level of enjoyment but only once. How could I recapture this feeling?
In 1992 DC Comics released the Cosmic Cards series. I knew a lot about Marvel Comics at this point but I knew nothing of DC. Superman, Batman, Super Friends. I don’t think I knew who the Teen Titans were yet. But I was curious. Now here comes this card set that can do it all. The thrill of hunting and learning is back. What I didn’t know at the time is that Topps thanks to the Batman movie had the rights to Batman and Batman-related characters in card form, which means there will be nothing from the Batman family (well, mostly) in these cards. So the tiny bit of DC I’m familiar with is nowhere to be seen. I’m discovering neary 60 years of a universe through these cards.
This search took me throughout the town. Who has the cards? Who has the best deal on the cards? How can I get to these places? I would stop in grocery and convenience stores on the way home from school. I would accompany my mom during her weekend errands so I could check out other places. The giant pharmacy that also had a video rental section now had comic and card booths up front. The medical office building had a general store in the basement. The store that sells lots of snack foods and smells funny sold cards. I completed the set, I put all the cards in sleeves and a binder, and I felt happy and accomplished.
Then at some point, something else got my attention.
I don’t remember what it was or when, but at some point, I decided that a newer set of cards meant more to me than the DC ones. I pulled all of the Cosmic Cards out of their sleeves, and put them somewhere else so I could concentrate on the new obsession. To this day I don’t remember what card set that was, because no card set gives me the same sense of nostalgia all these decades later.
Decades later which brings me to the last few years and to the present. I now missed those cards. I longed for them. I mentioned them on other blogs and podcasts. Some of my fellow bloggers have sent me unopened packs of the cards that they found in their travels. All of which made me wonder – what happened to my cards?
Now for the most part I believed but could not guarantee that they were in the attic at my mom’s house. There’s a lot of stuff I left behind when I moved out and I’ve been slowly chipping away at that over recent years. Throughout all of the boxes and shelves that have been stored up there over the decades, I found many forgotten treasures but never these cards. Could they be in a folder, or box, or worst of all did I throw them all away? I have been searching for years and yet cannot find a single card. Finally, out of nowhere this year I discovered a long-forgotten shoe box, buried underneath other boxes – and inside were stacks and stacks of cards.
A couple of years ago my local comic shop was throwing things out. I grabbed this binder adorned with DC characters with the idea I’ll use it some future day. That day is now here. I ran to Walmart to purchase new card sleeves. I sorted through this box for hours which turned into days. Falling in love with this series all over again. Separating into piles – heroes, villains, great battles, and more. I know I never had all the holograms – but I did find one in the box. The stacks became smaller as I slid 9 cards into a page and then started anew. Maybe I’ll make a second set out of the doubles. At last the moment arrived in which I could look upon my complete collection for the first time in over 30 years.
And I’m missing one card.
Card 160
I had to laugh. Over those 30 some years since I last saw these cards, I’ve learned a lot. About the journey, about finishing something you started, about deeper meanings within the mundane. Sure I could go on eBay and have that missing card in seconds. But where’s the fun in that? The hunt has always been the most enjoyable part of collecting these cards. The initial packs, the search through my childhood home, and now this round that will lead me to the final card. Maybe I’ll find another hologram card. Maybe I’ll find the missing one at a convention. Maybe I’ll receive one from a friend and create a new life-long bond. However this quest ends will be bittersweet, but these cards will mean more to me than any baseball rookie ever could.
Loved these, too. Still have them somewhere. Time for me to look through the past again, maybe.