It’s in the cards

Today is a day to commemorate wax packs, stale sticks of gum and cardboard likenesses from sports figures to movie scenes.

Sometimes referred to as Topps Trading Card Day, this is also National Trading Card Day.

Trading cards, or more specifically, baseball cards, were first manufactured in the 1860s. As the twentieth century dawned, baseball cards began being packaged with candy or tobacco products. Goudy Gum Company is credited with initially including gum with the product in 1933.

1940 Superman card

While The Topps Company was originally the largest of the baseball card companies, it was Bowman Gum Company – before they were bought by Topps – who produced the 1940s Superman-based set of collectible cards. The set consists of 72 cards in all, each featuring a full-color drawing of Superman. Naturally these, and others of their ilk, are the collectible card sets we’ll be focusing on today.

Donruss licensed the Marvel stable of heroes for a set of 66 in 1966.

They were overshadowed by their Distinguished Competition that same year when Topps produced a 55 companion card set riding ABC’s popular television series coattails featuring the Caped Crusader.

By the 1970s, Marvel was surpassing DC in sales and popularity. Topps chose to commit to a line of stickers featuring the House of Idea’s characters and corny one-liners.

Fantasy Trade Company featured replicas of Marvel first issue covers on cardstock in 1984.

Though the Superman and Batman movies generated trading card sets, let’s focus on the source material.

In 1991 Marvel opened the floodgates with an Impel printed 167 card set. Five chase holograms were featured –  Spider-Man, Magneto, Silver Surfer, Wolverine and Spider-Man v. Green Goblin.

Impel offered a set of 180 DC Comics cards that same year complete with 10 holograms.

Offerings continue to this day from various card companies featuring various publishers’ products.

1984 Marvel first issue trading card