Bond, James Bond!

I have always been a James Bond fan, besides the Star Wars trilogy there was nothing that grabbed my attention as a kid like a guy with a license to kill. This appreciation of a good spy flick has carried over in to my adult years.

I think bringing in Daniel Craig has brought new life in the series that lost some of the wind in it sails after a tough transition in the 1980-90s where we saw three actors play James Bond in a 10-year span, though Pierce Brosnan did do a decent job during his 4 film tenure as 007. I am actually watching Thunderball right now as I am writing this post; EPIX is doing a Bond Marathon this month so I am in heaven.

As a James Bond fan there is a large selection of collectibles, with 23 movies (25 if you count the 1967 spoof Casino Royale or the 1983 remake Never Say Never) to work with you have your choice of 6 James Bonds, 7 if you count David Niven in the spoof, a laundry list of Bond Villains and a dirty laundry list of Bond Girls. In the last couple of years Rittenhouse Archives has done an amazing job bringing the collectors closer to the films including hundreds of autographs and plenty of interesting and original relic/costume cards.

One of my favorite Bond pickups is from the 2007 Rittenhouse Complete James Bond release. The set included autographs and relics from the 21 Bond films that had been released at that time and I was hunting for cards related to Daniel Craig and the Playing Card relic and Dual Tux Costume card were my target, along with a Casino Chip relic which has still alluded me.

In one of the scenes in Casino Royale Bond is wearing a tux and he is bleeding, his shirt is covered in blood and this happens to be one of the shirts that Rittenhouse got to make their costume relic cards. The relic cards that included a piece of the bloody shirt were premium pieces and cost quite a bit more, currently there is a bloody shirt relic card sitting at $129.99 while a relatively non-bloody shirt is at $39.99. I actually ended up getting both cards for around $30 shipped so I was pretty fortunate. The cards came in a rigid holder with a Rittenhouse Archives seal closing it in, but I removed the card. I have no intent on selling them and what is the point of having a relic card if you can not touch the relic?

A Quick Peek At Rittenhouse Spartacus: Vengeance

Spartacus has been one of Starz most popular series and when it ends next month (April 12th) it will leave behind a solid legacy that will stand with everlasting premium pay channel series like The Sopranos, Deadwood, Rome, Band of Brothers (and Pacific) and Dexter. Three seasons, plus a half-season prequel, has covered Spartacus’ capture through his gladiator training and eventually the slave revolt that led to the Third Serville War, which ends with his death in 71 B.C.

 

Rittenhouse has released a premium set for each season beginning with the first season, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, in April 2011. They followed that with a set for the prequel, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena in April 2012 and now they are scheduled to release the set for the second season, Spartacus: Vengeance, next week. I would expect to see a set released for the final season, Spartacus: War of the Damned, by April of 2014 if not sooner.

 

When the set is released on March 27th, premium packs will cost $50/pack and contain 7 cards:

3 Episode cards
1 Die-Cut Plaque card
2 Autographs
1 Relic card

 

The entire set is pretty small and broken down in to 30 Episode cards, 8 Die-Cut Gold Plaque cards, 18 Autographs and 12 Spartacus Relics. There are incentives too, each $750 (ouch) box contains a Box Topper Poster card, if you purchase 2 boxes you get a Map Relic card, if you purchase 4 boxes you get a Steven DeKnight (series creator) Autograph card. There will be autograph cards from characters from Blood and Sand, Gods of the Arena and Vengeance.

 

When you look at previous Spartacus releases most of the episode cards and subsets are only a couple of dollars, even some of the lesser characters autographs can be had for under $10. The prices do begin to jump with autographs from some of the main characters like Manu Bennett (Crixus), Antoni Te Maioha (Barca) and Nick Tarabay (Ashur) and then prices jump again when you start with autographs for the female characters, obviously anything connected to Andy Whitfield (who lost his fight against cancer in 2011) demands a premium. Personally I stick with hunting for the singles I want, $50 is not a huge price (previous releases sold for $99 for premium packs) but you are more likely pull low level hits than upper end hits.

 

The cards below are incentives. Each box contains a Box Topper Poster:

When you purchase 2 boxes you receive a Spartacus Map Relic card plus a Box Topper in each box:

When you purchase 4 boxes you receive a Steven DeKnight Autograph card, he is the series creator, plus a Spartacus Map Relic card (not sure if you receive 2) plus a Box Topper for each box:

Look Out, Here Comes A Spider-Man

Rittenhouse Archives will be releasing Spider-Man The Original Animated Series Lenticular Motion Trading Cards set (wow, that is a mouth full) on Wednesday. The set consists of 9 lenticular cards based on the original 1967 Spider-Man animated cartoon and two autograph cards from Paul Soles, the actor who voiced Peter Parker/Spider-Man, limited to #/250 for each card.

Each set runs $100 and you get all 9 lenticular cards plus one of the two autographs, if you buy two sets from Rittenhouse you will be guaranteed to get both autographs.

 I grew up watching this cartoon during the 1970s (in reruns) so I would love to pick up a set, Rittenhouse has done very well with entertainment cards and I am sure this will be a nice set too, but no way would I drop this kind of money here.

Here is the problem, besides the two autograph cards Rittenhouse has not released any information or preview images of what the 9-card checklist looks like. It is extremely difficult to justify purchasing a $100 set without seeing any of the cards let alone a set that consist of only 9 cards and an autograph. Sadly I expect to see sets, minus the autographs, showing up for $10-15 on eBay within days of the release and that is when I will probably purchase a set.

Preview: Rittenhouse True Blood Premier Edition

In the last few years, among the rise of the Vampire related media onslaught, True Blood seemed to stand above the rabble. Being on HBO the show has been given more leniency than some of the other vampire shows when it comes to violence and the true vision of blood suckers, no glittering demons here. I am a fan of the show; I have been watching since the first episode and have been hooked ever since.

Last year Rittenhouse Archives released the True Blood Legends Series 1 set, a 27 card character set. The True Blood Premiere Edition is a more traditional product being released in pack/box pack out with inserts, parallels and subsets.

Schedule Release Date: August 15, 2012

Box Configuration:  5 cards per pack/24 packs per box

SRP: $84/box

Box Break:

2 Autographs cards

5 Inserts cards

4 Base Parallel cards

The set has a 96-card checklist highlighting the 48 episodes (2 cards for each episode) from Season 1-4, each card contains a synopses for the episode. There are also parallels for each base card.

 

The inserts offer a nice collection for True Blood fans:

The Quotable True Blood- A 9-card set with interesting quotes from different characters.

Character Cards- A 9-card set highlighting the main characters of the show, I am a bit surprised that Rittenhouse did not include Hoyt Fortenberry, Andy Bellefleur or Terry Bellefleur in this set. Hoyt and Andy have been pretty much main characters since season one and Terry has become a main character over the last two seasons.

Black-n-White Cards- A 6-card set that gives a Hipster/Instagram “deep moment” photograph of some of the characters.

Shadowbox Cards- A 4-card shadowbox set that includes Sam, Sookie, Eric and Bill

Autographs- There is 37 autograph cards in the set but only 27 actors signed. The difference is that there are 10 autograph variations. Ten of the actors signed the base autograph version but they also have a full-bleed autograph version. All of the full-bleed (Get it? Bleed...)variations are side characters, some who are already gone from the show like Michael Raymond-James, who played serial killer Rene Lenier who died in Season One, though he has made appearances recently connected to Arlene’s baby.

Rene Base Autograph

Rene Full-Bleed Variation Autograph

There is a True Blood Bottle Case Topper along with 3 & 6 case incentives. The three case incentives is an unreleased Kristin Bauer (Pam) autograph and the six case incentives is an Alexander Skarsgard (Eric) unreleased autograph.

True Blood Bottle Case Topper

Pam 3-Case Incentive

Eric 6-Case Incentive

Spartacus Is Coming!

In April 2011 Rittenhouse Archives released a high-end set based on the Starz hit show Spartacus: Blood and Sand. A box ran $750 and contained 15 packs which gave you 30 autographs (2 autos/pack) and a whole slew of inserts. The product sold pretty well, eventually selling out. Prices for most autographs ran in the $75-150 range with Andy Whitfield (Spartacus) on the upper end of that range. Unfortunately he lost his battle with cancer last September and now Whitfield’s autographs are running around $250-300 each.

Fast forward a year and Rittenhouse will be following up that release with another Spartacus set, this time it will include both Blood and Sand and the prequel Gods of the Arena. Boxes will run $750 and contain 15 packs, though I have seen some pre-sells around $600 for a box. Each 9-card Premium pack contains 2 autographs, 2 Gods of the Arena episode cards, 1 Gladiator action card, 1 Battle for Freedom card, 1 Vengeance preview card (Vengeance is Season 2 of Spartacus), 1 Women of Spartacus and 1 Spartacus Gold Plaque card. Some dealers sell packs individually so you can find Premium packs in the $35-50 range.

The autograph checklist contains actors from both Season 1 and the prequel:

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena:

- Lucy Lawless (Lucretia)
- Jaime Murrary (Gaia)
- John Hannah (Batiatus)
- Manu Bennett (Crixus)
- Dustin Clare (Gannicus)
- Craig Walsh Wrightson (Solonius)
- Temeura Morrison (Doctore)
- Jeffrey Thomas (Titus)
- Jessica Grace Smith (Diona)
- Stephen Lovatt (Tullius)
- Shane Rangi (Dagan)
- Peter Feeney (Quintillius Varis)

Spartacus: Blood & Sand:
- Lliam Powell (Numerius)
- David Austin (Medicus)
- John Bach (Magistrate Calavius)
- Reuben de Jong (Theokoles)

This year they will be including a box topper as well as multi-box incentives.

Box Topper: Andy Whitfield memorial Shadowbox card

2-Box Incentive: Spartacus Relic card

4-Box Incentive: Peter Mensah (Doctore) Autograph

8-Box Incentive: Archive box including a master set and all inserts

Star Trek: The Next Generation Series Two Coming Soon

Every so often I need to engage my inner-geekdom and focus on a non-sports card set. 

Last July Rittenhouse Archives released Star Trek TNG Series One which contained 88 base cards with each card depicting an episode from the shows first 4 years (1987-1991). Series Two picks up where Series One left off and contains 88 base cards with each card depicting the 88 episodes from 1991-1994. Additionally each box will contain 4 autographs plus a random selection of inserts including 90 Parallel Base cards, 18 Tribute cards, 9 Best of the Holodeck cards, 9 U.S.S. Enterprise cards and 5 Communicator Pin cards. Series Two is set for a February 15, 2012 release and will run $84/box.

Because Series One autographs contained the major characters Rittenhouse had to dig a bit deeper in to the archives to find note-worthy signers. Along with Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) and Colm Meaney (Chief O’Brien) we will also see Denise Crosby (Lt Yar) and Ashley Judd and Kelsey Grammer. The major hit from this release is a James Doohan Cut-Signature card (Series One included a Gene Roddenberry Cut-Signature card).

I love the incentive cards too; when you purchase 3 cases you get an exclusive Brent Spiner autograph card, not as Data but instead as Dr. Soong. When you purchase 6 cases you get a Leonard Nimoy autograph card.

An Interesting Deal For Christian Slater

Rittenhouse is set to release a new Star Trek set next week: Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes& Villains, a premium set where packs cost $50/pack and a box is $750/box. Why the high cost? Each pack contains 9 cards including 5 Heroes and Villains base cards, 1 Tribute card, 1 Die-cut card and 2 autographs. Each box contains 15 packs and is guaranteed to contain at least 1 Shatner or Nimoy autograph and a Crew Patch box topper (Which appears to be a manufactured patch).

What caught my attention of the set though was a write up from Beckett’s Susan Lulgjuraj. Christian Slater is one of the signers for the 20-card autograph checklist and unlike most autograph sessions Slater did not charge Rittenhouse to sign, they instead worked out a trade where Slater received Star Trek cards from the set. A very interesting deal, it takes a true fan of the show/movies to be willing to work a trade like this one.

Rittenhouse Archives Spartacus: Blood And Sand

I am a fan of the show Spartacus on Starz. If you have not seen the show it is loosely based on the true story of Spartacus, a Thracian who was taken prisoner by the Romans and sold in to slavery where he was trained as a gladiator and then led a slave revolt around 73 BC.

When I found out that Rittenhouse Archives will be releasing a set based on the first season, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, I was excited. But the price floored me. We are talking a whopping $750/box! You read that correctly, not $75 but $750!

Schedule Release Date: April 6, 2011
Box Configuration: 15 packs per box, 6 cards per pack
SRP: $750/box

Box Break:
30 Autograph cards
30 Episode Synopsis cards #/250
15 Savage card #/350
15 Seductive card #/350


Each box, if collated correctly, should give you 2 complete autograph sets, and a complete set of the Episode Synopsis, Savage and Seductive sets plus an additional 22 cards from the 4 different insert sets. That is IF each box is collated correctly, if not I can see some very upset customers.

Here is the information directly from Rittenhouse’s web site:

• 12 Autograph Cards (2 cards per Premium Pack)
o Andy Whitfield (Spartacus)
o Lucy Lawless (Lucretia)
o John Hannah (Batiatus)
o Viva Bianca (Ilithyia)
o Jai Courtney (Varro)
o Lesley-Ann Brandt (Naevia)
o Erin Cummings (Sura)
o Katrina Law (Mira)
o Nick Tarabay (Ashur)
o Manu Bennett (Crixus)

• 26 Episode Synopses Cards, 2 cards per episode, with each card sequentially numbered to 250 (2 cards per Premium Pack)

• 9 "Savage" Cards, depicting the blood, violence and action of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, with each card sequentially numbered to 350 (1 card per Premium Pack)

• 9 "Seductive" Cards, featuring the sexiest women and most provocative moments from Spartacus: Blood and Sand, with each card sequentially numbered to 350 (1 card per Premium Pack)



They only list 10 actors on the checklist on their web site so I wonder who the other 2 autographs may be. Hopefully one of them is Peter Mensah, who played Doctore, a major character in the first season. I wouldn’t mind seeing either Craig Walsh Wrightson, who plays Solonius, or Antonio Te Maioha, who plays Barca.

I understand you are getting 30 autographs, but there is only 12 actors on the checklist so you will be seeing at least 2 if not 3 of each person. The other inserts are just that, insert sets. Even with low numbering that doesn’t account for the cost of the product. You can probably argue that there will only be 200 boxes made but if the boxes are collated correctly there will still be at least 400 autos of each person which is nothing compared to the 1/1 autos that you find in many sports releases.

I will be looking to picking up individuals of the Savage cards and I wouldn’t mind finding an Andy Whitfield or the very beautiful Viva Bianca autograph for a reasonable price.



In a final note I wish Andy Whitfield the best of luck in his battle with cancer, all of his fans are supporting him during this difficult time.

The Green Hornet

I decided to go in a different direction tonight and talk about cards based on an upcoming movie, The Green Hornet. About 15-20 years ago comic books were big time business. There were two definites at that time when it came to graphic novels, first the comic books were awesome and second the movies tied to the comic book were crap. Need reminding, take a look at the original Fantastic Four (1994) movie, it was so bad that it was killed before being released. It was not until X-Men came out in 2000 when people finally gave super hero movies another look. At the time Marvel and Fleer hooked up to release some of the more memorable comic sets in the 1990s. Rittenhouse has taken the reigns and is now the leader with both comic and live action movie super hero cards.

The Green Hornet is being released to theaters on January 14, 2011 with Seth Rogen taking on the lead role of Britt Reid/Green Hornet and Jay Chou as Kato. Rittenhouse has created a 17 card Green Hornet set that will be released a few days before the movie, each set will sell directly through Rittenhouse for $50 each. The set contains 14 base cards: 7 Green Hornet action cards and 7 Kato action cards. There are 3 “hits” per set; 1 Kato relic card, 1 Green Hornet relic card and an autographed Jay Chou card.

I would like to have seen a Seth Rogen autograph card; his autographs are pretty difficult to come across and can run over $50 or more for an autographed 8x10 picture so an auto card would have been a big hit for collectors. The hits are nice but I am not sure if this set is really worth $50 each. If there are some comic book/sports card collectors out there I would like to hear your input on the subject.