In the span of
just over 6 months Cryptozoic Entertainment has given us a bevy of DC related
comic cards. In September they released DC The New 52, an all-encompassing release
based on DC’s New 52 relaunch of their entire monthly superhero books, in
December Batman: The Legend hit shelves, a set built on Batman’s history. Now
Superman is getting the grand treatment with Superman: The Legend, scheduled to
be released March 21st.
Each $60 box contains
24 5-card packs which includes 1 sketch card, 2 Alternate Reality foil inserts,
2 Secret Origins Puzzle inserts, 2 Woman of the Superman Universe, 1 X-Ray
Vision card and 3 Base Foil Parallel cards. Other inserts include Printing
Plates (1:576 packs or 1 in every 2 cases) and Oversized Sketch cards.
The 63-card
base set is all original artwork with some of the cards being created by
artists who actually work on comic books from the Superman universe like Mahmud
Asrar, who is an artist on the Supergirl comics. Not much has been announced
about what to expect besides the Sketch Cards, Oversized Sketch Cards and the
X-Ray Vision inserts. They actually have only shown one promo card (a very small and pixelated preview), the one
that is included if you purchase the binder.
A couple
things of note, the X-Ray Vision insert uses thermo chromatic ink, which is
also known as disappearing ink. When the ink heats up in becomes see through so
the insert will have one design, you rub the card face and when the ink becomes
semitransparent you see a completely different scene underneath. There was a
Simpsons release in the 90s that used a similar ink; it is pretty cool when you
see it in your hand. Another cool thing is the Oversized Sketch Cards are done
by two artists who worked together in similar styles. The Cryptozoic design
team worked to pair artists who worked on the cards so if you think about it the
cards have a dual personality. By far my favorite two Oversized Sketch Cards are
the collaboration of Joe Simko and Brent Engstrom. These guys have been
illustrating for a long time but they are probably best known for their work on
Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages. When you see their cards there is no
question who the artists were who designed these.
Since there is
no real imagery for the base set or inserts I have gone through some of the
sketch artists who are included on the checklist and picked out my favorite sketch
cards from their submissions to the Superman: The Legend set. If you are
interested in seeing more of the sketch cards that will be inserted in to boxes
you can check out Cryptozoic’s Facebook page.
The first three sketch cards are my favorites, in order: Brian Kong, Robert Hack and Bill Pulkovski.
These remaining 12 cards are Oversized Sketch Cards, each group of two artists did two different cards that they both worked on. They are redemption cards because the sketch cards are 4x6 so they would have been difficult to insert unless they were done as box toppers but this way ensures that they do not get damaged. The redemption is only for one card, not both. The pack out information has not been announced for the chance to pull a redemption card.
