Monster card comments!

Your questions and comments on monster cards.

(Curator's remarks are in BOLD.)

rev. 12/28/05

I used to collect monster cards (and others) during the 60s.

A couple pieces of data to add to your site if you want:

The Leaf SPOOK STORIES series featured monsters ONLY from the classic
UNIVERSAL horror films, as they had an exclusive deal with Universal made
more-or-less in conjunction with the release of most of the old Universal
horror films to TV.

The MONSTER MIDGEE card series featured monsters ONLY from
American-produced films that were distributed by AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL
PICTURES (AIP) at the time, except the Japanese Toho monster films
(Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, etc.) that that AIP also distributed in
America, but they couldn't get the merchandising rights to. Featured
promanently on the cards were the films of Roger Corman, Bert I. Gordon,
and some British productions that AIP made American distribution deals
with.

Just thought you'd be interested in knowing. - Dan from Portland, Oregon.

 

Thanks Dan!

 

Hello, I googled "Night of the Living Dead" cards and it says you have it but cannot find it in your listings. Are you out?

 

Hey,

Our www.monstercards.org site is not a shop but an on-line museum. (Hence the "org" extension instead of a "com" extension) We share the knowledge we've gathered about everything to do with monster cards, and offer a lot of photos to help collectors identify mystery cards. So it will show up on search engines because it has images and info about the sets sets you ask about, but usually not the actual item for sale.

If I happen to have those items, they are in my own collection and I don't have dupes. If I do have extras, I usually link to the "set profile" at Monsterwax.com and offer them for sale there. Unfortunately, Night of the Living Dead is not one of those items. But I do see the set show up on eBay from time to time.

Hi!

I was looking around for some info on the Phoenix Candy boxes and noticed the following on your site:

"Monster Pin-ups (Phoenix Candy, 1963) Six candy boxes with a cut-out photo of Frankenstein, Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, and the like. Retail: Uncertain."

Just thought you'd like to know that there were only 5 Universal monsters boxes (Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolf Man, The Mummy and Creature from the Black Lagoon). The "Phantom" box was the (Lee Falk) comic strip Phantom, not the Opera guy. Let me know if you need pix of the monster boxes.

Best, Mike (6/4/05 )

Hey Mike,

I really appreciate your feedback, because that's where we find out a lot of neat new finds. But in this particular case, I have a xerox of the Phantom box and it's "of the opera" variety. In fact, they ended up taking a picture of the Aurora monster model and using that! (pretty low-grade, huh?) You can see a picture of it on page 67 of the Nonsports Illustrated (June 1991 Volume 1: Monster cards issue) price guide.

Let me know if you find anything else that's up to question. I appreciate you double checking. Regarding the price, I saw a couple of the boxes sell on eBay a while ago for $80 to $100.

(PS. Mike was kind enough to send a color scan of #5 box for our museum. Thanks Mike!)

Hello Kurt, it has been awhile since the last time I wrote. Hey, I was doing a little research on the obscure Mini-Bombs Trick Noise Maker card (M. Kapp 1992) set and I ran across your Oddball Wrapper article . I was wondering if you own these or know of someone who does. I am trying to nail down the numbers that were printed on the cards. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Mike Riley (a.k.a., "The Dinosaur Fan")

Hey Mike,

I have them and thy are:

#01: Attack of the Dinosaur (T-rex)

#02: Rat Fight (Giant rats attack soldiers in a sewer)

#03: Desert Destruction (Blue fire breathing Dragon)

#04: Bat Warfare (Giant purple bat)

#05: Creatures from the Gorge (Giant Cobra, other snake & Lizard)

#06: Mutant Worms (Worms)

Hello,

I wrote to you a month or so ago in reference to the article on UFO card sets, including a few from Spain. I finally recieved Historia Ficcion in the mail. I have to say that this is one of the coolest sticker albums I've seen, especially if one is interested in military history and science fiction, as I am. It's especially interesting, from the military history section of the album, that the stickers and subject matter deal specifically with incidents in Spain's history, from the Punic wars and the Muslim conquests to the Napoleonic Wars (this is also much the same with the section of soldiers and uniforms). However, my favorite section has to be the aliens. These range from deformed humanoids to indescribable beings with reptilian/mammalian qualities. The artwork for the stickers is excellent. Ultimately, an enjoyable set. In reading the article on the UFO sets I was also made aware of the album Otros Mundos, which also seems to be full of aliens, monsters, etc. Unfortunately, the only examples of this I've seen (on ebay, for example) are empty unused albums. I'll keep looking and let you know if I can find this album as well.
-Chris D.

That's great Chris. Some of those oddball sets are often my favorite. That's why I always do an annual Oddball Monster article!

Hello! I found your website on the Internet.

I am looking for a certain trading card from the 1965 (I believe) set of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds set, otherwise known as "Martian Cards."

The card I am looking for is #18. Do you have it, and if so, what is its price?

Amy Bernstein

Hello Amy,

I have never heard of this set before and am MOST CURIOUS about it. Do you have the other cards in the set? What do they look like? How many are in the set? What country do they come from and from what company?

I have a set that has a War of the World's card in it, devoted to Radio shows (Tune In For Terror). It has artwork depicting the invasion, but only one card in the series is specifically War of the Worlds and it's card #1. So I take it that this is not the set you're referring to.

How good is the artwork? These aren't by chance "Mars Attacks" cards are they? (by Topps.) Let me know more. Thanks!

Hey again Kurt,

I don't know what company they come from. They were issued in the 1960's and have very early 60's artwork to them. The story is based on H.G. Well's War of the Worlds story. The card you have is not part of this set.

There are about 54 or 58 cards in the set. I really have no idea who put them out (and I have the rest of my set in my safe deposit box). I wrote on the checklist and the set is not in mint condition. I'm not a collector, though, and just want this card to complete some childhood hobby.

I once spoke to some other card vendor about them and was told that they were issued in the early '60's and then taken off the market because parents complained they were too violent. I think they were reissued later on (in the 70's??) 5 years ago, when I spoke to this guy I was told that each card was worth about $20, which is about what I'm ready to spend.

C'mon, Kurt... you do this for a living or hobby, surely you can find out more than I can, a simple middle age diletante with few internet skills.

-amy

 

Yes I do, and now I know what it is you're talking about. They are not called Martian Cards, but MARS ATTACKS, by bubbles inc. (Topps). Not 1965, but ©1962. There are 55 in the set. (The bit about being taken off the market gave me the clue I needed.) Sorry, I don't have a dupe of #18, but I do have my own complete set. One of my faves!

Dear Monsterwax,

OK -- I took a quick spin through the Musee' de Horror! Looks great - setting out the goals and critera is a good move (No Disney Hunchbacks "here", thank you!) The e-exchange with "Amy" was exciting as momentarily it seemed a discovery of a here-to-fore unknown set might be made -- but it did become apparent that the fuzzy recollection (Well-- NOT a leap from Mars Attacks! to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds for the casual card collector I guess! Almost forty years since Mars Attack(ed)! too!)

The format is accessible, and trying to be comprehensive in the retrospective of sets that meet the subjective citeria of what constitutes a monster card set/issue is an asset to any collector.

So WHAT was the first horror/monster/sci fi-space card set(s), anyway?

-CR

 

Officially, the one that started the craze was the 1959 Topps set of Funny Monsters (aka You'll Die Laughing). But there were earlier sets that had monsters in them, especially Jets-Rockets-Spacemen. There may have also been something earlier overseas that we are unaware of.

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