(Reprinted with permission from the August/ September 2005 issue of NonSport Update magazine)
FOR THE CLASSIC SCI-FI LOVER
Monsterwax Goes Back To Basics With
War Of The Worlds: The Art of H.G. Wells
By Mike Tilford (NSU staff writer)
Monsterwax is at it again, producing limited, high quality cards that will appeal to a great many card collectors and, this time, to H. G. Wells fans around the globe. The card topics are based on three different classic tales by the great science fiction writer. The stories will be presented in three different artwork-based series of card sets which can stand on their own individually, or go together quite nicely as well. H. G. Wells has been dead for nearly 59 years and his work continues today to feed the imaginations, and to some extent, the fears of people everywhere.
Series 1 will be based on H.G. Wells' first novel, The Time Machine, which was published in 1895. Series 2 will be The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896). Of course, no card set about H. G. Wells would be complete without The War of the Worlds (1898), which is the topic of Series 3.
And The Last Shall Be First
An unusual twist here by Monsterwax is that Series 3 The War of the Worlds will be released first. Series 1 and 2 will be released at the same time in the fall. Series 3 is being released first to coincide with the release of The War of the Worlds movie that is currently scheduled to be in theatres on June 29th and stars Tom Cruise. Steven Spielberg directed the movie, which looks very good based on the trailers. The Series 3 cards and the movie should both be out by the time that you read this. The movie is a modernized adaptation of the book, but the cards tell the story as it was meant to be told, as a faithful reproduction of the book, circa 1900.
It was a pleasure to speak with Kurt Kuersteiner, the president of Monsterwax, about this new card product. Monsterwax has been planning to do this set for nearly 15 years and has been working on creating it for almost two years. War of the Worlds has spawned countless alien invasion stories, and was the basis for the classic Mars Attacks series. Kurt told me, "A series based on the original story is long overdue, and Monsterwax is honored to do it."
These are art card sets, and what art it is. Viewing some samples of the artwork shows the great detail and visually tells the stories in vivid color. Artist Ricardo Girijo returns to Monsterwax to create the art for all three series of cards. As you might recall, Ricardo had created the artwork for Monsterwax's card set Don't Let It Happen Here. Kurt feels that Ricardo was the right choice to create the artwork for this series of cards. He states, "Ricardo has a vintage style that is perfect for this series."
It is not just the fronts of the cards that have had a lot of attention paid to them. The backs are equally as impressive. Kurt describes it this way, "If all of the cards from all three series are put together, they tell one unbroken narrative. There is a writer character involved in all three of H. G. Wells' stories, and he's only named in one of the tales. We made him the same person in all three stories, and it dovetails perfectly. Yet all three series are complete and work well as stand alone sets as well." This definitely is a very detailed and well thought-out adventure. Many collectors never read the back of the cards. Your author is somewhat guilty of that, too. The backs play an important role in these stories and everyone who buys these cards should take the time to enjoy both the fronts and backs.
By The Numbers
There are a total of 99 cards plus three checklist cards between the three series combined. Series 1 will consist of 27 cards, Series 2 will have 36 cards, and Series 3 will also have 36 cards. Plus each set will have a checklist card that will be individually numbered. Less than 300 boxes of each series are being made. You read that right, boxes, not cases. As Kurt says, "This makes the entire series more scarce than other company's chase cards. So we expect to sell out." There are 36 packs of cards in each box. If you do the math, that comes to less than 1,000 numbered sets available per series. That is not many, considering the topic matter, and the amount of effort that was put in to creating this series of cards.
There are not any chase cards, autograph cards, costume cards, or anything along those lines in these series of cards. The only exception is that an artist autograph-sketch card is available when you preorder a box of Series 3 cards. More information can be found on the firm's website. (Please note: A prize card and special history card were also added to each box at the time of release.)
The boxes are test boxes with full color wrappers. If you are unclear about what test boxes are, they are plain white boxes with a color wrapper on the top. With only a small print run, it did not make financial sense to have boxes printed. (Recent Update: Thanks to the success of War of the Worlds, the other two series-- The Time Machine and Island of Dr. Moreau display boxeswill be printed in full color, even though only 166 of each will be made.) The wrappers are not foil, but classic wrappers like the ones from the early days of trading cards. The cards are also done in that style and are printed on thick 18-point stock. No UV coating or anything like that. "A classic story presented in a classic style" was what Kurt said about the cards and their packaging.
For promo card collectors, there is a set of six promotional cards available directly from Monsterwax. The cards cover all three series of stories. Kurt plans to have prototype cards available in the 15th anniversary issue of Non-Sport Update as well. These cards will be totally different than the six-card promotional set available directly from Monsterwax.
The following was taken from the epilogue of The War of the Worlds book and many of the thoughts portrayed still ring true today. "We have learned now that we cannot regard this planet as being fenced in and a secure abiding place for Man; we can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may come upon us suddenly out of space. It may be that in the larger design of the universe this invasion from Mars is not without its ultimate benefit for men; it has robbed us of that serene confidence in the future which is the most fruitful source of decadence, the gifts to human science it has brought are enormous, and it has done much to promote the conception of the commonwealth of mankind."
Also read The Wrapper Magazine review of this product.
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