Just received the August/September 2023 issue in the mail today with the new $8.99 cover price. It came with Allegiance: Avengers vs X-Men and Coffintooth promos.
From the cover, it looks like it a “cosmic” issue with a space theme. There’s also some Indiana Jones coverage inside, also.

I'm so excited to have been interviewed for this issue, and to have my Goblin Antics card pictured on the front cover. (the Green Card, and interview with Chris Colyer). I am still waiting for my copy to arrive but I am excited to read all about myself. The Goblin Antics set is discussed just made it to my Etsy Store and is available to purchase now https://www.etsy.com/TurtPuzzl...ief-trading-card-set

Received the new issue today, some interesting stuff starting with the two promos.

I got Hope Summers on Allegiance, Avengers vs X-Men, AXP1. Don't know this set because its UD/Marvel, but I guess there is a fan base for it.

The other promo was P1 Coffintooth from RRParks, and that is a horror character I never heard about. So I did the internet search and turns out its a new independent film. There is a YouTube interview with the creator, but I don't know if I'm allowed to include the link, so look it up if you want to see it.

This NSU issue looks to be more vintage minded than usual, covering the Indiana Jones past cards and movie star and "mob" cards of the 30s thru 50s. Even the Top Ten list is "Cards of the 1930s & 40s". This time I don't own a single one of them.

Regarding Biegel's editorial, which are always spot on, even though he is making the case for more movie cards, his balanced article is pretty convincing for why card makers should stay away from new films. To me, the most compelling negative reason is that you must secure star autographs in modern products and the bigger the film, the bigger the stars, the less likely manufacturers can afford their signatures or can even interest them in any sort of contract.

I would add that Inkworks was already 3/4s dead when it did "The Spirit" and they actually did get most of the stars to sign, but the cards were ugly, and all autographs missed the packaging. The movie flopped, but it wouldn't have helped Inkworks either way. If anything it was "The Golden Compass" that was their disaster set with no signatures and a loser of a movie.

I loved Inkworks but some of their movie choices were questionable. The Seeker. Titan A.E. Who remembers those films ?

Card companies were already staying away from new movies. There was no set for "Top Gun" last year and no set for "Indiana Jones" this year. I hear the new "Mission Impossible" movie isn't meeting expectations. Part 2 comes out next year. I think Tom Cruise would sign cards for a set on that because it could use some kind of tie-in to get collectors attention - not just movie fans. It would need to be suggested to him. If Tom signs, the other stars might be more inclined to sign. If he's the only one who signs, that would be all a set needs.

Yeah, doing a set for "The Spirit" was a mistake and not just because hindsight is 100%. When you look at movies about old heroes like Tarzan pr The Lone Ranger, they just don't connect with kids of the generation after mine. I grew up watching the old Lone Ranger shows. They were old when I was a kid in the 70's but kids were still into cowboys, army men, and jungle adventure. By the 90's, kids were into the video games and space adventure. "The Spirit" is an old comic book you'd really have to be into comics to know about. I never got into comic books much so I only heard about "The Spirit" through trading cards. People who were kids in the 90's had no idea about that story.

I actually liked "The Golden Compass." It was another fantasy like Harry Potter or the Narnia Chronicles. Not being able to get autographs for that should have triggered a cancellation of the project, but maybe by then, it was Inkworks best affordable option for a high-profile license with big stars. They might have had to have taken a chance on it.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

Regarding Biegel's editorial, which are always spot on, even though he is making the case for more movie cards, his balanced article is pretty convincing for why card makers should stay away from new films. To me, the most compelling negative reason is that you must secure star autographs in modern products and the bigger the film, the bigger the stars, the less likely manufacturers can afford their signatures or can even interest them in any sort of contract.

I would add that Inkworks was already 3/4s dead when it did "The Spirit" and they actually did get most of the stars to sign, but the cards were ugly, and all autographs missed the packaging. The movie flopped, but it wouldn't have helped Inkworks either way. If anything it was "The Golden Compass" that was their disaster set with no signatures and a loser of a movie.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I actually liked "The Golden Compass." It was another fantasy like Harry Potter or the Narnia Chronicles. Not being able to get autographs for that should have triggered a cancellation of the project, but maybe by then, it was Inkworks best affordable option for a high-profile license with big stars. They might have had to have taken a chance on it.

[/QUOTE]

The "Golden Compass" card set was very nice looking, with some relics and 3-D inserts and a couple of other insert sets I think. "The Seeker" was good as cards too, with every member of the cast signing autographs in that one.

But for both those titles, there were a series of books and I believe Inkworks thought the licenses were buying two franchises that would yield many products. When no sequels were forthcoming, the titles ended in failure.

For the "Golden Compass", if they had gotten any of the star autographs it could have been a success as cards, but Kidman, Greene and Elliot have never agreed to sign cards, and at the time Daniel Craig wasn't doing it either. For "The Seeker", a ton of those autograph cards wound up packed out with Razor Ink after they went out of business, so Inkworks never moved them out of unsold inventory. Yeah, it was bad decisions, but also bad luck.

I'm not sure about Tom Cruise's willingness to ever sign cards. I would have thought that if it was possible, Pop Century would have gotten a handful of stickers from him already. But now that I said that, he'll probably be next year's $10,000 big name.

Saw it in B&N today

I was in a B&N today too but they didn't have it yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Heroes For Hire:
Saw it in B&N today

My subscription copy arrived Friday morning, I would very surprised to find it on sale in any store here in the UK despite some newsagents stocking some magazines for unexpected subjects.

regards

John

I stopped at a B&N during the week and found the latest issue everyone else seems to have. Raven noted that it has a Top 10 list of 30's and 40's cards so I shouldn't have been surprised but the look of the cards were still striking to me - certainly different from those I have tended to collect. Somewhere, I do have some souvenir cards (Carlsbad Caverns or some other tourist location like that) from maybe as long ago as that.

I liked the Indiana Jones card review. One other sidebar for the article could have included some decoder cards given out at Disneyland that allowed visitors to translate otherwise mysterious symbols on the wall while waiting for their turn at the mentioned "Temple of the Forbidden Eye" ride. There were three that were rather easy to find and one from opening day that remains harder to find.

I hadn't heard of the Fast X cards that were given out at IMAX theaters in May. As an update, the 5-card packs tend to go for about $5. The "rare" Jason Momoa and Vin Diesel cards are each serial-numbered out of 999, so yeah, don't pay too much. These two cards have sold for as much as $100-200 each and as little as $10. I doubt anyone on this board has forked over $100 for one as we have seen flash-in-the-pan sets before (e.g. Levi's 501 cards). A 999-card print run would have been considered somewhat low 20-25 years ago but not these days.