God bless her heart, my girlfriend was a little geek tomboy growing up in Mexico, and recently presented me with a binder full of her native comic book cards. Among them were a repackaging of the 1994 DC Master Series set, put out by the soft drink company. You know what the funniest thing about these Mexican cards is? It's the little differences. I mean they got the same stuff over there that they got here, but it's just-- just there it's a little different. Example?
Cards 1-37 feature the same characters, then Vandal Savage and the evil lesbian version of Raven are omitted, possibly because of the copious blood and flesh on those pieces. The Spectre and Deadman also vanish, possibly because of the rotting corpses present. There is also no checklist. In their place are some random cards from a whole other set, Batman Saga of the Dark Knight, allowing second solo appearances for Batman, Nightwing, Two-Face, The Penguin, The Joker, Catwoman and most curiously, Ra's al Ghul. Oddly enough, the only non-Gothamite to get an additional card was Hal Jordan, with art taken from a chase card. The Pepsi Cards rejiggered other chase cards from the set, eliminating the Double-Sided Spectra Etch in favor of additional cards, and offering five holograms not produced in the States.
Most of the alien names went unaltered, but for some reason, many heroes had the "the" in their names dropped. Just Flash-- Atom-- Guardian. The funniest was "Deathstroke, Terminator."
Is it safe to assume the Mexican cards are of a lower quality. Mmm-- yeah. The stylized foil lettering pressed for each character's name is replaced by flat print in a different font. The foreign cards are thinner, less glossy, and the printing isn't as good. Artist credits are tucked into the indicia, replaced by a new card number, as the old was covered by the "Pepsi Cards" icon. Pepsi Co. also assimilates the Skybox Master Series logo.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this little trip south of the border. I myself was frustrated by the lack of Detective Marciano, Gitana or even Triunfo cards for my Martian Manhunter blog. If you're also left wanting more, a handy checklist can be found here.
2 comments:
dude, i have like all of them, apart from the Holographic Atom,(asshole cousin wouldnt wanna trade me) mint condition on its original folder...
how much do think they would fly for, not that i would sell them but you know, just for curiosity's sake
God only knows. The card market busted years ago, and took most of the higher values with it. Try surfing eBay to see what individual cards go for.
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