We seem to be ticking along at around 1 update a month which really is fairly poor, so I am going to be making more of an effort to get some news and information out on the site more regularly. We may be bringing some other folks in to write articles for the site to help with that.
Lets get to some updates!
The biggest news story in cards in the last few months has to be Cryptozoic:
These guys have only released one card (with spotty distribution) in the non sport market (at the time of writing this) but they are already making a LOT of waves with one of the strongest entertainment lineups in the industry. Sets due from them include: The Walking Dead, Fringe, Smallville, The Big Bang Theory, Vampire Diaries, and of course the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund Liberty Trading card series which has one a hell of a line up. The card already released is a CBLDF promo given away at a few comic shops last Saturday at the Free Comic Book Day event. This is a fantastic set and we are going to talk a lot more about in upcoming article. For now lets play good news bad news! The Cryptozoic edition:
Good News:
Many of the new entertainment product packs have an RRP of $3.50 in the USA, for those outside the US the news on pricing and availability is less clear. This is what we know: North America is good with all the sets they have planned, in adition to this Cryptozoic have a worldwide distribution networks in place to deal with the release of their gaming products (the largest of which is clearly World of Warcraft cards) and I would imagine they could use this for distribution of the Non Sport cards, and indeed they are doing this with the fantastic new Walking Dead series which has been cleared for worldwide distribution. It has autographs, costumes and now sketches as well!
This is fantastic it could mean a big boost for trading cards in non US outlets. The UK market for one example is simply inundated with overpriced crap that offers no real value, and pointless sudo-sets disguised as “games” that offer nothing but overpriced poor quality fodder for the trash. So far none of the larger companies have shown an interested in producing hobby market products or exploring the market, and the smaller companies find it very difficult to get into retail outlets. Most comic shops in the UK do not stock anything but gaming cards. Cryptozoic can with one stroke infiltrate these markets with the Walking Dead cards. I really hope they do, if nothing else to show the vibrant international market is still here waiting to be exploited. Cards back in hobby and comic shops would be a great thing to see, and Cryptozoic deserve a great deal of credit for pulling that off.
Bad News:
We found out very quickly that the Walking Dead was avlable internationaly, so the assumption was the other sets would be as well. Unfortunately while The Walking Dead is cleared for sale outside North America NONE of the other big entertainment sets have been, and I am told it is very unlikely (read not going to happen) this can or will change. That’s right folks no Big Bang Theory, Fringe or anything else outside North America. This is extremely disappointing for a lot of people who are looking forward to these sets, but that’s licensing these days. Geographic restrictions are added even though it will cost money. The rest of the world will not produce a set of cards for these shows, the cost of licensing compared to the return makes it fiscally unworkable. Regional licensing is sadly only going to become more of a problem in the future. This means a lot of Gray Market imports, hopefully Crypotozoic will produce enough to “inadvertently” support this, but expect prices to be high for anyone outside the US and Canada, and don’t expect to see them in shops. It’s good to see these cards being made however even if they are not as available as some would wish.
While I think it’s great to have a new and clearly well funded company entering the market, they seem a little TV top heavy. With most companies that might be a cause for concern. Over investment in one area never seems to work out well, and a few poor licensing choices can end a company (inkworks suffered from this when a number of films failed to live up-to expectation). That said Cryptozoic as mentioned above already has a profitable gaming card business, so they have a leg up on many in the industry and are well capitalized. Cryptozoic are also going to be at the Philly Non Sport show (14th and 15th of May) with a bunch if promos and apparently some new announcements, which should be exciting. I would predict at least one announcement to be that they have new autographs for Big Bang Theory. It’s nice to see someone making cards the fans so clearly want.
While we are talking about the Philly Show you should really check out the Philly web page put together by our good friends over at the Non Sport Update Magazine to see what cool promos are coming out from this show, we even have two exclusives that will be given away! It’s going to be a mammoth show so go if you can!
Unstoppable Cards
Another new company has appeared in the form of Unstoppable Cards, and they are working hard to bring out a new premium pack product around Night of the Living Dead. While this company has ties to and with another UK card manufacturer that has had a fair share of controversy it has a number of new people involved so we wish them all the best, and will cover the set and subsequent products with interest!
Upper Deck
I just cant bring myself to describe the insanity of there recent decision making. I would refer you to the thread on the NSU forums located here: It covers the whole sad situation.
Saddlittles
I don’t know much about Nathan or the company, I have some of there products and enjoyed the basic sets a great deal, but something is clearly going on because Nathan who was given the honorary position of Moderator at the Scoundrel Art Community for the saddlittels forum they created for his company. This was a popular and thriving part of the community with a large amount of fan contributed resources and information about the saddlittles sets and products. For reasons that have not been explained Nathan decided not only to delete all his own posts but EVERYTHING in the saddlittles forum. This is covered in this post. Listen I don’t know the whole story I fully admit that, but a lot of folks contributed to that forum and it’s sad that all of that is gone. The other knock on effect of course is that Scoundrel are having to consider much more carefully which companies they will allow to have forums on the site.
Unfortunately that seems to mean we may not be welcomed onto the board in the same way other companies have been in the past. Scoundrel is still a fantastic place for people to interact with artists, collectors and companies and I would urge anyone who is interested in sketch cards to look at it if they haven’t already.
Redd Life:
The new Dark Zodiac set has been a resounding success, the first packs (Aries) have totally sold out and Taurus ships shortly! They can be ordered here
Asylum Studios
And last on the round up for today a new forum has opened for Asylum Studios, it has some very very talented artists involved and hey they have a Cult-Stuff form. A lot of these guys have worked or are going to work with us, but you shouldn’t hold that against them, go check out the site! Asylum Studios