"Avengers: Armageddon," #1 Will Come With Promotional, "Magic the Gathering," Card

Here is some interesting marketing synergy. Marvel has partnered with Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast for assorted, "Magic the Gathering," promotions and is now bringing it in directly to the comics. You see, the first printing of the first issue of, "Avengers: Armageddon," kicks off an event series (written by Chip Zdarsky with art by  Frank Alpizar and Delio Diaz) and will have a special card that you can--I assume--use in your Magic games. I know almost nothing about, "Magic: The Gathering," as friends have tried to get me into it, but I always told them I spend enough hours and funds on my current hobbies not to need a new timesink and money pit. That said, I did play the virtual card game,"Hearthstone," some years ago, and when I was a wee lad, and only 151 Pokémon existed, I played that trading card game. Hence, I have some familiarity with trading card games and know Magic is a big one.

This promotion makes me wonder if the goal is more to get comic fans into Magic (nah) or to encourage Magic fans to try some Marvel comics (likely). I'm leaning more towards the latter as it is clever to have the card accompany the debut of a big new event. I could imagine someone who is really into, "Magic: The Gathering," buying the issue mainly for the card, but reading the comic and wanting to follow along with at least this latest big happening in the Marvel continuity (it helps Zdarsky is among the few writers at Marvel putting out stuff in the, "Main," Universe that I like and don't find drab along with Jed MacKay's work on Moon Knight). I could see the result being short-term success for the debut, but I wonder if there will be interest in the follow-up issues, depending on whether gamers read the actual issue. We shall see!

"Fiasco," Would Be an Understatement--Further Updates Regarding Diamond Comic Distributors

Diamond Comic Distributors declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They were going to be bought by Alliance Entertainment. Until they said they wanted a different buyer and AEnt. sued for the first time (more on that clarifier in a second). Then, AEnt. suddenly terminated any plans to be the buyer. Now, it appears that termination stems from Diamond (allegedly) outright lying about a contract with Wizards of the Coast (who supplied Diamond with trading cards like Magic) that was set to end at the conclusion of April and not continue into the future--thereby drastically cutting Diamond's value. Then, moves were being made to possibly liquidate the company into Chapter 7 and a previously interested party has reemerged that just hours ago was approved to get Diamond--whilst the company deals with a new lawsuit from AEnt. among other parties. To call all this a, "Fiasco," would be an understatement.

It seems--barring any further twists--Universal Distribution and Ad Populum will split various pieces of Diamond Comic Distributors. This transaction is by no means closed and could contain further zigs, zags, swerves, and surprises. This isn't over; instead, "The long National nightmare seems to be entering another phase," as Heidi MacDonald over at ComicsBeat put it. At this point, I don't think anyone could predict what is going to happen. When all is said and done, will there even be enough left of Diamond for it to be worth all this fighting and lawsuits? At this point, it has become a soap opera, and I'm half expecting someone to declare they have amnesia or are a long-lost twin.

I Bought Some Hockey Cards!

As readers of the blog are aware, I for a long time had zero interest in sports. Some years ago I did find myself getting into Hockey. Unlike other athletic pursuits, Hockey kept my attention. After all, Football had too much starting and stopping. Basketball only got interesting in the last few minutes. Soccer kind of was fun to watch but lacked something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Golf was boring as Hell. Rugby was confusing. The list went on. That said, Hockey was different. It was fast. It had agility and grace yet was a bit brutal too with the players crashing into each other and sometimes fighting.  Around 2016/2017 I started watching NHL hockey a bit more and then in 2019 my local team, the Saint Louis Blues, won the Stanely Cup and that was incredible. Since then I have continued to enjoy hockey and thought I would try something I'd never done before in my 35 years of life: I bought some sports cards.

Back when I was young I dabbled in Pokemon cards but I sold them before the market crashed (and then came roaring back decades later with those cards now worth even more, but so is life). I never really fiddled with, "Magic: The Gathering," as I knew to build a good deck to play with you can spend an absurd amount of money. I might try, "Magic," in the future with Marvel-themed cards on the way, however. All of that said, I like Hockey so why not get some Hockey cards? I will tell you that sports cards are a lot more complex than you might suspect.

Where to even start?

These days you can buy some sports cards at a retail store or a hobby shop, but generally a hobby shop will have the better boxes/packs of cards. I am aware that Baseball and Basketball cards can be absurdly expensive, but Hockey thankfully is a bit more of a niche in sports cards and less pricey when it comes to buying packs, boxes, or even sought-after single cards. I did some research about sports cards in general online and learned how among your regular ol' cards you can get ones that have limited numbering, autographs, and even pieces of game-worn jerseys! When you get a special card that is a, "Hit," and you never know what you might get. 

One nice thing is you can get a common card of almost any player for dirt cheap, so it is easy to make a set of basic cards with your favorite players. When you're looking for the rare variants that have those autographs or pieces of clothes that's when things can be pricey if you're out buying single cards. I did a bunch of research on sports cards and was ready to buy some Hockey cards from a hobby shop, but where could I go to find someone patient with a sports card newbie like me? Thankfully, I found a cool local place.

Sports Card Market is located in Manchester, Missouri, and not too far a drive for me at all. I called them one day and explained that when it came to comic books I knew a ton but in regards to sports cards I was pretty green. They talked with me for a good 15-20 minutes on the phone reviewing with me what I had read online as I asked a variety of questions. I went in the next day and the kind employees there showed me various options of cards to buy, discussed what was interesting about different kinds, and helped me settle on buying an, "Artifacts," box as it sounded the most fun and I had read good things about the line on the internet. I cannot emphasize how patient they were with me as I asked a metric ton of questions about sports cards. I took home my Artifacts box, opened it up, and got some cool stuff!

My box had several, "Hits," with the coolest thing probably being a Kent Johnson card featuring a piece of jersey material and an autograph of which only 10 cards were produced out of thousands of other cards. I was perfectly happy to get some, "Worthless," cards as well of players I like such as Jordan Kyrou, too, but it was really neat to get some rare stuff. It is fun to be able to own cards featuring players you like and even snazzier when you have an autograph or piece of jersey. It is a cool way to feel extra connected to a sport I enjoy. I would recommend that if you want to buy sports cards of any kind you visit the folks at Sports Card Market either in person or buy from them online as they'll ship anywhere in the U.S. too! Oh, and please note they aren't paying me to promote them or anything (I don't have any affiliate links or such), I just really appreciate how nice they were to me as I slowly got an understanding of how sports cards work these days with all the, "Parallels," cards that you redeem online, and so forth.

Quite the, "Hit," I'd say!

It was fun buying Hockey cards and I plan to buy more in the future. I can see how it can be a pricey hobby though, so I'll have to practice moderation in the same manner I do with comics. I want to again thank the good people at Sports Card Market for their assistance as I bought my first-ever cards and I'm excited to continue watching Hockey and collecting cards!

"Magic: The Gathering," to Have Marvel-Themed Cards

For years friends have tried to get me into, "Magic: The Gathering." I've explained how between my hobbies I have enough time and money sinks that adding a trading card game is not feasible. Back in the day, I played Pokemon cards but only 151 Pokemon existed then and now there are over 1,000 so the odds are zilch I'd ever try to dip my toe back into that metaphorical pool lest I drown (again, metaphorically). That said, I have seen news pieces at points about interesting collaborations between Hasbro (current owner of the, "Magic," game) and other entities. There were cards themed for, "The Lord of the Rings," that included a single card that had the ring (Post Malone bought it from the guy who found it in a booster pack), and the sci-fi series, "Fallout," is going to have cards too, funnily enough. Well, suddenly I'm a bit more interested in, "Magic," upon hearing of the latest collaboration. Yes, "Magic: the Gathering," and Marvel are teaming up.

The partnership was just announced today so there are not any cards to showcase or exact details to parse, but this much is clear: We're going to have, "Magic," cards with a Marvel theme. I can already imagine it will be neat to see various famous and infamous Marvel characters doing their powers within the setting/ruleset of, "Magic," and even if I don't play the game, I might be tempted to get some cards in an effort to find any that feature my favorite characters such as Moon Knight.

I've seen some folks express surprise that Marvel's owner, Disney, did not try to fold Marvel characters into their new trading card game, "Lorcana." That game seems more affiliated with the animated projects Disney has done, however, so perhaps this deal with Hasbro seemed more appealing. Whatever the reason that Marvel cards will now be in, "Magic the Gathering," it is going to be in stores before too long and for the first time ever I'm thinking about about maybe, just maybe, giving this whole, "Magic," card game thing a try.

"Magic: The Gathering," Manufactured Scarcity, "The Lord of the Rings," and Comics

"Magic: The Gathering," is an immensely popular card game. I have friends who tried to get me to play it but I always would state how I had so many other hobbies that took up my money adding another one just seemed silly. Because, boy, do some cards in, "Magic," take a lot of money! People will buy packs and randomly, "Pull," good cards, but plenty of players and collectors will shell out big bucks for rare and powerful cards. Now, there was a partnership between, "Magic," and the Tolkien estate for a, "Lord of the Rings,"-themed expansion. True to the literature, there was a card for, "The One Ring," and I do mean a single card was produced. News of this extremely limited card resulted in players and stores offering million-dollar or more bounties for whoever pulled the card. It's been announced someone found it.

A person who has wished to remain anonymous pulled the card and get it graded right away with PSA. It scored an impressive 9 out of 10 and this individual now can either take up one of those offers online or I wouldn't be surprised if this goes to auction and pulls in some significant cash. "One Ring to Rule Them All," indeed. Between the kind of sports cards on that Goldin show I watched and these, "Magic," cards clearly this can be a pricey hobby. I can't judge because if I had a ton of money lying around I'd probably buy some fancy comics, but the manufactured scarcity of trading cards is always interesting to witness, a bit like ratio variants of comic books or Bad Idea and their limited comic releases. I prefer being able to buy and read a comic without hoops to jump through and that's one reason my interest in Bad Idea diminished some time ago; it is also why I don't mess with ratio covers much unless I find a cool one for cheap. This is a model that works with trading cards, I suppose, but hopefully not with comics outside of some fancy variant covers and silly companies such as Bad Idea. Time will tell.

It Has Been Revealed: DC is Creating a Digital Card Game

Marvel Snap has become a massive hit. I'm still playing it daily and enjoy it a lot (the game was one of my favorites of 2022 and still is superb). Well, DC wants to get involved in digital card games too and will be giving us DC Dual Force. Early reaction has found it seems to be a good deal different than Marvel Snap and reminds folk of slower-played games like Magic: The Gathering. Quite frankly, if it is good and fun I'm more than happy to try it out and welcome the other biggest comic publisher doing its own similar-yet-different thing. Now to just dream an impossible dream of a crossover where we get some DC cards in Snap or Marvel pops up in this Dual Force game. That would be wild but is incredibly unlikely, of course. Now we wait for the game's official release and then can check it out.

I Visited the Newly Opened Bug's Comics and Games!

In the past, a man named Larry AKA Bug had a comic shop. He closed it 20 years ago and became a college professor. However, recently he retired from that job and had the urge to reopen in a new location--but with the same name for his store, Bug's Comics and Games. Tim, who used to be an employee those 20 years ago, joined Larry as co-owner. They found a great spot for the store, acquired some comic and toy collections, got set up to sell new stuff, and that brings us to the present day. Cue the triumphant return of Bug's Comics and Games!

Larry (left) and Tim (right).

I didn't live in Saint Louis yet when the first iteration of the store existed, but I was excited to visit it now, shortly after it opened in late October. Larry and Tim are great guys and the store is a treat. There is a lovely assortment of back issues and new stuff, there are toys and popular trading card games too. Whether you want to dig through dollar bins or examine the snazzy key books on the wall it is easy to spend some time checking out all the cool stuff.

Bug's Comics and Games can be found at 1664 Bryan Road in O'Fallon, Missouri (the zip code is 63368). In other words, it is just a bit outside of Saint Louis county so it wasn't too long a drive for me to visit. You can actually buy stuff from them online as well, so if you're not a local reader of my blog you're in luck should you want to purchase comics and have them shipped to you! The site can be found at this link. Give them a visit in-person or online!

CGC is Moving into Grading Cards

In news I find interesting, CGC is moving into grading cards. CGC is best known for grading comics as well as concert posters and the like, but have not graded cards before. They just now have started offering grading for cards from two trading card games, however. "Magic: The Gathering," and, "The Pokemon Trading Card Game," now can have their cards graded and encapsulated by CGC. This is pretty interesting, but it made me wonder, "What about sports cards?" seeing as that is a big business as well.

Less than a day after I pondered that, I received an email from CGC and saw articles discussing that email about how they are looking for experts so they can start authenticating and grading sports cards as well. It won't be CGC itself doing sports grading though, it will be a new sub-company, CSG, or Certified Sports Guaranty. Clearly CGC is expanding its focus with all these trading cards and sports cards being certified!

I haven't collected Pokemon cards since I was a young lad and have zero knowledge about sports cards. I also never did much with, "Magic," even though friends wanted me to give it a try because it looked like an expensive hobby to pursue (and I've spent enough on other things I enjoy that adding something else costly would be difficult). Hence, with my lack of knowledge, I'm not sure if CGC and their new CSG sub-company will be welcomed by those who collect trading cards and sports cards or met with some resistance--I simply am not a part of those circles. I personally find it interesting to see CGC expanding so much, however, and wish them the best. In the meantime, I'll just be sending them comics still, and should I somehow come across a bunch of valuable cards I'll know to have them help me with those too.