From the SkyBox Master Series, 1993, the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 card. I dug this out of a tote of miscellaneous toys and whatnot, it was in a zip lock baggie with a few other cards, I think it's the only one of the series I have, but it's obvious why I kept it.



The Artist is Keith Birdsong, who is an illustrator that has painted numerous Pocket Book covers as well as collector plates for the Hamilton Collection and the Bradford Exchange, you can see some more artwork here .

On the back is this quote from the artist.

"For me, this ship is a source of inspiration and hope for dreams yet to be fulfilled."

That pretty much sums it up for me as well.

Straight from a pack of Empire Strikes Back Trading Cards to Eclectorama! The notorious Boba Fett makes an appearance on the illustration / sketch cards of the day, the day being 1980! Back in the day we also ended up calling them Bubble Gum Cards.

I remember my buddies and I buying these cards by the case at the new Warehouse Club store, that would later become a Sam's then close to become a Walmart, and is now a fitness center, and trade them on the bus after school. Which really turned into passing off the extras you didn't want to someone else. Each pack had the standard stick of gum that had to be left over from the first world war! At least in our minds anyway. How come no matter how bad that gum tasted, you ended up eating every last stick?

I had one of these illustration based cards up before with the Stormtrooper of the Week feature last year. These were a breath of fresh air among all the photo cards and I count these as some of my favorite images from the movies. More than likely these were style guide images used on other products, but I haven't been able to place them on anything else yet, though I'm still looking!

So enjoy this weeks Bounty Hunter on his hot pink background!

I used to stare at this card for hours as a kid. I understood it was a miniature model from the Empire Strikes Back (I think it's the one used in shot of the Falcon on the back of the Star Destroyer)I just wanted that Falcon, or one like it. I wanted a tiny Millennium Falcon so bad, I would make them out of paper. Mine never looked like this.

It wouldn't be till the 90's that Galoob would make the Star Wars Micro Machines version and I was too old to appreciate it then... though I bought it anyway!

I think every time I see this card from Topps 1980 Empire Strikes Back set, how I wanted to be a model maker when I was young, what the hell happened...

Well, observed Veteran's Day anyway, yesterday being the true holiday and all.

I also don't know if you really wish people a Happy Veteran's Day, being that it is in remembrance of all that have fought for our country, so maybe a Salute to all Veteran's on this Day is in order!

I have a few Veteran's in my life, so in my own weird way here's a salute as I rank them up there with one of my favorite heroes!



The card is the first in the 1990 Marvel Comics Super Heroes trading cards set. Probably one of the only card sets I have ever completed in my life! Wow, 1990 these things are seventeen years old, seems like yesterday, man I feel so old right now.

In 1990 Impel introduced the Marvel Comics Trading Cards. Along with a majority of the Marvel Universe, the Silver Surfer not only had a regular card, but one of five of the bonus Hologram cards that used the same surfer art.

This set of cards was certainly a departure from the days of bubble gum and baseball rookie cards, and while it wasn't new to have cards for non sport properties, it did help create a boom in Super hero collectables.

I remember that we would hit local drug stores that carried case packs and buy a couple just to try and make a set, and even then you were lucky if you would get two or three of the holograms. I ended up with two until a class mate in my production art 101 struck up a conversation about the cards, another class mate said he was selling a set of the holograms for 20 bucks, so we decided to both chip in and split the set.

The next day came and my "buddy" failed to show for class, the seller said he would hold them for a week. The end of the week came and my partner in this venture still failed to show and being how the Spider-man card in this set was going for 20 bucks by itself I plopped down two tens and took them home. The following week the no show came to class and wanted his half of the set that he knew I would let him take home and he would bring cash the next day. I passed on that deal, so I have a full set now.