Batman 1989

Normally I do not make cards for something that already has a card set.  That's kind of the whole premise behind Phantom Cardboard, giving something a trading card that I wished would have had one.  Topps has an awesome Batman card set that we all collected back-in-the-day.  In 1989 there was not a single thing bigger than the Batman movie.  The hype surrounding it was insane.  Because of that the 1989 Batman movie has had a huge and lasting impression on me.  There's been a number of well done Batman movies released since then but, for me, there's one Batman... Michael Keaton.  And, one Joker... Jack Nicholson.

The reason I decided to do the two-card set is a very small one really, I wanted an excuse to use the Joker Gang logo on a card.  There was an avalanche of rad Batman merchandise that came out that year.  There were some legendary t-shirts and anyone who was a kid back then seems to remember the one(s) they had.  One of my favorite shirts I ever owned was the red Joker Gang logo t-shirt.  I wore that shirt until the dryer faded the screen print beyond recognition.  I loved that shirt.  I need to eventually find another at *hopefully* a reasonable price.  The Joker is a villain no doubt, but he's one of those "cool villains".

These two card also gave me a chance to again use the 1989 Fleer baseball inspired design that I had so much fun with for the Major League card set I did.  Unlike Topps in 1989, the '89 Fleer required a logo which is what I wanted for that bullseye Joker Gang emblem, not to mention the 1989 Batman logo.  Plus I found a couple of promo pics of Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson that worked out great.  So, while there is that nostalgic Batman movie card set that Topps got two series out of, these are more like Batman and Joker baseball cards.

In a happy little coincidence these two cards coincide the 1989 Tim Burton directed movie turning 30 this coming June and also the Batman character itself celebrating it's 80th anniversary just four days ago.

Major League Turns 30

Now that the 2018 NFL season has wrapped up it’s time to start gearing up for baseball’s spring training.  We’re also coming up on the 30th anniversary of an absolutely iconic baseball comedy, Major League.  It’s a little hard to believe that come April 7th this movie will officially be thirty years old!  Be that as it may it’s as timeless a  tale of underdogs defying all odds as there is.

I actually made a few Major League cards with an ‘89 Donruss inspired design a few years back.  They were okay but I knew that with all the cards I’ve made since that I could do better.  With the timing of the movie’s anniversary coming up I wanted to make a mini-set for the movie that would be one of my best sets to date, and I think I just may have accomplished that with these.

In thinking what design to use there was a few to consider.  I did not consider Topps’ 1989 design because 5 years ago they had Major League cards in their Archives set for the movie’s 25th anniversary.  I wasn’t looking to duplicate my ‘89 Donruss effort and 1989 Score… super “meh”.  There was really only one correct selection … the set that brought collectors perhaps the most infamous baseball card of all-times.  Of course I’m referring to the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken F*ck Face “error” card!  It was only fitting that I commemorated Major League’s motley misfits with this design.

I wanted the set to be as comprehensive as I could so, unlike the real Fleer baseball cards, I’ve included the coaching staff, team owner, GM, and even color man Harry Doyle.

I added two cards in style style of the “Super Star Specials” and “Major League Prospects” subsets that were part of the ‘89 Fleer set.  The Hayes / Vaughn Prospects card is easily my favorite of the mini-set.

I specifically wanted to find a picture of Pedro Cerrano doing his voodoo snake ritual.  I wanted that

card to be in homage to another famous Fleer baseball issue; the 1984 Glenn Hubbard card.

The two rival Yankee cards in the set are actually cards I made quite a while ago in the style of the 1988 Donruss set.  I think the Clu and Duke cards in a different design adds a nice contrast for the movie’s goliath-like antagonists so I included these two as official parts of this set.