Sean Kanan

This is the third post in a row where I say I don't like going back to cards I've made in the past and modifying them and then showing off a modified version of one of my older cards.  Unless something comes up, this is the last one.  

As most of the readers know by now the Karate Kid trilogy is my shit.  I even heard rumors that there was a 4th installment and a remake, but I don't believe that.  The Cobra Kai series is pretty bitchin' though ;)  Back to the trilogy ... I love all three of those movies.  The 1984 original is my favorite, but I would have to say that I've seen the third one the most due to its heavy rotation in the early '90s HBO lineup.

You can imagine my excitement when I was asked by Sean Kanan - a.k.a "Karate's Bad Boy, Mike Barnes"- to provide some cards for an Instagram signing event he was doing for fans.  He had seen the Mike Barnes card I made back in 2016 based on the 1989 Topps baseball design and inquired about using it for the signing.  

I had paired that Mike Barnes card with John Kreese and Terry Silver cards and have been offering it as a 3 card mini-set.  I wanted to change the card somewhat to make it different from the card in that set.  The reason is I want to maintain the integrity of the Mike Barnes cards that are out there and sequentially numbered to 50.  I believe in that numbering and I want others to as well.  If I would have made up the remaining /50 inventory for Sean than that would have put an end to the mini-set.  So, I made slight changes to make it different.

I removed the "Karate's Bad Boy" sash that was in the upper left and I added a small PCb. logo.  The most significant change however came in the form of a card back that resembled the '89 Topps, instead of the stamped back you get with the 3 card mini-set.

  

Bert Hearts To Fart

I came across this infamous photo of Bert Blyleven and knew it had to have a card of it's own.

I was having a difficult time chasing down the exact year of this image so I put in an email to a pretty resourceful friend of the site and he was able to find that the picture was taken in 1984 in the locker room of the Cleveland's Municipal Stadium where Blyleven spent the '84 season as a member of the Cleveland Indians' rotation.

Bert has all the statistical criteria needed to be enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but it took him 13 years before he finally got in in 2011.  Perhaps that can be attributed his casual attitude about busting heat on reporters during post-game interviews?  I have to imagine that's not really going to endear you to any of the writers that vote on who gets in.  To Bert's credit he's never hid his high regard for a good ass blast as he told Big League Stew in a 2008 interview:

"That’s why I wore it. I love to fart. I do. When the time is right, I do it. I’m not going to hide it."

I first made this card in the 1984 Topps  baseball inspired template but I just wasn't 100% happy with the final card so I went with my original idea to make it in the style of Topps' long running Turn Back The Clock subset.  Like, "hey, remember that time when Bert Blyleven was photographed in that I love to fart t-shirt?".

The Turn Back The Clock cards remained very similar for a number of years with just the background color changing.  I chose the blue of the 1989 edition to put a couple years between the that and the year that the fateful pic was snapped.

Are You Serious, Clark?

If it isn't obvious I'm a Clark Griswold fan, and really just a Chevy Chase fan in general.  I couldn't let the season go by without adding a couple more custom "Sparky" cards to the portfolio.

I chose two of Christmas Vacation's funniest scenes to honor with a couple of vintage inspired custom trading cards.

The first card is inspired by the 1989 Topps baseball Record Breakers subset.  I always get a kick out of making theses record breaks cards and since, until we hear otherwise, we'll assume Clark did indeed shatter the Amateur Recreational Saucer Sled Land Speed Record.

The second card is modeled after the 1989 Topps hockey All-Star subset. 

"Bend over and I'll show ya"

Your Karate's A Joke!

I love The Karate Kid 1-3, and probably in that order.  Although, I may have seen 3 the most due to how much it came on cable in the early '90s.  While it's not as good of a story as the original, or has the scenery of the first sequel, it does have it's moments.  Mike Barnes, Terry Silver, and Sensei Kreese make for a formidable antagonist triple threat, and then throw in "Snake" for a good 'just want to punch that guy in the face' factor.

Two things that always bothered me about the movie.  For one, it's the only one where Daniel San doesn't exactly "get the girl".  And secondly, if you follow the timeline I believe it would put Daniel LaRusso over the age of 18, so obviously no longer able to compete in the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament.

The card is inspired by the 1989 Topps Baseball set - the year the movie was released.  I didn't really use any mask layers, I just rebuilt the card with vectors and found a script style font that was passable.  The extra "Karate's Bad Boy" sash in the upper left is an additional customization inspired by the 1988 Topps nameplate. I wanted to add that Bad Boy tag line in some way to the card and that's what I came up with. Plus, I think it's the perfect image for that.

I'm really happy about the way this one came out and hoping for a TTM success from Sean Kanan.

For a comparison

Also see: You Keep For Your Collection, I Know You Like It