Topps’ Mars Attacks Trading Card Series Turns 50



One of the coolest horror/sci-fi events that's coming this summer won't be playing at your local multiplex. Topps' legendary Mars Attacks trading card series is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and in honor of this pop culture landmark, Topps will re-release the original 55-card set this July along with 25 additional cards that feature never-before-seen art. Several other companies have also signed on to release a wide selection of other Mars Attacks merchandise during this summer, including action figures, plush toys, comic books and model kits.

A 50th Anniversary Mars Attacks Action Figure, by Mezco.

In the long list of alien invasion novels, movies and TV shows, there's nothing quite like the Mars Attacks card series. It's an insane mash-up of 50s-era nostalgia and over-the-top violence; even though the cards depict a story about an alien invasion of Earth by skull-faced, large-brained invaders, the story doesn't weight itself down with complex characters and nuanced story arcs and goes straight for the gory carnage in card after card.

The Atomic Age feel of the Mars Attacks art is hardly coincidental. Len Brown used Wally Wood's cover of Weird Science issue #16, a sci-fi comic book that was published by EC Comics during the early 50s, as a source of inspiration when he pitched the card series to Topps. Horror and sci-fi comics disappeared from newsstands by the mid-50s due to the Comics Code Authority (CCA) but their influence clearly lived on in other titles such as Mars Attacks. (Read more about horror and sci-fi comics from the 50s here in my review of Jim Trombetta's book, The Horror! The Horror!: Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read!)

The comic book cover that launched a trading card invasion ...

... And its tribute card from the 1994 Mars Attacks re-release.

Given its source of inspiration, Mars Attacks inevitably generated its own controversy back when it debuted in 1962, but that wasn't enough to stop the invasion. The cards were re-printed during the 80s and 90s with additional cards included, and the Mars Attacks license expanded to include comic books, novels, and even a feature-length movie by Tim Burton in 1996. There's also THQ's Destroy All Humans! video games, which are essentially video game versions of the Mars Attacks cards.

If you're a fan of gory horror and sci-fi art, then the Mars Attacks card series is something that would fit perfectly with your collection of artistic atrocities. Click here to see the complete set of Mars Attacks cards as they were originally released in the 60s, and you can also check out the official Mars Attacks Facebook page here.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 1 of 4): Characters

Image
This month marks the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Tron: Uprising , which aired on Disney XD for 19 episodes. Set between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy , Uprising chronicled the events shortly after Clu’s rise to power within the stand-alone Grid created by Kevin Flynn. Personally, I think that Tron: Uprising got a raw deal from Disney. It’s a fantastic addition to the Tron saga that went on to win both Emmy and Annie Awards , yet Disney clearly had other priorities and was willing to toss Uprising aside without so much as an official cancellation notice. Even to this day, Uprising has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray and I’m wondering if it ever will. In honor of this amazing animated series that was cut down in its prime, I have decided to do something that Disney won’t. Since there will never be an official Tron: Uprising art book, I have searched across the Internet to find a selection of art from Uprising that I can share here on my blog with ...
Read more

FOUND: Mechanical Shark from Universal Jaws Theme Park Ride

Image
When the Universal Studios Theme Park in Florida shut down its Jaws ride back in January 2012, Jaws fans everywhere were devastated. Yet even though this part of the Jaws franchise is no longer operational, some of its sharks are swimming around out there … including places such as Frederick, Maryland. A few days ago, I was contacted by a fellow Jaws fan named John Ryan, asking me if I knew anything specific regarding the sharks from the Universal Jaws ride. He was asking because he thought he found one and is trying to verify its authenticity. We spoke on the phone and exchanged a few emails, and here’s what he told me about his find: “I've been collecting Jaws memorabilia for decades and when I found this incredibly rare gem sitting in a backyard in Frederick, Maryland, I wondered about its connection to the state. The current homeowners said the shark was already there when they purchased the property. They also told me it had been the subject of neighborhood rumor for y...
Read more

Machine Robo's Magnificent Robot Combiners

Image
I don't collect Transformers merchandise, but I see articles and advertisements about it when I browse through Japanese robot toy sites. From what I can gather, one of the latest product lines for Transformers is called "Combiner Wars" , a line that consists of five or six transforming robot toys that combine into one bigger robot. Combiner robot toys have been around for a long time, and Transformers had quite a few of them even back in the '80s. Yet of the many combiner robot toys I've seen over the years, the ones that have consistently impressed me were the ones released by Bandai under the Machine Robo line. Whereas other robot toy lines are stuck in the novelty of combining smaller toys into a bigger toy, Machine Robo has used the concept of combination to promote creative play. Read on for a review of how Machine Robo has built upon its combiner toys throughout the years.
Read more