Unlike more unusual fare I’ve previously featured like metal cards and comic cuts, minis are one of the most straightforward subsets of trading cards. They’re simply cards that are smaller than the standard 2.5 x 3.5 inch (6.4 x 8.9 cm) size.
For clarity, this spotlight is about small cards with a traditional rectangular shape (although the ratio of the sides can vary). Die Cut cards that can end up smaller due to odd shapes and/or pieces of a standard card being cut away are a different matter that will likely get their own entry in the future.
Sometimes a mini subset will literally be a smaller version of another card in the set (often a base card). Just an unusual variant for collectors to chase. The numbered minis from Fleer Ultra Wolverine, for example, were 2″ x 2.75″ versions of certain base cards.
Other mini subsets are unique, with art not otherwise used in the set.
In Upper Deck’s Marvel Anime sets there were both “minis” and “chibis” subsets of tiny 1.5″ x 2.625″ cards. Minis focused on certain teams of heroes or storyline events and were grouped by theme.
Chibi translates literally as small, but is used colloquially as slang affectionately describing small and/or cute things. As an art style it’s also called super deformed and is characterized by large heads, small bodies, and exaggerated features within simplified designs. The chibis subsets featured chibi versions of popular Marvel characters.
These types of minis/chibis (and similar variations in other sets) were usually released in a card within a card format. A standard sized card with a perforated section on the back is what’s actually inserted into packs. The perforated section tears away to reveal the randomized mini within. These minis are often categorized and randomized within a themed capsule card, such as by team, comic storyline, etc.
As I’ve written about before, printing plates are thin metal sheets used in the printing process of the card they correspond to. Printing plates for the minis subsets of Upper Deck’s Marvel Anime 2 were available as ePack achievements (prizes for completing certain trading/collecting goals within Upper Deck’s online platform). They’re really unique and interesting pieces of the set.
One of the more inspired uses of mini cards in comic related trading card sets recreate comic corner boxes. In the past these boxes appeared in the upper left corner of comic books with Marvel’s logo, character art, and issue information.
They severed as a quick identifier of the Marvel brand and key characters featured in the comic to catch the eye of potential buyers on crowded newsstand shelves and racks.
These corner box cards measure 1″ x 2.5″ and contained card set information around a replicated corner box from key past issues.
Size comparison to a standard sized trading card.
That about does it for this look at trading cards’ smaller siblings. Best of luck with wherever your personal collecting tendencies take you.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. Derailments of Thought currently updates sporadically, but more regular posts will hopefully be on the way soon.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Comic card collecting is normally another format to view and appreciate images of comic book characters. Art can be original for the card set or reproduced from associated comics and can be shown on a variety of materials, but cards are usually a step removed from the inspiring items. However there are types of cards that directly tied to the original material in a physical sense: comic cuts.
Comic Clippings / Comic Cuts are exactly what they sound like. Some portion of actual printed comics cut out and put into a card. The cardstock has an opening on the front side to frame/show the clipping.
Clippings used to this are most often a single panel that can be spotlighted on the small surface of the standard 2.5 x 3.5 inch size for trading cards.
Comic cuts can be controversial, as some collectors don’t see the point of them and/or object to comics being cut apart to make them. I’m not going to wade into a debate of the merits. I personally like them as unique and unusual chase insert subsets.
Like many other collectors of this type of insert, I concentrate on collecting cuts of favorite characters and storylines. Infinity Gauntlet, which I read as it came out when it was originally published in 1991, remains one of my favorite comic stories of all time. It contains the broad strokes storyline that was the basis for Thanos’ role in the MCU. A good chunk of my comic cut card collection feature panels from that six issue series, with special focus on Thanos himself, Lady Death, and Nebula’s brief time with the gauntlet.
Other cuts I’ve sought out relate to specific favorites, including Emma Frost, Psylocke, and a host of other X-Men characters.
I adore cuts of characters that visually stand out. In particular the Spider-Man related cuts in my collection tend to focus on black suit Spidey and Venom. The design is striking and looks great spotlighted in this format. A couple of these cuts come from another classic, favorite storyline of mine, Kraven’s Last Hunt.
One of the cooler variations of comic cuts feature autographs of creators of the comic issue the cut is from. These can be from the artist of the shown panel, but also the writer or editor of the issue.
Occasional, rare dual signature cards are signed by writer/artist or writer/editor pairs. I have several with signatures by Jim Starlin, many on Infinity Gauntlet panels and a couple duals from Warlock with editor Marvel Wolfman, as well as some by legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont.
These cuts feature smaller clippings, as the border surrounding the cut needs to leave room for the autograph. Autos are typically done via sticker rather than directly on card for these likely for both space and production reasons.
Perhaps even more so than regular cards a comic cut’s desirability varies wildly from person to person due to a variety of factors. Personal taste is of course foremost, with individual meaning to stories and characters as discussed above often having even more significance than normal due to these containing actual pieces of the comics.
But there are numerous other considerations as well that don’t apply to other inserts. Cuts from issues that are rare or particularly significant can become more sought after. The condition of clipping is important, as older comics paper quality can have declined and the printed image san fade. Printing mistakes, imprints, or other imperfections can also affect perceived value.
One of the most interesting aspects that’s largely unique to cuts is how well the panel stands on its own. Uncluttered images and poses of popular characters tend to work best as opposed to half cut off panels overrun with text bubbles.
That said some collectors don’t mind mid-story text heavy cuts, and in certain cases a bit of context via speech bubbles or captions can more strongly tie back to the comic the cut was taken from.
Card design varies from set to set, which affects the shape and size of the opening and amount of border that will be surrounding it. This will impact how the cut looks and feels, as panels are very rarely going to measure the exact same as the display opening. As mentioned above pieces of other panels encroaching on the featured image can be less than ideal.
On the other hand cuts forced into displays smaller than the panel can sometimes provide a more dramatic focus on the subject. And so on. These are highly individualized collectibles that have a million little details that can determine whether any particular card speaks to a collector.
Beyond just the graphic design of the card set, there are some variations on the idea of comic cuts that make for unique implementations.
One interesting insert type is Upper Deck’s “Coinage,” in which actual coins are imbedded into the cards. For their comic related sets that had this subset they featured classic comic cuts as well, with the imbedded coin(s) equal to the cover price of the comic the clip is from when it was originally published.
Another interesting variation on the comic cut concept are cover cuts. Cover cuts feature an entire cover from a comic divided into card sized pieces, forming a multi-card “puzzle” that together show the original cover.
Cover cuts are usually only available via special redemption methods that allow multiple cards to be awarded together, such as ePack achievements, so that the collector is getting the whole cover and not just one random 16th of it. These were rewards for difficult to complete collecting tasks.
Milage on these varies, and they are even more susceptible to some of the things I’ve been discussing than normal cuts. Card borders are even more attention grabbing when they are crisscrossing a larger combined image, and can block key parts of the cover. Sometimes obscuring character’s faces, or otherwise hiding key portions of the image.
That said I personally think they look pretty great in some cases, and having a couple of them of key issues of favorite characters is one of the highlights of my collection.
I hope everyone’s enjoyed this look at a literal intersection of cards and the comics they spotlight. Best of luck with wherever your personal collecting tendencies take you.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. Derailments of Thought currently updates sporadically, but more regular posts will hopefully be on the way soon.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
“There are no such things as happy endings. Never. They’re totally manufactured by fiction writers who choose to end the story on a high point.”
Peter David was self described a Writer of Stuff, and it’s really the perfect epithet. He was a mainstay in comics for decades, also a prolific writer of novels and short stories, and shared opinions of all sorts over the years in essays, blog posts, and his But I Digress column.
Peter was one of my favorite writers and I’ve read a ridiculous amount of his stuff, starting pretty early on in his career.
I was an avid comic reader when I was young, and I am one today. In between my interest and ability continue with them waned, except for Peter’s work. There was a period where his comic were pretty much all I was reading, remaining thoroughly engrossed in titles like Aquaman, Supergirl, X-Factor, and Young Justice.
While he did great work on a number of popular characters, one of the things Peter is known for was taking second string characters and making something special with the freedom such things involve.
One great example of this was his work on X-Factor, spanning three different conceptual iterations featuring different lineups of misfits over the course of years. During his first run on X-Factor, he’d write one one of the most interesting and beloved single issue stories of all time. X-Factor #87 portrayed his government sponsored X-Factor team going to mandated therapy sessions in the aftermath of an X-men crossover event. It was an unusual aspect of Earth shaking events in comics that was captivating to see explored. Peter dug deep into the characters and created an enduring, compelling tale will little more than 36 pages of characters talking to each other.
The Incredible Hulk itself, the comic Peter’s best known for, was a low selling title before he originally took it over leading to an award winning run. During that run he notably explored the concept of Hulk as an aspect of Banner’s fractured psyche, leading to his creation of the Banner Hulk combined version of Hulk that would eventually inspire MCU’s “Smart Hulk.”
One of my favorite stories of all time is David’s two part Future Imperfect from 1994, showing the Hulk faced with his own dark potential.
Echos of his work also reverberate through the stories that followed and adaptations, such as Miguel O’Hara’s appearance in Across the Spider-Verse. Peter co-created and was the primary writer of Spider-Man 2099.
Peter pushed boundaries in his work, willing to test limits of subject matter, creative direction, and format.
One of his early comic stories that groundbreaking at the time and helped establish Peter as a writer, The Death of Jean DeWolff, created waves off the bat by proclaiming its intention to kill a popular supporting character in the title of the story.
His work crossed and combined genres and styles. Sometimes his over the top humor with mountains of wordplay and puns inundated the reader. Sometimes drama and heavy topics anchored his stories. And often those elements are more combined in ways no one else would dare.
His approach and convictions sometimes led to controversy and conflict, and occasionally didn’t land in the stories themselves, but Peter always kept trying and overall things came together into an incredible catalog of writing that will endure.
Another of Peter’s strengths was fitting stories within past continuity without heavy reconning, attempts to add context and depth between existing stories. Several of his well loved Star Trek novels took this approach.
A lot of his later work also focused on this concept, including writing stories that fleshed out Spider-Man’s time unknowingly wearing the alien symbiotic costume that would later become Venom. Given Peter’s start as a comic writer was in the aftermath of the original symbiote comics (when Peter was wearing a cloth replica of the black suit), it was nice bookend to an incredible career.
Peter had been facing severe health issues for quite some time, and passed away on May 24, 2025.
Thank you for a lifetime of stories Peter. Rest in Peace.
Cabinet of Curiosities Treasure metal variant by Yuriko Shirou.
When thinking of trading cards, small collectible pieces of cardboard/card stock immediately spring to mind. But in modern collecting there are a variety of cards that break the mold a bit and are made from other materials.
Let’s take a look at the interesting case of trading cards made from metal.
Last month I wrote about printing plates, thin metal relics from the card creation process turned into collectables. In contrast here I’m highlighting actual cards made for various sets that are themselves made of metal.
One other side note before delving too deep: there are card sets and subsets that use “metal” as a descriptor, such as the Skybox Metal Universe series. It’s a theming/branding thing and the vast majority of cards in those sets are still card stock. Those are different from what I’m featuring here, which again are cards made of metal.
There are two main types of metal cards I’d like to showcase, with some subcategories. Then at the end of this post I’ll share a few tangentially related cards.
First up are the straightforward case of printed metal cards. These are exactly what one would think of as trading cards, simply printed on metal instead of card stock. They are at a minimum a bit thicker than both standard cards and the thin metal printing plates previously referenced.
While metal cards are inherently more sturdy than standard cardboard cards, proper storage and protection can have some additional things to be wary of. For example stacking regular cards is usually fine for temporary sorting, etc. But metal cards can easily scratch each other if care isn’t taken and as such while it may seem counter intuitive it’s even more important to get them immediately sleeved and protected than normal.
Like other special inserts metal cards can be variants of base cards or their own unique subsets, and vary greatly in terms of rarity and design.
A great example of straight up base set variants are the metal cards featured in Iconic Creations’ sets. These cards are identical to their base set counterparts outside of the material they’re printed on. There’s more gloss to the finish on these than Iconic Creations’ base cards, and the hues end up a touch more subdued.
Perna Studios also does some great metal chase subset versions of their base, chase, and promo cards.
By Juri H. Chinchilla.
While some metal cards have both the front and back printed like their cardboard counterparts, like those done by Perna Studios, Iconic Creations and some other publishers use stickers for the backs on metal cards.
The metallurgy subsets from Marvel Masterpieces are fantastic versions of the base cards from the same sets. The designs on these vary slightly from the base, as the border is more filled in on these and as such the images are slightly cropped compared to the base and other variants.
Planet Metal subsets from the previously mentioned SkyBox Metal Universe series (made nowadays by Upper Deck) are an unusual case. In some sets, such as the pictured cards above from Spider-Man Metal and X-Men Metal, they are a metal card chase subset. In others, such as AEW Metal, they are die cut cardboard.
There have been metal AEW cards from Upper Deck in other sets, such as the Full Gear and Chair Shots subsets from AEW Spectrum.
Metal cards can themselves have variants within a set. For example the die cut oval shaped metal cards from Upper Deck’s Shang-Chi set had rarer gold versions, and their logo shaped die cut metal cards had rarer blue variants.
Like “regular” trading cards, special subsets of metal cards are elevated with autographs. Cards may be signed by the athletes or actors featured, by the artist for art based cards, or creators related to the characters or stories referenced for comic related cards.
Often signed metal cards are specific, unique subsets. Although they can also be direct variations on non-autographed metal cards within the same set.
Pictured below is a Black Metal Logo Die Cut card from Upper Deck’s Shang-Chi set featuring Meng’er Zhang as Xialing next to the autographed version featuring the same design and image. Both were available exclusively as achievements via Upper Deck online purchasing and trading platform e-Pack.
Given the nature of the material metal card autos generally feature autographs affixed via sticker. But occasionally there can be direct autographs if done carefully with the right type of markers. The Stainless Stars subsets from Panini’s WWE Impeccable sets are great examples of autos done directly on metal cards.
Meiko Satomura and Io Shirai (now Iyo Sky) blue Stainless Stars cards.
The other major type of metal cards I’d like to spotlight is metal sketch cards.
Metal APs from Perna Studios’ Elementals and Hallowe’en Witchcraft sets by Stacey Kardash. Metal sketch cards/APs by Achilleas Kokkinakis from Classic Mythology III.
Like sketch cards done on card stock these are individualized pieces of art created on the cards. One side of the metal card is prepared with a surface meant for drawing directly on it.
Metal AP from Hallowe’en Witchcraft by Tony Perna.
In past sets Perna Studios had a small number of these metal sketch cards inserted in packs. For those sets artists often had a metal AP (Artist Proof) or two (in addition to their card stock ones) that they could accept commissions for within the content guidelines of the set.
Metal sketch cards/APs by Alexis Sarah Hill and Craig Yeung.
The combination of unique creations on unusual card material made these truly stunning pieces of art.
To wrap up here are a few metal related cards that aren’t exactly either of the types highlighted above, but do involve metal, are all pretty awesome, and are worth a look.
One subset that’s both cool and kind of hilarious is the silver bar cards from Panini Impeccable. There’s just straight up a 1 troy ounce mini silver bar in the card. The card itself is card stock surrounding the bar, but this definitely fits in this feature on metal use in trading cards.
All of the cards in this section are thicker than what most people think of for trading cards. In this case considerably so, as these monsters are 3/8 inch thick.
A really nice looking way to incorporate metal are framed cards. The card itself is still card stock, but it’s encased in a metal border (almost always gold colored in the versions I’ve seen).
Finally here’s an example of a metal card where an image is cast on it rather than printed. The below bronze Psylocke card is a tribute to Joe Jusko’s work on Marvel Masterpieces ’92 and was a reward as part of a Kickstarter for an art book featuring Joe’s images from that set.
That does it for this spotlight on a small sample of the interesting ways metal is used in trading cards. Best of luck with wherever your personal collecting tendencies take you.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to sustain more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates once to twice a week.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Perhaps the best comic book hero one could ask for is one who isn’t bound by the rules of the very comics he inhabits. Such a hero might truly be invincible…
MiSTER iNViNCiBLE: Local Hero collects Mister Invincible #1: Justice and Fresh Vegetables and Mister Invincible #2: Local Hero as originally published.
Pascal Jousselin’s everyday adventures of an extremely unusual superhero takes a creative core idea and runs with it to great effect.
Mister Invincible’s powers are simple in concept: he alone is aware he’s in a comic and can transcend the framework everyone else is trapped in. He can see and act into other panels, across pages, and so on.
It’s Jousselin’s incredible use of the premise that makes the comic shine. From Mr. Invincible helping himself fight in other panels, to explaining to confused police that he needs to wait for the page to turn before he can solve their current problem, to many other endearingly absurd page breaking situations everything is fascinating and amusing at the same time. There are times when things get surreal, but it’s captivating to unravel what’s happening more than confusing.
The true genius of it all is how Mr. Invincible uses his powers as a part of his everyday life just as often as he does for fighting crime. The mundane uses are just as interesting, such as a great page where he uses a paper airplane traveling up the page to “remind” himself to add something to his grocery list before he’s told to get it.
I can’t speak to the original French version, but the translation seems quite good. Everything flows well and sounds natural and I’m pretty confident I’m getting as close to the full experience as a translation can provide.
Mr. Invincible is light and fun while also being mind-bendingly clever. It’s as enjoyable for an adult reader as it would be for the publisher’s noted middle grade target demographic (with an older reader perhaps more likely to catch more of the genre bending subtleties). Highly recommended.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Derailments of Thought 