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04 May 2008
Mars Attacks!
The Bubble Gum Card version
MARS ATTACKS was a bubble-gum card set produced by "Bubbles, Inc." (an alternate company name for Topps) in 1962. The cards were the idea of Len Brown and Woody Gelman. Some of the early pencil roughs were done by Wally Wood, a well-known artist for E.C. Comics. The final cards were pencilled by Bob Powell, and the painting was done by Norm Saunders. Norm was one of the most prolific and creative artists of the pulp era. Len has recently retired after over 40 years at Topps.
The cards, according to Len Brown, were inspired by a combination of an old "Weird Science" comic book cover showing a large-brained alien coming out of a flying saucer and H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" story. Due to Brown and Gelman's earlier success with a historical but gory card set called "Civil War News" that the kids loved, they knew they had the formula for a smashing success. They would combine the sci-fi Martian scenario with the graphic gore of a kind of interplanetary civil war. Instead of North vs. South, it would be the Martians vs. the Earthlings. The Mars Attacks set consisted of 55 cards (54 pictures plus a checklist) depicting the invasion of Earth by desperate Martians, whose home planet was about to explode due to pressure building up in the planet's core. Although they had superior advanced technology, the Martians couldn't stop the inevitable destruction of Mars. Therefore, the Martians needed to find a new home planet. Their obvious choice: Earth!
MARS ATTACKS cards depicted sadistic Martians in amazing spaceships attacking defenseless humans with super weapons. Freeze rays, heat rays, shrinking rays, and gigantic robots decimated the Earthlings. The Martians also unleashed bloodthirsty Earth-insects that had been enlarged to 500 times their normal size. Whole cities were destroyed in the blink of an eye. The Earth was doomed. But after almost total destruction, the never-say-die Earthmen somehow mustered enough strength to launch a counter-attack on Mars. When the physically stronger Earthmen landed on Mars, they easily overcame the puny Martians and retaliated with a vengence. The Earthmen were finally victorious and escaped back to Earth just as the planet Mars exploded into millions of tiny asteroids!
The cards, which sold for 5 cents a pack in 1962, were quickly denounced by parents who were shocked by the bloody, gory, graphic (cool!) pictures, and were pulled off the market after a very short time. The cards that survived the years are now worth up to about $2000 or more for a mint set! A single wrapper (the first thing that was thrown away when an eager 8-year old ripped open the pack to see the fantastic cards) may be worth $1000 or more now!
(Source)
MARS ATTACKS cards depicted sadistic Martians in amazing spaceships attacking defenseless humans with super weapons. Freeze rays, heat rays, shrinking rays, and gigantic robots decimated the Earthlings. The Martians also unleashed bloodthirsty Earth-insects that had been enlarged to 500 times their normal size. Whole cities were destroyed in the blink of an eye. The Earth was doomed. But after almost total destruction, the never-say-die Earthmen somehow mustered enough strength to launch a counter-attack on Mars. When the physically stronger Earthmen landed on Mars, they easily overcame the puny Martians and retaliated with a vengence. The Earthmen were finally victorious and escaped back to Earth just as the planet Mars exploded into millions of tiny asteroids!
The cards, which sold for 5 cents a pack in 1962, were quickly denounced by parents who were shocked by the bloody, gory, graphic (cool!) pictures, and were pulled off the market after a very short time. The cards that survived the years are now worth up to about $2000 or more for a mint set! A single wrapper (the first thing that was thrown away when an eager 8-year old ripped open the pack to see the fantastic cards) may be worth $1000 or more now!
(Source)
06:00 Posted in Fun | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: bubble gum, cards, collector's item, Mars, invasion, violence
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