How fun is this?! Brett White of BOX EAT CARDS is running a kickstarter campaign that asks the question, “What if the ’90, ’91, and ’92 Marvel Universe cards included G.I. Joe?”
Check out the campaign details below. It’s already reached funding and knocked down it’s stretch goal, so if you’re interested, make sure to jump in soon, as there’s less than 3 days to go before the campaign closes.
Here’s the scoop –
unofficial and unlicensed
Jump to TL;DR if you want to skip the long origin story and just want the funding facts! NOW WITH A STRETCH GOAL!
We need nostalgia now. Nostalgia is memory plus feeling — an evocation of a time, place, people who mean something to us. Art can play with nostalgia, sparking simmering emotions, taking you back — perhaps to a better time. I say all that as an introduction to the debut set of BOX EAT CARDS trading cards because this project is a mashup of multiple nostalgia triggers for Gen Xers and millennials of a certain age. I asked a question: “Since ‘G.I. Joe’ was initially a Marvel comic, what if Impel included 9-card G.I. Joe subsets in their groundbreaking ’90, ’91, and ’92 trading card sets?” And I couldn’t let that idea go.
‘G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero’ is important to me, as it was the very first comic that I ever collected (as well as a kid can collect a comic when he’s relying on grocery store comic sections). I started with #119, when I was seven years old. I got my first Joe figures when I was around three or four, though; the love goes back further than my memory. As for those trading cards, they were a major obsession of mine starting in the third grade and were responsible for introducing me to the entire Marvel universe. They were Wikipedia in physical form, packed with rad art. I still rate things on a scale of 1 to 7 because of those power ratings.
So I set out to make these a reality. First, I chose which characters belonged in which sets by looking at who appeared in the corresponding issues of ‘G.I. Joe,’ trying to not double up on any characters, as well as trying to capture the mood of that year. The checklist, if you will:
1990
1. BILLY
2. FLINT
3. ROCK ‘N ROLL
4. SCARLETT
5. STALKER
6. COBRA COMMANDER (FRED VII)
7. DR. MINDBENDER
8. ROAD PIG
9. ZARANA
1991
10. HAWK
11. SNAKE-EYES
12. STORM SHADOW
13. BARONESS
14. DESTRO
15. NIGHT-CREEPERS
16. S.A.W.-VIPER
17. ZARTAN
18. COOL BREEZE
1992
19. DUKE
20. LADY JAYE
21. MUTT
22. ROADBLOCK
23. CESSPOOL
24. COBRA COMMANDER
25. FIREFLY
26. HEADMAN
27. G.I. JOE: NINJA FORCE
I meticulously built templates for each set, recreating all of the shapes and fonts as close as I could. I even digitally “painted” a galaxy background for the ’92 set, so the backgrounds of all 9 cards connect.
Then I hunted for art worthy of a trading card. This was not going to be just slapping pre-existing comic art onto a card. I recolored every image, sometimes from the ground up, to make them on-model with either the action figures, the Sunbow cartoon, or just our collective memories.
The backs of the cards feature stats and bios culled from every character’s library of dossiers, bios, and file cards. And yes, there are power ratings for these characters (a difficult task since almost all of these characters are baseline human, but hey, power ratings are supposed to ignite debate).
I have all 27 card fronts designed. I have the entire ’91 set finished, front and back. The ’92 set’s backs are almost complete. The ’90 set is taking some time since I want to reread the first 100 issues of ‘ARAH’ so I can accurately list each character’s arch-enemies and nicknames. I printed a test run of 5 cards from the ’91 set. Here they are, mixed with actual ’91 Marvel cards.
These cards, unfortunately, are on a flimsy cardstock, and the colors need a little adjusting. But, that’s good information to have. But that also wiped out my personal funds, because I was counting on using the profits from those cards to fund the next batch. And right now, I am very, very poor (and could use a personal Go Fund Me, but this way, you get something out of it too).
TL;DR: It will take $1,250 to get all 27 cards printed on 16 pt. premium matte cardstock with UV coating on both sides. The rest of the goal goes towards Kickstarter fees and buying shipping supplies. But if this blows past the goal, there are additional card sets that I’ve designed that could become a reality, baby. All cards will be mailed in individual hard top-loaders and bubble envelopes.
That’s it. Thanks for reading all this, thanks for your interest, and thanks for indulging this hobby of mine that’s getting me through a tremendous amount of anxiety, grief, and depression. I need nostalgia, and I bet you do too.
UPDATE 4/10/26: STRETCH GOAL ALERT!
If we can get to $1875, I will add a 9-card set that aims to rectify a great, historical injustice: adding 9 essential characters to the 1991 G.I. Joe Impel trading card set. You know the set.
It’s legendary — but weird choices were made, let’s be honest. Desert Scorpion got two cards? When A-list Joes didn’t even get one? So, we raise more money, I’m going to try to fix that.
Of course sourcing art for these will be even harder, and will likely involve more than just restoration and recoloring. But hey, it’s a job that’s needed to be done since ’91.
So if we get $500 more, this set will be added to the NINJA FORCE and COBRA COMMANDER tiers, automatically; it will also be added as an add-on option for $10. Let’s see what happens.
Thanks!
Brett
Risks and challenges
The biggest risk is finishing the card backs, all the stats and bios, as it’s my goal to make them as accurate as possible. That means rereading 100+ comics in the next month.
I love when the community puts stuff like this together and will surely be backing. Will you?
Many thanks to my good bud Brett Resner for the intel!
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