Industry | Entertainment |
---|---|
Founded | 1992 |
Headquarters | , |
Products | Trading card |
Website | monsterwax.com |
Monsterwax is an American trading card company that specializes in science fiction and horror themes. It was established in 1992, making it the oldest American card company still in business exclusively producing non-sports trading card sets. [1] Many trading card companies like Topps are corporate subsidiaries that primarily produce sports-related issues. However, Monsterwax is a small privately owned company focusing primarily on non-licensed entertainment cards. They usually release only one to three series a year. Monsterwax generally limits their print runs to less than 500 boxes (a fraction of the industry standard) and numbers each box and checklist.
Monsterwax is best known for making retro style art cards similar to the ones produced during the golden age of non-sports cards (the 1940s – 1960s). They typically feature nostalgic wrappers, dramatic stories, and original artwork. The topics can be esoteric. Their first series, Tune In for Terror, profiled the popular horror programs from radio’s golden era. The Art of H.G. Wells (from 2005) connected The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The War of the Worlds together into one unbroken narrative. Don’t Let It Happen Here (2003) was a homage to Horrors of War, Fight the Red Menace, and other jingoistic hyper-patriotic card sets from the past. Like its classic predecessors, Don’t Let It Happen Here garnered a certain amount of publicity for showing graphic acts of violence while presenting informative news events from around the world. [2]
Most Monsterwax products are designed by Kurt Kuersteiner (writer and company founder) and painted by a featured artist (often Ricardo Garijo of Commando Comics fame, as well as his son, Ricardo Jr., after his father's death in 2009).
Monsterwax is often critical of aggressive industry practices. Their "Monsterwax Manifesto" [3] criticizes the typical chase card ratios that force customers to buy several cases to finish a master set. They claim that the practice alienates collectors and hurts the hobby. Although Monsterwax produces chase cards, they usually include a complete set of them in every box, which is not the industry norm. They also speak out against dumping of old products and often mock the “speculative attitude” of sports card collectors. Many of their advertisements are illustrated parodies [4] of 1960s public service or comic book ads and commonly mock the sports card hobby. [5]
Monsterwax occasionally uses the trademark Mystery Playhouse on their test products, which was the original name of the haunted house that they sponsor every Halloween (since 1999) near their headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida. The company financed event has since grown into a full-scale haunted attraction and was renamed the Terror of Tallahassee in 2003. [6] The haunt was also used as the backdrop to the 2004 Night Slasher card set, which was a spoof of the TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker .
Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos. The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium; it was first released in 1981 and is in its seventh edition, with licensed foreign language editions available as well. Its game system is based on Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing (BRP) with additions for the horror genre. These include special rules for sanity and luck.
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A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s, they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, stadiums, or celebrities.
The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures trading cards and other collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards. Topps also produces cards under the brand names Allen & Ginter and Bowman.
The Fleer Corporation, founded by Frank H. Fleer in 1885, was the first company to successfully manufacture bubble gum; it remained a family-owned enterprise until 1989.
Non-sport trading cards are a particular kind of collectible card designated as such because trading cards have historically prominently featured athletes from the world of sports as subjects. Non-sports cards are trading cards whose subjects can be virtually anything other than sports-themed.
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Allen & Ginter was a Richmond, Virginia, tobacco manufacturing company formed by John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter around 1880. The firm created and marketed the first cigarette cards for collecting and trading in the United States. Some of the notable cards in the series include baseball players Charles Comiskey, Cap Anson, and Jack Glasscock, as well as non-athletes like Buffalo Bill Cody.
Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game is an out-of-print card game produced and marketed by Fantasy Flight Games from 2004 to 2015. It is based on Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and other Cthulhu Mythos fiction.
Arkham Horror is a cooperative adventure board game designed by Richard Launius, originally published in 1987 by Chaosium. The game is based on Chaosium's roleplaying game Call of Cthulhu, which is set in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft and other horror writers. The game's second edition was released by Fantasy Flight Games in 2005, with a third edition in 2018.
The O-Pee-Chee Company, Ltd. was a Canadian confectionery company founded in 1911 based in London, Ontario. O-Pee-Chee was best known as a maker of trading cards. It entered into a marketing agreement with the Topps Company in 1958, releasing several collections of baseball, gridiron football and ice hockey cards.
An American football card is a type of collectible trading card typically printed on paper stock or card stock that features one or more American football players or other related sports figures. These cards are most often found in the United States and other countries where the sport is popular.
Star Wars trading card usually refers to a non-sport card themed after a Star Wars movie or television show. However a common colloquial reference to trading card can also include reference to stickers, wrappers, or caps (pog) often produced along the same theme. Usually produced as either promotional or collectible memorabilia relating to Star Wars, the cards can depict anything from screen still imagery to original art. In addition, there have been various companies that have issued promotional Star Wars trading cards that include reference to or information about that corresponding company.
The Topps Company has created a number of different baseball card products during its existence. They originally started as a chewing gum company, using the baseball cards as a sales gimmick to make the gum more popular, but today it is primarily a baseball card company.
Ricardo Garijo was an Argentine author, publisher and artist, best known for his long career as a comics writer and artist.
Mythos is an out-of-print collectible card game published by Chaosium from 1996 to 1997. It is based on the Cthulhu Mythos stories of the horror author H. P. Lovecraft, as well as on Chaosium's own Call of Cthulhu role-playing game.
Non-Sport Update is a magazine founded by Roxanne Toser Non-Sport Enterprises, Inc. for collectors of non-sport and entertainment trading cards. Subjects that appear on these types of trading cards are television and movie properties, comic book characters, music icons, product parodies, and many other topics. In February 2016, Non-Sport Update was acquired by Beckett Media.
Star Company Basketball Cards were the only licensed NBA basketball cards being produced during the mid-1980s. Occupying a place vacated by sports card giant Topps, which ended its contractual relationship with the NBA and its Player's Association in 1982, Star began producing its colorful cards in mid-1983 with a 32 card All-Star set featuring stars from around the league who participated in the 1983 All-Star Game.
U.S. Games Systems, Inc. (USGS) is a publisher of playing cards, tarot cards, and games located in Stamford, Connecticut. Founded in 1968 by Stuart R. Kaplan, it has published hundreds of different card sets, and about 20 new titles are released annually. The company's product line includes children's card games, museum products, educational cards, motivational cards, tarot cards, and fortune telling decks. These are marketed through a network of retailers, including bookstores, museum gift shops, metaphysical shops, greeting card stores; toy and game stores; hobby shops, and mail order catalogs.