May 6, 2016

METAMORPHO TRADING CARDS (PART 3)

One year passed and by 1994 Marvel Comics had released two sets of their Marvel Masterpieces trading cards. These cards were a step forward from other previous sets released by Marvel as they were totally painted and hence considered "masterpieces" and not only common comic art.

DC Comics decided to answer and the result was the DC Master Series, a 90-card set (plus chasing cards) totally painted. This set represented DC Comics' first attempt to create a painted only trading card set and although the reception of the product had a mixed response, the set was popular enough to command a Spanish reprinting in Mexico courtesy of PepsiCo.

For that time Metamorpho underwent major changes to his appearance and powers due to an energy blast that almost obliterated him while fighting a group of villains alongside other members of the Justice League International so this is the reason why the depiction of the character on his card was very different from the previous sets. After the mentioned incident, Metamorpho ended with a Ghost Rider like flaming head and some icy protuberances on his shoulders.

Metamorpho took spot #68 on the set and the artist assigned to paint the card was Ray Lago. We can say the art really filled an Element Man fan's expectations since the artist tried to keep the depiction of Metamorpho as similar as possible from the look the character had for those years while still makes us to recognize the good Rexy boy almost instantaneously despite the look change, I think to a great extent due to the usage of his limbs to create an axe and giant claw.

To end this post, wanted to make an honorable mention of card #21 from the 1994 DC Stars trading card set by Skybox. This set was exclusively distributed through Wal-Mart and featured recycled art; that is why Metamorpho's art is the same from 1992 DC Cosmic cards.  

  

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