I am the Thanos of CollectingCutch

Remember when sports cards exploded shortly after The Last Dance during the initial month of COVID?  Something similar is going on in the nonsports card world with Marvel themed sets.  Sealed boxes of Series 1 from the early 90s used to be sold for $20 at flea markets as recent as last year.  Now, some of them are selling for $500+.  It is mind blowing what is going on with trading cards these days.  I only kept my Gambit, Daredevil, and Iron Fist themed cards from my nonsports collecting days.  I wish I kept more.

I'm sure some of my loyal readers have watched the Marvel Cinematic Universe and understand what it's like to put together the Infinity Stones.

Well, I am attempting a similar such feat.  For those that don't know, in the Marvel Universe there exists 6 gems that can control the universe.  These are the Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time stones.  

The 2015 Bowman Best release has only 1 more 1/1 that I am searching for and if I get it, I might hold all the power in the Collecting Cutch universe.  

Below is a scan of the card I am seeking.

I captured it from Worthpoint years ago and hasn't resurfaced since it was initially sold on eBay shortly after release.

It would go nicely with these other printing plate 1/1s

As you can see I have already captured all 4 of the printing plates.

I have also gotten 2 1/1 buyback autographs from 2018 Archives Active Player Signatures.  They can be seen below as the refractor and base.

So if you ever see the 2015 Bowman Best Superfractor surface, please make me aware of it.  I promise if I get it, I won't snap away half of existence.

The Master of Illusions Appears

"Things aren't always as they appear"

I saw Spider-Man: Far From Home on opening night and was blown away at how awesome Jake Gyllenhaal made the character, Mysterio.

For those not into comics, might know him as the guy with the fish bowl head.  But in actuality, Quentin Beck is a mastermind.

I won't go into any of the details of the film, but if you see you must stay for the end credits scenes.  It is a mind blown reaction.

I mentioned that I have been getting back into my nonsports card collection recently with an emphasis on the characters I loved reading as a kid: Wolverine, Gambit, Daredevil, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Hawkman, and the Flash.

I showed off a Jambalaya Marvel Retro Daredevil a few weeks ago and one of my favorite Daredevil storyarcs is Guardian Devil.  It is written by Hollywood Direcor Kevin Smith (also acts as Silent Bob from Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma fame) with stunning art by Joe Quesada, former Marvel Editor in Chief.  The story features a stunning reveal of Mysterio just completely f***ing with Daredevil in a way that Kingpin, Bullseye, and so many other villains had failed in the past.  That arc made Mysterio cool to me.

And Far From Home makes Mysterio cool for many future generations following the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Mysterio is known for his illusions and I have shown a few of these off before when discussing Doctor Strange.

My latest parallel is the green one number 1/5.

Here are my other parallels including the gold

Along with the red, base, and blue.

Only the Gold Vinyl Superfractor 1/1 remains out there for me.

(End)Game Changer?

So I saw Avengers:EndGame this morning at 2am.  I will not say anything about the movie and ask that no one reveal spoilers in the comments.

Instead I will show off some sketches of one of my favorite Superheroes, Tony Stark aka Iron Man.  About 5 years ago I got rid of all my sketch cards I had accumulated of my favorite characters: Gambit, Wolverine, Daredevil, Green Arrow, Flash, and Hawkgirl.  I held onto all my Iron Man sketch cards because...
Well you'll see below. They are ridiculously awesome.

This incredible sketch is done by comic book superstar, Jimmy Cheung, who cocreated the Young Avengers comic.  The sketch was done on Iron Man 2 stock.

I also have a pair of Iron Man sketches on Avengers: Age of Ultron stock.

There is a discussion about "character" collecting on a sketch card forum I frequent from time to time because I love looking at the artwork and it got me thinking about what character I would collect if I were to ever get back into it.  I gave it some thought and even though I love Iron Man, Flash, Gambit, Batman, Deadpool, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Wolverine, Venom, among many others I think I would probably super collect Daredevil.  Daredevil is just such a tragic character and I can relate to the man without fear thing.  Maybe I will start to look for some DD cards from old 90s sets...or maybe I will just stick to Collecting Cutch and the Pirates.

Oh and since this is a blog predominantly focused on Andrew McCutchen baseball cards here are some other heroic cards sent by a blogging hero, Gregory of The Collective Mind.

He included one of the most heroic players in Pirates history, a 1969 Bill Mazeroski.  I actually had this card, but listed it as a need on my vintage needs because mine is literally folded into quarters.  Greg stepped up in a heroic way and snagged this for me for only 3 quarters.

He also imcluded the Andrew McCutchen 2018 Update Salute card that is part of the Game Changers subseries.

Thanks Greg.  Trade package going out this weekend along with a bunch of other packages to other bloggers.

I have needed the base insert for a long time so I am ultra pumped about adding it to my collection.

I do have another Game Changer of Cutch, the signed version.

There is a red/pinkish parallel available, but I have yet to add that to the collection. Hopefully I can cross that off in the near future.

That ends the show for today. Happy Avenger Weekend to all of you planning to see the movie.

Marvel Movie Time

It's Wednesday so it's movie day today.
I'm really looking forward to Black Panther.

Here's a card that talks about another Marvel character, Spider-Man.

I've shown another version of this card that looked superfractor like (/10), but this one is /25 and has an atomic refractor look to it.

Cutch: Ragnarok!

I have always been interested in Norse mythology.  I think it started when I went to Epcot as a kid and got to ride the Viking ship.  The part of the ride that suddenly goes backward was so much fun when I was just 11 years old.

I bring this up because Thor: Ragnarok was released over the weekend!!!!  I'm a huge Marvel Cinema fan and am really looking forward to this movie, which I am on my way to see soon.

Let's take a look at some of the key characters from Ragnarok and see if I have any Cutch cards that can tie into the movie.

Thor, God of Thunder

This was a no brainer.  This 2013 Select Thunder Alley (and all the color parallels) lends itself perfectly to the main character.  I showed it off last Friday so it may look familiar.

Hulk

When you think of the Incredible Hulk there are probably two words that come to mind, "Hulk SMASH!!!". The Hulk is green just like this 2015 Donruss Dominator insert numbered to 999.

Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme

The Sorcerer Supreme is a master of the mystic arts.  Conjuring up a variety of astral images, the Doctor is clearly into Illusions, just like these 2016 Optic Illusions inserts and parallels.

Loki

The step brother to Thor, Loki is a shape shifter that is known to cause mischief and havoc while being very manipulative.  I was trying to find a card where Cutch was up to some mischief.  This 2012 Topps photo variant looks like Cutch and the Parrot are up to no good in the outfield.

Lady Sif

One of the greatest female warriors in the Marvel Universe, Lady Sif knows how to swing a sword to defeat her enemies.  This 2012 Bowman Cutting Edge Stars has the same razor sharp edges as the Asgardian Warrior.

Valkyrie

Also known as Brunnhilde, Valkyrie was selected by Lord Odin to lead the Valkyrior.  The sword wielding warrior is like a Marshall for the Asgards.  I've shown this Diamond Marshall before, but it represents her role nicely.

Hela

When you think of Hell, you likely have images of fire and pain.  I have a few readers that have sent me some 2017 Topps Fire cards in the mail, but for now I am going to just show off the insert from last year's Update Series insert.

Thanks everyone for checking out my Cutch cards and how I see them relating to some of the key characters from Thor: Ragnarok.

I encourage anyone to do a post featuring a card and try to make it have some Thor: Ragnarok tie ins.  Please no spoilers about the movie here though.  I won't be seeing it until tonight.