Remember, Remember the 5th Of November

I am a comic book fan, not an advocate for starting any political debate.  

I had never heard of V for Vendetta or Guy Fawkes prior to the release of the movie in 2005.

The movie starred Natalie Portman (Evey) and Hugo Weaving (V) and takes place in a future dystopia.  V is a vigilante with terrorism attacks on his mind to try and change how things are.  The movie is based on the 1982 British comic book by creators Alan Moore (famous for creating The Watchmen) and David Lloyd.

Furthermore I had never read V for Vendetta until I had a rare opportunity to have dinner with one of it's creators, David Lloyd.  He was visiting the United States to promote his upcoming graphic novel and a local comic fan and friend of mine was hosting his visit to New York.  My then girlfriend and I met up with David and my friend and we went to a restaurant in NYC.  David was kind enough to draw the lead character for me (and my then girlfriend) a sketch using only the crayons provided at the table.  

The character V wears a Guy Fawkes mask. 

In the United Kingdom, every November 5th is celebrated as Guy Fawkes night.  Guy Fawkes was arrested in 1605 for guarding explosives that were placed under the House of Lords. People celebrated that King James had survived the attempt on his life by lighting bonfires throughout the country.

I never learned about (at least I don't remember it anyway) any of these gunpowder treasons or assassination attempts when I was in school.  It was only through the movie V For Vendetta that I even heard of Guy Fawkes.  The graphic novel/movie both bring and recite a famous nursery rhyme "Remember, Remember the 5th of November"

I may not know the backstory of Guy Fawkes or the real inspiration of V For Vendetta, but I do know about another Vee Has An Agenda.

Gary Vaynerchuk, or Gary Vee as he is more well known, is a famous investor in sports cards.  He has been hyping some cards up for the past few years and has gone on to predict that the sports card market would see an incredible boost in the next few years.  If this year was any indication, he was right.

I have a few Gary Vee signature cards because he put Andrew McCutchen in as an insert subject for the Topps Direct set made last year around the time of the National.

I was able to get this quick Gary Vaynerchuk Sharpie signature from a reputable source of the McCutchen card.

The back of the card talks about Andrew's love to sketch and draw.  I actually own an original Andrew McCutchen that was done for a celebrity sketches charity a few years ago. I'll have to show it off sometime.

I also own this pair of Topps Certified autographs of Andrew's insert in the set.  The base isn't numbered, but trust me when I saw it is extremely rare.  The red is also very short printed with only 10 copies produced.

Are you familar with the story of Guy Fawkes?

Have you seen V For Vendetta?

Building a Rainbow: 2016 Panini The National Exclusives

I was challenged yesterday to come up with posts about either butterscotch pudding OR superhero origins.  I am kind of short on time today, but will work on something for the weekend.  

Butterscotch pudding?  Really Fuji????  What the heck!!!!

It has been awhile since I did a post showing off some rainbows in progress.  I thought I would show off my 2016 Panini The National Exclusives rainbow in progress because there is a good chance many of you aren't familar with this release.

Details of the set can be found here.

Collectors would get special foil packs from Panini by purchasing their products at the National Sports Card Convention.  

The set focused on multiple stars and rookies across MLB, NBA, NFL, and international soccer.  Like previous sets, Andrew McCutchen was part of the MLB players featured in the set as he was coming off his 4th consecutive year as a top 5 MVP candidate. 

Base cards were produced with traditional stock, but also produced using a thick stock.  Parallels for both thickness include hyper plaid, hyper foil,  and infinite.  

Above is the infinite parallel.  It looks like circuits on a computer grid and is numbered to only 10 copies.

Above are all the standard thickness cards I have of Cutch.  As you can see I have completed the rainbow for those.  Oddly enough, the serial number for the hyper plaid isn't listed on the back of the card.

You may notice that the serial numbering for this card appears on the top right corner, which is different than all other standard thickness parallels placement of the serial numbering.

The thick stock version has the numbering on the back

Here are the 5 cards I have in my collection for this potential rainbow

I still need:

The Thick Stock versions of the base, hyperfoil, and infinite parallels.

Scripture Sunday using serial numbers

I thought I would do something a little different today using a serial number on a baseball card to come up with today's bible verse.

First up the card

This is the 2019 Bowman Chrome National Exclusive gold parallel.

Cutch is wearing his famous armband with the cross on it as he connects with his swing.

The serial number is 44/50

Today's verse

John 12 44:50

⁴⁴ Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. ⁴⁵ The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

⁴⁷ “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. ⁴⁹ For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. ⁵⁰ I know that his command leads to eternal life.  So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

What Will Become Of The National?

News broke over the weekend that SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) was cancelled this year.  I am not sure how many comic or pop culture fans also read this blog, but this is major news.

For the first time in it's 50+ year history, the most famous pop culture convention in the world won't be happening.

There are already rumors that Disney & Marvel may stream a panel available to fans that would have typically been one of the main events at the con.

This got me thinking about The National Sports Card Convention.  I have never been to The National and was hoping to go this year since it is happening in my home state.  Yay! New Jersey!

As I was busy updating my checklist I came across a few cards that were NSCC exclusives and thought I should finally show them off.


Up first is 2019 Bowman Chrome National Wrapper Redemption.

This "Christmas numbered parallel" is the orange prism refractor found only in the special NSCC packs.

The logo for the convention is seen to the left corner, just above the name of Andrew McCutchen.

In order to receive a pack of these, attendants would need to buy a box of Topps products from a partnered dealer and bring the box along with a special sticker to the Topps booth where they would be rewarded with a pack of these exclusive Bowman Chrome cards.  The set contains 50 cards and offers color parallels and autographs randomly inserted into the 4 card packs.  I will show off some other 2019 Bowman Chrome National Exclusives in another post, sometime in the future.



I also have a pair of Panini product buybacks that are stamped on the front with The National logo

This is a 2016 Diamond King card from the 2016 National.

The Back is stamped directly in the center of the card and is numbered to only 5 copies.



I also have an Industry Summit card buyback.

Dealers, card companies, and others directly involved with the hobby who attended the 4 day event in Las Vegas received a bunch of swag from card companies.

This "Buyback" is actually a 2013 Prizm base card with The Summit 2014 stamp to the left ofthe card, just under Cutch's jersey number.

The card is numbered on the back to the left of the Panini centered logo.  It is numbered to only 5 copies.

The National Exclusives 2012

The National Sports Convention just ended and I considered making a set of posts about all the National exclusive cards I have of Cutch, but then the Pirates made a blockbuster trade for Chris Archer and I went out to Pittsburgh for his debut.

So rather than grouping all the cards over a series of consecutive posts I will just randomly show them off over the course of time (or maybe all next year for the Convention time frame as I haven't quite decided yet).

Cutch began gaining superstar status in 2012 following his first All Star Game appearance in 2011 and an extremely hot start to the year in 2012.

Through June 2012 he looked like the clear cut MVP as the Pirates were battling for 1st place in the division and at one point in July Cutch had reached a season average of .386.

As part of the National circuit, Panini made a series of restamped cards including the Elite Extra Edition you see below.

This would have been a good Star Wars Day card as it is numbered 4/5 and I celebrated May the 4th this year with cards all numbered 4/5.

Ho Hum, a graded 1/1

I picked up the final card to my 2016 National Bowman Chrome pack redemption rainbow.

For $88 I was able to secure this 1/1 which looks like a prism refractor and x-fractor had a baby that is actually a black refractor.

Details about the redemption pack program can be found here.

It is my 168th numbered 1/1