Binder with Ultraverse cards

This was a good find … $10 (plus $10 more for shipping) on eBay. Actually, let’s call it a great find.

Two things of note: First, this binder was full of complete sets of Ultraverse Series 1, Series 2 and Ultraverse Masterpieces sets. With all the chase cards! And some promo cards. And a signed, stamped card from Series 2. And second, I was able to score for another $10 a Spider-Man binder from 1995 that was also complete with all chase cards.

I have no idea how these slipped under the radar; my bids were set quite a bit higher but nobody else bid.

All of the cards are in great condition. I already had full sets anyway, but this is the first time I have seen the binder sell that low. And that was the main thing I wanted.

Usually these hit $50 or more, and you only see one every few months or so. As far as I know, the Series 2 cards were the only ones that had their own binder.

Nearly all of the Ultraverse cards are easy to find on eBay. You should never have to pay more than a few bucks for a set. You can also get an unopened box for a decent price. I’ve bought all three boxes separately for under $10 shipped.

But … there was some bad news. The inside of the binder was cracked and ripped on the corner. It looks fine from the outside but the inside looks kind of chewed on.

I guess I will have to keep my eyes open for another, but I’m still stoked to have this one in my collection.

Ultraverse Secrets …

OK, so this book took me a loooooooong time to find. I’ve actually never seen one for sale before last week, and I’ve been looking for years. Years. I know several other hard-core Ultraverse collectors, and all but one of them had never seen one, either.

But there it was on eBay for a $5 BIN. That’s a no-brainer.

It’s not a comic book (it’s about the height and width of a regular sheet of paper). I’m pretty sure it was just one of those promo booklets that used to be thrown in with the weekly shipments to comic shops around the country.

Back in the 1990s I had a friend who owned a shop and I would work for him one day a week in exchange for comics. Good for him, good for me. Each week the comics would arrive in several boxes and there were always promo booklets, posters and what-nots from all the big companies. I’m pretty sure that’s what this book is. It’s a bunch of pin-ups and text blocks hyping upcoming titles and storylines. I read through it; it’s interesting and makes me miss those days. Ah, well.

There were probably several thousand of these printed. Of those, I’d wager the vast majority were tossed in the trash. There might be some more in warehouses or garages, but it’s not really something that your average comic book collector is chasing. I’m not saying this is rare, but it is really freaking hard to find!

So what’s the big deal? I know for those of us over at Valiantfans.com who tried to put together an Ultraverse checklist a few years ago, one of our best early resources was this site by a guy named Big Tel. His site had scans and a little bit of info on all kinds of Malibu variants, and really helped us get the ball rolling. That site has since been taken down, but before that I didn’t even know things like gold holograms existed.

Anyway, one of the things on there was this book, The Ultraverse Secrets Marvel Doesn’t Want You to Know. None of us had ever seen it, and I’ve been hunting one down ever since. If it had not been on Big Tel’s site during the early days of mapping out the Ultraverse checklist, I don’t think I would have cared too much one way or the other. But now that I’ve put so much of an effort into finding one, it feels nice finally putting this in my collection.

I was going to scan in the pages but it’s too big to fit on my scanner. So I just took pictures; those are all down below.

  

  

The Hardcase movie

I bought this card a while back (it’s about the size of a comic, thinner than a backing board). Like it says, it’s a promo for the Hardcase movie and is signed by director Darren Doane and writer James Hudnall. So I looked for the movie and couldn’t find it. Comic shops, eBay, fan groups … nothing turned up.

Most Ultraverse fans know about the Firearm movie that came packed with the 0 (zero) issue … I also have a card for that movie. Now that one I have seen. But this Hardcase movie … I had no idea.

So I turned to the Ultraverse Facebook group. If you are a fan of the Ultraverse at any level, that is a great group to join. Many of the original creators drop in and offer up great stories and nuggets from their days working at Malibu. Very cool.

So I checked in over there and found out that there never was an actual movie, just a 30-second trailer. Tom Mason, one of the Ultraverse creators, had this info:

Action movie star Gary Daniels was Hardcase. The short teaser was done not for us or even the direct market but more as something to show off the movie potential of UV properties. And we could also show it off on the convention circuit.

and …

Both Darren Doane and Ken Daurio were on staff, with another guy Larry Gitlin, at Malibu during that time. They had a division inhouse called “Malibu Films” that was responsible for all of our promotional videos and short films. After the division was shut down, Darren went on to make music videos and Daurio started writing screenplays.

So there you have it: A bit of a background. But I still haven’t seen an actual hard copy of this movie in person. A fellow Ultraverse collector has one, and he donated the pictures of the sleeve below. The movie itself is a regular VHS tape. It’s just one more thing for me to keep on my list.