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| DC COMICS 1998 EDITION | Inside Info | EVALUATION |
| With comic books out there for shows like
Sliders its a mystery why the original babylon comic series never caught
on. An ongoing story line is a natural for comics after all! So when DC
canceled the b5 series you had to ask, what!?!
Four years later DC returns. And they have conveniently started comic numbering back at #1...interesting. That's pretty much how it should be, everything about the comic is a fresh start. Crisp artwork makes looking and reading this edition a joy. No more crispy, ink on the fingers pages. We've got glossed full color work ladies and gentlemen! The story line as always is stunning, although we must see what happens after #3 when JMS is expected to let go of the reigns...yah right. #1, in Valen's Name, tracks the final return of Babylon-4, returning from the past with some interesting surprises. Everything is superb in this edition except for the fact that all the main characters are in enviro-suits and look exactly alike...that was poor planning on the marketing level. Shouldn't we be trying to get new readers used to characters faces? Its confusing enough for those of us who are already hooked. Loose the suits, its a good plot point but it doesn't work artistically. On the collectors angle this title is a must have, and I don't mean just one. At $2.50 buy every single copy you see on the shelves. They will and already have escalated in value. Furthermore make sure to buy plenty of 2 and 3 since they are a trilogy...good planning! For those of you with 1995 editions, great, save em...the more new ones they make the more those old ones will be worth. Look for #1 1995 to jump well in price in the next 12 months. -William J Piniarski (2/98) |
Premier 1998
"In Valen's Name" Trilogy Price $2.50
|
QUALITY: 4 STARS
VALUE: 4 STARS PRICE: 4 STARS |
| FLEER/SKYBOX SEASON FOUR | Inside Info | EVALUATION |
| Babylon-5 trading cards are "the" hottest properties
out there right now, period, in the non role-playing card market. Why are
they so in demand? Because fans like you and me are nutty. yeah, you know
it.
Every edition these cards just keep getting better and better. I wasn't too impressed with the promo card when I saw it, its pretty boring. But the end result of the release destroyed my first impression...nice job all around. Somebody is actually starting to go around and conduct proper photo sessions...imagine that. Think you have the whole set, wrong. A great idea was to include parallel cards, which are exact replicas of the base 81 card set except in entirely different languages. So in essence Fleer is saying you bought the whole set now go back and buy it again, yeah do it darnit. And they are right...its the same card but darnit its pretty cool. What a way to save time on Fleer's part and still look like they gave us a 162 card set...nifty. And it isn't like its easy to get both base sets. You need at least 3 entire boxes to get all the parallel cards. Bravo to Fleer for including TNT cards. Other vendors may have said no to a cross reference to another company, but its obvious Fleer knows where their allies are. Although the auto cards are 1:90 packs don't be fooled...there are 10 of them people so each card in that set is actually 1:900. Thus people will be selling these for a lot less then they are worth before they say...wait a minute these are rarer than the other autos..true they are! Remember there were under 900 of each of these released. Look for them to eclipse the $100 value mark in no time flat. -William J Piniarski (2/98) |
Skybox B5 S4
Price: $2.00 per pack
Configuration: 36 pack boxes,
Common Set (81)
|
QUALITY: 4 STARS
VALUE: 3 STARS PRICE: 3 STARS |
| FLEER/SKYBOX SEASON FIVE | Inside Info | EVALUATION |
| Well, this may be the last series of babylon cards for
many reasons. The television series is now over and Fleer has chosen
to commemorate that event with a very substandard issue. Very disappointed with this release all the way around. Fleer delayed release of this set several times and that might make one think that they were improving the set...I don't think so. Usually with a release like this we see a few cards with artwork that was not well done. Astoundingly, all of the base cards in this set are dimly lit, fuzzed and routinely not sized right. We see people's heads out of proportion and in several instances you can't see the background of scenes whatsoever. This is a very crude effort and not worthy of the fine work Fleer has produced with B5 thus far. Someone dropped the ball big time. Even some of the chase cards are fuzzy!!!! The distribution in my sealed box was also a disappointment. On the box it clearly states that there is an auto in each box...WRONG! All except mine apparently. I contacted Fleer about this and got back no response whatsoever. Furthermore the chase card distribution was not even. Fleer showed a lot of creativity in season four...apparently they used it all up because nothing new was done with this set. The parallel cards are exactly the same as the base cards except they are stamped...so what! If you are going to do this do not insult the consumer with parallel cards. Do something inventive like with the languages. Thumbs totally down. William Piniarsk (3/99) |
Skybox B5 S5
Price: $2.25 per pack
Configuration: |
QUALITY: 1 STAR
VALUE: 2 STARS PRICE: 3 STARS |
| About the Author of the B5 Price Guide | ||
| William J Piniarski...
hails from Worcester County, MA USA. He is a freelance internet consultant, owner of WEBster Computing Services (an international website hosting firm),, as well as a novelist and proud dad. Current book projects include Launching Onto The Web: A Small Business View (technical, released), and the Saturn's Rings Trilogy (third book under developement). For information on current writings (release dates, ordering information, autos, etc) please visit the author's homepage. William J Piniarski can be reached at email address: datelineb5@ABSOLUTELYNOSPAMwebcs.com. Email ads to this address are prohibited. |
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