Would U Buy It #99: Wild Cards

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    Edited By cbishop
    DateWUBI # 99:View:Attached to Forum:Last Issue:
    01/11/19Wild Cards(Blog) (Forum)Wild Cards (1990).WUBI #98.

    We all have trade paperback (TPB) collections we'd like to see. Here's one of mine:

    Proposed Title:Wild Cards
    Collecting 4 Issues:
    • Wild Cards (1990) #1-4.
    Covers: (click to enlarge)
    TPB Cover: Wild Cards #1
    TPB Cover: Wild Cards #1

    First things first: if you've never read the Wild Cards novels, shame on you. They are hands down the best superhero prose universe you will ever read, and as far as I have ever been able to tell, they pretty much pioneered the concepts of the "common origin" and "heroes in the real world." That is: all powers come from one source, and powers with true consequences/side effects to the human body.

    Yes, Marvel has had mutants way longer, but that only accounts for a segment of the powers in the Marvel Universe. Marvel later said that there was something about the human genetics that allowed for the random development of superpowers. DC made basically the same statement, but called it the metagene.

    In Wild Cards, the common origin is an alien virus that becomes known as the Wild Card Virus. There are four different outcomes to the virus:

    • Black Queen - usually referred to as "drawing the Black Queen," these are the ones that die from coming in contact with the virus. 90% of those who contract the virus draw the Black Queen.
    • Jokers - Of the remaining ten percent, 9% become physically deformed or transformed in some way, like having transparent skin, becoming a human lizard, or human centipede. You get the idea.
    • Aces - The last 1% get true super powers, like being invulnerable, controlling inanimate objects, or having sonic screams- that kind of thing.
    • Deuces - Actually part of the Aces, these are the ones with some minor superpower no one wants- like only being visible from others' peripheral vision, or being able to screw a lightbulb into their elbow and making it light up.

    The common origin was picked up in Smallville's exposure to kryptonite, and The Flash's particle accelerator explosion. Real world consequences/side effects for superpowers were picked up in Heroes, Alphas, and No Ordinary Family. But Wild Cards did it first.

    Add to all that info that the books were edited by Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin, and that his name on the series has caused Wild Cards to be picked up for development for television. Much like the HBO series did for his Game of Thrones books, I think you can expect a Wild Cards TV series to increase interest in the original books. In fact, my research on Amazon shows that the original books are danged hard to find at reasonable prices. The original twelve books of the series are listed for anywhere between $20 and $200. So, would a trade paperback of the Marvel Epic imprint's 1990 four-issue Wild Cards mini-series be called for? I think it would.

    I honestly cannot recall whether the series was ever collected into TPB before. I don't think it has been, but if it was, it has long since gone out of print. For the cover, I'd simply go with the first issue.

    No Caption Provided
    Update 9/7/21: I don't know why I didn't remember it when I did this WUBI?, but Epic Comics did a TPB of this mini-series in 1991. I even have a copy! Sheesh. However, it has indeed long since gone out of print, and with the TV series still looming, it wouldn't hurt to print this again.
    Would you buy it? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for reading.
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    #1  Edited By cbishop
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    #2  Edited By cbishop
    Wild Cards
    Wild Cards

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