In the Cards

In 1992, Eclipse Enterprises came out with a series of cards honoring the creators of comic books, including writers, artists, painters, publishers, art directors, colorists, letterers, and editors, called Famous Comic Book Creators. Interestingly enough, inkers were not honored in a separate category. Kurt Schaffenberger was card No. 30, with his picture on one side, left, and a short bio on the other, right. The bio includes one of Kurt's patented self-portraits, which he occasionally snuck into his various comic book art panels, usually in the background of a crowd scene.

As you can see, he signed my card, when I met him in the late 1990s at a small comic show in a Holiday Inn in Southern Jersey, near his home. (He signed in marker, which, unfortunately, mostly rubbed off over the years.) Kurt sat at a table next to a pile of his fabulous pages, each selling for $30(!), and patiently signed anything anyone asked him to, whether or not they bought pages or other items he had for sale. I remember going to the cash machine in the lobby so I could buy seven or eight pages; I should have bought as many as I could carry, at that price!

As with many collections of this nature, there are some odd choices: Schaffenberger was listed as an artist, though he also penciled and lettered extensively throughout his career. His fellow DC classic Silver age artist, Curt Swan (No. 31), is listed as a penciler, though everyone I know would call him one of comics' consummate artists. Swan also inked and lettered.

There were 110 cards in the initial set, including a checklist, No. 110. One website, Jeff Allender's House of Checklists, notes that, "A boxed 'update' set of 36 cards followed in 1993. The blue-backed promo cards were provided to the creators, who passed them directly to fans." I haven't been able to find out any more info on this second set.

The 110-card set was selling for $8.99 recently (July 2008) on eBay. Entire box sets (36 packs per box, 12 cards per pack) were starting at anywhere from 1.99 pounds (a UK seller) to $24.95 American. Of course, there were no doubt tons of repeats in a full box, which contained 432 cards total.