I stumbled across this ad reading recently and it made me chuckle. Not for any deep reason, mind you. It’s not like I have any solid opinion about the Vs Trading Card System, or the fact that there was a Superman version of the game. Truth be told I never even played it. I have a vague memory of buying some of the cards, but, as with most collectible card games, I never had the desire to dive into it.

The reason I chuckled is the main bit of art they used in the ad. The shot of Superman looking out over Metropolis, which was taken from the cover of Superman (Vol. 2) #204. That image seemed to be used a lot to promote Superman stuff. Eventually, especially around the time of the release of Man of Steel in 2013, Jim Lee art would be used in a lot of Superman merchandise. Or, at the very least, it seemed that way. It probably wasn’t.

Perception can be misleading.

During this time period I became increasingly annoyed at the fact that “everything” Superman related had Jim Lee art. Eventually I swore off buying anything with Lee’s art on it because it was…wrong? I was taking a stand. It was very important. It was a dramatic statement.

It was really stupid.

I realize I still have my weird problems with various aspects of Superman and I still feel strongly about things that I probably shouldn’t, but as I get older it gets easy to let a lot of that sort of thing go. With things being the way they are in the real world, principled stands on Superman feel less and less necessary because, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. I can still not like something, but that something doesn’t have to feel like a personal attack.

Growth. It’s a thing.

Now I like Lee’s take on Superman. Even The New 52 version. He’s one of the few people that could draw that original “armored” costume properly, which makes sense considering he designed it.

I poked around eBay to see if the Vs Trading Cards were available and how much they were going for. The answers to both of those questions was yes and too rich for my blood.

Maybe some day.

Neat ad though.

More to follow…