
By all accounts, 1990’s Impel Marvel Universe Series 1 was a commercial flop. This set came out at the height of the comic book and trading card bubble, during a time in which seemingly every city in the country had 4-5 shops that dealt in comics and/or baseball cards. What a time to be alive!
Unfortunately for Impel, which produced the first Marvel trading card set, comic book fans just weren’t interested in crossing over into trading cards and sports fans balked at the idea of comic book characters trespassing into their territory. This of course was decades before comic properties became hip.
Impel still managed to release several unheralded Marvel sets but the magic was never there. In 1992, Impel changed their name to Skybox. That same year, Marvel Entertainment purchased Fleer and Skybox and combined the two card companies. Fleer/Skybox flourished in baseball and basketball but never once with their Marvel line.
As you may remember, the bubble eventually popped and things got really ugly. The entire comic book industry came seeminly this close to imploding and the “Junk Wax” era of baseball cards left many young investors / collectors feeling betrayed that their Kevin Maas rookie card was produced into the high millions.

Eventually both industries managed to bounce back but Impel’s line of Marvel trading cards never came close to anything of reverence. Complete early Impel sets sold for $20 or less for close to three decades, while the somewhat harder to find holograms barely hit $10+ a piece on the secondary market.
I’ve always been a die-hard fan of these Impel sets and would often pick them up every few years just to put them into shiny, new Ultra-Pro pages in my binders. The aesthetics of having the first three sets together was something I never got tired of seeing, even 30 years after its lackluster debut.
Sadly, everything changed in 2018 when the legendary Stan Lee died. For some reason, Lee’s card in Impel’s almost forgotten Marvel Universe somehow made their way into several mainstream news reports and it brought in what my opinion is much unwanted attention to the Impel line in general.
By the time the Covid-19 lockdown hit the country and a new trading card bubble fell on us, 1990 Impel Marvel Universe found itself on “Beckett’s Hot List”, sorta speak. Suddenly, everyone was picking up complete sets and unopened boxes to flip and to send in to PSA and other grading services.

I’ve never been a fan of getting cards graded but I understand its popularity. Why sell a card for $500 when you can get $1,500 if it comes back with a high grade? I also understand the need for getting cards authenticated as high-end printing technology is now readily available to just about everyone with a part-time job at McDonald’s.
There’s just something so odd about seeing these particular cards graded, however. I still remember card shops giving them away because they were so unpopular. I guess I always wanted Impel’s Marvel line to be my childhood secret that I could run back to every few years for pennies on the dollar.
Unfortunately, thanks to the new demand for these sets, prices have gone through the roof. I spent two weeks wading through eBay for a set under $120 and it’s nearly impossible. Unopened boxes? That’s out of the question as they run between $700-$900. That’s with zero chances at autographs, serial numbered cards, etc.
For true collectors of Impel Marvel Series 1 who have the completed set along with the five hologram inserts, make sure to also track down the 15-card Kodak set that was only available in vending machines. These cards feature the same design and artwork as the Impel line but have a miniscule print run when compared to the Impel set.

The sad reality is that these days collectors and greed go hand in hand. With thousands being spent on high grade copies of single cards, these sets will only continue to jump up in value. Even boxes from the “Junk Wax” era that you couldn’t give away 10 years ago have reached unheard of highs. Buy now before it is too late. That door is closing rapidly.
While this card boom may seem great for the industry, the truth is everything is being gobbled up by investors who are either holding product long term to increase value or to flip at double what last month’s prices were. It’s unfortunate that this hobby of collecting has turned into a full-fledged business venture that’s pushed many long time collectors away.