These Vintage Marvel Super Heroes Trading Cards Are Hilarious, But Their Price Is No Joke

Golden and Silver Age comics showedcased superheroes in their most glorious avatars. The costumes during those ages are often how we still picture heroes in out minds even after all these years. And, with so many iconic characters making their first appearances, it’s likely that we’ll never see anything like it again. However, many of them were unintentionally hilarious. Characters would often say something bizarre, and onomatopoeias like ‘Clank’ and ‘Pow’ only made panels funnier. In fact, it seems some trading card manufacturers wanted to leverage this, making cards out of some of these funny panels. Few did it better than Donruss in 1966, with its collection of Marvel Super Heroes trading cards.

Heritage Auctions has currently listed a complete set of 66 of these 1966 Donruss Marvel Super Heroes trading cards, and the bid is currently sitting at massive $18,125 with buyer’s premium. Complete sets of vintage cards generally do go for quite a lot, but this one isn’t too highly rated, getting an average PSA grade of 6.15. Leaving all that aside, though, the best part of this set is just how hilarious the cards are. As if the Sklak, Poing, and Kapang noise effects weren’t already funny, they even feature stalwarts like Captain America spouting some ridiculous one-liners, and finding themselves in absurd situations which are even funnier without any context. If I had the money, I’d buy these cards for their comedic value alone, but that price tag is no laughing matter.

Donruss’ 1966 Marvel Super Heroes Trading Cards Are Absolutely Hilarious

For instance, the Captain America #8 card features someone lighting the place on fire and what looks like Cap running away in the distance, yelling, “You and your fire sales!” Another one features Bucky and him being lowered into a what looks like a fiery room, with a henchman saying “You’re going to love our steam room!” Of course, Tony Stark is the king of snark, so he has plenty of funny cards himself. The #17 card shows him being blown away by an explosion of some sort while yelling, “And you said add a little more lighter fluid.” Even the brooding Daredevil hasn’t passed up an opportunity to make a bad joke, with the #31 card showing him fighting someone with a halberd and commenting, “I didn’t know you had a game room!”

Of course, not every card has a funny moment or dialogue. Some of them even allowed to the owner to write their own lines on the speech bubbles, although I doubt they’d be as funny as the others. Others acted as pieces of a collage, with all of them making up a large portrait of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, or another hero. Silver Age comics really had a different kind of charm, not only keeping readers hooked via their favorite heroes’ adventures, but also their witty one liners. Of course, this is less prevalent in modern versions of these comics, where mostly only the likes of Spider-Man and Deadpool still deliver quips. Not only is this complete set of 66 worth it for the value, but also work well as a reminder of a bygone comic book era, with its own charm.