Card Sharks

Back in 1995, the fine folks at Wildstorm issued a set of Groo Trading Cards that are still avidly collected.  The main set consisted of 153 cards drawn by Sergio Aragonés with clever-but-difficult-to-read quips on the rear by Yours Truly. The same set also included nine harder-to-find "Images of Groo" cards featuring artwork by Mike Allred, Kevin Nowlan, Stan Sakai, Dave Sim, Sam Kieth, Simon Bisley, Jeff Smith, John K. Snyder III and Jim Lee.

Now, here's where it gets complicated.  Sergio originally signed 500 of the regular cards — the ones that comprise the set of 153.  Let us call those "autographed cards" for the purpose of this discussion.  He also signed and drew sketches on 50 of what we'll call "sketch chase cards."  One side featured a little sketch and autograph by Señor Aragonés; the other featured a printed picture of Sergio explaining what the cards were.  Here's an example of the two sides of one of these.  (Obviously, what was sketched varied from card to card.)

These are very rare.  (How rare are they?  Here's how rare: I wrote the word balloons on the front of them, I've had thousands of packs of Groo cards pass through my mitts…and I've still never seen one of the chase cards in person, let alone obtained one.)  They go for a lot of money — generally between $50 and $100.

The "autographed cards" are, however, worth a lot less — perhaps five or ten bucks.  This is because, at conventions and store appearances, Sergio signs thousands of autographs and these are often on Groo trading cards that are thrust beneath his pen.  When he does this, it creates something that is utterly indistinguishable from the "autographed cards" so they're much more common and their number is growing.  For that reason, we've tried to avoid referring to the "autographed cards" as "chase cards," since the latter term implies rarity and a limited supply, neither of which is true of these.

Alas, every so often, some dealer either intentionally or unintentionally advertises one of the "autographed cards" as rare, and some buyer thinks he's getting one of the scarce "sketch chase cards" and pays accordingly.  The other day, one sold on eBay for $66.75.  The auction listing will scroll off soon but for now, you can see it by clicking here.  The seller called it a "chase card" and he was in error when he said they were all signed in black ink but otherwise, he did not really misrepresent anything.  He just did not make clear (or perhaps did not know) that, though the card he is selling was one of 500, Sergio has since created another two or three thousand and will doubtlessly sign more.

I have notified the eBay seller and he says he will put things right with the buyer…but the rest of you, beware.  And if you see someone else making the same mistake, point them towards this page.