Venture Bros. trading cards

Atlanta's Dragon Con seems to be a mecca of sorts for those who like to dress in costumes.  I never thought much of it, but I paid attention to the news coming out of Georgia for this year's show, and I was surprised to see just what a big deal it was.  There must have been thousands of costumes on display and it all looked like a great time.  I might have to make it out to a show at some point!

There were lots of great Venture Bros. themed costumes at this year's show, both classic and incredibly obscure (Brick Frog and Betty Rage were a few favorites, for completely different reasons).  If you get a chance to, do a quick Google Images search and check out some pictures for yourselves.

What caught my attention leading up to the show, though, was the above pictured Venture Bros. trading cards.  This 12-card set was put together by a Venture Bros. cosplay group and I thought it looked pretty swell.  I contacted a friend and he was able to send me a set in exchange for a Teddy and the Yeti card set, which I think was a pretty good trade.

As a whole, I thought the cards turned out really well.  All of them were interesting, and while some are better than others, I think the set is indicative of most of the main characters from the show (though I can't imagine how the Moppets were left out), and it features some great art.  Below are a few of my favorites:

The only artist whose work I recognized was that of Fiona Staples, who drew this Rusty Venture card.  Staples has made a name for herself recently with Image's Saga, which is a fantastic book and one that's certain to see lots of acclaim.  Getting her on this card set is a big deal!  I love the slight refraction that the good doctor's glasses make.  It's a nice touch.

It's hard not to like everything about Brock Samson on the show, and similarly, it's hard not to like the art on this card.  The hair, the blood, the glass shards...it captures his essence in a single image.  Well done.

 

And who can't empathize with "two-ton" 21?  Again, a great piece, though I'll say that I would have liked to see a "classic" 21 and 24 image thrown in there.

Twelve cards is an odd number for a set.  Cards usually come in sets of nine, for the sole reason that card binders hold pages with room for nine cards per page.  So that means that there's room for six more cards in this set to make it a nice, neat 18 - I say we round out the set with a few more before it's all said and done.  One for the Order of the Triad, perhaps?  The aforementioned Moppets?  The Impossible family?  The possibilities are nearly endless.