2023 Pop Art Sports Cards Set (Unofficial)
by Johnny Martyr for Mass Hysteria
Due to photography commitments, I could only attend one day of the annual three-day Living Dead Weekend Evans City this past October, but I was thrilled to bring my kids to their first convention. They had the time of their life too. But they were a handful. So much so that I somehow managed to miss all the rare trading cards sitting on Judy Ridley‘s table! Fortunately for me, my good buddy and fellow Night of the Living Dead Head, Carl Hendrix, spotted the cards on the following day and immediately texted me about them. He kindly scooped up what he could for me so that I could add them to the world’s largest Night of the Living Dead trading card collection!
But what were these rare cards that I’d never seen before?
Ms. Ridley told Carl that the trading cards were created by a fan for her to autograph. Then he gave her his remaining copies of the cards. She couldn’t remember the name of the fan and Carl was having trouble reading the fine print on the cards regarding their maker.
I was surprised that anyone was printing cards like this without my hearing about it somehow though! Artists such as Mark Spears, Richard Fowlks, etc have reached out to me to help them license their Night of the Living Dead trading card concepts. And well before official trading cards such as Fright Rags, Night of the Living Tapes, LDW22, Theater Near You and LDW23, were released, I heard about them from their designers. Very seldom do new NotLD cards go to print before I know about them.
So these new cards ignited quite the mystery, which is fun! It reminded me of the early days of my trading card collecting.
One card is a direct replica of the 2020 Fright Rags Judy Ridley autograph card. In fact, when Carl sent me photos of the set, that is what I thought it was. I have seen a few unsigned Fright Rags cards floating around so this made sense. But it turns out that the back of the card was completely different. And two of the mystery cards very closely resembled this single that Gozer Records printed for Duane Jones’ character, Ben in 2007.
But one thing was clear, these were unlicensed, print-to-order cards.
I have other unofficial NotLD cards in my collection that I bought for a sort of archeological purpose. I don’t like to support unofficial Night of the Living Dead products, because it’s generally intellectual property theft, right? And all NotLD fans know how much theft has plagued this film and stolen profits from its creators.
But previous unofficial card sets have been fairly small and not very creatively designed. What drove my interest about this mystery set is that, what few cards I saw, hinted at there being many more. And the designs are very creative and, with the exception of the Fight Rags copy, unlike any other NotLD cards.
It took a few days for the mystery card set to arrive from Carl, but upon receiving them I could see that they were made by Pop Art Sports Cards or PASC and each card was dated as 2023.
Whew! At least these things hadn’t been circulating for years without my knowledge!
I was impressed with the design quality and stock that these cards were printed on. And it became clear that whoever made them really cared about the film.
The back of each card features a nicely detailed bio on Ridley, each written a little differently. But two cards have different front images and identical backs, including the same card number.
Yes, that’s right, all of the cards in this set are numbered besides the Fright Rags copy card. Does this mean what I’m looking at is not a set, but singles from a larger set? And if so, why do some share the same back and number?
I reached out to Joe at PASC to find out what the story was. He told me “I’ve made a bunch of new NotLD cards for a guy in CA that collects autographs. He’s been going to conventions and getting them signed. Always a thrill when legends sign the cards.”
Who was this mystery fan?
It turns out that Night of the Living Dead historian Jim Cirronella had already told me about these cards in a previous conversation and he even knew the fan’s name! I guess I’d written all this off initially because I didn’t know how nice the cards were.
So as usual, my work was just backtracking with Jim already knew! He reminded me of our previous conversation and added that “Franklin Teng came to Days Of The Dead in Indianapolis and brought a ton of custom cards for each cast member to sign. He gave all the extras to the actors. My favorites were the 1968 Topps styled baseball cards.”
Jim was right, it turns out that the card with the canvas-like border is styled directly after vintage Topps baseball cards. But not just ANY vintage Topps baseball cards, the set hails from 1968, the year that Night of the Living Dead was released. Very clever!
It turns out that the mega fan Franklin Teng commissioned Joe from Pop Art Sports Cards to create, not just a Judy Ridley set but an 88 card Night of the Living Dead card set that features all the prominent cast members still attending shows. Franklin sent Joe images that he wanted to be used and Joe would build the card around it, based on classic Topps style cards. Some designs were made specifically with space for an autograph, or two in the case of the dual character cards.
It’s unclear how many copies of the set were printed for Franklin but Joe was kind enough to print three more full sets of the Pop Art Sports Cards for me. On set is part of my personal collection of course and the other two are spoken for.
I don’t usually like to promote unlicensed trading cards but my understanding is that Image Ten draws the line between fan art and intellectual property theft at mass printing and sale. Since these cards have not been widely distributed and sold for a profit, Franklin and Joe aren’t hurting the films copyright and trademark holders. They are just being creative devotees. And that’s awesome! They did a fantastic job with this set. “A little spit and polish and they could sell it again next year” – under trademark perhaps?
Either way, I love that buddies Jim Cirronella and Carl Hendrix saw Franklin’s cards and immediately thought to tell me about them. It’s great to be part of such a great community that is always thinking of and helping one another out. The Pop Art Sports set is nothing but good vibes so far as I’m concerned. What a fun set this was to collect!
Star Collectors
Hats off to Franklin Teng for getting all of his cards autographed! Wow, what an amazing an unique set of trading cards. You know I’m jealous!
This is Johnny Martyr reminding you to enjoy Bosco’s Chocolate Syrup! Be sure to keep coming back to Mass Hysteria in a bloodthirsty lust for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD TRADING CARDS!
All text & photos ©2023 Johnny Martyr unless otherwise noted – Don’t be scared to contact JohnnyMartyr@Hotmail.com if you’re interested in reusing anything or need help/information regarding any Night of the Living Dead trading cards.
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