Batman is getting the PMG treatment.
Upper Decks Skybox Metal Universe Batman hits shelves today, bringing the heroes and villains of Gotham City to one of the most famous high-end cards.
The DC license is exciting because it’s one of the most robust, long-lasting intellectual properties in pop culture around the entire world, said Upper Deck Vice President of Product Development, Grant Sandground. Batman and Superman are regularly recognized as two of the most recognizable pop culture characters globally.
Skybox Metal Universe Batman marks the biggest DC release from Upper Deck since acquiring the license. The set was released with base cards, inserts like PMGs, and a bevy of content that Upper Deck has been known for over the years.
Precious Metal Gems (PMG) have become most famous in the sports world, with cards of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant selling for six and seven figures.
Upper Deck also brought them to the entertainment space with 2013 Marvel Fleer Ultra, with some of those cards, like a Green Spider-Man, selling for as much as $168,000.
“It is crazy. Well let the secondary market and the folks in the secondary market decide what they want to pay for those things. But certainly we’re not unaware of the hype behind Precious Metal Gems and obviously the storied history of those cards, Sandground said. There are 1997 PMG Greens and Reds of Michael Jordan that are worth an emperor’s fortune. Those PMGs for characters outside of sport focused in comics like Spider-Man and Hulk, those kind of broke records at the time for establishing new price points for singles in the entertainment field.
Skybox Metal Universe Batman hobby boxes will have 12 packs per box and six cards in every pack. Each box comes with three purple FX parallels, two Nemesis parallels, one serial-numbered base card and one Arkham Asylum card.
Of course, there will be chances to find case hits and rare inserts like lenticular The Crown Prince of Crime, Poison Ivy Touch and Enigmas.
Much of what made Skybox Metal Universe popular in the past gets a refresh for the DC world, with Jambalaya, Z-Force and Platinum Portraits inserts making an appearance.
If you’re buying a sealed 12-pack box, you’re going to get a guaranteed anchor hit, Sandground said. Its going to be some sort of a memorable chase card, something scarce, something cool, but it’s from a wide array of stuff.
Because DC is known for its art and artists, a large portion of the hits will celebrate that medium.
Theres also the chance to find Creator Autographs and Original Art Sketch Cards where over 100 artists have contributed.
Some of the creators on the checklist include Paul Dini, Dan Mora, Gail Simone, Jeph Loeb, Jock and so many more.
Sandground, who has been with Upper Deck for 17 years, still gets excited about working on a set like this.
I’m a little bit of a unicorn. I’ve loved sports my whole life and I’ve loved comics my whole life. So those two universes typically don’t mesh, Sandground said. I’ve loved comic books my whole life and getting the opportunity to make trading cards of comic books is a heck of a lot of fun to call work.
DC fans are excited for the first big DC Comic release. While the set solely focuses on the Batman universe, other DC Comic characters will appear in future sets.
Upper Deck is just getting started with DC.
I think one of Upper Decks competitive advantages in the entertainment field is that weve been doing a lot of original art for comic-based IP, Sandground said.
We’ve got a whole team on the art team that works in concert with artists around the world. We have brands like Flair Ultra and brands like Masterpieces that are all based upon hand-painted art, he added. I’m pretty sure a lot of comic trading card collectors are very excited to see what kind of original art cards we can bring in the variety of brands that we have.