1996 SkyBox : All Superman! All Joe Jusko!
"The Trading Card Event of the Decade..."
The trading card event of the decade... that never happened. In 1995,
SkyBox International
and DC promoted a new series of Superman trading cards painted by fantasy
illustrator Joe Jusko. The "All Superman! All Joe Jusko!" series was scheduled
to be released in the summer of 1996, but the project was cancelled in late
1995.
The Art of Joe Jusko website
has shared a photo of the acrylic painting used for promotional images. A Limited
Edition set of 10,000 promo cards were distributed at the 1995 San Diego
Comic-Con International (SDCC). Joe Jusko autographed 1,000 numbered copies.
Each card measures 5 x 7 inches. The back of each promo is blank.
The proposed Elseworlds-style storyline would have depicted Superman
throughout different periods of history. In
The Art of Painted Comics from 2015, Joe Jusko said, "We got through
three-and-a-half or four of the storylines, and then Fleer, who'd bought out
SkyBox at that point, wasn't crazy about the concept. That art's been sitting
around up at DC since 1995, I guess." (p. 201)
On March 9, 1995, the Marvel Entertainment Group purchased SkyBox
International Inc. for $150 million and merged with the
Fleer Corporation. The Fleer plant in Philadelphia used to cut and collate cards was closed on
January 26, 1996. The Upper Deck Company continues to produce trading cards
with the SkyBox brand name.
In 2009, The Art of Joe Jusko published illustrations that were
intended for the SkyBox series. One painting depicts a prehistoric-era
Superman pulling a vehicle reminiscent of The Flintstones.
Joe Jusko painted the entire 1992 Marvel Masterpieces set from Impel.
Jusko also contributed Superman paintings for Kenner's
Superman: Man of Steel cards and
DC Villains: The Dark Judgment.
