Tag Archives: upper deck

Free Comic Book Day returns May 2, 2026 and expands to Friendly Local Game Stores!

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Free Comic Book Day 2026

After lots of doubt about it’s future, Free Comic Book Day returns in 2026 on May 2 but gets juiced with even more!

The best day of comics so far features releases from Archie Comics, DC Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, Image Comics, Mad Cave Studios, Oni Press, Titan Comics, Udon Entertainment, and Vault Comics!

Those publishers are all handled by Universal Distribution and Lunar. What’s missing is Penguin Random House’s exclusive publishers like Marvel, BOOM! Studios, IDW Publishing, Ignition Press, DSTLRY and more. There’s rumblings of their own event also on May 2.

But, it’s expanding to friendly local game stores!

So far, Upper Deck and Wizards of the Coast are supporting the event and the goal is to appeal to fans of tabletop board games, RPGs, and trading cards, on top of comic book fans! Traditionally, game stores have had their own days like Free RPG Day and International Tabletop Day.

Universal Distribution, which purchased some of Diamond’s assets, will be handling the event. Universal, while mainly has been focused on distribution in Canada for comics and games, has been teasing an expansion into the United States and more of a marriage between comics and games for distribution.

Finish the fight Halo: Mission Command, the tabletop card game

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Immerse yourself in the world of Halo with the all-new Halo: Mission Command interactive card game from Upper Deck! Compile weapons, vehicles, and soldiers from Halo Infinite to complete a series of missions!

Utility Cards

These cards will have simple gameplay mechanics such as destroying and stealing an opponent’s Utility card or swapping two of your own in the mission order. These cards will utilize Weapons, Vehicles. and Soldiers from the Halo Universe.

Asset Cards

These cards can act as any Utility cards, Destroy a chosen Utility Type, or Provide any Utility in any spot in your Mission Log. Asset cards are unaffected by other players Utility cards and will provide any of the shown Utility in your own mission log. These cards utilize imagery of UNSC personnel and Bosses from Halo Infinite.

Mission Cards

These cards will have an order in which a player must play utility cards to achieve the mission’s goal. They feature named Missions from the Halo Infinite Campaign. Utility cards will be played over the course of the game. When the correct order of utility cards is achieved the mission is complete and the player progresses to a more difficult mission. These will be organized into four categories corresponding with the difficulty levels of the Halo games.

Head to the Upper Deck Store to pick up Halo: Mission Command and start playing today!

DC comes to trading cards, memorabilia, and games from Upper Deck

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Upper Deck has expanded its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products to create trading cards, memorabilia, and tabletop games featuring characters from DC Comics.

Starting this winter, Upper Deck will bring its industry leading brands to the DC Universe for the first time beginning with DC Annual, Skybox Metal Universe Batman, Fleer Ultra Superman, DC Unbound, and DC Masterpieces.

For tabletop gaming, DC has had mixed results. The DC Deck-Building Game from Cryptozoic has been going pretty strong. Upper Deck’s primary game is Legendary, a deckbuilding game, which is a niche already filled by Cryptozoic’s game. There’s the Batman Miniature Game from Knight Models. Monolith has Batman: Gotham City Chronicles which is both a board game as well as a roleplaying-game. Panini recently had the MetaX card game which featured DC Characters, but the game hasn’t seen any developments in years. There’s some gaps to fill when it comes to the tabletop presence for DC, so, what Upper Deck comes up with should be interesting.

Marvel Masterpieces Returns from Upper Deck!

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Marvel Masterpieces

Upper Deck has announced the return of its iconic Marvel Masterpieces trading card set, featuring 135 all-new pieces of original art painted by critically acclaimed illustrator David Palumbo. The super-premium release took nearly two years to complete and covers a comprehensive list of Marvel’s most famous heroes and villains.

Marvel fans have a lot to look forward to in this new collection, starting with a serial numbered base set with parallels that extend to 4 tiers of rarity. Insert sets include highly coveted Mirage lenticular cards, Holofoil cards and textured Canvas cards that give the true feeling of miniature paintings. Battle Spectra metallic foil inserts, inspired by earlier releases of Marvel Masterpieces, also return in the 2020 product. Collectors can find numbered “What if…” variants, Preliminary Art Variants and hard-signed autograph cards, as well as never-before-seen Metallurgy metal cards that will debut in 2020 Marvel Masterpieces.

Upper Deck is pulling out all the stops for this release with original art paintings and original preliminary art from Palumbo’s 2020 Marvel Masterpieces collection, distributed via randomly inserted redemption cards throughout the set. Marvel comic fans and collectors will want to be on the lookout for new all-original 1-of-1 comic book sketch covers illustrated by Palumbo, as well as the return of Upper Deck’s ever-popular sketch cards that fall one (1) per box, on average.

Interestingly enough, Palumbo’s mother, Julie Bell and stepfather, Boris Vallejo, are famed fantasy artists that created artwork for 1996 Marvel Masterpieces set. In contrast, Palumbo is known for his dark, atmospheric style that has earned him numerous honors including three Spectrum medals and a Chelsey award.

2020 Marvel Masterpieces releases this September in hobby shops across North America, and will also be available on http://www.UpperDeckEpack.com later this year.

Spider-Man and “The Verse” Kicks Off the First Story Arc for the 2020 Vs. System Game

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Vs/ Friendly Neighborhood

As the first issue of “The Verse,” the Friendly Neighborhood expansion for the Vs. card game features brand new MCU cards from feature films, Spider-Man Homecoming and Spider-Man Far From Home! Includes 55 playable cards, including 3 new main characters and 8 new supporting characters per issue!

Add fan-favorite MCU characters to your collection, including worthy adversaries like Vulture and Mysterio! Expand on the Spider-Friends and Sinister Syndicate teams with characters from across the Spider-Man Universe. Enhance existing decks or customize new teams!

Purchase: Upper Deck – Amazon – Miniature Market – Cool Stuff Inc.

Exclusive Joe Jusko Marvel Spider-Man Print from Upper Deck at San Diego Comic-Con

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Upper Deck has announced a last-minute, never-before-seen Comic-Con exclusive print from famed Marvel comic artist Joe Jusko. As Spider-Man remains among the highest grossing superhero titles of all time, this limited-edition print featuring Spiderman swinging through New York City is a must-have!

The print, featuring a facsimile autograph by Jusko, will be unveiled for the first time this Wednesday at Upper Deck Booth #307. It is limited to just 100 prints, which are available for purchase at the show.

In addition, Upper Deck will host free signings on Friday and Saturday with leading artists; including Crystal Graziano, John Stanko, Dave Dorman, Bryan Tillman and Eric Wilkerson. At the booth, Upper Deck will showcase its complete Gallery Collection, with prints from entertainment properties such as Marvel and more. All merchandise is available for attendees to purchase right off the show floor.

The Fantastic Four Returns…. to Marvel Legendary from Upper Deck

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For years now there’s been persistent rumors there’s been a ban/lower prioritization of the Fantastic Four and X-Men from Marvel due to their movie ownership at Fox. No actual evidence has been presented, just conspiratorial connect the dots that ignore the creation of new X-Men characters, the licensed material that does get released, and use of some of the Fantastic Four characters in the comics themselves. While it is clear “something” was up, exactly what isn’t beyond a “deemphasis.”

Part of the fuel to the fire was the discontinuation of the Marvel Legendary: Fantastic Four expansion by Upper Deck for their popular deck-building game.

As reported by ICv2, Upper Deck Senior Brand Manager Jason Brenner has said that the “company has been authorized to immediately go back to press on a new printing of the product, which will be available in six to eight weeks.”

The expansion was originally released in the fourth quarter of 2013 and went out of print due to a “licensor-controlled issue.” This out of print status has led the expansion to be covetted and the aftermarket price to incease over 10x. Originally retailing for $19.99, expansions are being sold for over $300.

Three out of the four of the Fantastic Four appeared in the first Dice Masters set, Avengers vs. X-Men by WizKids released in 2014. They haven’t appeared in the game since. The Thing was one of the releases for Knight Models’ Marvel Universe Miniature Game and was released last year.

Can the team’s return to comics be far behind?

Around the Tubes

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the_clone_conspiracy__4It was new comic book day yesterday. What’d folks get? What’d you enjoy? What didn’t you enjoy? Sound off in the comments!

While you decide on that, here’s some comic news and reviews from around the web in our morning roundup.

Around the Tubes

The Beat – A year of free comics: Letters To An Absent Father by Maré Odomo – it’s not what you think! – Free comics, go read it!

ICv2 – Upper Deck Launching OP Kits for ‘Marvel: Legendary’ – This is pretty cool.

The Beat – Editor Ellie Pyle ankles Vertigo for Riot Games – An interesting change. Congrats!

The Comichron – Average comic book ordered in 2016 cost $3.85, down 11 cents – Savings!

 

Around the Tubes Reviews

Newsarama – The Clone Conspiracy #4

Newsarama – Green Arrow #15

The Beat – It’s Me

Comic Vine – Monsters Unleashed #1

SDCC 2016: Upper Deck Gallery Announces Two Exclusive Marvel Posters

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Upper Deck Gallery limited-edition posters of Elektra ($100.00) and Marvel in Hall H ($85.00) will be available throughout San Diego Comic-Con at the Upper Deck booth #307 in Hall A! Nei Ruffino the artist who created the Elektra poster will be on-hand to sign copies for those who purchase them on Saturday from 1:00-2:00 p.m. as well as free 5×7 copies of her art.

2016-Comic-Con-Upper-Deck-Gallery-Marvel-Elektra-Poster-Nei-Ruffino 2016-Comic-Con-Upper-Deck-Gallery-Marvel-Hall-D-Premium-Poster

Upper Deck Releases Legendary Encounters: A Predator Deck Building Game

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Upper-Deck-Legendary-Deck-Building-Game-Encounters-PredatorUpper Deck and Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products have officially released Legendary Encounters: A Predator Deck Building Game, which is sure to become an instant hit with both Predator fans and gamers around the world.

This new release brings an exciting and unique element of gameplay to the popular Legendary Deck Building games, allowing players to choose a fully cooperative mode or fully competitive mode of play. In cooperative mode, players take on the role of the Humans and work together to complete objectives, stay alive and defeat the Predator.  In competitive mode, the basic game mechanics are the same, but players take on the role of the Predators, whose objective is to hunt their prey and earn the most honor.

The new game takes you through Predator 1 and 2 and is 100% compatible with Legendary Encounters: an Alien Deck Building Game.

Designed for 1 to five players, the game includes 700 cards featuring all new original art, a full color 33” x 14” game mat and color rule book, with a retail price of $59.99.

Get the game today!

 

 

 

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