Fleer's comic era

 

I haven't done much with my 1987 Fleer set build. It's the only '80s Fleer set that I haven't completed, yet I've been stuck on 68% finished for awhile.

 

I haven't bothered to make a want list, either here or on TCDB. I sure don't feel like trading for it, and buying the whole set online would give me 450-plus doubles and there's just no time in my life for a 1987 Fleer art project.

 

So what I do have of the set is just kind of sitting there waiting. I thought I'd throw it a bone and point out one of the plus-aspects of the set, other than its cool look and wonderfully descriptive "blue freeze pop" Define the Design set name.

 

This means we're going to have to turn the cards over to the back, so I hope you can handle that.

 

1987 Fleer was the beginning of Fleer's comic era.

I know it's just a little cartoon batter or pitcher squeezed at the bottom of the card and repeated over and over on card after card, but as someone who grew up in the Topps monopoly era, it feels a little like home.

 

 

This is what I knew cards backs to be as a kid buying packs. Topps blessed collectors with a wealth of information. Every corner of the card back was utilized and most of the time, from the 1950s to the early 1980s, a friendly cartoon tied the whole card together.

I loved the cartoons on the backs. I've certainly written about them enough, both on the blog and in Beckett.

Then Fleer came along in 1981, and I'm not kidding when I say I was baffled by the company's card backs that year.

 

This is what you got. First, no cartoons. Yeah, I did notice. Second, the card back is OK if it's featuring a veteran with a bunch of stats ,but a lot of the cards looked like Bob Horner here -- a whole lot of empty space. I just paid for empty space? I know that's a very adult consumer thing to think for someone who was 15 at the time, but I wasn't crazy about getting half a card back.

 

1982 was more of the same for Fleer, although the backs were colorful with a nice, bright team logo -- and oceans of yellow "white space". I didn't buy as much Fleer in 1982 as I did in 1981. Was it because of the backs? Could've been.

But that was the end of Fleer's "empty space" era. I don't know if someone complained or Fleer realized they had to give collectors something on the back besides vitals. In 1983, "Did you know" facts were added (along with a player mug shot), although sometimes the empty space was still there.

1983 kicked off the "Did You Know" era of card backs for Fleer, as the practice was continued in 1984, 1985 and 1986. Sometimes the DYK's were quite wordy, sometimes very brief and sometimes that empty space was still there. Fleer must have considered it part of the brand, I guess.

Then, finally, cartoon guys arrived on Fleer card backs. Still lots and lots of empty space sometimes, but the little graphic treatment in 1987 was cool. The strike zone box is still used as a batter evaluator today and I liked the "official" pro scouts report on pitchers' stuff.

1988 Fleer still had some simple comic images and made things a little easier on themselves with various splits for hitters and pitchers. Keep in mind, this is long before basebell-reference. It's even before Stadium Club.

 

The Fleer comic era continued in 1989, measuring player's performance before and after the All-Star break, which is something I'd like to see on card backs today (yeah, yeah, I know, "you can just find that stuff on the internet" -- that's the kind of thinking that leads to Panini's card backs).

 

 

1990 Fleer closed out the Comic Era with "Vital Signs," which listed stat categories that were less-traditional at the time. Much later, some of these stats would make their way into the basic stat columns up above.

 

Once Fleer got fully into the 1990s, it ditched the little cartoon figures and went with straight blurb information -- or sometimes gave you a bunch of white space again. Sets became "too sophisticated" for cartoons, going with big photos instead.

 

And then there were new ways to fill up space on the back. Computer Graphics Activate!

I don't think Fleer ever made a card back that I enjoyed as much as the Topps card backs from my childhood, but it at least tried some things that were familiar to me in the late 1980s.

Will this get me to chase those last 200 or so 1987 Fleer needs sooner than later? I doubt it.