BLACK FRIDAY COMC PICKUPS - PART 3: OLD ARSENAL

FIVE DAYS IN TO THE NEW YEAR AND I'M ALREADY FED UP WITH EVERYTHING. AT LEAST I HAVE SOME OLD CARDS TO PLAY WITH

I LIKE SOCCER NOW. SO MUCH I'M JUST GONNA CALL IT FOOTBALL. ARSENAL SHOWED UP AT MY DOOR ONE DAY AND AND I DIDN'T SHOO THEM AWAY AND THEY LOOKED HUNGRY SO I FED THEM AND THEY NEVER LEFT. I CAN THINK OF WORSE TEAMS TO GET STUCK WITH. THEY SIGNED MY FAVORITE PLAYER, WON A FEW FA CUPS, CONSISTENTLY END UP IN THE CHAMPIONS OR EUROPA LEAGUE AND GENERALLY STAY AWAY FROM RELEGATION. THE OWNER SUCKS AND THE HARDCORE FANS ARE INSUFFERABLE WITH THEIR WENGER OUT CRAP, BUT HEY, THAT'S FOOTBALL. THE THING I LIKE MOST ABOUT FOOTBALL IS I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FUCK IS ACTUALLY GOING ON SO I CAN'T OVERANALYZE SIGNINGS OR COMPLAIN ABOUT FORMATIONS OR GET MAD ABOUT INDIVIDUAL PERFORMACES. ARSENAL WIN, I YAY. ARSENAL LOSE, I BOO. ARSENAL DRAW, I ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. MUCH SIMPLER THAT WAY. UNFORTUNATELY UP UNTIL MAYBE 3-4 YEARS AGO FOOTBALL CARDS WERE RARE AT SHOPS AROUND ME AND VINTAGE STUFF IS STILL NON-EXISTANT. SO I WENT LOOKING FOR SOME MOLDY OLD GUNNERS ON MY SHOPPING SPREE

BIG HEAD CARICATURE CARDS ARE SOMETHING MOST COLLECTORS LOVE BUT ARE USUALLY PRODUCED SPARINGLY ENOUGH SO THEY DON'T WEAR OUT THEIR WELCOME. THIS ONE IS FROM THE FOOTBALL CARICATURES BY 'MAC' SET FROM JOHN PLAYER & SONS CIGARETTES. I LITERALLY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ANYTHING ABOUT THIS CARD. HERE IS WHAT I'VE BEEN ABLE TO QUICKLY FIND: THE MAC IN CARICATURES BY MAC WAS AN ILLUSTRATOR NAMED DOUGLAS MACHIN WHICH IS VERY HARD TO SEARCH FOR BECAUSE GOOGLE INSISTS YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT DOUGLAS MACHINE INC. BUT HERE'S A LITTLE ARTICLE ABOUT CAPTAIN MAC FROM DALLINGTON PARISH HISTORY BLOG. PLAYERS IS ONE OF THE BIGGER BRITISH CARD MANUFACTURERS BUT OF THEM, I KNOW NOTHING. I FOUND A GOOD SUMMARY OF FOOTBALL CARDS WHICH IS BEING BOOKMARKED SO I DON'T FALL INTO A RABBIT HOLE WHILE TRYING TO WRITE A POST. ALSO FOUND A NEW BOOK I NEED TO PICK UP

AS FOR BOB JOHN, I DON'T KNOW MUCH ARSENAL HISTORY EARLIER THAN MAYBE THIERRY HENRY. A QUICK RUN DOWN OF HIS WIKI PAGE DOESN'T GIVE A WHOLE LOT MORE INFORMATION THAN THE BACK OF THIS CARD. HE'S WELSH, IS PRETTY GOOD PLAYING HALF BACK OR FULL BACK AND HE PLAYED A LOT OF INTERNATIONAL MATCHES WITH WALES. IT'S HARD TO RIFF ON CARDS WHEN YOU KNOW A DANG THING ABOUT THE SUBJECT. IT'S A NEAT LOOKING CARD THOUGH! I LIKE THE CARICATURE STYLE, VERY BOLD SIMPLE LINES, I WISH I COULD DO THAT. THE BACK DESIGN ALSO MAKES ME EXCEPTIONALLY HAPPY. SET TITLE ON TOP! CARD NUMBER! SUBJECT! BIG OL WALL OF TEXT! BRAND LOGO! LEGALESE! ALL WRAPPED UP IN A SIMPLE BORDER. I DON'T KNOW SOCCER BUT I KNOW CARDS AND THIS ONE IS CLASSY AS FUCK