Fleer Ultra X-Men 1995 Sample Pack Bound Into Old Comic

[finfangfan]

I literally just posted a thread in the Comics forum about being surprised to find a Kool Aid packet bound into an old comic (assumed it was going to be a card).

And as I was continuing to debag comics to prepare them for the recycler stumbled on this sealed promo pack. I wonder if there are different cards in the packs or if it’s always the same one? Anyone open these?

https://i.imgur.com/tl2ez6z_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

Google AI is a lying liar…

https://i.imgur.com/AQPqHUm_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[DynaEtch]

Cool find…I’m trying to remember what were in those. I think it’s like 2 cards: either a base card and an info card….2 base cards…or possibly a base card and the Weapon X no number promo. It’s been awhile though so I am not too sure on that.

Great example there of why AI isn’t great when it comes to niche hobby info. There also wasn’t an “Age of Apocalypse” insert set in 95 ultra x-men. Just the Hunters/Stalkers, Suspended Animation, and Sinister Observations.

[jdandns]

That was basically it, Dyna.

The packs usually held a random '95 Ultra X-Men base card and a Fleer Ultra Skeleton Warriors promo card. Every 5th pack (at least, those were the odds I heard back then) had the unnumbered Wolverine (Titled: ALTERNATE X Weapon X) instead of the random Ultra X-Men base card.

[finfangfan]

It looks like the 1995 Fleer Ultra X-Men packs were packed into comics in the Legion Quest storyline of the mid-90’s. Usually when I find cards bound into comics they are in cello packs and you can see the card. So kind of cool that these are more like regular packs and you don’t know what card you are getting.

There doesn’t appear to be a premium on them online but looks like the Weapon X promo could net more than the comic itself.

Is there a checklist somewhere of the various Marvel comics (mostly in the 90’s) that came bound or polybagged with trading cards?

[finfangfan]

Went through more of my comics from around the same timeframe to see if I could find any more Fleer Ultra X-Men inserts.

In addition to the Cable 20 from first post above, I also found the packs bound in X-Factor 111, Uncanny 321, and I had multiple copies of X-Men 41 for some reason (the comic must have been hyped at the time).

Each comic contains two packs connected at the top staple in the middle of the comic. 4 different characters appear solo on the pack art…. Gambit, Wolverine, Cable, and Jean grey. They sometimes appear in different pairings… I had two comics with Gambit/Cable, 3 Gambit/Jean Grey, 1 Jean Grey Wolverine, and 3 Wolverine/Cable.

I will probably open up later this weekend. It’s interesting to hear a Skeleton Warriors card might appear in the packs. That seems a bit odd because the packs themselves don’t say anything about Skeleton Warriors (although they do have a separate ad for that set on the back cover… maybe that’s what you are remembering?

[finfangfan]

And here is an ad for the Weapon X chase card you mentioned. Looks like the odds of hitting a chase card were 1:8.

https://i.imgur.com/5TZ3NnU_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

This ad appears in Uncanny 320 (part one of Legion Quest) which unfortunately does not come with a card pack.

At any rate, fun to go back in time for a bit. I wish they packed more cards into comics, but I guess Marvel really only owned Fleer for a short period of time (maybe two years) and then once that relationship ended they stopped doing stuff like this.

[finfangfan]

And I ended up buying the card on COMC. Since the inserted cards appeared in comics that were released a couple weeks before X-Men Alpha hit, I guess that makes this card is a rookie appearance of the character. I suppose the ad in X-men 320 might also qualify.

This was one of the better storylines of that era and I loved the design of this iteration of Weapon X…

https://img.comc.com/i/Marvel/1995/Fleer-Ultra-Marvel-X-Men---Promos/-WEAP/Weapon-X.jpg?id=82d3f686-127c-4372-a4e7-6fe70b8b3a22&size=zoom

https://img.comc.com/i/Marvel/1995/Fleer-Ultra-Marvel-X-Men---Promos/-WEAP/Weapon-X.jpg?id=82d3f686-127c-4372-a4e7-6fe70b8b3a22&size=zoom&side=back

[DynaEtch]

And here is an ad for the Weapon X chase card you mentioned. Looks like the odds of hitting a chase card were 1:8.

https://i.imgur.com/5TZ3NnU_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

This ad appears in Uncanny 320 (part one of Legion Quest) which unfortunately does not come with a card pack.

At any rate, fun to go back in time for a bit. I wish they packed more cards into comics, but I guess Marvel really only owned Fleer for a short period of time (maybe two years) and then once that relationship ended they stopped doing stuff like this.

Haven’t seen this ad before- actually would be a cool addition to a 95 Ultra X-Men master set, even just the ad.

All the info given above sounds about right. Only one way to figure out exactly what’s in the promo pack I guess…rip it :) Looks like you already got the “chase” of the pack from comc though.

As for a master list of all the 90s comics and mags that had promo cards…wish I had that myself. It can be tricky trying to locate the origin of some with how many comics and mags were made in the 90s- took me years to find where the 94MM Magneto 4-panel promo sheet came from, for example (Comic Buyer’s Guide Dec 1994). I have a complete list of where all the Marvel Masterpieces promos came from - just that brand. Some as obscure as coming from an EGM video game magazine (electronic gaming monthly). I don’t have a list for Marvel cards generally though.

They also put actual unopened packs (like regular packs, not promo packs) inside some of those comic multi-packs that became popular around 1993-1995. Here’s an example from eBay,
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/32b2bfe8881e7831841b30685ee6f845.jpg

[finfangfan]

There are a ton of cool trading card ads in these mid-90s comics. Most of the issues I posted above have a Fleer Ultra X-Men ad and I even stumbled on an at for Fleer Ultra Casper in a comic I opened. They were doing card sets for everything! 10x-ing today’s hobby would probably still be 0.1X of where it was in the 90s.

[jdandns]

I will probably open up later this weekend. It’s interesting to hear a Skeleton Warriors card might appear in the packs. That seems a bit odd because the packs themselves don’t say anything about Skeleton Warriors (although they do have a separate ad for that set on the back cover… maybe that’s what you are remembering?

Yes, possibly on the Skeleton Warriors.
I was definitely wrong on the 1 in 5, but I was just going with what the LCS shop owner told me back then. I collected some (but not all) of the X-titles in the mid 90's, so I'm sure I still have a few comics with the pack bound in, but I know I opened at least one and got lucky, because I have the Wolverine card in my binder.

[DynaEtch]

Yea I think it’s coming back to me now- the other card in the pack is likely a sweepstakes card for that Capcom release, now that I see it in that ad. The base 95FUXM card is also a true base from the regular set- nothing on it to differentiate in the sense of a promo. The only promo possible to get is the Wolverine weapon X.

I love these ads. It is total 90s nostalgia, particularly with the trading card sets. Marvel got pretty funny and creative with some of them, my favorite being “Steal this Art” ad for 1996MM. What I do is clip the the ads for trading card sets out and add them to master set binders.

[finfangfan]

Here’s a cool MM Dare to Compare ad…

https://i.imgur.com/BjEJbPY_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

And not a trading card ad, but this one made me chuckle. I don’t think the Age of Ultras really took off…

https://i.imgur.com/gUEL6bO_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[DynaEtch]

^^^ LOL [emoji23]

Some more 90s nostalgia. Sadly they don’t really do this anymore for modern card sets.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/2daa8e2706804630d617cd1966b53879.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/75f98c88f88dcbb1b945798a54d3678b.jpg

And where they infamously didn’t mention Jusko’s name on the ad for his set (the way he described it, because Skybox didn’t know for sure whether they only be using his work as of the printing of the ad):

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/4c5b715206cd144711443ae76e08abad.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/5d5b36c19f43f7361e810d5d27f3cc71.jpg

[DynaEtch]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/caf952f7e23e5eb9614d36939007d34c.jpg

Funny 96MM ad

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/8050ad8a44a1cb76502b406a621b85a1.jpg

The “Homewrecker” dual-page ad for 1996MM, with Prenup and all. Contest where people send in their vote for either Boris or Julie, the two artists on 1996MM…(man I don’t think I could pick personally. Helluva prize though. Edit: even that 2nd place prize has a market value of a cool $8-10k right now)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/18e8009e98203b744774be8f34cabfb0.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/1c274f78b57fe0e455e70031fbd5c8bc.jpg

[finfangfan]

Okay… it’s time to unwrap these babies. 10 total comics. For some reason 1995 me thought X-Men 41 was a sound investment and I bought 6 of those. Maybe American Entertainment was hyping up the issue at the time.

Wish me luck on pulling a 1:8er! The plan is to post open packs (so you see character art on front of pack) and contents to right of pack on top of each comic they come out of.

https://i.imgur.com/sJl3ACi_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

First up… X-Factor 111 nets me a Beast base and there IS a Skeleton Warriors card in this pack as well… good call! And bottom pack is the sweep stakes card.

https://i.imgur.com/6Sw6CuV_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

Next up is Uncanny 321 which nets me.., a Wolverine base!

Top pack (Wolvie art) had the sweepstakes card this time.

https://i.imgur.com/Ee1dxFi_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

Next up is Cable 20 which bottom pack nets me a Phalanx Covenant and a different Skeleton Warriors character from the previous two I opened… Dr Cyborn!

https://i.imgur.com/C0eaBv1_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

Next up is Wolverine 90… with a great Hildebrandt Bros/Kubert cover btw.

Bottom pack gets me a Jean Grey and a Baron Dark ….

https://i.imgur.com/ZOgdcUl_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

Next up is X-Men 41 (1 of 6) which nets me Skeleton Warrior Dagger and everyone’s favorite mutant… TYLER! Just kidding.., everyone hates Tyler.

https://i.imgur.com/6wsvDD7_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

X-Men 41 (2 of 6) nets me… Polaris and Skeleton Warrior Ursak the Guardian.

https://i.imgur.com/kU8OHLl_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

X-Men 41 (3 of 6) nets me… Sunfire and Skeleton Warrior Shriek. Btw… good collation so far… only one dupe (the first two packs had same Skeleton Warrior)…

https://i.imgur.com/ezEoRtt_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[jdandns]

Haha, good luck on the Weapon X card!

As for Skeleton Warriors, here's the full set, apparently 6 cards, and it looks like you're already there:

https://tvmoviecards.com/products/skeleton-warriors-promo-card-set-6-cards-fleer-ultra-1995?srsltid=AfmBOoresZIqwr6Es3nEbmfzWTr97A3Qk1JO9AOoVg3_kbpDwGPjJKC6

I'm pretty sure I also have a full set of them and some doubles, but as I mentioned, I didn't open a bunch of packs from the comic books. Instead, I likely got them when I bought out a shuttering comic store's card inventory about 10 years ago (which means they did open a whole bunch of them).

Those packs (and others like them) can actually damage comic books over time my making impressions in the pages and even covers, especially if the comics are stored flat. There are six early Simpsons comics that have cards bound in that way, one of which is the popular "Dupe Dipkin" parody of the famous Billy Ripken baseball card with the swear word written on the bat knob. I've been reluctant to alter those in any way from original published state, but as a result, I've noticed fairly deep impressions from the packs in some of those issues, and even spine-wear the likes of which wouldn't have occurred had the cards not been present.

[finfangfan]

X-Men 41 (4 of 6) nets me Feral and Skeleton Warrior Talyn (I’m actually growing to like the Skeleton Warrior set tbh)…

https://i.imgur.com/RZaXKgd_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

X-Men 41 (5 of 6) nets me Kane and Skeleton Warrior Shriek (only my second dupe in 9 packs.

https://i.imgur.com/XOoOf7W_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[jdandns]

Hmm, Talyn makes 7 different, right?

I wonder if the actual set is 7, and Wolverine was the 8th card in the overall promo set, and packed equally with the SW promos, hence the 1:8 odds for the Wolvie promo.

[finfangfan]

X-Men 41 (6 of 6) and final overall pack nets me… Strong Guy and a Dr. Cyborn Dupe. Overall it was a fun break. Next time I won’t wait 30 years to open these…

https://i.imgur.com/WlMpiBJ_d.webp?maxwidth=760&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

Hmm, Talyn makes 7 different, right?

I wonder if the actual set is 7, and Wolverine was the 8th card in the overall promo set, and packed equally with the SW promos, hence the 1:8 odds for the Wolvie promo.

Good guess… I got skunked on the Weapon X so sounds plausible.

[finfangfan]

Looks like it might be at least a 8 character set… and. Per COMc… Grimskull was a promo character too and I didn’t pull him.

[jdandns]

On the upside if you've developed a taste for Skeleton Warriors, you can get an actual 36 pack box of the full set for around $30, making it a rare sealed 90's card box that is currently available for well under the original retail price of 30 years ago. It probably didn't help that the animated series was so short-lived, with only 13 total episodes. Fleer must've been stuck with pallets of those cards.

[DynaEtch]

Jdandns with the incredible memory about the Skeleton warriors :)

Kinda odd it doesn’t feature anything about it on the pack, but does make sense since Fleer knew the X-Men Ultra was the hottest thing on the block, to sneak those in with them to promote it.

Bummer about the no Weapon X, but cool to see the pack breaks finfang- helps to know exactly what you can hit in those. The base 95 X-Men looks like it may just be a random base card sourced from the entire set (or most of the set)? Even though no Weapon X, you got a real nice looking Wolverine card at least.

[finfangfan]

And looks like at least 4 different versions of the Capcom Sweepstakes cards with 4 different tips. I love #4 — Don’t pick up the X-Tanks until your health is nearly depleted… sounds like something only a little brother would do.

[DynaEtch]

Haha…actually I have *very* frustrating memories about that game for SNES…game is freakin hard...like next level hard. Maybe those tips would have come in handy. Game in question:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20250726/b75130146924a34f567cb096fdefb278.jpg

[jdandns]

I did not remember (or notice in the first place) that there were different Capcom Tips on those cards. I just assumed they were all the same, so that's some interesting info, too. If I was still young enough to be in my "get it all" phase, I'd definitely seek out the Tips cards other than the 1 or 2 I have.

[finfangfan]

Btw… Wolverine 90 had some pretty epic foldout splash pages at the end of the issue. Long live the 90’s!

https://i.imgur.com/tEa1v2J_d.webp?maxwidth=1520&fidelity=grand

https://i.imgur.com/vTbAmcW_d.webp?maxwidth=1520&fidelity=grand

https://i.imgur.com/c2G9hnA_d.webp?maxwidth=1520&fidelity=grand

[finfangfan]

On the upside if you've developed a taste for Skeleton Warriors, you can get an actual 36 pack box of the full set for around $30, making it a rare sealed 90's card box that is currently available for well under the original retail price of 30 years ago. It probably didn't help that the animated series was so short-lived, with only 13 total episodes. Fleer must've been stuck with pallets of those cards.

I actually did go and buy the 10 card Suspended Animation set. Most of the card backs are just mirror images of the fronts, but they did mix it up a bit for the first three cards. Nice looking set!

https://img.comc.com/i/Non-Sports/1995/Fleer-Ultra-Skeleton-Warriors---Suspended-Animation/1/Baron-Dark.jpg?id=d16766be-0f9d-468c-a519-eeb14c887a8b&size=zoom

https://img.comc.com/i/Non-Sports/1995/Fleer-Ultra-Skeleton-Warriors---Suspended-Animation/1/Baron-Dark.jpg?id=d16766be-0f9d-468c-a519-eeb14c887a8b&size=zoom&side=back

https://img.comc.com/i/Non-Sports/1995/Fleer-Ultra-Skeleton-Warriors---Suspended-Animation/2/Grimskull.jpg?id=6893ec40-fb5a-41aa-9d43-723edd4bf411&size=zoom

https://img.comc.com/i/Non-Sports/1995/Fleer-Ultra-Skeleton-Warriors---Suspended-Animation/2/Grimskull.jpg?id=6893ec40-fb5a-41aa-9d43-723edd4bf411&size=zoom&side=back

https://img.comc.com/i/Non-Sports/1995/Fleer-Ultra-Skeleton-Warriors---Suspended-Animation/3/Prince-Lightstar.jpg?id=0481d1b8-0169-4903-9218-38714f1e208a&size=zoom

https://img.comc.com/i/Non-Sports/1995/Fleer-Ultra-Skeleton-Warriors---Suspended-Animation/3/Prince-Lightstar.jpg?id=0481d1b8-0169-4903-9218-38714f1e208a&size=zoom&side=back