Welcome, you’ve found your way to a new Fabulous Find and this week I’ve pulled out my collection of 1975 Topps Marvel Stickers. This set wasn’t the first Marvel card/sticker sets, but it was the first one I bought. There was an earlier card set from Donruss that came out in 1966 and then the first sticker set was put out by Philadelphia Chewing Gum Company in 1967. But this was the first set I came across. I bought a lot of packs that summer trying to complete the set of forty (40) cards, plus a nine card puzzle set, and I finally managed to complete it.
Here’s what I first saw in the stores back in the day:
1975 Topps Marvel Stickers Box
Dig the great artwork! Sorry but I don’t know who did it, but it clearly wasn’t Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko, but it’s was still great. Next take a look at the wrapper that the cards came in:
1975 Topps Marvel Stickers wrapper
The cards/stickers that made up the set totalled forty (40) individual stickers, plus a checklist card, plus a nine card set, that when put together, reproduced the cover to Fantastic Four number one hundred (100), as drawn by Jack “King” Kirby. I guess this would be the time to show you those, eh?:
1975 Topps Marvel Completed Puzzle Cards
The individual cards/stickers featured individual Marvel heroes with a funny word balloon captions. Here’s a couple of examples:
1975 Topps Marvel Captain-America 2 sticker
1975 Marvel Topps Hulk 1 sticker
1975 Topps Marvel Luke Cage sticker
1975 Topps Marvel Thor 1 sticker
Within the forty card set, a couple of heroes got two (2) separate cards, as you might guess by the captions above, on the Captain America, Hulk and Thor cards. Besides the three named heroes, Spider-Man, the Thing and the Human Torch also warranted two separate cards.
I also mentioned a checklist card, so here it is, as well:
1975 Topps Marvel Stickers Checklist
In researching my card set on the internet, I learned that there are actually two cards that have variant captions. I was not aware of this, so I guess I’ll be searching eBay and conventions for the two additional cards that I now know exist. Just when you think you’re out, they drag you back in!
And because I’m such a nice guy, I’ll show you both versions of both of those cards/stickers. So don’t say I never did anything for ya! First up is the Spider-Man 2 card:
1975 Topps Marvel Spider-Man Sticker variant
I own the card on the right, so if any of my readers have the card/sticker on the left, with the “Bug Off” caption, I’d be interested in making a deal for it. If you look again at the box, you’ll see the use of that caption, as well. So I guess that was a clue, but I sure never new it. But then again, I don’t own the box itself, I just remember seeing it in the stores.
The next variant is the Captain Marvel card. Take a look:
1975 Topps Marvel Captain Marvel Sticker variant
I own the card on the left. Again, if anyone have the “Which way to the john” sticker, I’d love to hear from you, especially if you’d be willing to sell or trade it. Since I now know of the existence of these two cards, I won’t be happy until I track them both down and add them to my collection. I do have a few extra cards in this set I could trade, or we could hopefully work something else out.
But that is not my purpose for writing this blog. I just want to be able to share some of my interesting comic book collectibles with all you out there that might not know this stuff even exists. Hopefully, I’ve brought to light a few unknown treasures for your edification and enjoyment, including these 1975 Marvel comic book heroes stickers from Topps.
That’s it for this entry, and next week will be another RETRO REVIEW. Hopefully I’ll see ya then!
set of fantastic 4 puzzle and 40stickers xcellent condition selling make offer
Ive been collecting 1975 and 1976 marvel stickers off and on since the 70’s and recently came across a few 1975 stickers that appear to have a glittery border on its edges and what looks to be 2 different types of ink giving it sort of a 3D affect. Have you heard of anything like this? I will be listing one on ebay for auction hoping someone may know something about it.
Joe, Without seeing your stickers I really can’t give an opinion about what you’ve got. I know that sometime in the late eighties, early nineties, Marvel and Panini put out an X-Men sticker book and packages of stickers. Some of those stickers had a silvery/glittery border, if I remember correctly. These were smaller than normal card size. Are your stickers baseball card size, or smaller?
It’s been a while since I posted any updates about my 1975 Topps Marvel Comic Book Heroes find. It took me a year but I found out what they are, there some kind of Test set made from Acetate (transparent). My discovery was recently documented in the Wrapper Magazine but im still having difficulties getting them recognized by the Big 3 graders.
What do you value the “Bug Off” and “Which Way To The John” variants? Some of the Captain Marvels sold for $250 each while one “Bug Off” sold (very quickly) for a Buy It Now of $10.
L, again when it comes to prices, things are worth what people are willing to pay for them. I definitely would pay $10.00 for these two hard to find versions. I might even go up to $25.00 each, but I think the $250.00 price tag seems really high and I personally would not pay that kind of money for a sticker. I would love to have these two variants in my collection, but personally, I still consider my set complete, without these variants, but I know some people would not.
I guess I need to keep checking eBay for bargains!
Joe, I’d love it if you could send a pic of one of the stickers, so I could see what you have. Cool that you got a write up on the stickers in Wrapper Magazine!
I have the fly the friendly skies of united..
Dave, I’ve got the friendly skies card. The one I’m looking for is the one on the right. But thanks anyway!
If your still Interested.
I have a ’75 SPIDER-MAN (2) “BUG-OFF” in beautiful condition.
gaust-ka’doon, please e-mail me at [email protected] and let me know what you’d want for this card. Definitely I am still interested.
Thanks guys!
Greg, have you ever found the John variant? I picked up the Bug Off from eBay and they pop up every few weeks or so but I never seen the John one in over a year of searching.
Jim, nope, I haven’t found either one, but I’ll admit that I have not been trying to track these two stickers down any time recently. I guess I really should start looking for them again. I collect so many things sometimes I forget everything I’m looking for in those collections. Thank for the reminder!