Buzz 12 in 12: Busting 2017 Clerks trading cards (Hour 2)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour all day long ... this is Hour 2.

The box: 2017 Upper Deck Clerks trading cards (hobby)
The cost: Click here

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Packs per box: 20
Cards per pack: 5
Cards in this box: 96
Base set completion: 
55 of 90 (61 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – See gallery as these are mostly scenes and characters from the film.

Inserts: 39 (all in gallery below with some base)
I Assure You It's Fake patch cards (1) – RST Video
Kevin Smith Insight (2) – Sundance Film Festival Check, Clerks Screenplay book
Big Words (6) – Catharsis, Lamentation, Purgation, Paradigm, Vagary, Juxtaposition
The List (10) – Cheeky cartoon illustrations of film titles that you can't really say here ...
Gold parallel (19) – Scenes from throughout the film
Walter Flanagan Original Art (1) – No. 1 (View Askew clown)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 2
RST Video autographs (2) – Grace Smith, Kimberly Loughran

What's Buzz-worthy: I'm not even supposed to be here today. ... I assure you we're open. ... I'm 37? ... in a row? ... Ohhhh, Navy Seals! ... I don't appreciate your ruse, ma'am. ... Happy Scrappy. ... My love for you is like a truck, BERZERKER! ... Noinch, Noinch, Noinch ... There are so many one-liners in Kevin Smith's profanity-laced piece of perfection that launched an empire back in 1994, and it took 23 years for this self-funded cult classic to get its own cardboard release. The best of those one-liners can't be revisited here -- or on cards -- and that's part of the challenge with this one. Despite those challenges, it works. It's not a perfect release -- there are a lot of sub-$5 autographs in this release (this box is indicative of those) but the overall package is about as good as it gets. The back story on Kevin Smith's film genesis should be well known -- he worked at a mom-and-pop convenience store/video store combo (Quick Stop and RST Video in Leonardo, N.J.) during the day and filmed this movie with his friends and cast at night, racking up credit card bills of $27,575 to make it happen while on his minimum-wage job. A mix of cultural analysis -- the ins and outs of Star Wars, hockey, dealing with customers for example -- and so much more makes up the story of Dante and Randal and how they make it through the day and who they deal with. Nearly all of the cast members' autographs are in this one -- the biggest autos are a little tougher but findable -- and there are a number of small parts represented in the ink, too. Grace Smith? That's Silent Bob's real-world mom who was the milkmaid at the end of the film -- the lady checking all of the dates on the milk to find that elusive gallon that might last forever. ... Remember the explosion of Aaron Judge cards last summer? That's when this one arrived and I didn't buy any boxes -- just did a couple breaks to chase ink I wanted -- but I did capitalize on its e-Pack presence via COMC.com where people can sell their pulls. I turned nearly all of my Judge cards into Clerks ink, sketches and more. ... This box included only one type of auto but there are a few designs including multi-person autos -- everything signed on-card -- and there are some real gems. Smith and Jason Mewes (Jay & Silent Bob) aren't great-looking autos based on how they sign (and they can be found elsewhere on the cheap) but they're short-printed finds here. Also tougher pulls are Brian O'Halloran (Dante), Jeff Anderson (Randal) and Scott Mosier (a few characters and the producer). Unfortunately, Lisa Spoonauer (Caitlin Bree) who had a memorable role in this one died not long after this set's arrival at age 44. She's also in demand but not a super-rare auto. This box didn't include anything beyond the basics -- no "37" parallels, printing plates or sketches -- and that's why I didn't dig in on boxes as I feared boxes like this (two cheap autos) would happen. The premium cards aren't super-tough pulls -- a few times per case -- so there's some incentive to rip if you can find it at its current lesser prices. I'm not sure a release like this one would happen again -- or if it would have any sequels from the View Askew world -- but it's a unique set (an A+ set to me despite boxes like this) that 1990s film fans should appreciate if they loved the black-and-white indy production that led to so much more.

Product Grade: A+
Box Grade: C (average or lesser box)
Fun Grade: A-

What's next? Be back in an hour ...

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