Shortly after I heard a set based on the first season of Veronica Mars was on the way, I went out of my way to see the show. I’d heard some of the buzz but since I didn’t have a UPN station, I missed out. Well, I tracked down the DVD and fell in love. Spinning equal parts of 90210’s teenaged soap opera (or The OC for the young ‘uns in the house) with the wit and angst of Buffy and storylines nodding at classic film noir, Veronica Mars became an instant favorite for me. So with that in mind, it would be a little tough to look at this set with an unbiased mind. Or would I be tougher on it because of my new-found passion for the show? Well, I’m happy with my purchase for a multitude of reasons.
Straight off the top, any time you get ‘the pull,’ it’s going to be a good review. About five packs into my box I got the promised autograph card. However it wasn’t an autograph card but rather a redemption. Normally these are fun killers, but I knew going in that there was only one card that need redeeming – the autograph from the show’s star Kristen Bell. At that point I knew I’d be going after a master set, something I’d only done twice before.
Veronica Mars: Season One is a well laid-out set. The 72-card base set looks at the show’s stars, offers episode recaps and highlights major themes that came up over the 22 first season shows.
Inserts are led off by the traditional Inkworks nine-card foil puzzle. Titled “Who Shot Lilly Kane?”, the puzzle looks at the suspects in the murder that the entire season revolved around. “Revolving Around Mars” looks at the people in Veronica’s life.
The set includes an impressive list of autograph signers. Not only is the titular star on the checklist, but so are the majority of the show’s main stars, not to mention high-profile guests such as Tina Majorino from the cult classic Napoleon Dynamite and actor Anthony Anderson who normally stars in garbage like Agent Cody Banks 2 and My Baby’s Daddy, but did just get some accolades for the Academy Award winning Hustle & Flow.
Normally I’m kind of indifferent towards costume cards, but the Pieceworks from this set are nothing short of spectacular. Almost every card has a seemingly infinite number of possible variants as most of the costumes used are bright and multi-colored. Kristen Bell’s shirt has a ton of stripes and Beaver’s Hawaiian shirt is like an abstract work of garage sale art.
The only major beef I have about the set is the quality of the images used on the base cards. Many are blurry and don’t pop. It’s not a new issue though and I suspect that it will continue to pop up, especially in niche sets like this where stock photos aren’t readily available.
I couldn’t be happier with my box. All of the odds went accordingly with the base set and the inserts. Of course, I got the one autograph that everyone seems to be after and while my Pieceworks card wasn’t from a major player, the pattern on it was very nice.
2006 Inkworks Veronica Mars Season 1 Box Breakdown:
Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 7
Total cards: 168
Cards in set: 72
Singles: 72
Doubles: 72
Triples+: 16
Inserts: 8
- Autographs (1:24): 1 (AR1. Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars [Redemption])
- Pieceworks (1:24): 1 (PW9. Alona Tal as Meg Manning [Shirt – 5 colors])
- Who Killed Lilly Kane? (1:7): 3 (W-1, W-2, W-9)
- Revolving Around Mars (1:11): 2 (R-3, R-4)
- Triangle Box Loader (1/box): 1 (BL-2)
