I am not quite sure why I included this deck in my research, as I have done my best to stick closely to the Waite-Smith images. Nonetheless I found myself with the gray and also the red versions. This deck was made by Lo Scarabeo in 1995 and after several attempts at extracting information from them I have been officially informed that they don’t remember much about it; and this comes from the very top. So, what do we know about this deck? Well, it has 22 cards and that means it follows the European stylings. The line art (“ink”) was done by Claudio Villa and in typical Marvel style the colors were done by another artist (Luca Poli), most likely with the help of Claudio. On the card backs is a double-headed Dr. Strange (one of the cooler “C-list” Marvel superheroes). They measure 5⅜” x 2⅞” (roughly 137mm x 74mm). The art is fantastic but the superheros are all wrong. Look: I was a comic book geek long before comic books were cool, or independent, or there were comic book TV shows and movies, and probably before there was a Comic Con (in San Diego).  I *know* my damned superheroes, and if Lo S. had consulted with me I could have made this deck great, not “okay, and soon to be forgotten.” Oh well.

We also know that the gray deck appears on eBay a few times a year, usually for $80, sometimes more (but those prices are ridiculous), and the red one is impossible to find. I had to go to Japan of all places to get one. Both decks are similar, but the gray one has a more textured feel to it. I have been told by collectors that the gray deck was supposed to be the premium version (numbered and signed) but I like the red a little better. Neither is plastic coated and these are easily damaged, so these are collector’s items only; NOT for any kind of divination.