Newtropolis and the Fantastic Fur

Published July 08, 2023 Updated July 08, 2023

Newtropolis and the Fantastic Fur: Heroes vs. Villains playing cards illustrated by Peter Wood, 2015.

2015 USA Newt’s Playing Cards Peter Wood Art & Design Kickstarter Superheroes

This limited-edition pack of 1,152 copies was published via a Kickstarter campaign by Newts Games, Ohio in 2015. It includes 56 unique pieces of original artwork from celebrated artist, Peter Wood. Like many of the artist’s earlier packs (e.g. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear pack, The Teddy deck) this is a semi-transformational pack devoted to teddy bears, with hidden pips (Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds and Spades) within the illustrations.

This pack features Peter's "Super heroes and villain teddy bears who have a vast range of special powers", straight from his own imagination. While he freely admits that some are parodies of famous comic book heroes and villains, most are inspired from everyday life. See the box

Newtropolis and the Fantastic Fur: Heroes vs. Villains playing cards illustrated by Peter Wood and published via Kickstarter by Newts Games, 2015 Newtropolis and the Fantastic Fur: Heroes vs. Villains playing cards illustrated by Peter Wood and published via Kickstarter by Newts Games, 2015 Newtropolis and the Fantastic Fur: Heroes vs. Villains playing cards illustrated by Peter Wood and published via Kickstarter by Newts Games, 2015

Above: Newtropolis and the Fantastic Fur: Heroes vs. Villains playing cards illustrated by Peter Wood and published via Kickstarter by Newts Games, 2015.

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By Peter Burnett

Member since July 27, 2022

I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.

Russian Playing Cards

Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.

Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.

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