These are several playing cards designed by the American artist, Tom Whalen, as posters dedicated to different monsters in cinema.

The Queen of Spades is represented by the Queen from the Alien(s) franchise. The franchise was started by the eponymous science-fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott (1974). The film tells the story about a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature that stalks and kills the crew of a spaceship. The Alien and its accompanying elements were designed by Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger. This film got such a high success that it gave birth to the series of sequels.

The second film in the series was Aliens (1986). It was directed by James Cameron and was focused more on action. With the help of marines, the main heroine of the series, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), confronts hordes of Aliens on a planetoid. Aliens was the first film in this series which represented the Queen of Aliens.

© Tom Whalen 2013

The Queen of Spades – The Queen of Aliens

Godzilla is depicted on the King of Clubs. It is a giant monster or daikaiju originating from a series of tokusatsu films of the same name from Japan. He first appeared in Ishirō Honda’s 1954 film Gojira (Godzilla).

Daikaiju or Kaijū is a Japanese word that literally translates to “strange creature”. It is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment. Daikaiju films usually showcase monster(s) of any form, usually attacking a major Japanese city or engaging another monster(s) in battle.

Tokusatsu or tokusatsu entertainment is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that features considerable use of special effects.

Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon. The character has appeared in numerous films and other medium incarnations (video games, novels, comic books, etc.). Even Hollywood got its own Godzilla in 1998 (due to Tri-Star Pictures and Roland Emmerich).

The King of Clubs – Godzilla

The above Tom’s artworks aren’t the most vivid ones. It’s a dream to see a full coloured deck from this person.

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