Once again, not even vaguely MTIO related. However, Mark Gruenwald did create the Supreme Soviets, so this seems to fall within my apparent Gruenwald fetish even though I'd actually temporarily forgotten he created them when I bought this. Basically, I was always a fan of this team (and its other incarnations and related teams), and I was blessed enough to co-write the entry for the Winter Guard, which at least partially evolved from this team, in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 2005: Teams (I researched and first drafted all the stuff from the last 40 years or so, including this team; my co-writer rewrote the entire thing and added all the pre-1960s stuff and some other obscurities which I was mostly unfamiliar with). So, personal favorite, great team with interesting/diverse membership and history, plus a personal tie = a page I couldn't really pass up on. I've always wanted a decent piece of art for one of the Soviet teams...

     I purchased this in July, 2005, via EBay.