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Monday, March 19, 2012

Books / Nerd Every Garbage Pail Kid in One Book

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM

I loved Garbage Pail Kids when I was a boy. Even now, I couldn't tell you why. I've never liked snot jokes, I wasn't a rebellious child, I didn't collect any other kinds of cards, and I didn't have any younger Cabbage Patch Kid-loving little sisters to annoy. As objects, I think they were interesting: All these semi-adorable, semi-creepy dolls being tormented or behaving badly, with a name-based pun on every single card. They didn't have any real purpose or backstory, and they didn't hold any long-term interest once you took them out of the package and looked at them for a while. Nevertheless, I bought them all the time; I had at least a three-pack-a-week habit, at the height of my Garbage Pail Kid frenzy.

Abrams just put out Garbage Pail Kids, a full-color mini-art book with glossy reproductions of every GPK in the first three series. Fans remember that each kid was named twice, for maximum bilking purposes. Both names are listed below the picture—"Tattoo Lou" is also "Art Gallery," for example—and there's a foreword by GPK creator Art Spiegelman (yes, that Art Spiegelman) and an afterword by the artist who created most of the GPKs himself, John Pound. (Pound says the first series of GPKs were produced in a frenzied rush, at a rate of one card produced as a full-sized painting every day for 44 days.)

And besides a pack of unproduced-til-now GPK cards tucked into the back of the book, that's about it. It's a cute little package, thoughtfully assembled—the dust jacket seems to be made out of the same material that the cards used to be wrapped in, and beneath the jacket on the front cover of the book, you'll find a photograph of a stick of that terrible gum that came in every pack. I can't imagine Garbage Pail Kids is that interesting to someone who didn't collect them as a child, but as a nostalgia item, it's a pretty neat thing, filled with the same weird, light-as-air charisma of the original concept.

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Comments (18) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

I had every GPK for the first 15 series, sorted in order in binders when I was young. Then my younger siblings got a hold of them and since they were stickers they started putting them all over the place on dressers and stuff. Ruined.

Posted by Dave M on March 19, 2012 at 3:35 PM

Man, I want one. Probably because these are one of the few things my parents put a prohibition on my acquisition of when I was wee. Funny how that works.

Posted by Zebes

on March 19, 2012 at 3:40 PM

I loved 'em, too. I had dozens, but my mother threw them all out when I was in middle school. I managed to save a Rock E. Horror card somewhere . . .

Posted by stirwise on March 19, 2012 at 3:42 PM

For the same reason you like these:
http://www.bobheffner.com/dinosaursattac…

Because they're awesome.

Posted by Dougsf on March 19, 2012 at 3:44 PM

The first two series were hot shit. Everything after the 2nd series sucked.

Posted by blip on March 19, 2012 at 3:45 PM

Aw. I thought this was gonna be a tie-in to the movie.

Just kidding. I can't believe they're doing a movie (and I just found out this is the SECOND movie... dur). The book sounds kinda cool!

http://perezhilton.com/2012-03-15-garbag…

Posted by STJA on March 19, 2012 at 4:08 PM

1.) Of course you liked them, Paul. You were a little NERD. Nerds love grotesque yet beautiful art like something from an alternate universe, teens-only Mad Magazine that little kids wouldn't be allowed to buy (but would totally love).

Bless you for being that little nerd, Paul.

2.) Thank you Dougsf! I shall immediately sacrifice the next hour of my life to your link. Wait! I mean CURSE you, Dougsf!

Posted by Puty on March 19, 2012 at 4:23 PM

WHAT?! Only a picture of the stick of gum??

That dusty, rigid, crackly little pink shard is essential to the ceremony of opening a pack of GPK!!

What do you mean "they didn't hold any long-term interest"??

On the back, some of them were printed with a section of a larger image. They were puzzle pieces to a MEGA GARBAGE PAIL KID CARD!! You'd to go through about a whole box to get all the pieces.

OMG OMG OMG Where do I get this book??

Oh, Adam Bomb, I could never quit you!

Anyone got any Nerds?

Posted by What Now?

on March 19, 2012 at 4:51 PM

After reading this I wondered if there's also a Wacky Packs book and it seems that there is! WHAT A DAY!

Posted by derek_erdman

on March 19, 2012 at 4:55 PM

I never got these. Were they just funny character cards you collected? Like baseball cards or superhero cards only without any kind of backstory or book series or game behind the cards themselves? Hey look at these silly gross things you can collect and giggle at?

Posted by The CHZA on March 19, 2012 at 4:55 PM

*sigh* I'm old. I was in my mid-20s when GPK was introduced, and at that age found them decidedly stupid and lame. When I was a kid, I collected stamps. Which I realize is totally boring. Reading this post makes me feel like a curmudgeon. Get off my lawn!

Posted by Reverse Polarity on March 19, 2012 at 5:03 PM

@10

That's pretty much it, yeah.

Posted by Zebes

on March 19, 2012 at 5:25 PM

My dad would drive me all over the city and buy me pack after pack of these...I'd tear em open, get sick on chalky gum and hit the next store...thanks for this little stroll down the mem lane:)

Posted by julie russell

on March 19, 2012 at 7:02 PM

Only because you're too much of a puppy for Wacky Packs.

Posted by Just Jeff

on March 19, 2012 at 11:08 PM

I also remember them coming in little plastic figurines...in their own garbage pail I think, with gum or candy? Did anyone else buy these? Were they official GPK? Or just posers?

Posted by ArtBasketSara on March 20, 2012 at 8:39 AM

don't mystify GPK, it's finely illustrated, hand-painted art--something entirely foreign in the market today.

Posted by oldandknowsit on March 20, 2012 at 10:26 AM

@14...ummmm...no. Puppies are cute. No idea what a wacky pack is.

Posted by julie russell

on March 21, 2012 at 6:40 PM

There certainly seems to be a lot of love out there for GPK. For more details check out my review of the book from back in Feb > http://wingsart.wordpress.com/2012/02/10…

Posted by WingsArt on March 24, 2012 at 12:36 AM