| Title | : | Garbage Pail Kids |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 141970270X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781419702709 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 224 |
| Publication | : | First published April 1, 2012 |
Garbage Pail Kids Reviews
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ABRAMS has done a fantastic job of packaging this retrospective look at the 1985-1986 of these cards that came under fire from the creators of Cabbage Patch Kids for their realistic--or rather surrealistic--depiction of the popular dolls in "gross-out" configurations and depictions.
My friend, Aaron Boggs, who teaches Physics at our school and usually has his ear to the ground for these kinds of reading materials, brought this book to my attention with an email that simply read, "Can you believe we missed this?" And we weren't far off of the mark (this one released on April 1st--perfect timing for a book that reminds us that cultural icons are designed for satirical skewering--sometimes even inviting this kind of treatment).
Back to the packaging (I got to hold Aaron's copy today during a faculty meeting and I almost finished the collection before I had to give my attention over to other matters):
The cover is a thin paper that allows one to see into the hardcover of the book that gives the whole book the feel of a pack of trading cards.
Just like the originals from the 80's, the illustration on the cover is just a little off-center allowing colors to bleed over the bold outlines which just makes this book a perfect nostalgic piece. The back cover actually has a photograph of a rectangle of chewing gum that has hardened and broken into pieces. If the book had a scratch and sniff feature, ABRAMS could not have gotten this book closer to the look and feel of the original.
What Aaron and I discovered is that Art Spiegelman (MAUS, MAUS II) was a large contributor to the artwork and he is invited to write the forward to this collection. The card/stickers are in bold color and a second reference appears in the corner of each to share how the card/sticker may have been coupled with others in a mini series (Aaron had to explain this me)
Okay. . .I should probably say something about how one might use this in the classroom. Satire. Parody. Funny. There.
This one is really for the kid inside all of us who remember spending our hard earned monies (read change pilfered from parents) at the Stop and Go, the 7/11, or whatever gas station/convenience store was close to you. -
Nostalgia trip. I had a collection from series two.
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From my comments on "Wacky Packages": "Would it have killed Topps to include any sort of annotations to "[Garbage Pail Kids]?" Preliminary sketches, anecdotes, comparisons with real products, et al would have been much appreciated. The perfunctory foreword and afterword provide the only sort of context. Fansites already have all of the images, plus many of these extras. Superfluous."
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Interesting but I was hoping for a little write up about each card in addition to the images.
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This book was a ton of fun. I absolutely loved Garbage Pail Kid cards while growing up, even if my Mom didn't. After watching the excellent documentary on the cards this winter, I bought the book and really enjoyed going through the first five series and remembering which were my favorites, which I considered iconic as a 4th grader, and which were the hardest for me to collect.
The art holds up incredibly well and is a little shocking because of how sensitive our culture has become when it comes to kids. This is mostly crude, goofy humor with a very healthy dash of cultural satire and commentary to boot.
The book is simply about the card art. Nothing more or less. But it's worth it to revisit the cultural icon of these cards. I also highly recommend the documentary. -
I love everything GPK....I still have my old school collection and I have also bought some of the newer packs. I found the Funko vynal pops of GPK...my collection is huge and I love sharing them with my kids. This book was the icing on the cake when I came a crossed it on amazon and I had to get it. It looks beautiful sitting on my shelf. And I loved the 4 bonus cards in the back of the book that was never published.
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Trip down memory lane. I was surprised by how many of the cards I actually remembered.
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Great book showing all the cards from the 80s trading card stickers. I know I had a few of the cards but they have all been thrown away long ago. When they couldn’t get the rights to the Cabbage Patch Dolls and make a healthy profit they decided to do a parody. From a drawing from Wacky Packages there was The Garbage Pail kids and after a few drawings they found they could create enough to have a series. A great book for fans of the series.
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As a child in the mid-80's, I of course had a collection of Garbage Pail Kids cards and it was fun to revisit them with this book. (Unfortunately, my actual cards--along with my Madballs, M.U.S.C.L.E figures, Hasbro Pogo Bal, etc.--were long ago tossed in the bin.)
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I wish there was a 200 page history compendium to this and every iteration of every card ever made. The introduction by Art Spiegelman and the afterword by John Pound are awesome. And the art speaks for itself.
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After reading the Mars Attacks book, I decided to check this one out. It is an excellent source for nostalgia. I do wish there had been more written about the history or development of some cards, but it is still a great collection of classic images.
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The next best thing to having OS1 in mint condition
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Totally Gross!
Loved it, this was my childhood. Inspired all my art, interactions, and writing. ask my mom and all my elementary school teachers -
It was cool to read about how the GBK got started and see all the many ones that were drawn in the 1980s. As I flipped through I remember having a few of them.
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Nostalgia from when I collected these in the 80s!
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This may be the best book that I own, and definitely the best "art book" that I have. If I could give it a rating higher than 5 stars, then I wouldn't hesitate to do so.
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This review first appeared on
The Book Zone(For Boys) blog
If you are an adult who was 10 years old or above in 1985 then you don't need me to explain exactly who the Garbage Pail Kids were. If you are a teen or younger, and you have a devilish and macabre (some may say sick) sense of humour, then you have one hell of a treat in store for you with this book.
The Garbage Pail Kids originally appeared as a series of collector stickers, the first series of which appeared in 1985. Money was tight in those days as I come from a big family, so I was not able to become an obsessive collector of these stickers, but I had a number of friends who could afford them, and we would delight in their subversive and frequently disgusting images. I think they were eventually banned at my school, a story that was repeated across many schools in the UK and the USA. Parents and teachers hated them, ergo kids loved them!
The stickers came about as a reaction to the twee-ness of the Cabbage Patch Kids (and also, as explained in Art Spiegelman's introduction to this book, because Topps did not manage to strike early enough to get a cheap license from the makers of those dolls). Instead of images of those rather unnerving looking dolls, they featured horrible (in the best sense of the word) parodies. The artwork on these stickers was invariably of a very high quality, and they became so popular that they ended up running for a massive fifteen series, finally coming to a close in 1989.
Earlier this year the awesome people at Abrams Comic Arts published a retrospective book of the first five series. This book is page after page of artistic nastiness, with each page showcasing a different card in wonderful enlarged format, with every card in these series displayed. This hardcover book has a wax-coated dust jacket, designed to emulate the wrappers in which the stickers and accompanying strip of chewing gum were sold. We are also treated to a packet of four previously unreleased cards, although I haven't yet been able to bring myself to detach them from the inside back cover.
I think this book has huge appeal for today's youngsters, even though I know that there will be some teachers and parents who will frown at me saying so. Children's fiction has changed immeasurably since the late 80s, and kids are now able to read a plethora of books that just would not have seen the light back in those days. Author's such as Darren Shan, Lemony Snicket, Barry Hutchison.... the list goes on and on.... have taken great delight in making kids squirm, whilst also ensuring that the disgusting and macabre are laced with humour.
The Garbage Pail Kids book should also not be underestimated for its educational value. Bear with me whilst I explain.... The names of the various GBK kids are great examples of alliteration, word play and rhyming. A few personal favourites of mine include Adam Bomb, Drew Blood, Toothie Ruthie, Michael Mutant, Hugh Mungous, Brenda Blender, Stormy Heather and Gore May. And there are so many more I could mention. -
This book offered a delightful nostalgic glimpse to my childhood. I remember collecting GPKs, trading cards with friends, and trying to gross out my parents with the pictures. I didn't remember many names of the GPKs but I definitely recalled many of the pictures as I paged through this book. I also enjoyed the Introduction from one of the creative minds behind GPKs and the Afterword by the artist who came up with the original, overall "look" of the GPKs.
I learned that 15 series of cards were made during the height of GPKs' popularity in the 80s. This book contains the 206 cards from just series 1-5, though. Each page offers the original card with its "a" name and the alternate "b" name(s) provided at the bottom. For instance, card 105a was "Juicy JESSICA" and 105b was "Green DEAN." Some even had a third name, which apparently I had forgotten.
It really is a nice comprehensive collection of the era of GPKs that I remember. I recommend it for others who also collected and enjoyed GPKs but probably haven't seen them in years. It's a nice trip down memory lane. -
I love GPK cards as a kid, but it was rare that I actually got to buy any because my parents kept me to buying sports cards and comic books. These were a treat that I traded baseball cards with my friends for (ahh, the good ol' days). It was great seeing these cards again, but I was hoping for more behind-the-scenes information, which you just don't get. It may have also been interesting to get some commentary on each of the cards, but instead you just get the bare bones of the cards reprinted for your viewing pleasure along with a short forward and afterward.
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Doesn't have the backs of the cards. Very disappointing.
I guess what I really want is my old Garbage Pail Kids cards back. I had a ton in elementary school -- I remember there being a very active schoolyard market for them, everyone was always trading-- but then one day, my mom threw all mine away! Such a travesty of injustice -
The afterword, by John Pound is very interesting, giving a brief description of the development of ideas, art work and impact the cards had in the '80's.
Having said that however, examples of early, developing art work would have made the book much more engaging....
As it is, it's just a collection of all the cards that were printed....Good to see but....not enough... -
I collected these stickers as a kid, but had forgotten just how twisted they were; really fun, weird stuff. This reissue in book form is very well done, from the toxic 80's pink dust jacket on through.
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If you're from Johnstown (specifically Hornerstown) you'll get the reference: I used to love running up to L&D Candies after school at Meadowvale to packs of these. And that was when the store was just like a small house before they opened up the main addition. Great trip down memory lane!
