Wacky Packages

Take a fun look back at Quacker Oats, Blisterine, and more classic packaging parodies—plus an interview with creator Art Spiegelman! Known affectionately among collectors as “Wacky Packs,” the Topps stickers that parodied well-known consumer brands were a phenomenon in the 1970s—even outselling the Topps Company’s baseball cards for a while. But few know that the genius behind it all was none other than Art Spiegelman—the Pulitzer Prize–winning graphic novelist who created Maus. This treasury includes an interview with Spiegelman about his early career and his decades-long relationship with the memorabilia company—as well as a colorful compendium that will bring back memories of such products as Plastered Peanuts, Jail-O, Weakies cereal, and many more. Illustrated by notable comics artists Kim Deitch, Bill Griffith, Jay Lynch, Norm Saunders, and more, this collection is a visual treat, a load of laughs, and a tribute to a beloved product that’s been delighting kids (and adults) for decades.

A collection of all 206 colorfully over-the-top images from the first five series of the popular collectible stickers from the 1980s. Garbage Pail Kids—a series of collectible stickers produced by Topps in the 1980s—combined spectacular artwork and over-the-top satire. The result was an inspired collaboration between avant-garde cartoonists and humorists including Art Spiegelman, Mark Newgarden, John Pound, Tom Bunk, and Jay Lynch. A new generation of fans continues to embrace this pop-culture phenomenon as Garbage Pail Kids stickers are still being published. Now, for the first time, all 206 rare and hard-to-find images from Series 1 through 5 are collected, along with a special set of four limited-edition, previously unreleased bonus stickers. This exciting follow up to Wacky Packages is guaranteed to appeal to die-hard collectors as well as a new generation of fans. Praise for Garbage Pail Kids “If you ask me, reliving my time with Bad Breath Seth and Potty Scotty is worth the cover price alone.” —USAToday.com “A wonderfully designed tribute to these shit-disturbing cards in all their graphic, full-color glory.” —ComicsBeat.com “There’s a lot of interesting stuff in Spiegel man’s intro, and in the afterward by John Pound, the artist who originated and drew the bulk of the Kids. But the real reason to buy this book is for the graphic brilliance of the art itself.” —Boston Phoenix

Featuring humorous and often grotesque parodies of common household brands like Windaxe cleaner and Smoochers jam, this creative collection of illustrations offers a tongue-in-cheek critique of consumer culture.

Wacky Packages were produced between 1967 to 1994. This book is a tribute to Topps and all those behind this historic card series.

A lively exploration into America’s preoccupation with childhood innocence and its corruption In The Drinking Curriculum, Elizabeth Marshall brings the taboo topic of alcohol and childhood into the limelight. Marshall coins the term “the drinking curriculum” to describe how a paradoxical set of cultural lessons about childhood are fueled by adult anxieties and preoccupations. By analyzing popular and widely accessible texts in visual culture—temperance tracts, cartoons, film, advertisements, and public-service announcements—Marshall demonstrates how youth are targets of mixed messages about intoxication. Those messages range from the overtly violent to the humorous, the moralistic to the profane. Offering a critical and, at times, irreverent analysis of dominant protectionist paradigms that sanctify childhood as implicitly innocent, The Drinking Curriculum centers the graphic narratives our culture uses to teach about alcohol, the roots of these pictorial tales in the nineteenth century, and the discursive hangover we nurse into the twenty-first.

The career of Jay Lynch―cartoonist, satirist, and counterculture archivist―spanned more than six decades. All his signature Nard ‘n’ Pat stories from Bijou Funnies are featured in this volume. There are also samples of his trading card illustrations (for Garbage Pail Kids and other Topps Chewing Gum series) and his paintings. Lynch also narrates his life story throughout the book, from his dysfunctional childhood to the day he selected his coffin and headstone, in a half-century series of interviews and correspondence with comic historian Patrick Rosenkranz.

Brands, companies, and organizations, much like people, have personalities, and most of what we know and think about their personalities comes through visual identity. A visual identity is the strategically planned and purposeful presentation of the brand or organization in order to gain a positive image in the minds of the public, including - but not limited to - its name, logo, tagline, color palette and architecture, and even sounds. This practical guide explores visual identity from an organizational brand perspective (corporate, non-profit, etc.), rather than a product brand perspective. It not only helps readers to understand the meaning and value of an organization's visual identity, but also provides hands-on advice on how to promote and protect the identity. Each chapter draws from current research and also contains real-world examples and case studies that illustrate the key concepts.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Mars Attacks, this comprehensive book is the first-ever compilation of the infamous science-fiction trading card series produced by Topps in 1962. Edgy, subversive, and darkly comedic, this over-the-top series depicting a Martian invasion of Earth has a loyal following and continues to win new generations of fans. For the first time, this book brings together high-quality reproductions of the entire original series, as well as the hard-to-find sequel from 1994, rare and never-before-seen sketches, concept art, and test market materials. Also included are an introduction by series co-creator Len Brown and an afterword by Zina Saunders, daughter of the original artist, providing an insider’s behind-the-scenes view of the bizarre and compelling world of Mars Attacks. Includes four Mars Attacks trading cards. Includes preliminary sketches and artwork, including a facsimile of the original trading card mechanical on the inside back cover, with reproduction of the 1962 handwriting from the original Topps production department. Praise for Mars Attacks: “The best thing about this 50th-anniversary book is that it frees Mars Attacks from rose-tinted memory.” —NPR.org “The work produced by writer Len Brown and artist Norm Saunders, collected now in the anthology Mars Attacks: 50th Anniversary Collection . . . continues to pass muster as a lurid snapshot of sci-fi paranoia at its most pulp-fictiony.” —Wired.com “It’s like a mini-museum of alien grotesquerie between two solid covers, depicting all the iterations of the series, with further treatments by modern illustrators, and sketchbook reproductions, and names, dates, and times. Oh, and? And there are four bonus trading cards included with each copy of this graphic and texty artifact.” —AustinChronicle.com “It’s a true gem of American pop culture history that should be a centerpiece on any true geek’s coffee table.” —The Houston Press Art Attack blog