October,
2014 Philly Non-Sports Card Show; IDW GPK Comic Promo Card

November, 2014 Topps Store Online (Comic-Con Series 2 Bundle Exclusive);
Topps Promo Card P4 Geeky GUY
BACKSIDE: 2014 SERIES 2 AD STATING
132 CARDS ‘ON SALE NOVEMBER 2014’; NO STAR BACK-SHADOW, PLAIN RED BACKGROUND

Comic-Con
Series 3 — Topps company released an exclusive Jumbo (5 x 7) card set at
the San Diego Comic Con in July of 2015 with 5 different characters from the same
10 different aforementioned countries each, for a total of 50 cards; the five
characters being: OS1 Nasty NICK (pictured), ADAM Bomb, JASON Basin, New Wave
DAVE and Spacey STACY.
The 10 countries being The U.K./Australia/New Zealand/etc. (The Garbage Gang),
Argentina/Chile (Basuritas), Brazil (Gang Do Lixo), France (Les Crados), Israel
(Havurat Ha’zevel), Italy (Sgorbions), Japan (Bukimi Kun), Spain (La Pandilla
Basura), Germany (Die Total Kaputten Kids) and Russia (Deti Otbrosy).

NOTE:
Similar to the 2015S2 Foreign Legion Sticker set with 10 different images for
characters released in 10 different countries over the past 30 years that were
hobby box exclusive cards.
The ten characters being: OS1 ADAM Bomb, OS1 GuilloTINA, OS3 Hurt CURT, OS3 Mugged
MARCUS, OS4 NICKY Hickey, OS5 Handy RANDY, OS5 Diaper DAN, OS8 Explorin’ NORMAN,
OS10 ANN Chovie and OS13 Toilet BO.

Comic-Con
Series 4 — The Topps company also released an exclusive Jumbo (5 x 7) card
set at the New York Comic Con in October of 2015 with 5 different characters from
the same 10 different countries each, for a total of 50 cards limited to 100 sets
(52 cards including two misprints); the five characters being: OS1 Boozin’ BRUCE,
JAY Decay (pictured), KIM Kong, Bony JOANIE and Mean GENE. For the same 10 countries
listed above. The five sets were also sold at Topps Online thoughtout November
and December of the same year. NOTE: ALL SETS HAVE HAVE THE ’30TH’
LOGO ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE CARD WITH THE FOREIGN LEGION TITLE

Comic-Con
one-off —The third iteration for the Topps Comic-Con JUMBO Card is CC13a
Smilin’ STAN completed by Mark Pingitore for the Comikaze Expo (the Facebook ad
can be seen pictured further below). Concepts from various artists were turned
in, and although all were done in very good taste, the least “offensive”
one was picked, with a very ‘nice’ name (a good rhyme instead of an adjective
works wells sometimes; ex. STAN The Man). At this stage, it’s more of a CPK ad
for Stan Lee at the Comikaze Expo that could have been named STAN Ding (a good
name with wordplay); rather than a GPK parody. However, the artwork at hand still
serves it’s purpose and gets the point (and fun) across to convention-goers and
collectors. The Topps P4 promo card of the same name was handed out at the same
time the Jumbo card was available; however, it contains a dark blue namebar plate
with white lettering.

ONLINE FACEBOOK AD SAMPLE

NOTE: this SDCC set is
tied to the 2016S1 ‘Apple Pie’ GPK release and its many Topps online exclusive
releases

SDCC
— An exclusive, Giant 10-card set of the Prime Slime Trashy TV ‘Summer Preview’
was released at the San Diego Comic Con in July of 2016 at the Atomic Toybox Entertainment,
Inc. booth for $20. The set is an enlarged replica of the exclusive ‘Summer Preview’
set sold by Topps online in May of 2016 that acts as promotional material for
the then upcoming Prime Slime Trashy TV set to be released in October of 2016.
NOTE: this SDCC set is tied to the
2016S2 ‘Slime Time’ GPK release and its Topps ‘TV Summer Preview’ online exclusive
release.

NYCC — An exclusive, 10-card
set of the Prime Slime Trashy TV ‘Pack’ was released at the New York Comic Con
in October of 2016 at the Topps booth for $30. The images are exclusive to this
set and were sold the weekend following the ‘street date’ release of the regualar
Prime Slime Trashy TV set on October 5th, 2016. Three images were painted by artists
David Gross and two images were completed by artist JungHwa Im.

The 8-card ‘Riot Fest’ music festival
set was available exclusively at the Riot Fest
show in Chicago for the dates
of September 16-18, 2016

RiotFest.org: “Somehow
the wonderful people at Topps approved Riot Fest to have its very own Garbage
Pail Kids Series just in time for the festival next week in Chicago (Sept. 16-18).
And we couldn’t be more thrilled. When we caught word that this would be
actually happening, we immediately called some of our Riot friends to see if they’d
be into having their own Garbage Pail Card. And within hours, Riot Fest Series
One Garbage Pail Kids was born. And it’s fucking awesome. These exclusive
cards will ONLY be available in limited quantities at Riot Fest Chicago. And,
by limited, we mean limited. So, if you want a pack—which contains the entire
series—be sure to visit the Riot merch area on Friday because something’s
telling us they won’t make it past the day.”

Unlike most Topps GPK releases
these images had to be okayed by the artists and management so the process took
a bit more time. Concepts and final artwork were created and painted by GPK artists
Brent Engstrom, Joe Simko, David Gross and Mark Pingitore. Riot Fest submitted
their own concepts for NOFX’s ‘Fat MIKE’ (to be extra fat) and the ‘Riot FESTUS’
image, the Bitchin’ Camaro car used to promote the festival that pays tribute
to OS5 cards 205a Hot ROD and 205b BUD Buggy; which in turn is a GPK tribute to
Ed Roth’s Hot-Rod artwork.

On
June 15, 2017, Lawrence Harmed took to social media, stating, “In 2016 the
amazing David Gross was kind enough to turn us into Garbage Pail Kids in honor
of Riot Fest, and now, for the first time, we’re pleased to show off his alt version
of the art for the Lawrence Harmed GPK card. Also, we’re playing thursday at House
of Vans with Dillinger 4 and Toys that Kill. AND we’re doing Riot Fest again.
This, folks, is what’s known as a deluge of cool TLA related info. xoxo”

2017 Topp Garbage Pail Kids/Wacky
Packages Philly Set and Other Promo and Exclusive Cards including Tom Bunk’s ‘Wacky
Garbageland’ card, a George Wright brand mash-up and a new Melty Misfits promo
from Maraschino Distribution. The 9-card parody set was available exclusively
at the Philly Non-Sport Show in Allentown, PA for the dates of April 22-23, 2017.
Pictured: Tom Bunk’s final artwork, handed out on the second day, Sunday.

Beckett.com:
“When it comes to events on the entertainment side of the hobby, the Philly
Non-Sports Show is one of the biggest. It’s like the Non-Sport National.
The theme for the April 22 and 23 show is Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages.
That theme carries over to both artist appearances and a set of nine exclusive
GPK/Wacky Packages cards. Taking place at the Merchants Square Mall in Allentown,
PA, non-sport dealers from across the country are in attendance. Collectors can
also meet six artists from the worlds of Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids.
They include Neil Camera, Layron DeJarnette, Smokin’ Joe McWilliams, Chad
Scheres, Joe Simko and Jeff Zapata. All six [arists] did artwork for the exclusive
nine-card 2017 Philly Garbage Pail Kids/Wacky Packages set. It includes three
different GPK gags, each with the traditional A/B name variations. The final three
cards come from the Wacky world. Tying in with the show, each illustration and
gag is connected to the hobby, offering jokes likely best understood by collectors.
The cost of each set is $25. It’s only available at the show. Any extra sets
that might be left over will not be sold. Proceeds from sales go towards helping
pay for the guest artists’ accommodations and expenses.” — Ryan
Cracknell, April 21, 2017.

Picture
above are cropped images of the final artwork for the three printed GPK
characters along with the tight sketch of Zapata’s Superman gag. Topps
was unable or unwilling to print two DC-related characters within the same
mini set so DeJarnette’s original Batman concept was replaced with the
printed Vegas Elvis parody instead. The Batman concept eventually found
it’s way within the 2018S1 ‘We Hate the 80s’ set within the ‘Movies’ subset. Wacky
Packages artist George Wright submitted a 50th WP anniversary card concept
for the Philly GPK/WP mash-up set that contained the ADAM Bomb character
dead center but was switched to ADAM’s head on a serving tray by a WP character
found to his left now wtih an exploding mushroom cloud above his head. Non-Sport
Update, who still throws the bi-annual Philly shows and worked on the set, which
includes Roxanne, Marline and Harris Toser, felt Topps would not approve these
two initial ideas so went with Wright’s third and final concept where ADAM is
in a garbage can pressing the red-button next to the Wacky character. Becket
Media acquired Non-Sport Update Magazine in 2016.

Instagram,
09/08/2017, “riot_fest ~ Riot Fest Garbage Pail Kids are back. This year,
we have 10 new cards for you to collect and they’ll only be available at Riot
Fest. And yes, they’re amazing.” The 10-card ‘Riot Fest’ music festival set
was available exclusively at the Riot Fest show in Chicago for the dates of September
15-17, 2017.

RiotFest.org: “Riot Fest
Garbage Pail Kids are back. The wonderful people at Topps let us lampoon some
of our favorite past and present Riot Fest bands again for Riot Fest Garbage Pail
Kids Series Two. If you’ll recall, that’s when we brought you Garbage
Pail Kids of Fat Mike, The Lawrence Harmed, Ray Gun, Mad Milo, Riot Festus, Awesome
Andrew, Taking Back Tidal Wave, and GWAR Noir. This year, we have ten more to
add to your collection. These exclusive cards—which you can peep below—will
ONLY be available in limited quantities at Riot Fest Chicago. And by limited,
we mean limited. So, if you want a pack—which contains the entire series—be
sure to visit the Riot Fest merch area on Friday because something’s telling
us they won’t last long.”

Unlike most Topps GPK releases
these images had to be okayed by the artists and management so the process took
a bit more time. Concepts and final artwork were created and painted by GPK artists
Brent Engstrom, Joe Simko, David Gross and Mark Pingitore. Riot Fest requested
a concept for their ‘Riot Beast’ mascot and a ‘Riot Feast’ theme via Topps from
the artist. Engstrom created a beast with a forked tongue for the first concept
where Riot Fest had a ‘regular’, aleit very long, added and strumming lines were
added to both the tongue and tail areas for the second, updated concept. Riot
Fest had a lollipop sucker held by the beast added which was then changed to a
slice of pizza seen within both color concepts … after the final artwork was
created, Riot Fest requested the lollipop once again, but Topps stated it was
too late in production since the final artwork was already completed.

Artist David Gross worked Brent
Engstrom’s concept for card #6 ‘Rise Aghast’ and Brent Engstrom completed Joe
Simko’s concept for card #10 “Riot Feast”, in which both cards #9 and
#10 contain a plethora of original series Garbage Pail Kids characters.
Artist Brent Engstrom also submitted concepts for both Tim Armstrong and Fishbone,
after similar concepts had already been approved by Topps for artists Joe Simko
and David Gross whom completed the artwork for cards #4 ‘TIM Strong Arm’ and #7
‘FISHER Bone’, respectively. Artist David Gross also submitted a Tim Armstrong
(of Rancid) concept as well as a ‘Riot Feast’ concept, both rejected. A limited
edition ‘RIOT BEAST 2017’ T-shirt ($25) and screened ‘RIOT FEST’ poster ($50)
measuring 18×24 were available at the festival. All items were later avaible,
including the limited edition 11-card set ($25), online through their website.

On
September 18th, 2017, Santa Cruz Skateboards took to social media to make known
their partnership with the Topps company stating: We are excited to announce
our new collaboration with Garbage Pail Kids to present to you the first ever
blind bag variant skateboard! Each bag contains one randomly assorted variant
skateboard featuring Adam Bomb from the classic Topps trading card series. All
boards come in 8.25 x 31.8 on a medium concave. To see more about the collab as
well as all the one of a kind background and artist boards, click [the Hand]!
Sneak peeks at the boards surfaced online during May 2017 and the worldwide released
happened on October 9th, the day after the New York Comic Con extended weekend
that occurred from October 5th through the 8th, 2017.

The artwork for the Hazardous
HAND, Radioactive ROB and Heaving HAND were all created by artist PitchGrim who
works as a graphic designer for Santa Cruz Skateboards and also takes on freelance
work, finishing quite a line-up of work for many bands and brands. Both Hazardous
HAND and Radioactive ROB are tributes to the popular ADAM Bomb GPK character,
while Heaving HAND is a parody of the Santa Cruz masoct Screaming Hand. A line
of apparel for the holiday season also debuted in October at the NYCC, featuring
either the GPK ADAM Bomb, the Radioactive ROB character, or the Screaming Hand
mascot titled Heaving HAND. And, like the boards, had a worldwide release after
the convention on October 9th. A jumbo card of Hazardous HAND was available at
the NYCC, measuring almost 9 x 12 inches, along with a Heaving HAND enamel pin;
limited and numberd to #400. More information for Santa Cruz Skateboards within
GPK Licenses ‘YEAR : MISC’ page.

The San Diego Comic Con
International took place at the Convention Center in San Diego between July 19th
through July 22nd and offered several Garbage Pail Kids items for sale.
“These 8×10 prints will be available at the Atomic Toybox booth at SDCC.
Three different versions will be available: white background ($15), transparent
($20) and foil ($25).” — Topps (07/16/2018) — Limited Edition of
300 each. The three different left-over prints, of the nine different variations,
was also available at the 2019 SDCC between the dates of July 17th through July
21st at the Atomic Toybox booth, #3921, individually, signed by Joe Simko, and
within Creepy Co. ‘mystery bags’.

“Full GPK T-shirt reveal ($35)
from Atomic Toybox Entertainment. My painting printed by Creepy Co. Available
at the Atomic Toybox booth #3921 at San Diego Comic Con next week.” —
Joe Simko (07/11/2018) — Limited Edition. The Creepy Co. also had an exclusive
NAT Nerd enamel pin and ADAM Bomb lanyard set for sale ($15) at the same booth;
visit the ‘Creepy Company’ page within the ‘GPK~Land’ section for more information.
Jago Games also had a 4×6 postcard advert for their upcoming ‘GPK : The Game”
mobile app.

INSTAGRAM,
07/24/2018 : TEASERS
creepycompany TONIGHT 7PM CENTRAL – The sun has set on
Comic Con but we’re not quite done geeking out yet. Stop by the site tonight and
get your hands on our remaining supply of SDCC EXCLUSIVE pins, lanyards and t-shirts.
Supplies limited! BUY NOW, LIMITED SUPPLIES! – The sun has set on another Comic
Con but for you the fun has just begun. All of our exclusive, leftover SDCC Garbage
Pail Kids® merch is available on our site now (including a pin/lanyard combo
and a shirt with new, original artwork)!

The
Fright-Rag FREDDY character could be purchased as a limited edition ‘T-Shirt Wax
Pack’ that included a ringer tee, an enamel pin and a 5×7 trading card with a
$40 pricetag; only 200 produced. Website: LIMITED TO 200 ONLY! Our very own official
GPK mascot – FRIGHT-RAG FREDDY is back in this limited edition wax pack t-shirt
set! Artwork by Brent Engstrom. Officially Licensed. Each pack comes with: Exclusive
Fright-Rag Freddy T-Shirt printed on our super soft 4.5oz, 100% pre-shrunk ringspun
cotton, Fright-Rag Freddy Enamel Pin , 5×7 Fright-Rag Freddy GPK card, Everything
comes wrapped in an oversized wax wrapper.

With
their license for Stranger Things, Topps received approval from Netflix
to create a Stranger Kids GPK parody set to release at the New York Comic Con
from October 4th through the 7th, 2018. The release, containing twenty cards from
the A-name set and twenty cards from the B-name set, was also sold online through
their website. The entire set was painted by artist Joe Simko who autographed
cards at the NYCC on Saturday, October 6th. The A-name and B-name sets contained
twenty different images for a total of 40 cards for the base card release. The
NYCC also contained four exclusive cards, three Upside Down cards; three images
from the base set cleverly turned upside down with a blue tint and slapped with
a C-name and different nameplate color, and the title/poster card. Only one exclusive
card per combo set could be obtained per purchase; a collector would need to spend
$160 at the show to complete the entire set. The four exclusive cards were not
available via online sales. A poster ad for the release was shared to their social
media channels on October 1st, 2018 to promote the release. Artist Joe Simko re-watched
seasons 1 and 2 of Stranger Things on Neflix prior to starting the project.

The hallucinating cards #8
were not supposed to have a logo or nameplate since there was one already painted
onto the final artwork; Simko mock-up. The original tight pencil mock-up cards
had a curved ‘STRANGER KIDS’ header that was switched to the banner-style header
at the last minute before printing. Had the Matthew Modine concept not been approved
due to image rights via Netflix an alternate ‘Double DUFFER’ concept was on standby,
the OS2 tribute piece remains unpublished due to a delayed approval process; however,
an unknown number of printed cards were handed out the first day of the NYCC and
are extremely rare. Other tribute pieces include a scene from the E.T. movie,
Hopper and a chain smoking OS1 characer by Pound, skateboarder 15a MAX Splat (‘MADRID’
on the skate deck is the skateboard company that creates official Stranger
Things boards) that’s an OS3 concept of PAT Splat by Tom Bunk, and card 13a
Bye Bye BARB having the same milk carton as 2018S1 ’80s History subset card 7a
Milk CARLTON by Simko; pulled from the GPK Classic set, et cetera. The character
nomenclature for cards Hallucinate EIGHT and Breakfast At ELEVEN match their corresponding
card numbers, 8 and 11, respectively; Simko’s idea, and the first unlucky victim
received the unlucky 13 card number; idea by Topps. The original Demogorgon card
image was much simpler in surroundings; Simko was asked to add Dungeon and Dragons
artifacts into the piece.

NSU: 2018 Topps Stranger
Kids mashes up a pair of ’80s worlds, one mondern interpretation (Stranger
Things) and the other, a piece of the decade’s pop culture fingerprint (Garbage
Pail Kids). The mini set debuted at New York Comic Con a few weeks before Topps’
main Stranger Things set arrived. Stranger Kids has two different
sets of 20 cards, which are GPK interpretations of key Stranger Things
characters. The split sets come in the form of separate but similar A/B name variations.
After NYCC, sets were also offered through the Topps website. In addition to the
main set, bonus cards were also available at NYCC. For those who bought the A
and B sets at the show, collectors got an extra card not offered through the website.
2018 Topps Stranger Kids is fully licensed by Netflix. Vol 29, No.
6 Dec/Jan 2019

Besides
the Stranger Kids parody card release at NYCC and online, a Netflix Stranger
Things and Topps GPK mash-up set, the Topps Company also handed out
an exclusive Saturday-only promo card for their ‘Oh, the Horror-ible’ release
from the Classic Film Monster subst for card image 10a JACK Lagoon painted by
artist Brent Engstrom. Artist JOE Simko also signed a NYCC-specific autograph
card for an hour on Saturday, Oct 6th for his artwork image for the ’80s Horror
subset card 10a Creep-JOE which kept the nomenclature within the nameplate. For
more information and final artwork images on the set please visit the ‘2018 Online
Sets’ section.

1 of 4 Pumpkin HEDDY
— Final: JOE Simko / Concept:
ROXANNE Toser

PNS Exclusive Promo Cards

The Non-Sport Philly Card Show
took place in Allentown, PA during the weekend of October 20th and 21st and included
two official Topps cards printed for the Saturday night dinner as exclusive promos.
A Garbage Pail Kids character painted by artist JOE Simko and Wacky
Packages product painted by artist FRED Wheaton, both being a tribute to the
Topps parody brands and the theme of the Fall show. 100 cards of each title were
printed and could not be sold but had to be handed out at the dinner as exlusives
only, per Topps. The Fall Hallowe’en-themed cards are numbered 1 of 4 and 2 of
4 and the May 2019 Spring Flower-themed cards were numbered 3 of 4 and 4 of 4,
GPK and Wacky, respectively.

2 of 4 CREEPS —
Final: FRED Wheaton / Concept: ROXANNE Toser & input by RENEE Davis

Showrunner
ROXANNE Toser w/ artist JOE Simko; NOTE: Final artwork with solid white background.

Both titles had to be reviewed
by Topps and their lawyers; the Wacky held up the process, interestingly, it was
asked whether the CREEPS faces were based off of any real-life people; they weren’t.
Fun fact: Pumpkin HEDDY’s face can be found in the WP CREEPS product and
vice versa, the CREEPS candy name can be located within the GPK‘s head
pail; Roxanne Toser wanted the two parody brands to play off of each other and
be inter-connected. A third exclusive dinner card was created by artist TOM Bunk
but printed by the Philly Non-Sport (PNS) show whom also printed two additional
GPK-related promo cards handed out to all attendees on both Saturday and
Sunday. The final artwork pictured below is for Bunk’s OS8 cannibal-character
tribute with its original nameplate along with an early mock-up image for the
reverse card back.

NOTE:
Artwork by Artist TOMAS Bunk — Text by AARON J. Booton

NOTE: Artwork by Artist BRENT Engstrom
— Text by AARON J. Booton

The
first promo card for all attendees was a Ghostbusters parody piece by artist
BRENT Engstrom which paid specific tribute to the Tosers who took over organizing
for the show in 2012 and have been instrumental within the non-sport card community
for several decades, starting out with a mail-order business and then publishing
the Non-Sport Update collector magazine. The social-media promotional ad
is pictured above along with an early mock-up image for the reverse card back
and text. The second promo card was a Pan’s Labyrinth parody piece by artist
MARK Pingitore for his forthcoming Magic Marker Art Horrorible Kids Series
4 release in 2019. The Tosers had asked me if I would give writing the reverse
card-back text a shot for the Bunk and Engstrom cards, which was a huge honor.

The ToyCon and Gross Card Con
#4 took place at the Westgate in Las Vegas between March 1st through the 3rd and
offered two exclusive Garbage Pail Kids promo cards along with their regular GPK-inspired
sets created by the artists behind the Topps cards and printed by GPK and Wacky
Warehouse. The pair of promo cards was painted by artist David Gross and were
a direct tie-in into the 2019S1 We Hate the 90s subset ’90s TV’.

3 of 4 MAY Flowers —
Art: LAYRON DeJarnette / Concept: ROXANNE Toser

PNS Exclusive Promo Cards

The Philly Non-Sport Card Show
took place in Allentown, PA during the weekend of May 4th and 5th and included
two official Topps cards printed for the Saturday night dinner as exclusive promos.
A Garbage Pail Kids character painted by artist LAYRON DeJarnette and Wacky
Packages product painted by artist Chenduz, both being a tribute to the Topps
parody brands and the theme of the Fall show. 100 cards of each title were printed
and could not be sold but had to be handed out at the dinner as exlusives only,
per Topps. The Spring Flower-themed cards are numbered 3 of 4 and 4 of 4 and the
Oct 2018 Fall Hallowe’en-themed cards were numbered 1 of 4 and 2 of 4, GPK
and Wacky, respectively.

4 of 4 CREEPS —
Final: Chenduz / Concept: ROXANNE Toser + AARON Booton

FINAL
Artwork : Leg Removed; Rain Added — Digital
Pee Removed

Both
titles had to be reviewed by Topps and their lawyers; the GPK held up the process
due to the ‘golden shower’ concept of the flower getting peed on by the canine.
The final artwork for the GPK has the dog leg removed and digital rain added;
the pee was also digitally added in case Topps did not choose that version. Fun
fact: MAY Flowers’ face can be found in the WP OLD PETAL product and vice
versa, the OLD PETAL worms can be located within the GPK‘s foreground;
Roxanne Toser wanted the two parody brands to play off of each other and be inter-connected.
A third exclusive dinner card was created by artist TOM Bunk but printed by the
Philly Non-Sport (PNS) show whom also printed three additional GPK-related
promo cards handed out to all attendees on both Saturday and Sunday. The final
artwork pictured further below is for Bunk’s potted plant GPKid(s) without a nameplate
(for this character) along with reverse card back and text.

NOTE: Artwork by Artist TOMAS Bunk
— Text by AARON J. Booton

NOTE: Artwork by Artist BRENT
Engstrom — Text by AARON J. Booton

The
first promo card for all attendees was a Ghostbusters parody piece by artist
BRENT Engstrom which paid specific tribute to the Tosers who took over organizing
for the show in 2012 and have been instrumental within the non-sport card community
for several decades, starting out with a mail-order business and then publishing
the Non-Sport Update collector magazine. The social-media promotional ad
is pictured above along with the reverse card back and text; this particular promo
is card ‘1b’ with a different background, nomenclature and reverse card text to
go with the October 2018 ‘1a’ promo card. The second promo card was a Edward
Scissorhands parody piece by artist MARK Pingitore for his forthcoming Magic
Marker Art Horrorible Kids Series 4 release in 2019. The Tosers had asked
me if I would give writing the reverse card-back text a shot for the Bunk and
Engstrom cards again, which was a huge honor.

Product
by Super7® and Universal Studios Monsters™ included GPK-themed,
cross-promotional trading cards published by Topps. The 24-card set made its debut
at the San Diego Comic Con over the extended weekend of July 17th thru the 22nd.
Universal Studios Monsters™ plays tribute to the ‘Universal Classic Monsters’
films by Universal Pictures during the 1920s through the 1950s including the classics
Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, Creature
from the Black Lagoon, et cetera. Artist Joe Simko, who painted all twelve
characters for the card set, based his monsters and backgrounds on the great Basil
Gogos Famous Monsters (of Filmland) cover illustrations from the 1960s.
The Topps company had their own licensed monster cards titled Creature Feature
in both 1973 with Universal Pictures Co., Inc. and in 1980 with Universal City
Studios, Inc. The ‘Wave 2’ product for the second print run of GPK x Universal
Monsters by Super7 and Topps was available to ship in November of 2019. The new
box ($144) and wrapper pack ($8) color is green with a pink GPK logo, but the
pink (aka rhodamine red) box and wrapper is also part of the second production.
The cards contain two asterisks (**), with various box and wrapper variations
including: information on the back of the box in different order, missing color
on wrappers, ‘albino’ white creature wrappers, et cetera. A blue wrapper has also
been tested by Sidekick Lab. The third wave was released in January 2020 with
a blue pack and box but the same cards as the second wave. See the GPK Licenses
2019 and GPK Licenses 2020 pages for more information on the Universal Monsters
x GPK releases.

FIRST
EDITION; 1ST PRINTING
Print
Run: Approximately 200 boxes. July 2019 release.
24 Packs each; 3 cards +
3 stickers per pack; one unopened box should yield exactly 6 complete sets.

— Distributed by Super7 onsite at San Diego Comic Con, 2019 — Pink Box,
Pink Wrappers — No asterisk (*) on card backs — Cards printed on thin
cardboard stock with a textured finish — Stickers printed on thick sticker
stock with a thin backer — Box is printed on thin cardboard with a textured
stock — Back of Wrapper has the Super7 logo below the barcode — (This
serves to distinguish it as a 1st edition, 1st printing unopened pack)
—
No known Wrapper variants.
Compiled
information by Simeon Lipman; Please see the GPK Licenses 2020 page for 3rd Edition
information.

Super7 — “The Terror
Returns! The Super7 collaboration with the legendary @officialuniversalmonsters
continues at @comic_con again this year with the Revenge of the Boodega pop-up
event! The abomination begins after dark in San Diego on Comic-Con Wednesday (7/17)
with the opening of this year’s Monsters Boodega! The “monstore” takes
over the @super7sandiego store which is a quick 10 minute walk from the convention
site. It be haunted by exclusive items created especially for this horrifying
event, like the debut of Super7 x Garbage Pail Kids x Universal Monsters! YOU
WILL NOT NEED A COMIC-CON BADGE TO VISIT THE BOODEGA – ALL ARE WELCOME!”

Super7 — “The
Terror Returns! The Super7 collaboration with the legendary @officialuniversalmonsters
continues at @sdcc_2019 again this year with the Revenge of the Boodega pop-up
event! The abomination begins after dark in San Diego on Comic-Con Wednesday (7/17)
with the opening of this year’s Monsters Boodega! The “monstore” takes
over the @super7sandiego store which is a quick 10 minute walk from the convention
site. It be haunted by exclusive items created especially for this horrifying
event, like an exclusive apparel collection! YOU WILL NOT NEED A COMIC-CON BADGE
TO VISIT THE BOODEGA – ALL ARE WELCOME! Universal Monsters Boodega Hours: Wednesday
– 7/17 from 9:00pm to Midnight and Thursday – 7/18 from 11:00am to 9:00pm. Stay
tuned as we reveal more exclusive terror and horrific items in the coming days
and weeks leading up to SDCC 2019!”

Super7 revealed two Universal
Monsters x GPK t-shirts that will be avaiable at the show and pop-up event as
well as the trading card packs. The three different L.E. reprints leftover from
2018, of the nine different variations, was also available at the 2019 SDCC between
the dates of July 17th through July 21st at the Atomic Toybox booth, #3921, individually,
signed by Joe Simko, and within Creepy Co. ‘mystery bags’. The Creepy Co. also
had an exclusive BRUCE Pain enamel pin and GPK lanyard set for sale ($15) at the
same booth and debuted the GPK Bop Bags; buy all four and receive a large Punchy
PERRY sticker. Visit the ‘Creepy Company’ page within the ‘GPK~Land’ section for
more information. FYE had special promo cards printed up by Topps for both John
Pound (ADAM Bomb) and Joe Simko (Barf-Bit BETTY) to sign at their booth and the
Abrams booth. ABRAMS’ PR DOCUMENT: 11:00 AM–12:00 PM – Abrams booth
#1216 – John Pound will sign Garbage Pail Kids. Limit 1 item per person.

Super7
partnered with Hot Topic in late October to carry a select variety of GPK x Universal
Monsters T-shirts via their Topps license. This product debut was online ONLY;
to test sales. The quantities for this test run were limited and if sales were
big enough the product could and would eventually be placed in their physical
locations. The four T-shirts can be seen on the GPK Licenses page for ‘Year :
2019’.

Barf-Bit BETTY SDCC 2019 +
Crispy CHRISTY NYCC 2019 Exclusive Promo Cards

CREEPY
COMPANY — SDCC Unofficial Blog; 06/27/2019 : Atomic Toybox Entertainment
at booth #3921
Garbage Pail Kids Bruce Pain Pin and
Lanyard Set: This
special limited edition enamel pin and lanyard set licensed exclusively by Topps
and produced by Creepy Co., measures approximately 2″ x 2.5″ on a 4″
x 3″ backing card. This exclusive pin features fan favorite mash up, Bruce
Pain from the Garbage Pail Kids trading card series. It’s one of two exclusive
lanyard and pin sets. This pin was specially created for San Diego Comic-Con.
Limit 3 per customer. Price: $15
NOTE: Lanyard artwork by Howard Cruse from
GIANT Series set.

CREEPY COMPANY — SDCC
Website; 07/01/2019 : Atomic Toybox Entertainment at booth #3921
Garbage
Pail Kids Mystery Bags: These
limited edition Mystery Grab Bags by Creepy Co. are STUFFED full of Garbage Pail
Kids goodness! Licensed exclusively by Topps, and created just for San Diego ComiCon,
these bags hold a fistful of items that are valued at over $75! They come in 3
different colors and look just like the original GPK wax wrappers that you know
and love. Measuring 13” x 10”, each bag – at a minimum – will have a
one of several nifty Garbage Pail Kids shirt designs (you get to pick your size
in advance), one of 9 different exclusive GPK prints, one of several designs of
a pair of GPK socks, a limited edition exclusive oversize GPK sticker (Bruce Pain),
and a random assortment of other great GPK stuff. Gotta get one to see what’s
inside! Price: $10

The
Topps Company set up booth #454 for the New York Comic Con over the weekend of
October 4-6, 2019 and have a GPK set available with NYCC exclusive content, created
by NYC artist Joe Simko. Other companies holding a Garbage Pail Kids license would
also be set up at the event, including Abrams, Beeline Creative (Geeki Tikis),
FYE and Super7. On October 1st, the Topps Blog posted the following info for GPK:

New York Comic Con is back in town and Topps will be attending! Visit the
Topps booth (#454) and be on the lookout for these activities throughout Comic
Con weekend. We look forward to seeing you at booth #454 in the Jacob K. Javits
Center from October 3-6, 2019 during New York Comic Con! Schedule of Events: Friday:
Joe Simko, Garbage Pail Kids (4-5 pm): The man behind so many of our favorite
Garbage Pail Kids characters will be signing for 50 fans at the Topps booth! Saturday:
Exclusive promo cards are also available each day, while supplies last: GPK (Saturday).
Topps will also have various products available for purchase at NYCC, including
Garbage Pail Kids x NYC Takeover. Garbage Pail Kids x NYC. Takeover will include
a NYCC Exclusive Bonus Card while supplies last.

The
On Demand set contained 1a – 10b A-name and B-name base cards, 3 green parallels
cards, 2 pink parallel cards, (1:2 chance at?) 1 C-name card or a 1:2 chance at
a sketch card; 26 cards for $40. The set also came accompanied with an exclusive
NAT Nerd NYCC promo card. A ‘Meditating MICHAEL / Masked MANNY’ 2019 NYCC autograph
card was available Friday while Simko signed cards. A GPK stop-motion promo card
was available at several locations and there was a Saturday-only RoOtH 2019S2
NYCC promo card.

FYE — Booth # 622 —
SIGNING: Joe Simko on Saturday Oct 5th from 2-4pm.
Tonyk — Booths 2164
+ 2872 — SIGNING: Joe Simko on Friday Oct 4th from 1-3pm, booth 2164.

Although Abrams Books, FYE
and Super7 didn’t have new GPK product for NYCC, Beeline Creative had their Geeki
Tikis debut at the Toynk booth for ADAM Bomb, Bony TONY and Leaky LINDSAY. While
supplies lasted, the Geeki Tikis came with exclusive trading cards for Aloha ADAM,
Tiki TONY and Luau LINDSAY, respectively, and artwork created by artist Joe Simko.
A 10×14 Jumbo card of Aloha ADAM was available for $16ea on Saturday only. For
more information on Beeline Creative’s Geeki Tikis visit the ‘GPK Licences’ page.
Super7 did have a GPK Tee-Shirt on hand from SDCC for $30 and FYE had an exclusive
NYCC promo card.

Barf-Bit
BETTY SDCC 2019 + Crispy CHRISTY NYCC 2019 Exclusive Promo Cards

The On-Demand set, minus the
exclusive bonus card, went on sale on Topps.com on Oct 7, 2019 for seven days
until Oct, 14, 2019. The backside contains two completed puzzles. Set contents:
1a – 10b A-name and B-name base cards, 3 green parallels cards, 2 pink parallel
cards, (1:2 chance at?) 1 C-name card or a 1:2 chance at a sketch card; 26 cards
for $40.

The
Non-Sport Philly (PNS) Card Show took place in Allentown, PA during the weekend
of October 19th and 20th and included two official Topps promo cards printed for
the weekend event and two exclusive metal cards printed by Faerie Metal for the
Saturday night Meet and Greet. A duo Garbage Pail Kids character was painted by
artists JOE Simko and BRENT Engstrom, a combined tribute to the Topps GPK parody
brand and the popular OS stitched together characters; think Mixed-Up MITCH with
a Double HEATHER feel. 100 cards of each twin were printed by Topps and sold at
the show to cover travel and lodging expenses for the artists. The special metal
cards were kept to the number of attendees at the Meet and Greet with a 64 limit
headcount and created and printed by Faerie Metal. The cards numbered 1a Paint-Job
JOE and 1b Brushwork BRENT, for Simko and Engstrom, respectively. Per artist Brent
Engstrom on social media after the concept stage: “I’m on an official gpk
card along with Joe Simko. I painted my half and then mailed it off to Joe to
paint his half. As far as I know it’s a GPK first!”

NOTE: Artwork by Artists JOE Simko
+ BRENT Engstrom — Text by AARON J. Booton

The
promo card image contains final artwork from various GPK projects and sets for
both Simko and Engstrom, including the PNS artwork right in the middle above their
heads. Joe’s side contains artwork from the 2018S1 We Hate the ’80s set, ’80s
Culture subset for cards 2a Neon ART and 2b Futuristic RIC, the FYE Garbage Pail
Kids cereal, from the 2019 Valentine’s Day is Gross online set for cards 1a ADAM
Bomb and 1b Blasted Billy, and from the 2018S1 We Hate the ’80s set, The Golbergs
subset for cards 1a A.V. ADAM and 1b Grand GOLDBERG, for the creator and director
Adam F. Goldberg. Brent’s side contains artwork from the 2013 BNS2 set for cards
131a Hoodie HARLAN and 131b Inside Out OSCAR, from the 2017 Halloween online set
for cards 8a Fiery FREDDY and 8b Roasted ROBERT, from the 2018S2 Oh, the Horror-ilbe!
set, Modern Horror subset for cards 14a Mute MICHAEL and 14b Hollow DEAN, and
from the 2019 WWE x GPK online set for card #13 Undead TAKER. I was excited to
attend the show and felt privileged that the Tosers had me be a part of the Engstrom
and Simko project by providing the reverse card text and the nomenclature that
ties into the amazing artwork and theme by Joe and Brent; freelance job/work.

1a Paint-Job JOE — 1b
Brushwork BRENT
NOTE: COMPLETE AND UNEDITED
REVERSE CARD BACK TEXT
Separately, Artist Brent Engstrom began illustrating
for Topps in 2005 for the All-New Series 5 GPK set while artist Joe Simko started
working for Topps in 2009 for the Flashback Series 1 GPK set.
Conjointly, both
artists have participated in nearly every Garbage Pail Kids release since, from
the Brand-New Series sets through the Yearly Series releases, including a plethora
of exclusive online content.
Collectively, their popular works of art can be
found within several GPK projects for various clients including: IDW Publishing,
Funko, Ripple Junction, WWE, FYE, Fright-Rags, Super7, Greenlight, etc.Combined,
Brent and Joe have worked on more than 25 retail set releases and have painted
over 1200 GPK images.
We look forward to many more years of GPK artwork from
these two amazing artists!

These two cards were not
available online for purchase, per se, but could be seen online. They were an
exclusive staff-only card handed out to the peeps at Late Night with Seth Meyers
talk show; not sure collectors will ever have these in their hands. On February
24, 2020, artist David Gross posted to Facebook: “I painted cards for
Seth Meyers and Karen Chee after they did a bit on Late Night with Seth Meyers
a few weeks ago where they discussed Garbage Pail Kids. Topps sent them out to
their staff this week.” On February 25, 2020, talk show host Seth Meyers
posted to Instagram: “For the last “What Does Karen Know?” With
@karencheee I explained Garbage Pail Kids to her. Today @topps sent us these which
was a true day maker.“

Also in New York City and over
the weekend of February 22 through 25, the 2020 American International Toy Fair
took place at the Javits Center in New York, NY. The trade-only event taps into
the $27B U.S. dollar domestic toy market open to retailers, distributors, importers,
wholesalers, sales representatives and trade guests that are seeking the latest
and greatest in toy, game and entertainment; the show is not open to the general
public (aka commoners). Artist JOE Simko was in attendance with Topps’
IRA Friedman, taking in the show & goods. Several pics were shared of ADAM
Bomb’s appearance (by cosplayer and GPK collector SAM Gras) and an ‘appearance
exclusive’ promo card was handed out that stated on the backside: “ADAM Bomb
— mishchievous, gross, outrageous and funny — just don’t get in his
way whne he’s having a temper tantrum! He’s the leader of the GPK gang and the
most explosive ‘Kid’ of them all!”

Due to the COVID virus, the 2020
San Diego Comic Convention was cancelled in-person, but a Comic Con @ Home event
still took place virtually between the dates of July 22nd through the 26th, 2020
with online events and programs. Exclusive convention merchandise was also available
during this time period. On April 17, 2020 SDCC announced: “For the first
time in its 50-year history San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), the organizers
behind the annual pop culture celebration, announced today with deep regret that
there will be no Comic-Con in 2020. The event will instead return to the San Diego
Convention Center from July 22-25, 2021.“

Considering the convention
did not happen physically, the Topps Co. (exhibitor booth #3913) cancelled a planned
‘scavenger hunt’ GPK promo card set. Year-after-year, Atomic Toybox Ent. (exhibitor
booth #3921) has created exclusive GPK product for Topps, oftentimes in partnership
with Creepy Co. for previous years. For 2020, Atomic Toybox partnered with SideKick
Lab with two enamel pins and a promo card to coincide with the upcoming Mars Attacks:
Occupation Kickstarter release and a GPK x Mars Attacks mash-up ‘hot pack’ that
was available as an add-on once pledging. The pin and card sets of 300 (150ea)
sold out in 20 minutes on July 21st on the Atomic Nerd website. ABRAMS (exhibitor
booth #1216) had GPK prize pack that included a bookmark, pencil case and sheet
of stickers that was a gift-with-purchase for any ‘Welcome to Smellville’ book
pre-order (existing or new order) and a form could be filled out and submitted.
Toynk Toys (exhibitor booths #815 + #3849) had Just Funky produce 35th Anniversary
GPK pins that went up for sale very early, around 12:30 am on July 21st. A GPK
car sunshade was also announced the week of the Comic-Con, but was not directly
related, and posted to the FYE website on July 22, 2020 as a pre-order item for
the month of September; see ‘2020 Licenses’ page for more information and images.

OS4 138a Alien IAN Pin Artwork by
JOHN Pound — Card Artwork by JASON Crosby

GPK
x Mars Attacks — Alien Ian — L.E. Enamel Pin + Exclusive Promo Trading
Card

GPK
x Mars Attacks — Outerspace Chase — L.E. Enamel Pin + Exclusive Promo
Trading Card

OS4 138b Outerspace CHASE Pin
Artwork by JOHN Pound — Card Artwork by JASON Crosby

Preview
Card — Back Artwork by JOHN Pound — Front Artwork by JASON Crosby

Besides the Mars Attacks pin
and card sets, Atomic Toybox also had the 2018 and 2019 GPK exclusive prints for
sale on their website starting on July 20, 2020 stating (pictured further above
in the corresponding years): “This special limited edition print licensed
by Topps measures approximately 11″ x 14″ featuring artwork by fan favorite
Garbage Pail Kids artist Joe Simko specially created for Comicon. Get one of three
exclusive styles in CARD STOCK, VINYL, OR SILVER FOIL. Limited to 300 of each.
with even fewer signed by the artist.” All three versions were listed at
$15 instead of the $15, $20 and $25, respectively, compared to the original pricing
of yesteryears.

SDCC
35th Anniversary GPK Commemorative Pin – Licensed by Topps

The second
San Diego Comic Convention reveal was another enamel pin featuring the GPK 35th
anniversary design, created by noted graphics designer Hydro74. The commemorative
pin measures 1.75”x 1.25.”, is licensed by Topps, produced by Just Funky,
and will be marketed by Toynk Toys. Due to COVID-19, SDCC 2020 was cancelled,
however there were four different GPK licensed items released as show exclusives
during the Con’s virtual ComicCon@Home event starting Wednesday, July 22 and lasting
through July 26, 2020.

NOTE: ‘BRAINY JANEY’ TRADITIONALLY
SPELLED ‘BRAINY JANIE’
NOTE: ‘HANDY RANDY’ CHANGED TO A ‘HANDY SANDY’ FEMALE
CHARACTER FOR THE STORY

SDCC
‘Welcome to Smellville’ Prize Pack – Licensed by Topps

Possibly, a much easier San Diego ComicCon@Home item to obtain from ABRAMS Books.
The third exclusive con reveal was a gift-with-purchase pencil case, bookmark
and sticker sheet to accompany any pre-ordered ‘Welcome to Smellville’ R.L. Stine
GPK book. NOTE: ONLY ONE SUBMISSION PER USER
“Calling
all Garbage Pail Kids collectors and R.L. Stine fans! Preorder Book 1 in the first-ever
GPK illustrated middle-grade series from Abrams Books (on shelves 9/29) and you
could receive this limited-edition Garbage Pail Kids prize pack. Full details
& ENTRY FORM“: https://bit.ly/2WCuzQD
A few additional key points:
– Offer is only available to residents of the US – Offer is retroactive, meaning
those in the US who have already pre-ordered the book are still eligible to redeem
their prize pack. They just need to fill out the form on the linked page and submit
their receipt. ~ In an effort to remain retail agnostic, we encourage followers
to pre-order the book from their favorite retailer as receipts from all retail
partner sites count.

Garbage Pail Kids – Mars Attacks
– Alien Ian + Outerspace Chase – Limited Edition Enamel Pins
and Exclusive
Promo Trading Card

WEBSITE + EMAIL INFORMATION
These special
limited edition enamel pins licensed exclusively by Topps measure approximately
2” x 2.5” on a 4”x 3” backing card. This exclusive pin features
fan favorite mash up between two Topps favorites, Garbage Pail Kids and Mars Attacks
from their respective trading card series. The set comes with an exclusive, officially
licensed Promo Trading Card from SideKick Lab’s officially licensed GPK Attacks
wax pack! The upcoming mashup pack brings the Garbage Pail Kids’ Alien Ian (and
friends) into the Mars Attacks universe, in 6 all new Mars Attacks story cards.
Printed on vintage card stock, this special promo card is available ONLY from
Atomic ToyBox and SideKick Lab. It’s ONE of TWO exclusive pins specially
created for this fall. Only the first 500 pieces will receive a promo card. We’ve
also updated our shipping practices with new shippers and packaging. NOTE: This
is a pre-order item. Products will begin shipping on October 27th.

SPIN-OFF
PRODUCT : *FYE* IN-STORE PROMO CARDS

A VALERIE
Vomit and/or Bony TONY promo card was handed out with the sale of the cereal 3-pack,
in-store, at various FYE locations. The ‘blind’ promo card came sealed in a silver
cellophane wrapper. ‘Bart Bits’ limited to 300.
NOTE: WEBSITE
STATED 08/13/20 RELEASE DATE; POSTED ONLINE 10/01/2020
NOTE: BOX, PROMO CARD
ARTWORK, AND CEREAL COMBINATION BY ARTIST JOE SIMKO