The NPD Department would create the revised artwork and card type, but
the Art Department was in charge of the overall design and would produce
the composition and layout of the front side and card backs as well
as the promotional material and packaging. Composition images were generated
to help guide the final card type design and artwork placement. The
NPD Department would give feedback at a later stage and eventually give
the final ‘okay’. One task by the Art Department, a step prior to printing,
is the paste-up stage; a method of creating a layout for the card back
— pre-dating computerized page design and desktop publishing programs.
The production artist would arrange the layout and apply line art and
text cut-and-paste using and adhesive to the boards. The images were
often photographed or scanned in order to create a negative which was
then used to make a printing plate.

Although not a one-panel comic as with the OS12 release, the OS13 reverse
card back concept became a single-panel puzzle instead. Per Wiki, a
(comic) panel is an individual frame, or a single drawing, usually
in the multi-panel sequence of a comic strip or comic book, as well
as a graphic novel, including manga. A panel consists of a single piece
of artwork depicting a frozen moment. The word ‘panel’ may also refer
to a comic consisting of a single drawing, the usage is a shortened
form of ‘single-panel comic’.

“I
did all [of] the puzzles [for
the 13th Series],
[I] wrote them and did [the] color roughs[, the] finished art is by
me and Gary Whitney. Flick it is by someone else.”
— JAY
Lynch, circa March 2003.

Per Lambiek Comiclopedia, Gary Whitney was an [alternative &] underground
comix artist. He contributed to Bizarre Sex and Dope Comix at Kitchen
Sink Press, and was also present at Artie Romero’s Everyman Studios.
He drew the ‘Phoebe & the Pigeon People’ comic strip (1978-1996),
written by Jay Lynch for the Chicago Reader. From 1990 on, Jim Siergey
was assistant-inker.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 506a Tire JACK & 506b Cranklin’ FRANKLIN, by TOM Bunk,
features rendered
OS1 character artwork for cards 11a Itchy RICHIE & 11b Bugged BERT,
by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #25 and #26, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
The
character is encircled by a circled-letter game, creating a word by
following the stringed-along path. If GPK had origin stories, we have
now learned Itchy RICHIE’s origins story, an infestation of bugs caused
by his older brother’s insect collection. An insect is defined as a
small arthropod/invertebrate animal that has six legs and generally
one or two pairs of wings. [SPOILER] Although
we’re led to believe that we as an audience will be finding out what
Itchy RICHIE does, misinterpreting ‘Do’ as ‘Collect’, but in reality,
it’s actually the outcome of his brother’s colleting habits, where ‘scratch’
(scratches) is a synonym of ‘itch’, to rub or to scrape.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 507a Target PRENTICE & 507b Blow HARDY, by TOM Bunk,
features rendered
OS3 character artwork for cards 122a Broad MAUD & 122b Large MARGE,
also by TOM Bunk,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #31 and #32, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
The
character is sitting amongst a word-scramble game and outside of their
open refrigerator; Large MARGE is also surrounded by a selction of various
deli meats, where ‘cold cuts’ are considered pre-cooked or cured meat
slices. Bandages, seen as the white, unraveled bandaging within the
imagery, would only be needed for an actual cut or knife slice, but
not directly from any type of cold cuts or meat slices. Cut meats—to
be sliced or divided into pieces with a sharp instrument vs.
incision cuts—a wound caused by a sharp tool or object. A simple
play on words.

Original Series — Two Puzzle Preview
cards: 507a Target PRENTICE & 538a Cat-Cradle CATHY — twenty-one
Puzzle Piece cards: 501a,
502a, 503a, 504a, 505a, 508a, 510a, 512a, 514a, 515a, 517a, 519a, 520a,
525a, 527a, 529a, 533a, 535a, 536a, 539a,
539a.

NOTE: CARDS 507 + 538 ALSO CONTAIN
A PAIR OF COMIC BACK VARIATIONS

Original Series — one Puzzle Preview
cards: 507b Blow HARDY & 538b Gooey GWEN — twenty-one Puzzle
Piece cards: 501b,
502b, 503b, 504b, 505b, 508b, 510b, 512b, 514b, 515b, 517b, 519b, 520b,
525b, 527b, 529b, 533b, 535b, 536b, 539b,
539b.

NOTE: CARDS 507 + 538 ALSO CONTAIN
A PAIR OF COMIC BACK VARIATIONS

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 509a Misfortune COOKIE & 509b Chow MAYNARD, by JOHN
Pound, features rendered
OS5 character artwork for cards 170a RICHIE Retch & 122b LUKE Puke,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #1 and #2, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, without her snot.

—
The
character is holding onto his non-deciphered, written letter, and also
holding back from vomitting the contents of the rich food consumed during
the dinner party. In order to decode the letter, his grandmother may
already be aware of their secret code, in order to decipher the obscure
message. If RICHIE Retch actually ate up ALL of the served kidney pie—a
savoury pastry filled with diced beef, diced kidney, and onion, all
in gravy & chutney—a spicy condiment made of fruits or vegetables
with vinegar, spices, and sugar, it would indeed make him puke up his
guts.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 511a Puffy BUFFY & 511b Busty DUSTY, by JOHN Pound,
features rendered
OS4 character artwork for cards 134a Hip KIP & 134b WALT Whitless,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #27 and #28, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
The
beatnik character, who participated in the social movement of the 1950s
and early 1960s, where the slang term ‘beat’ was derived from the phrase
‘beaten down’, has a ‘Zen Riddle’, where ‘zen’ is a state of calm attentiveness,
and ‘riddle’ is a question or statement structured to ascertain an answer
or meaning, usually presented as a game. ‘Cosmic’ was part of the beatnik
jargon, along with other psychedelic words, and ‘conundrum’ is a confusing
problem or question that is difficult to solve. [SPOILER]
Not sure you’ll find your ‘inner peace’ by just omitting the letter
‘O’.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 513a Repeatin’ PETE & 513b Round ROBYNS, by JOHN Pound,
features rendered
OS1, OS5, OS7 & OS11 character artwork for cards 3a Up CHUCK &
3b Heavin’ STEVEN, 170a RICHIE Retch & 170b LUKE Puke, 251a Barfin’
BARBARA & 251b VALERIE Vomit, all by artist JOHN Pound, and 439a
JACK Splat & 439b Abstract ART, by artist TOM Bunk, respectively,
plus ‘FLICK
IT!‘ panels #5 and #6, respectively, created by Richard McGuire,
featuring rendered OS2 character artwork for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY
& 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created by JOHN Pound, without her
snot.

—
The
simple line puzzle includes a whopping number of four GPK characters,
all barfing their guts out, along with a mysterious eyeball. By elimination
alone, without drawing a line to the eyeball, one could guesstimate
that all of the characters, except for Up CHUCK, still have their six
eyeballs intact within their open eyesockets, collectively, especially
considering the closed eyes on CHUCK. However, that doesn’t mean the
character didn’t eat someone else’s eyeball… by inpsecting LUKE Puke’s
card artwork, he has an eyeball located in his pool of vomit, so it
could’ve been him!

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 516a Bubblin’ LYNN & 516b Heavin’ HEATHER, by TOM Bunk,
and cards 518a Barfin’ MARVIN & 518b Over ETAN, by JOHN Pound, features
rendered
OS4 character artwork for cards 134a Hip KIP & 134b WALT Whitless,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #29 + #30 & panels
#39 + #40, respectively, created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered
OS2 character artwork for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE,
originally created by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
The
beatnik is back, along with his pink coffee mug! Instead of a phamplet
of poems, the hipster is reading a recipe book on the macrobiotic diet,
a high fiber, high complex carbohydrate, low fat diet, based on ideas
from Zen Buddhism that aims to balance the yin and yang elements of
food and cookware, focusing on whole grains, vegetables, and unprocessed,
organic, and locally grown foods. [SPOILER] By
removing the three ‘C’s and ‘F’s from the elimination game, the remaining
letters spell out ‘Square Meals’, which means “a full, balanced,
nourishing, and hearty meal”, where ‘square’ means “proper,
honest, and straightforward”. This is a play on words, considering
the beatnik expression “Don’t be a square” means that someone
is acting boring or uninteresting, and not “hip”, that they
are a loser if they don’t have fun and play along. BTW, the Huey Lewis
and the News song, “Hip to Be Square”, is about the “phenomenon
where people in the ’60s started to drop back in, cut their hair, work
out, that kind of crap, but they kept their bohemiam tastes … bourgeois
bohemians.” (EW 2008, Huey Lewis)

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 518a
Barfin’ MARVIN & 518b Over ETAN,
and cards 523a Meltdown MERYL & 523b Steamed PIPER, both by JOHN
Pound, features rendered
OS6 character artwork for cards 240a Radar RAY & 240b EVE Droppin’,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #37 + #38 & panels
#7 + #8, respectively, created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered
OS2 character artwork for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE,
originally created by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
Instead
of a waiste-length shot of Radar RAY, we get a rendered, full-length
version showing off his red-striped CPK-like shoes. The character has
obviously attempted to completely clean out his ears, considering quite
a few objects are missing, like mushrooms, the little gremlin, an animal
skull, and a can of earwax… but the cave-dwelling bats are still using
his cavernous ears as their dark hangout. [SPOILER]
Since the character’s head has undergone a massive ‘cave in’, which
means to subside or collapse, the inner ear canal (tunnel) walls have
also caved in, and the character’s head was apparently filled with plenty
of earwax as well.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 521a DEE Odorant & 521b STAN Can, by TOM Bunk, features
rendered
OS5 character artwork for cards 175a Windy WINSTON & 175b JOHNNY
One-Note, also by artist TOM Bunk,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #17 and #18, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
The
Windy WINSTON character can be seen somewhat sitting in a dentist chair
for his appointment, pushing out a massive fart, without the aid of
his trusty trumpet. [SPOILER] The ‘FUSE’ object
minus ‘F’ equals ‘USE’… the ‘SHEEP’ animal minus ‘EEP’ equals ‘SH’…
the ‘FISH’ image minus ‘FH’ equals ‘IS’… the ‘CLOWN’ face minus ‘CL’
equals ‘OWN’… and, the ‘GRASS’ picture minsu ‘RS’ equals ‘GAS’. When
placed in the alloted slots, it spells out ‘USES HIS OWN GAS’! Obviously
unbeknowngst to WINSTON, the gas used in a dentist’s office as a mild
sedative agent is nitrous oxide (N2O), commingly referred to as laughing
gas. Whereas, human farts are mainly composed of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon
dioxide, hydrogen, at times methane, with varying degrees of other gases.
Maybe it’s not used as a stress reliever to lesson stress during a dentist’s
visit, but it definitely still makes you laugh!

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 522a Bloody MURRAY & 522b JUAN For The Road, by JAMES
Warhola, features rendered
OS10 character artwork for cards 400a Varicose WAYNE & 400b ELAINE
Vein, by artist JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #23 and #24, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
Somehow,
the spider is travelling (or swimming) through Varicose WAYNE’s veins
in order to reach the character’s nose to make a great escape… will
it bust out the nostril lining? Regardless, it’s some great imagery
and imagination. This particular PUZZLE PUKE doesn’t
contain an ANSWER section, perhaps due to the
simplicity of its solution. The play on words, ‘In vein’, in a literal
sense, , the blood circulating the body and returning oxygen-depleted
blood back to the heart, or ‘intravenous’ (IV), a method of delivering
fluids, etcetera to the bloodstream via a vein. In comparison, ‘In vain’,
the proper wording, means that something is done with no result or effect,
marked by futility, to no avail.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 524a Pop CONNIE & 524b POPPY Corn, by JOHN Pound, features
rendered
OS7 character artwork for cards 251a
Barfin’ BARBARA & 251b VALERIE Vomit,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #9 and #10, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
Barfin’ BARBARA is back!
Another PUZZLE PUKE without an ANSWER
section, considering the shapes with mushrooms are colored in and the
solution spells out the answer to the question quite easily. A hint
of the secret ingredient—the main and special component—is
seen dribbling out of BARBARA’s mouth. [SPOILER]
B-A-R-F, an informal term meaning to vomit or eject the content of one’s
stomach through the mouth cavity. The questionable, purple mushrooms
may have been the culpret for the puking, they look very suspect.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 526a Ripped KIP & 526b Torn SHAUN, by JAMES Warhola,
features rendered
OS10 character artwork for cards 405a
Over-Ripe MELANIE & 405b WALTER Melon,
also by JAMES Warhola,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #15 and #16, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
Yet another PUZZLE
PUKE without an ANSWER section, considering
the simple connect-the-dots puzzle easily
displays the answer to the question. One would think this renamed Connect-the-Pits
puzzle would show an image, but it’s actually a word, written in cursive,
a dying form of writing. Cursive writing is a style of handwriting,
rathing than printing, which characters are written joined in a connecting
and flowing manner. This style of penmanship is also referred to as
conjoined writing, similar to the coined, conjoined twins term. Note,
a ‘pit’ is the hardened endocarp layer that surrounds or pretects a
seed within a type of fruit called stone fruit, so technically, these
are still just watermelon seeds and the puzzle should be called Connect-the-Seeds,
but that might give part of the answer away. [SPOILER]
The puzzle spells out the word ‘Seedy’, which in a literal sense, means
something that contains or is full of seeds. However, the puzzle is
stating that WALTER Melon is a seedy character, which suggests someone
is dishonest, sordid, and disreputable.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 528a DANIEL Prune & 528b Dried-Fruit NEWT, by JOHN
Pound, features rendered
OS2 character artwork for cards 45a
Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #11 and #12, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring the same rendered OS2 character
artwork for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally
created by JOHN Pound, without her snot.

—
A second
connect-the-dots puzzle, retitled as ‘Connect the Snots!’ using yellow,
green, and red boogers. A fortune teller —a person who supposedly
foretells your future and often makes predictions using palmistry, tarrot
cards, crystal ball, tea reading, and other methods—is depicted
as a stereotypical gypsy fortune teller with crystal ball, head scarf,
earing bangles, chunky necklace and rings, etcetera. Yet
another PUZZLE PUKE without an ANSWER
section, considering the simple connect-the-dots puzzle easily
displays the answer to the question. [SPOILER]
Leaky LINDSAY has her nose draining over the fortune teller’s table,
not-so-much-predicting, but telling LINDSAY to ‘BLOW
YOUR NOSE!‘

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 530a Fun GUS & 530b Warty MORTY, by JOHN Pound, features
rendered
OS8 character artwork for cards 318a
HALEY’s Vomit & 318b Inter STELLA,
by TOM Bunk,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #21 and #22, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
The character Inter STELLA eventually
hits zero gravity, the state of lacking gravitational pull, resulting
in weightlessness. For the ‘Reverse the Words’ puzzle, users reverse
the word TIPS to S(P)IT, the word SUP to P(U)S, the word PEEK to (K)EEP,
the word TIME to (E)MIT, and the word TONS to (S)NOT… [SPOILER]
spelling out the answer of ‘PUKES’ reading from top-to-bottom, which
is quite evident considering the imagery. which is carbon-copy artwork
from the card character, minus the pilot, and the floating puke pile
only containing fish bones.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 531a Stormy SKYE & 531b CLAUDE Burst, by JOHN Pound,
features rendered
OS6 character artwork for cards 207a
Over FLO & 207b Moist JOYCE,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #13 and #14, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
A ‘Rebus’ is a puzzle device where words
are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters to
depict words or phrases. The Moist JOYCE is seen in the same predicament
as her card character, but wearing a French beret, and her urine is
extremely concentrated (dark yellow). [SPOILER]
The only French phrase JOYCE seems to know is CL(OU)D image minus CLD,
plus L(IO)N image minus LN, plus U(N)I(CORN) image minus N and minus
CORN image, which spells out OUI OUI!, which translates to YES YES!,
but is pronounced and sounds like ‘WEE WEE!’ Wee means to urninate,
or the act of urinating.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 532a Fertile LIZA & 532b HORACE Manure, by JOHN Pound,
features rendered
OS1 character artwork for cards 27a
Brainy JANIE & 27b JENNY Genius,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #3 and #4, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with & without her snot.

—
It doesn’t take too long to screw in that
lightbulb, so no ANSWER section is necessary for
this PUZZLE PUKE. Several big words are tossed
around to match the theme and Brainy JANIE’s brain size. Precocious
is an adjective describing a child that’s developed certain abilities
or proclivities (a predisposition) at an earlier age than usual or most,
oftentimes referred to as a prodigy, being endowed or gifted with exceptional
qualities and/or abilities. The question and book title both reference
Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity, which encompasses two interrelated
physics theories, special and general relativity. It’s strange to see
JANIE puzzled!

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 534a JAYNE Drain & 534b EDA Mouthful, by JOHN Pound,
features rendered
OS1 character artwork for cards 204a
JULES Drools & 204b KIT Spit,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #35 and #36, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
Breed is a stock of animals within a species
having a distinctive appearance and typically having been developed
by selective breeding to pass on the genetic selection to their offspring.
Instead of just a bust or half body shot, we get a full view and full
length body shot of JULES Drools, sporting some purple shorts—possibly
swimshorts due to all of the eventual surrounding moisture—while
continuing to drool, and holding a paper sack over a dog’s head. [SPOILER]
(S)NAKE + (P)IG + (I)CE + (T)OP + (Z)EBRA = SPITZ. This really doesn’t
narrow down exactly what kind of dog, considering a spitz is a type
of domestic dog consisting of between 50 to 70 different breeds depending
on classification. However, this is just a play on words for ‘Spit(s)’,
to eject saliva forcibly from one’s mouth, a meaner way to drool.

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 537a MIRIAM Migraine & 537b Head BUSTER, by JOHN Pound,
features rendered
OS5 character artwork for cards 171a
WILLIE Wipe-Out & 171b SPENCER Dispencer,
also by JOHN Pound,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #19 and #20, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
A ‘speech balloon’ (aka speech
bubble & dialogue balloon), is a graphic convention commonly used
in comic books, comics, and cartoons; allowing words to represent a
character’s speech or thoughts. [SPOILER] Simply
removing the ‘F’s from the puzzle leaves the remaing letters ‘TOILET’
in the upper row and ‘PAPER’ in the bottom row. The ANSWER
was right within grasp, per imagery! Toilet paper, naturally, is sheets
of rolled paper for wiping oneself clean after urination and defecation.
SPENCER Dispenser has a new wide grin, very excited for the impending
task at hand!

—
The comic back for OS13
reverse card 538a Cat-Cradle CATHY & 538b Gooey GWEN, by TOM Bunk,
features rendered
OS3 character artwork for cards 91a
BLAKE Flake & 91b Hippie SKIPPY,
also by TOM Bunk,
plus ‘FLICK IT!‘ panels #33 and #34, respectively,
created by Richard McGuire, featuring rendered OS2 character artwork
for cards 45a Leaky LINDSAY & 45b Messy TESSIE, originally created
by JOHN Pound, along with her snot.

—
This PUZZLE PUKE
is extremely similar to the OS11 reverse card conumdrum for card number
444, ‘CHRIS Hiss is Late for Class’, with ANSWER:
No Sweat! CHRIS Hiss dropped out 2 years ago anyway!, changed to ‘Help
Hippie SKIPPY Get to Woodstock!’, with ANSWER:
No big deal. He’s almost 20 years too late anyway—without the exclamation
points. The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held on August 15 to August
18, 1969, and the GPK card was created and printed in 1988—but
his character was on card in 1986—which is 19 years, almost 20
indeed! Would SKIPPY be sidetracked by the Draft Board building, lice,
a bathtub, a barber shop, or a HELP WANTED sign?
Heck no. A ‘flower child’ is a hippie in the 1960s that wore flowers
as symbols for peace and love. Pure flower power!