Garbage Pail Kids

By The Topps Company, Art Spiegelman and John Pound

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

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781613123645

Book preview

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. This first-ever compilation of Series 1 through Series 5 from 1985 and 1986 celebrates this pop culture phenomenon, and includes images of all 206 rare and hard-to-find stickers.

Copyright © 2012 The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

By The Topps Company, Inc.

Introduction by Art Spiegelman

Afterword by John Pound

Abrams ComicArts, New York

To Garbage Pail Kids fans of all ages

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks to Ira Friedman and Colin Walton at Topps (without whom …); Art Spiegelman and John Pound for their editorial contributions, as well as for their generosity and all-around availability to help this book come together; Geoff Spear (photography); Jacob Covey (Photoshop work on the cover); and at Abrams ComicArts: Charles Kochman (editorial), Kari Pearson (editorial assistance), Neil Egan (design), Chad Beckerman and Liam Flanagan (design assistance), Scott Auerbach (managing editorial), and Alison Gervais (production). Finally, a very special thanks to Art Spiegelman, Mark Newgarden, Len Brown, John Pound, Tom Bunk, David Burke, and Mae Jeon for the creation of this material, and to Jay Lynch, James Warhola, Arthur Shorin, and Stan Hart for their help.

Every effort was made to keep the quality of images consistent throughout this book. Most were reproduced from transparencies of the original art. A handful of images are from digital files (stickers 37, 39, 101, 125, 149, 158, 164, 176, and 197) and were remastered. All type elements were re-created in 2011 to carefully match the originals. Die-lines, however, were not reproduced so that the art could be shown unobscured for the first time. Mistakes have been corrected (for example sticker 9, which was reversed when it was initially printed in 1985).

Two versions of each Garbage Pail Kids sticker were produced by Topps. The same artwork was used; however, different character

Reviews for Garbage Pail Kids

[book_zone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[britchey-93969 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My parents would not let me buy Garbage Pail Kids stickers when I was growing up. Consequently, I was fascinated by them. Anything my parents didn't want me to have – GPK, Big League Chew, Stephen King books – must've been really amazing. I saw this book featured on TV last week and knew I had to have it, if for no other reason than to gratify the child-of-the-80s in me who lusted after these sticker cards from afar.

Garbage Pail Kids was a spoof of the Cabbage Patch kids produced by Topps, and created by Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Holocaust graphic novel, Maus. They were irreverent, creative, and really, really gross. Now, Abrams ComicArts and Spiegelman have released a hardcover book showcasing the first five of the 15 series produced by Topps. Each card, 206 in all, is given its own page, scanned from the original art, nice and big to give you a better glimpse than you've ever had of these truly beautifully disgusting kids. A very nice, informative introduction by Spiegelman and an afterword by artist John Pound round out the book.

It's a very nicely-produced book, with many very clever touches. The dust jacket is made from the same waxy material the card packs were originally wrapped in. The actual boards feature a minimalistic photo of the chalk-like gum stick that came in every pack. Four rare, never-before-released cards are included, as well.

I have only two complaints. One is that the card backs are not included, apparently not considered to be of the same artistic merit as the card faces. I tend to think they were an equally important part of what made GPK great, so they are missed. My other complaint is that the book features only the first 5 series – 1/3 of the total art produced. Hopefully, interest is great enough that Topps and Abrams will see fit to release additional volumes. I would love to eventually have the full set on my shelf. Then I can finally thumb my nose at my parents and my inner child will sleep soundly for the first time.