So, continuing with the sub-theme of creatures with this Garbage Pail Kids Halloween countdown, I have another 1st series set of sticker cards to share today, 38a&b, Slimy Sam and Lizard Liz!
First off, and this is something that you really only see in the first few sets of GPK, I love the subtle airbrushed color fade in the background of the card. Again, this painting was done by the rad John Pound and his color choices are really fun. I love how the green pops off of the soft pink and for once it seems like the name plate and logo colors also compliment the overall image with the blue tying into the highlights on the fly dinner and the yellow echoing the bib. Are nerdery aside, what we’re here for is monsters, and this lizard creature fits that bill to a “T”. Though not as ugly as the lizard Starchild dream sequences from V, Liz/Sam here does remind me of that must-see TV moment from the early 80s.
Also, on a side note, I had a very interesting GPK question posed to me by the wildly talented Carsten Bradley on my instagram account. Carsten asked, “Why did they give cards two names?” This is one of those aspects to the series that I am so used to seeing that I never really questioned it. So, I don’t know the official answer (anyone want to enlighten me and Carsten?), but if I had to guess I’d probably say it was to increase the sheer amount of possible stickers so that kids would have to buy more packs. That means more gum sold for Topps (you have to remember they were in the business of selling gum) so kids could complete a set, or at least find all the a&b cards they wanted. I’d also like to believe that it was to bolster the gender neutrality of these sticker cards so that they appealed to both boys and girls (again larger audience, larger sales.) Sticker collecting was mainly aimed at girls in the 80s, and though the gross out and parody humor of the GPK was mainly aimed at boys, it’s sort of the perfect product to aim at both. So, where do the “twins” come into this? Well, in a lot of the cards, the artwork was general enough that the characters could be boys or girls. Like Liz and Sam up there. This way girls and boys could find stickers with their names on them without the art having to be specifically male or female every time out. That’s probably reaching a little though…
Once again, I’m also helping to organize the annual Countdown to Halloween alongside the tireless and super cool monster kid John Rozum. So if you like what I’m doing over here, you might want to head on over to the Countdown site and check out the huge list of other sites participating in this year’s spooky festivities. There’s also a like-minded sister collective called Blog-O-Ween being put together by my pal Cody, the Crooked Ninja Turtle Sensi. Be sure to check them out as well.
