GARBAGE PAIL KIDS

SERIES INTRODUCTION

Release Date: APRIL 1987

88 CARD SET - 84 Cards + 4 Variations
Card Variations : 298A, 298B, 318A, 318B

LIGHT BLUE BOX (1-490-40-01-7) - 1 Variation
(Box Artwork : Tom Bunk)

LIGHT BLUE WRAPPER - 4 Variations (Below)
(The 1st - 15th Original Series and 1st - 7th All-New Series "WRAPPER & BOX CHART")

WRAPPER (0-490-21-01-7) - With "25¢" Logo
2 Variations : T-Shirt or Sweatshirt Offer
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)


WRAPPER (0-490-21-02-7) - Without "25¢" Logo
2 Variations : T-Shirt or Sweatshirt Offer
(Rendered Artwork : Tom Bunk)


RETAILER ADVERTISEMENT POSTER (4-490-08-02-7)(10" x 14")
(Poster Artwork : John Pound)

ARTWORK IMAGES

(CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW ARTWORK)

FUN FACTS and TIDBITS

1. The only series Box (wrapper or card front) that has a Yellow GPK Header Surrounded By the color Red (pictured above in "Product Overview").

2. The first series to have a Smaller Number -- cards 309A "Heartless HAL" and 309B "BOWEN Arrow".

3. The only wrapper with a GPK Header surrounded by a Yellow Color rather than white. Like card 18a "Cranky FRANKIE" and 18b "Bad BRAD" (pictured above in "Product Overview").

4. The only series to have the GPK Header printed On a Product. Cards 302A "Mixed-Up MICK" and 302B "Artificial MITCHELL". The ONLY Garbage Pail Kids logo that ends in "KID" rather than "KIDS".


5. The second series to have a card with The GPK Logo found within the artwork itself and not just on the header. The "Garbage Pail Kids" logo found on the photo copy sheets of cards 330A "Lotta LOTTA" and 330B "Dupli-KIT".

6. The series has two cards with the Same First Name. Cards 310A "Stinkin’ STELLA" and 318B "Inter STELLA" and cards 305A "Grate SCOTT" and 332A "Sling Scott".

7. The third series to have a Smaller GPK Header -- cards 311A "STU Spew" and 311B "Slimin’ SIMON".


8. The only series with the number's letter A or B In Uppercase.

9. The fourth series to contain cards with The GPK Acronym found within the artwork. The GPK acronym found on the hockey jersey of cards 299A "BUCK Puck" and 299B "LOWELL GOAL". And, the GPK acronym found on the tombstone of cards 334A "ASHLEY To Ashes" and 334B "DUSTIN To Dust".

10. The first series to have a card with a first Name that Is Big, but the Word is Bold. Card 318A "HALEY’s Vomit".


11. The fourth series to have a card showcasing GPK Sticker Images within the artwork, but these sticker cards are not characters from previous releases -- cards 328A "Glowing AMBER" and 328B "Bright DWIGHT".

12. The first series in which the "Topps" Company Logo can be found within the artwork -- on the address line of cards 325a "MARCEL Parcel" and 325b "Handle With CAREN".

1. This Wrapper Mock-Up artwork was completed prior to the 8th series release and rendered by artist Tom Bunk. The green GPK banner was changed to red and both the banner and sticker plate were given a yellow background. This marks the first series to drop the ALL NEW from the series annoucement, excpet for the 9th series which showcases it within the non-25 cent logo; not to be picked up again until the ALL NEW series in 2003. This is the third and final time the yellow moon-like background circle will be used.

2. This Tom Bunk Unpublished GPK was finished in 1987 and was intended for the 8th series, the "Punk" middle finger artwork was finished but was never published.


3. Artist Tom Bunk had Different Renditions For several of his 8th series Color Roughs. Below are examples of these various color versions that you can compare to the actual final artwork for cards 293A "Explorin' NORMAN" and 293B "Drillin' DYLAN" and 309A "Heartless HAL" and 309B "BOWEN Arrow".

4. Poster #18 - "BUSTED!" from the Garbage Pail Kids Poster set, is used for the U.S. 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th series Advertisement Posters with an enlarged, straight GPK banner (pictured above in the "Series Overview"). The image can also be found as card #14 "BUSTED!" in the Giant GPK 15 card sticker set with a curved GPK banner rather than the straight GPK banner. The GPK images found within the picture are listed within the "Fun Facts and Tidbits" section of the Giant Series page.

[partial poster picture]




5. In 1987, after the release of the 8th series GPK, CBS Inc. was ready to premier the "Garbage Pail Kids" Cartoon on Saturday Morning. Cartoon cells were created by Geof Darrow for the main cast of characters, although there were tons of extras. The cartoon cells were auctioned on eBay. Besides pirated cartoons being sold that aired overseas which are dubbed over, these are the only images left. There were also figurines modeled after the cartoon characters (I believe by John Pound) that Galoob Toys intended to release. However, after the cartoon was shelved in part due to the American Family Association's (AFA) efforts against CBS to stop the GPK cartoon by Topps, the toy figures were also shelved and not released. The 13 episodes of the Paramount "GPK" cartoon were released on DVD for the first time in April of 2006. Further below is a copy of the AFA's complete letter campaign to gather supporters and pledges to fight against the airing of the GPK cartoon (supplied by collector Travis Tierno -- THANKS).




Concept Title Screen Cell


Cartoon Group (The Main Characters)

Figurine Group

2nd series 42a "PATTY Putty" and 42b "Muggin' MEGAN" cartoon cell and figurine.


2nd series 55a "Hairy GARY" and 55b "Brutal Brad" cell.



2nd series 59a"Clogged DUANE" and 59b "Bye Bye BOBBIE" cartoon cell and figurine.

2nd series 63a "Spacey STACY" and 63b "Planet Janet" figurine.

2nd series 79a "Sewer SUE" and 79b "MICHELLE Muck" cartoon cell and figurine.



2nd series 81a "Split KIT" and 81b "Mixed-Up MITCH" cartoon cell and figurine
(in the "Split KIT in pajamas" cell, you can see a GPK camel and poodle in the background from the cell behind it).


3rd series 113a "ALICE Island" and 113b "Liberty LIBBY" figurine.


4th series 129a "Second Hand ROSE" and 129b "Trashed TRACY" cartoon cell and figurine.


4th series 138a "Alien IAN" and 138b "Outerspace CHASE" cell and figurine.


4th series 146a "Baked JAKE" and 146b "Dry GUY" cell (with a 5th series 194a "Nasty NANCY" and 194b "Razzin' ROSLYN" tongue);
the cell is incorrectly identified with the 2nd series 54a "Fryin' RYAN" character name;
you can see the 6th series 243a "LEE Tree" and 243b "SHERWOOD Forest" character in the background cell behind.



5th series 169a "DEE Faced" and 169b "TERRI Cloth" cartoon cell (with the 6th series 235a "Ugly HANS" and 235b "JAN Hand" hand).


5th series 172a "NAT Nerd" and 172b "CLARK Can't" cell.


5th series 203a "Toothie RUTHIE" and 203b "Dental FLOSSIE" figurine.



6th series 213a "OTTO Whack" and 213b "ELLIOT Mess" cartoon cell and figurine.


6th series 233a "WES Mess" and 233b "Trash-Can KEN" cartoon cell and figurine.



Cast of Faculty Characters: Preston Purgation; Sylvia Censor; Squeaky Clean; and Simon Scour.


(click image above to view the complete AFA letter campaign)

6. Writers Jay Lynch And Art Spiegelman Completed the gags for the Comic Backs artwork. Artist Jay Lynch also worked on the "Bazooka Joe"-like comic backs by working on the pencil roughs while Howard Cruse completed the final artwork. Some comics were possible left-over pieces from the 6th series comic backs.

7. Flowcharts were created For the later GPK series', which showed the art director how the work of the new set was going -- which artist was working on which concept piece, and the stage in which the painting had been completed. Often, concept pieces were denied and the department tried to work them into later sets. A list of additional concept pieces was found at the bottom of the flowchart in case pieces could not be used. The 8th series contained the following ideas which either replaced denied concept pieces within the set, were saved for a later series, or never saw the light of day: "Mickey Mouse" (16th), "elephant nose - sneezing", "out of waffle iron" (8th), "fortune cookie" (13th), "piñata" (TCT), "head as cereal bowl - all brain cereal" (9th), "fireman - flames" (9th), "garbage out of shower" (8th), "oil slick", "hand puppet" (8th), "staples", "haunted tree", "porcupine" (TCT), "Samurai", "justice with scales", "split like log with axe", "GPK kangaroo shooting mother" (unpublished), "iron maiden", "cigar" (8th), "bloody nose - drawing in blood", "punch bag - long neck" (8th), "nuclear fart", "teeth for eyes" (12th - but removed from picture), "in dungeon" (unpublished).

V = Variation
(Variation and Print Run information on Printable Checklist page)

* PRINTABLE CHECKLIST *

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