Garbage Pail Kids is a series of sticker trading cards produced by the Topps Company, originally released in 1985 and designed to parody the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, which were popular at the time.
Each sticker card features a Garbage Pail Kid character having some comical abnormality, deformity, and/or suffering a terrible painful fate/death with a humorous word play character name such as Adam Bomb or Blasted Billy. Two versions of each card were produced, with variations featuring the same artwork but a different character name, denoted by an "a" or "b" letter after the card number. The sticker fronts are die-cut so that just the character with its nameplate and the GPK logo can be peeled from the backing. Many of the card backs feature puzzle pieces that form giant murals, while other flip-side subjects vary greatly among the various series, from humorous licenses and awards to comic strips and, in more recent releases, humorous Facebook profiles.
15 original series (OS) of regular trading cards were released in the United States, with various sets released in other countries. Two large-format card editions were also released, as well as a set of fold-out posters. All-New Series (ANS) sets were introduced in 2003, Flashback re-releases began in 2010 and a Brand-New Series (BNS) was announced for 2012 with Brand New Series 2, Chrome S1, and BNS3 following in 2013. A new format was released in 2014 using the year to designate the edition, followed by the release name of Series 1, which had an Olympics-style format. In 2016, the format was changed again to themed sets that spoofed different pop culture topics.
History
The series was the brainchild of cartoonist Art Spiegelman, then a consultant for Topps. He came up with the product idea after the success of his earlier creations Garbage Can-dy and Wacky Packages. The concept originally began as an unreleased Wacky Packages sticker for a 1985 series, but the management at Topps thought it would be a good idea for a separate spin-off series. Spiegelman and fellow cartoonist Mark Newgarden worked together as the editors and art directors of the project, Len Brown was the manager and the first run of the cards was drawn exclusively by artist John Pound. They were first issued in 1985. Following the initial success of the cards, several additional artists and writers were brought in to contribute to the series, including Jay Lynch, Tom Bunk and James Warhola, among others.
International versions
The cards were also known as Bukimi Kun [/Mr. Creepy] in Japan, The Garbage Gang in Australia and New Zealand, [The Garbage Gang] in Spain, Havurat Ha-Zevel [/The Garbage Gang] in Israel, [Trashlings] in Latin America, / [Trash Gang/Crazymania] in Brazil, [Snotlings] in Italy, [The Filthies] in France and Belgium and [The Totally Broken Kids] in Germany.
Variations
A smaller-sized card format was released in Australia and New Zealand. Each pack contained three stickers and the "peel here" arrow pointed to the top left area since there was no die-cut scoring. Initially in New Zealand, a Series 6 of the Garbage Pail Kids was released as a market test (this version was a mix of the United States Series 6 and 7). After this success, Series 1 was released in Australia and New Zealand known as The Garbage Gang and was identical to the United States version (albeit smaller in size). The first series was released in Australia and New Zealand in 1989 with different versions: the Australian stickers were darker, had a different banner and some of the names were changed to reflect cultural differences. From Series 2 onward, the same version was released in Australia and New Zealand. Series 4 was the last release of The Garbage Gang.
Commercial success
The commercial success of the trading cards led to the production of a live-action movie, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, in 1987. An animated television series was also created in 1987, but its initial scheduled broadcast in the U.S. was postponed due to parental complaints. The show did make a brief appearance on U.S. television years after it was originally intended to air and was also briefly aired in Europe. The movie was released on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on July 12, 2005 (the original VHS had been distributed by Paramount) and the animated TV series was later also released on DVD by CBS Home Entertainment on April 4, 2006 (again with distribution by Paramount). A similar set of 160 trading cards, called The Sloppy Slobs, was released in Italy in 1993.