So, confession time. I was a, er, late trick-or-treater quitter, or how ever you phrase that concept. I had a hard time giving up the costumes and pillowcases when I got into middle school, and even the first couple years of high school. I was never one to “do what I was told”, and lets be honest, going door to door in your local neighborhoods at night dressed up like a monster getting free candy? How in the hell does one just quit that? That’s like quitting smoking (I hear) or heroin (a closer comparison I would have to guess.) Anyway, I had a very hard time giving up the ghost (costume), and found myself going door to door with a small group of like-minded geeky friends back in 1991. My costume? I was Riff Raff from Rocky Horror. But I didn’t have moolah in the costume budget for a fake bald cap or wig, so I wore an old fireman’s helmet my ex-EMT uncle gave me. My concept? Riff Raff was a volunteer fireman on the weekends. Everyone needs a hobby.
So, when I wasn’t awkwardly telling folks to give me treats, smell my feet and all that junk, I was pretty big into collecting comics, and more specifically, at the time Marvel trading cards printed by Impel. I had a huge collection of the 1st-3rd series cards, and even though I was a die-hard Topps kid, Impel really impressed me with their card quality. So, where am I going with this? Well, in addition to my rather large candy haul that year (king-size pillowcases were the way to go), there were some surprises mixed in that had me way more excited than the eventual chocolate-induced stomach aches that awaited. When I got home that night and dumped the bag of candy out on the floor I saw a very familiar logo at the bottom of a pack of trading cards I didn’t even realize made it into my loot…
That’s right, in 1991 Impel marketed a tiny set of Universal Monster Trading Card Treats that folks could buy and give out instead of candy. Though I’d normally frown on this sort of non-candy treat heresy, I was actually really excited to see these. Not only was I a pretty big fan of trading cards, I was also a budding monster fanatic too. Unfortunately I didn’t have the wherewithal to archive these cards (or any of the tons of Universal Monster merch that littered the shelves that year), and I have no idea what ever became of the specific ones I scored that night. But as luck would have it, on my first trip up to Bel Air Maryland to meet Jaime from Shezcrafti.com, we stumbled into a local antique store that just happened to have a few packs in stock for super cheap.
As far as I know the set consists of six cards featuring the main stable of the Universal Monsters including Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Creature, and Frankenstein’s monster and his Bride. Now I’m not calling the Bride “Yoko” or anything, but seriously, remove her photo-bombing behind from that card art and you’d have a mean Monster Squad rogue’s gallery. Just saying…
I do like that someone (either the artist or someone in the design department at Impel) decided to stick the Bride and the monster on the same single card. I’m sure Impel wanted these to be six to a pack for some reason. Anyway, I like that you get a nice range of portraits and group shots on these cards, and I’m so glad the Creature get’s his own featured card considering he tends to get overlooked on a lot of merchandise…
So the Wolfman gets kind of screwed on the cardbacks. His synopsis story is eschewed in favor of a “Night Safety” hint. Also, nice job on the monster movie release date brain teaser Impel, I mean the answers are printed right under the question and they’re not even tiny or upside down!
Thinking about these cards and organizing the monster-themed GPK stickers for my main countdown this year has me wondering, why hasn’t Topps put out a Halloween themed set of Garbage Pail Kids in time for the holiday (you know, for treats?) I would literally go broke buying boxes of spooky gross stickers. Topps, get on that.