2023 COMC BINGE - PART 4 GREASY KID STUFF

 ALL RIGHTY THEN. WE'VE COMPLETED A VINTAGE BASKETBALL SET, GOT AN ODDBALL OF MY FAVORITE STAR WARS, UH, PLAYER, AND (MOSTLY) COMPLETED A VINTAGE TOPPS SET. WHAT'S NEXT ON THE ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE IT IMMEDIATELY COMC BATCH?

WAIT... WHAT?

1991 TOPPS WACKY PACKAGES COORPSE LIGHT

WACKY PACKAGES IS A BIG BLIND SPOT IN MY COLLECTION. I WAS TOO YOUNG TO BUY THEM WHEN THEY CAME OUT AND BY THE TIME I REALLY STARTED COLLECTING IT WAS THE GPK ERA AND THE VINTAGE ONES WERE NOT EASY TO FIND. I'VE PICKED UP A COUPLE OLD ONES HERE AND THERE AND SOMEHOW ENDED UP WITH AN O-PEE-CHEE PACK AT SOME POINT. THERE'S BEEN A TON OF REBOOT, REPRINT AND ON DEMAND CARDS PRINTED UP THIS CENTURY BUT I'VE ONLY PICKED UP ONE RACK PACK FOR THE MY LITTLE BONY CARD SHOWING ON THE FRONT. SO MY COLLECTION IS NOT TERRIBLY WACKY

I BECAME AWARE OF THIS 1991 CARD AND KNEW I HAD TO GET IT ASAP. BUT WHY? WHERE DOES THIS FIT IN THE COLLECTION? IT IS MY FIRST 1991 CARD SO A WACKY TYPE CARD COLLECTION COULD BE TAKING SHAPE. BUT WHY THIS ONE. IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF THE BRAND, I'M NOT REALLY A BEER DRINKER ANYMORE AND COORS LIGHT WAS NEVER MY FAVORITE. IT IS KIND OF A MONSTER CARD WHAT WITH WITH THE SPOOKY SCARY SKELLINGTONS REACHING FOR THE LOVELY SEWER WATER. I GUESS IT WOULD FIT IN THE MONSTER BINDER, BUT THAT'S NOT WHY EITHER. IT'S BECAUSE OF THIS

SHEMPOO! THE GRUNGY LOOK IS IN! THAT'S AT LEAST A MORE CONTEPORARY REFERENCE TO 1991 THAN LOVE CANAL. I WAS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A SHEMP HOWARD SOLO CARD TO ADD TO THE COLLECTION AND BUDDY, THEY AIN'T EASY TO FIND. SHEMP ISN'T IN ANY OF THE VINTAGE THREE STOOGES SETS WHICH FEATURE MOE, LARRY, CURLY AND OCCASIONALLY CURLY JOE FROM THE MOVIES. SHEMP DOESN'T SHOW UP UNTIL 1997'S DUOCARDS STOOGES SET. BUT I KEPT LOOKING FOR SHEMP AND FINALLY THIS ONE POPPED UP ON THE BACK OF A WACKY PACKAGES STICKER. THIS PREDATES THE DUOCARDS SHEMP BY SIX YEARS! SHEMP ROOKIE CARD PERHAPS? IT'S ACTUALLY NOT SHEMP'S FIRST APPEARANCE ON A TRADING CARD AS HIS VERSION OF THE STOOGES ARE ON AN EXTREMELY SCARCE BRITISH CARD FROM ABC MINORS BUT THAT ONE'S A TAD OUTSIDE MY BUDGET. THIS ONE'S SLIGHTLY MANGLED, BUT THEN AGAIN SO WAS SHEMP. AS A BONUS I THINK THIS ILLUSTRATION MIGHT HAVE BEEN DRAWN BY ONE OF MY FAVORITE ARTISTS, DREW FRIEDMAN, WHO IS KNOWN FOR HIS LOVE OF ALL THINGS SHEMP. I CAN'T FIND ANY CONFIRMATION ANYWHERE FOR WHAT ARTIST DREW THIS CARD BUT IT LOOKS A LITTLE FRIEDMANNY TO ME SO I SHALL CHOOSE TO BELIEVE WHAT I WANT TO BELIEVE

THIS CARD ALSO BEGINS A THEME THAT RUNS THROUGHOUT MY BLACK FRIDAY PICKUPS. THIS WON'T BE THE ONLY SHEMP YOU SPY

BLACK FRIDAY COMC PICKUPS - PART 22: KNUCKLEHEADS

 M-M-M-MORE M-M-M-MINIS! THIS ONE ISN'T A PRE-WAR VINTAGE CIGARETTE CARD BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN

2013 PANINI GOLDEN AGE THE THREE STOOGES COMEDY ACT AMERICAN CARAMEL MINI

ONE OF MY COLLECTING FAILS IS THAT I STILL HAVE NEVER PICKED UP A VINTAGE FLEER THREE STOOGES CARD. I'VE HAD A COUPLE CHANCES TO GET ONE BUT EVERY TIME I BALKED AT THE PRICES. MAYBE I WAS JUST BITTER THAT THERE'S NO SHEMP CARDS* IN THE SET? PANINI GOLDEN AGE DID HAVE A CARD OF THE SHEMP TEAM IN MINI VERSION YET SO I GRABBED. PANINI GOLDEN AGE IS SO WEIRD, A RETRO-STYLE SET PACKED WITH POP CULTURE GOODNESS THAT SEEMED TO BE EVERYWHERE FOR THREE YEARS AND THEN POOF, IT WAS GONE. LARRY, MOE AND CURLY ALL GOT CARDS IN 2012 ALONG WITH A STOOGES CARD WITH ALL THREE AND THERE WAS THIS CARD IN 2013 ALONG WITH A 9 CARD INSERT SET FEATURING SOME OF THEIR SHORT SUBJECTS. SHEMP IS UNFAIRLY MALIGNED AS A STOOGE AND HIS CARDS ARE HARD TO FIND SO I JUMPED ON THIS QUICK WHEN I SAW IT

THE BACK IS A RIFF ON THE 1910 E-90 BASEBALL CARD BACK. THIS ONE IS BLUE, THEY ALSO COME WITH RED INK. MINI'S WERE ONE PER PACK AND THERE WERE SIX OR SEVEN DIFFERENT FLAVORS AND I CAN'T FIND ODDS FOR ANY OF THEM ANYWHERE SO WHO KNOWS IF THIS IS SCARCE OR NOT. FUNNY THING IS TOPPS HAS THEIR OWN AMERICAN CARAMEL MINI PARALLEL DESIGN IN 2010 TOPPS 206. YOU CAN COLLECT AT LEAST FOUR DIFFERENT CARDS WITH THIS BACK IF YOU SO CHOOSE. I ALSO HAVE AN ATLANTA BRAVES SHIRT THAT INCORPORATES THIS DESIGN ALBEIT VERY SUBTLY. AMERICAN CARAMEL IS WAY MORE POPULAR THAT I IMAGINED

*NO JOE BESSER EITHER BUT THERE ARE A FEW CURLY JOE CARDS? THAT'S THE MOST GALLING PART, NO SHEMP, BUT CURLY JOE. ANOTHER THING THAT SURPRISED ME IS JOE BESSER HAS EXACTLY ZERO CARDS BEFORE A 1997 THREE STOOGES SET. WHILE BESSER IS NOT EXACTLY THE MOST BELOVED STOOGE HE IS DEFINITELY A GREAT COMEDIAN AND WAS VERY FUNNY ON ABBOTT AND COSTELLO AND JACK BENNY PROGRAMS AND WITH HIS OWN SET OF SHORTS. LOONEY TUNES RIPPED OFF HIS MANNERISMS IN SEVERAL CARTOONS, IF THAT'S NOT CONFIRMATION YOU'VE MADE IT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS

OMG I JUST LOOKED UP SHEMP AND THAT'S HIS FIRST CARD TOO, WTF