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

Five cards I found while sorting my Braves box

I have no idea what these were doing in a Braves box. I also have no idea why I'm so unorganized. I also have no idea what to write about today so here ya go.

Here's a Wall Climbers card of Ichiro from 2011 Gypsy Queen. This set may have been the beginning into my descent into Cardboard Ennui. I had been wanting a proper Gypsy Queen/Old Judge set for years (although I originally thought Upper Deck would be the one to do it) (No, 2005 Origins was NOT what I wanted) but when it came out I didn't go quite as crazy for it as I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, I still bought up a bunch of rack packs and blasters, I just didn't go completely overboard like I usually did. I didn't even put the set into a binder. That reminds me, my 2011 Allen & Ginter set is STILL not bindered. What the hell happened to me?

Of note - The stealth Best Buy ad up in the corner. I wonder if Topps is getting kickbacks for that?

Blast Blew Ribbon Beer! The beer that made Milwaukee burp! Considering I practically learned to read on Mad Magazine it's somewhat surprising I don't have a gigantic pile of Wacky Packages cards in my collection. It was just a matter of timing for me. I was too young to collect cards in the '70s and when I was in full cardboard hoarding mode in the '80s, Garbage Pail Kids were the ones to have. The one time I came across some old Wacky Packages cards when I was a kid, the dealer wanted a quarter a pop for them, which was way too much for me back then. Now they just sort of pop up in random trade packages here and there. I could use a case of BBR right now to guzzle while I listen to In My G4 Over Da Sea to earn my screwball hipster badge.

Here's a 1990 Classic card of Slammin' Sammy Sosa. This set is in the running for most early '90sish card design ever. I'm not sure if this is an 'official' rookie or not. There's a 1989 Donruss Baseball's Best card of Sammy which is just as legitimate a set as Classic is. Remember, Classic is a trivia game, not a baseball card set somehow. Yes, shenanigans also abounded in the trading card industry 20 years ago. To a much greater extent than today if you can believe it. It doesn't really matter because this card got creased all to hell in an *ahem* cleaning accident of which I shall not speak of in this forum. I'm going to make the best of it by turning it into an art card. I just need to figure out how to turn Sammy into a pony.

I have no idea how this card got into my collection I SWEAR. Actually I do, it was inside one of the weirder grab bags I've ever seen. A mixture of junk, vintage, promos and bootleg cards. This was one of the promos. Apparently there was a 1993 Portfolio set featuring purdy gurls in bikinis. Is there an online collecting community for these types of cards like with baseball cards? Actually I don't even wanna know. I've been around the interwebs long enough to know it can't possibly be a good idea to go looking for that.

Yep, random 1987 Donruss Opening Day Barry Bonds rookie in the middle of a Braves box for no discernible reason. I don't know what that is on his cap, must have been a toenail on the scanner or something. This one got put into a toploader or else it would have suffered the same fate as the Sammy. Which is almost a shame, because I can actually think of a couple ways to deface this one and turn it into an art card. It's only like a three dollar card now anyway, maybe I should just go for it.