Let's kick things off right with a book I picked up recently (that I'd been eyeballing for a while, only to pull the trigger and snatch it up at a discount book store for more than 60% off), a little colorful tome dedicated to those classic collectible stickers that my friends and I used to covet like gold, Wacky Packages.
Wacky Packages were there right when I started to discover the wonderful world of collectible trading cards, and even though the line started to die out while I was still a kid, in the days before mass hording and eBay scalpers, you could still find packs of Wacky Packages in certain drug stores for years after the line's demise.
We adored them, and thanks to a huge shoebox of trading cards that I scored when I was 8 at a garage sale that my Mom and I stopped at in the next town over (which also contained some classic Batman and Odd Rod cards), I was pretty much crowned the Wacky Packages King of 3rd grade, doling out treasured doubles to my friends for Star Wars cards or the occasional lunch-time Twinkie.
The book kicks off with a quick (almost too quick, I want to know more!) reminiscence from former Topps artist (and comic book legend) Art Spiegelman, looking back on the glory days of Wacky Packages.
The real treasure within the book however, is the fact that it contains large, colorful pics of every single Wacky Packages card ever printed!
And if that didn't sell me (which, it did), they throw in a few actual sticker cards of reprinted rare and unpublished designs from back in the day.
This book was like a walk down memory lane (Oh! I had that one!) and will be the perfect "field guide" in case I ever try to sink my teeth in to collecting them all again (gods help me). But if I do, I'll be sure to brush those teeth with Crust toothpaste and gargle with Blisterine. ;)
