In hindsight, my childhood was far too focused on baseball. If I wasn't playing baseball, I was watching baseball. No matter the time of year, I was spending every last dollar I had on baseball cards. These concerns became unimportant after my mom dragged me to Meyer's and we stumbled onto a gold mine. Garbage Pail Kids. They undermined everything I thought I knew about collectors cards. The art was so detailed and foul - they blew my mind. These cards became my new obsession and their art style turned out to be quite influential. It's hard to imagine grimy 90's cartoons like "Ren & Stimpy" and "Bevis and Butthead" without them. The crusty art style and impeccable detail surpassed my wildest imagination. I'm not sure why, but Garbage Pail Kids left an oversized impression on my young mind. They may have been created to mock "Cabbage Patch Kids", but they also trained a generation to revel in absurdity and pay close attention to detail. For that alone, they'll always hold a place in my heart.
If you'd like to learn more about Garbage Pail Kids cards, be sure to check out this GPK reference website and database. It homes an impressive amount of info, high-quality archive images, and more lore than you could imagine.
