In 1967, the fine folks at Topps Company launched a new series that would
leave their mark on a generation. A soft gooey mark that you would try to scrap
off, but it always managed to stick. But Wacky Packages, featuring often gross
parodies of popular consumer products was not an instant success. The first
series, launched in 1967 was fairly quiet. As was the second series which
debuted in 1969 under the name Wacky Ads. So Topps took a break from the idea
and did more research and marketing. And then in 1973, they relaunched and had
a huge success on their hands.

Norman Saunders was the man behind Wacky
Packages and his name may be familiar to some of you. His genius in the Wacky
Packages was his last major art project, before his death in 1989, but he was a
major commercial artist for pulp magazines, men’s magazines and trading cards.
He came to Topps in 1958, where he worked on one of the most successful
non-sports trading card lines in history, the Mars Attacks cards.

One
of the keys to the successful relaunch of Wacky Packages was a continued
production of new series on a quarterly basis. For the first two years of the
70’s launch, Wacky Packages actually outsold the baseball cards which had been
the cornerstone of the Topps Company. They continued with new images until 1976
and 16 series. Some reprint series followed, as well as some new but less
successful material sporadically in the 80’s and 90’s

Thankfully, in 2004
a recommitment to the original concept was brought out. This summer sees the
release of the 4^th series of this current endeavor which captures the
spirit of what made names like Neverreeady Batteries and Bustedfinger Candy Bars
household names. Most likely because the kids who enjoyed the original series
by Saunders are now the geniuses behind today’s cards. So if you feel the need
to impart part of your childhood to the next generation, make sure they know
about Cannibal’s Shrunken Noodle Soup. It’s sure to be a crowd pleaser.