The Ol' Stinkeye

I was toying around with ideas for a Christmas themed post but could not findy any material I had not shared before. Instead, I decided to go "oppo".

The 1968 Topps Ugly Hang-Ups set has been discussed here once before, about three and a half years ago. I don't have a lot of new information but did track down two additional pieces of original Basil Wolverton art from an old Heritage auction. The first was designed to be poster #9; note the lettered suffix after the number, in this case "C". The suffixes seem to follow the numbering, I'm guessing in in groups of three.

Next up is 11D. It's a pretty intricate drawing but not even close to Wolverton's top work for this set that was tested but never issued at full retail. I dub thee Stinkeye:

Maybe that was to be called something like "Spaghettihead"?  I have no idea about 16F:

I mean, what on earth would you call that?!

Heritage also had an original Wolverton attributed to Batty Book Covers, also from 1968 but a product that actually made it to store shelves.  #5 in that set is listed in a checklist appearing on the wrapper as Wacky Packages but it's actually a Topps product montage.  

Here's another:

Still, there is another Wolverton original described in an auction listing as "Luntz Armstrong" in Batty Book Covers, amazingly also destined to be #5:

I'm wasn't sure where there two potential #5's, but this subject ended up as one of of the "Classroom Creeps" (there were 3) covers in the set, so one cover could have two numbers on the original art I guess. The name though, is nowhere to be seen:

  

That takes care of the drawing below as well!

The above and below drawings do not seem to match up with any Batty Book Cover Titles except possibly a series of three "Classroom Creeps" in the series.  It's hard to tell as issued examples are few and far between.

If you are interested, most Wolverton line art such as the above examples, routinely sells for about five grand! So as always, a bit more sleuthing is in order.

Linky Dink And You

I thought I would do something a little different today and highlight a few sites around the web that take in-depth looks at some classic Topps sets and the people that produced them. I am finishing up my guide to Topps from 1938-56 and starting to slowly extract myself from a years-long immersion in the era.  My next port of call is going to be the mid 60's and what better way than to give some well deserved props to the early Topps artists than by directing you all to some key websites.

The artists sometimes get short shrift as their Topps work is not signed; indeed they were paid very little for their efforts and would have been "advised" by Topps not to talk openly about their work for the firm. Make no mistake though-it was the artwork that made a Topps card, especially the non-sports ones, a Topps card.

I'll not delve into Woody Gelman's output right now as there does not seem to be a dedicated site for him (yet) but he was quite instrumental, of course, in creating the "Topps style" of illustration. There is enough information scattered throughout the blog to get a feel for his influence though.

This site gets into the work of Wesley Morse, the first Bazooka Joe artist and soon to be looked at in a little more depth in a new book (with research being provided by BFF o'the archive Jeff Shepherd) that looks at his Topps work.  Morse had a very interesting early career illustrating Tijuana Bibles and early newspaper strips.

Probably the most intriguing site is one run by the family of Norm Saunders. There are oodles of illustrations there and you can spend hours poking around. Saunders had a long career in the pulps before he did work for Topps.

Wally Wood is another Topps artist who is justly celebrated for his comic book work and is one of the giants of the field. He is perhaps best known for his early MAD comics work.

Another MAD alumni, Jack Davis, was an early artist for Topps.

And no roundup would be complete without invoking Basil Wolverton, the tormented genius.

Jay Lynch made his name in underground comix before doing yeoman's work for Topps starting in the late 60's and is forever associated with Wacky Packages.  His website, sadly, looks pretty bare.

Lynch worked a lot with Art Spiegelman at Topps; Spiegelman is world renowned as the Pulitzer Prize creator and illustrator of Maus.

I am just scratching the surface here; there are so many artists that will never be identified and others who I am researching that will have their work discussed in future posts. I'll still be ping-ponging all over the timescape and dissecting the output of the Shorin-Topps era (1938-71 mostly) but want to get a discussion started on the artists since a lot of good information, tips and the like have been generated by the readers of this humble blog over the last four years.

Plug Ugly

One of the more bizarre Topps products I have ever encountered is actually a toy. Since I am knee deep in reconfiguring the Topps Archives Research Complex this week (otherwise known as moving piles o'crap around my office to make room for my new scanner) I thought I would direct you all to the Norman Saunders Website, which explains a little about these darling creatures:



That scan is from what looks to be an extinct site called gumballcharm.com. These are based on the 1965 Topps Ugly Stickers,



a very popular set that deserves a lot more attention here someday but given this fabulous site, that may not be necessary.

Basil Wolverton, the erstwhile MAD magazine artist and all around tortured genius, came up with a number of the designs for the Ugly Stickers and his style is felt throughout. The great Wally Wood was also involved in addition to Norm Saunders and a mysterious west coast finishing artist. Draconian business practices by Topps appear to have influenced events as well (starving artists, indeed) with all things Ugly.

The US version never really seems to have been publicized, sadly, but a 1967 test seems to have morphed into a vending issue-designed to be sold in gumball machines via in those little plastic capsules we all remember. A number of the creatures were later blister-packed and sold as Teacher's Pets in the early to mid 70's. If you click here you can see what looks to be a complete set. These are really cool!

I am trying to track down a scan of one of the Ugly Flicker Rings, which has to be a rare bird.