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Garbage Pail Kids are back, with help from a Lincolnite

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BY CARA PESEK / Lincoln Journal Star

Thursday, Aug 07, 2008 - 12:15:40 am CDT

Adam White has his own trading card.

Drawn in the style of the Garbage Pail Kids trading cards that were all the rage in the mid-1980s, it shows White, wearing a T-shirt of his own design, atop a blue, one-eyed tiger. The words “Craze-One Clothing” — the name of White’s clothing line — run across the top of the card.

John Pound, who drew the original Garbage Pail Kids trading cards, also drew the one of White, the first in a series of five Garbage Pail Kids tribute cards that White and Pound began discussing a decade ago. The other four have yet to be released.

Story Photo
The tribute cards to Garbage Pail Kids featuring Lincoln's Adam White are available through White's Web site. (Courtesy of Adam White)

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If you go

What: Opening reception for Craze One clothing's Garbage Pail Kids tribute cards

Where: 18 Tigers, second floor of the Parrish Building on 14th and O streets (above Duffy's Tavern)

When: 7-10 p.m. Friday

Like most of his friends, White, 30, collected Garbage Pail Kids — gross-out trading cards spoofing the Cabbage Patch Kids — when he was in elementary school.

He had a several-year obsession that waned in the late ’80s, when he gave most of those cards away and all but forgot about them.

Until the late 1990s, when two things happened.

White began collecting Garbage Pail Kids trading cards, eventually accumulating thousands, as well as Garbage Pail buttons, coffee mugs, posters and an actual Garbage Pail Kids garbage can.

He also bought the original artwork from one of the early Garbage Pail Kids trading cards, which put him in touch with Pound.

The two hit it off, White said, and discussions for the tribute line began.

For years, it didn’t quite work out. Pound was busy, or White didn’t have the money to commission the artwork for the cards, which, like the originals, include a peel-off sticker on the front of the card, and a comic strip on the back.

Finally, it did.

And other children of the ’80s have taken notice.

White has already sold about a third of the first run of 1,000 cards.

Juxtapoz, an alternative art magazine, ran two short stories about the cards on its Web site, including this plug for White’s project, which ran on June 20:

“If the Garbage Pail Kids inspired you as a youth like they did us, you’ll definitely want to hit up crazeone.com and order your stickers soon … .”

Blurbs about the cards have also appeared on assorted art blogs and in Non-Sport Update, a magazine for collectors of non-sports trading cards, spurring collectors to pre-order their cards.

“Some people have told me they were going to frame it, front and back,” White said.

Which is all flattering, he said.

He’s having an open house at 18 Tigers to celebrate the launch of the cards Friday.

He plans to display his original John Pound art, and perhaps to show the Garbage Pail Kids movie.

In addition, part of White’s collection of Garbage Pail Kids is on display — and for sale — at 18 Tigers.

Five-card packs sell for a few dollars, depending on the rarity. He has some mugs, buttons and posters for sale, too.

“Here and there people pick up a pack,” he said.

They seem to be one of those things that everyone remembers fondly, that everyone collected at some point.

Which makes his most recent project even cooler.

“What could be better than having your own card?”

Reach Cara Pesek at 473-7361 or cpesek@journalstar.com.


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momofdecentkids wrote on August 7, 2008 10:34 am:
" Just what we need more crap to fill the kids heads with. "

Patsy wrote on August 7, 2008 1:49 pm:
" what is that supposed to mean? I grew up on GPK and I have the morals of a nun. A nun stuck in a monastery. Make of that what you will. "

dann wrote on August 7, 2008 2:10 pm:
" I don't think the purpose is for children. It is an art exhibit, and it is for collectors. Not many children are necessarily interested in art exhibits. (though it wouldn't be bad if they were) nor do they have to allowance to splurge on nostalgic items from a past they never lived through.

Try to think a little harder before dismissing things. You might end up looking like a moron. "

jjsf wrote on August 7, 2008 2:14 pm:
" Lighten up, if you teach your kids right from wrong then there is nothing to worry about. Like there isn't worse stuff on TV. "

stepfatherofprettyrottenkids wrote on August 7, 2008 2:48 pm:
" Well I think it's neat! :D "

aprettyrottenkidwithsaintsforparents wrote on August 7, 2008 3:15 pm:
" I, personally love it. I can't wait to get my own!

Give kids these days a chance please. Not all of us directly reflect the things we take in "

grandpaofnogoodnicks wrote on August 7, 2008 3:39 pm:
" Kids' heads are not a good means of storage. I tried putting my 1947 Yankees baseball card collection in my grandson's noggin and all he did was complain it hurt. Now my own son won't even talk to me. "

GPKLyfe wrote on August 7, 2008 4:00 pm:
" " Just what we need more crap to fill the kids heads with. "

yeah, blame it on society when your kids act up because you obviously didn't instill very good morals in them...why don't you try raising your kids yourself instead of trying to say that your kids are bad because of outside influences. "

RickRack wrote on August 7, 2008 4:23 pm:
" I used to love the wit of the characters. Some of them were so disgusting I'd get sick after viewing them. Of course, I later discovered it wasn't the cards, but an eating disorder. I didn't realize it until I was down to 87 pounds. Luckily, there's also a GPK with an eating disorder. So it cheered me right up. "

esad wrote on August 8, 2008 7:15 am:
" This is very good news - really important to our everyday lives. I was losing sleep over this!! "

Pat wrote on August 8, 2008 2:02 pm:
" Thanks for proving that puritanism is alive and well in Lincoln, Nebraska. My brother and I had tons of the cards and turned out just fine. They're cartoon cards. There's a lot worse things available to kids.

If you don't like it, isolate your kids. Maybe you can improve them from decent to acceptable. After that, who knows? Maybe you can move them from acceptable to respectable. That would be a step in the right direction. Home school your kids. Burn the tv. Limit their conversations with other children. With your sheltering them from radical cartoon cards, maybe they'll go on to run the free world. Probably in an impossibly boring way. "