In 1973, every pre-teenaged boy had a Wacky Pack sticker on his notebook, locker, math book,
bike, and/or the door of his bedroom.  Topps had given him a way to flick the nose of
the establishment during the awkward years when he was too old for Daffy Duck and too
young for Frank Zappa.


These Mad-magazine influenced trading card-sized stickers contained raunchy parodies
of popular products.  From Crust toothpaste to Bloodweiser beer, no product or
manufacturer was left unscathed.  Each product was given an evil alter-ego name and then
defaced with worms, poison and vomit.  A generation was being prepared for Alice Cooper.


Wacky Packs were so popular that they have been reprinted and re-released several times
during the '70s and '80s, and even again in 1991.  They even have the uneasy distinction
of being the fathers of the Garbage Pail Kids series from the '80s.  Topps also came
up with the Weird Wheels series in 1973, a tip of the hat to the very popular Rat
Fink-influenced Odd Rods, monster-car stickers by made Donruss in 1969, and Fleer's
Weird-Ohs.


It takes a seasoned veteran to figure out all of the set series
with puzzles and checklists, card variaions, short-prints, double-prints and triple-prints.
With prices of sets ranging from $30 to $500, it is worth a new collector's time to visit
some of the great Wacky Pack websites that provide this information in detail.