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1988 Topps Dinosaurs Attack! A Closer Look
Stone193
Posts: 24,478 ✭✭✭✭✭
(Please take a look when you have the time - I know it is long)
Topps celebrated the 25th anniversary of Mars Attacks with Dinosaurs Attack!
(each box contains one small poster - too large to scan fully)
I hope when you have time, you will read this. The set was neither popular nor expensive. The reason for the report is to delve into the minds of the Topps card producers and to show some of the interesting things they did to produce the set. In actuality with the popularity of Jurassic park, the set was kind of ahead of its time! Set name: 1988 Topps Dinosaurs Attack!
Packs: 5 cards – 1 sticker – 1 stick of gum; 25 cents; 36 pks/box Complete set: 55 cards, 11
Around 1988, Topps dominated the non-sport card market and their West Coast editor for Topps, Gary Gerani, pushed for the product. It was his idea and he promoted it thru the ranks and wrote the copy for it. In general, although the title and plot are self-explanatory, there is humor and satire built into it. One thing of interest is the fact that many of the characters that appear throughout the cards were Topps employees photographed by Gerani for that purpose. He used everyone from a female mailroom clerk to himself (Dr. Elias Thorne). The newsman on #45 and the back of card #44 is Butch Jacobs, the photo editor for Topps sports cards. Card #36 used the esteemed comic artist Art Spiegelman of Pulitzer Prize fame. On the same card is Topps non-sport VIP Len Brown with a wide-open mouth and holding a flurry of comics (Len is the author of the original Mars Attack card set!). All the great art work was done by a team led by artist Xno . Gerani wrote the entire set in just three days!
Gerani joined Topps in the early 70’s and one of his favorite creations by Topps before his tenure was Mars Attacks. One of the things he reveals is the fact that some of the candy stores in Brooklyn were used as “test sites” and the store by his house was one of them. Thus, he says a lot of stuff that doesn’t make it to the public at large stayed pooled in these areas till it filtered out. That explains why some items seem totally foreign to many people. He always wanted to do a sequel to Mars but Topps generally did better with humor products like Wacky Packs, Garage Pail Kids etc. Mars Attacks, actually had a limited distribution but it is fondly remembered and is a cult item, though it never made a fortune for the company. In the production of Dinosaurs attack, to aid the painter in producing more realistic looking faces, they simply took pictures of everybody at Topps and posed them as victims screaming. Now is that campy stuff or what! Essentially, this set paid homage to the science fiction thrillers of the 1950’s and 60’s which were kind of serious in nature. The end result of the set was a kind of “end of the world” parody of sorts, which was more received and accepted by people in the late 80’s. The product was considered a failure and this is the only non-sports item where they filmed a 30 second commercial to promote it. In the end, this is considered by many to be a bonafide cult item and the people who are into it are like “trekies.” Some of the stuff is kind of gross for the really young, although I tend to believe it pales in comparison to all the reality crap on TV today.
Topps celebrated the 25th anniversary of Mars Attacks with Dinosaurs Attack!
(each box contains one small poster - too large to scan fully)
I hope when you have time, you will read this. The set was neither popular nor expensive. The reason for the report is to delve into the minds of the Topps card producers and to show some of the interesting things they did to produce the set. In actuality with the popularity of Jurassic park, the set was kind of ahead of its time! Set name: 1988 Topps Dinosaurs Attack!
Packs: 5 cards – 1 sticker – 1 stick of gum; 25 cents; 36 pks/box Complete set: 55 cards, 11
Around 1988, Topps dominated the non-sport card market and their West Coast editor for Topps, Gary Gerani, pushed for the product. It was his idea and he promoted it thru the ranks and wrote the copy for it. In general, although the title and plot are self-explanatory, there is humor and satire built into it. One thing of interest is the fact that many of the characters that appear throughout the cards were Topps employees photographed by Gerani for that purpose. He used everyone from a female mailroom clerk to himself (Dr. Elias Thorne). The newsman on #45 and the back of card #44 is Butch Jacobs, the photo editor for Topps sports cards. Card #36 used the esteemed comic artist Art Spiegelman of Pulitzer Prize fame. On the same card is Topps non-sport VIP Len Brown with a wide-open mouth and holding a flurry of comics (Len is the author of the original Mars Attack card set!). All the great art work was done by a team led by artist Xno . Gerani wrote the entire set in just three days!
Gerani joined Topps in the early 70’s and one of his favorite creations by Topps before his tenure was Mars Attacks. One of the things he reveals is the fact that some of the candy stores in Brooklyn were used as “test sites” and the store by his house was one of them. Thus, he says a lot of stuff that doesn’t make it to the public at large stayed pooled in these areas till it filtered out. That explains why some items seem totally foreign to many people. He always wanted to do a sequel to Mars but Topps generally did better with humor products like Wacky Packs, Garage Pail Kids etc. Mars Attacks, actually had a limited distribution but it is fondly remembered and is a cult item, though it never made a fortune for the company. In the production of Dinosaurs attack, to aid the painter in producing more realistic looking faces, they simply took pictures of everybody at Topps and posed them as victims screaming. Now is that campy stuff or what! Essentially, this set paid homage to the science fiction thrillers of the 1950’s and 60’s which were kind of serious in nature. The end result of the set was a kind of “end of the world” parody of sorts, which was more received and accepted by people in the late 80’s. The product was considered a failure and this is the only non-sports item where they filmed a 30 second commercial to promote it. In the end, this is considered by many to be a bonafide cult item and the people who are into it are like “trekies.” Some of the stuff is kind of gross for the really young, although I tend to believe it pales in comparison to all the reality crap on TV today.
Mike
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Comments
Speaking of dinosaurs, if you still own phonograph records and want to feel really old, check this out. (They must all be over on the CD boards....)
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
how is that possible?
am i reading it wrong?
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
<< <i>Mike, man, help me out here >>
Mark, Steve
I was affraid someone would misinterpret that - I just changed it - yes one of the creations before he got with the company. Wouldn't it be great to do something like this for a while? Wouldn't mind it myself.
You guys lay low over the next few days.
Steve
I will PM ya.
your friend
Mike