Book Review: "Wacky Packages" by The Topps Company, Inc.

Wacky Packages by The Topps Company Inc.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon Book Description

Wacky Packages—a series of collectible stickers featuring parodies of consumer products and well-known brands and packaging—were first produced by the Topps company in 1967, then revived in 1973 for a highly successful run. In fact, for the first two years they were published, Wacky Packages were the only Topps product to achieve higher sales than their flagship line of baseball cards. The series has been relaunched several times over the years, most recently to great success in 2007.

Known affectionately among collectors as “Wacky Packs,” as a creative force with artist Art Spiegelman, the stickers were illustrated by such notable comics artists as Kim Deitch, Bill Griffith, Jay Lynch, and Norm Saunders.

This first-ever collection of Series One through Series Seven (from 1973 and 1974) celebrates the 35th anniversary of Wacky Packages and is sure to amuse collectors and fans young and old.


A fabulous pictorial collection of the revival of the trading cards relaunched in 1974.  The hardcover edition has a dust jacket that is made of material that is similar in feel to the wax paper packaging of the original trading cards.  When you remove the dust jacket there is a picture on the front cover of the stick of gum that was found inside the wacky packages.  Additionally, there is a bonus pack of wacky stickers inside the back cover with a picture of the crumbled stick of gum on the back cover (this gum frequently would break into pieces).  In addition to the pictures of the series one through series seven, including all 223 rare and hard to find stickers distributed in 1973-1974, there is a very interesting overview of the artist, Art Spiegelman.  Art Spiegelman was part of the creative force at The Topps Company, which was the leading producer of trading cards and creator of Bazooka bubble gum.  A follow-up edition,
  , was released in 2010 and covers series 8-14, years 1974-1975.  A must have for anyone who collected these trading cards back in the 70's.