Garbage Pail Kids

Page last updated 2022.07.17

There was a time when Garbage Pail Kids were a major part of my life. I spent a lot of time acquiring them, trading them, and just looking at them. My mother didn't like them, but I think that was pretty universal.

Years later, I learned that Art Spiegelman created Garbage Pail Kids. In an interview, he said this about them:

I was happy to have done it. It was giving back from my influences to another generation. Probably more people have seen them than anything else I've done. And that's OK. It was like MAD for me, I hope. A positive thing. . . . Ultimately, I think that the Garbage Pail Kids is a great moral work.

There were ultimately 620 unique Garbage Pail Kids (each with an alternate name) across fifteen series. Here are a few of my favorites:

If you're nostalgic about Garbage Pail Kids, here are a couple things you might appreciate:

	Garbage Pail Kids This small hardcover book contains all the images from the first five series (front side only). It also includes an introduction by Art Spiegelman and an afterword by John Pound. Goodreads link Amazon link

	30 Years of Garbage: The Garbage Pail Kids Story This documentary includes interviews with many of the people involved with Garbage Pail Kids. It's thorough and entertaining. I particularly liked what artist Tom Bunk had to say in it. Letterboxd link

I never watched the 1980s movie. Even as a kid, I thought it looked terrible and was an affront to the artwork on the cards.

A few links:

Barren Aaron's GPK World
Pound Art (John Pound painted most of the early Garbage Pail Kids)
Wayne's Garbage Pail Kids References

30 Years of Garbage: The Garbage Pail Kids Story