Halloween

The Halloween Grab Bag!
The Monster Initial Stickers Name Generator!
by: -RoG-

As you probably know by now, I'm a huge fan of non-sports trading card sets. For people who aren't interested in collecting cards which display the stats of the hottest roid-ragin' athletes of today, you can always look back in time for classic sets of underappreciated non-sports trading cards. You'll often find that not only are these classic sets cheap as hell, the people who were creating them really had fun doing so. True, this often means the sets were horrible, but some of them were true works of art. And that brings us to the topic of discussion for today: Topps Monster Initial Stickers!

A box of Topps Monster Initial Stickers from 1974!

Released in 1974, the idea behind this collection was simple: create stickers for all the letters of the alphabet, but feature monster scenarios inside each letter. Alphabet letter stickers with monsters inside them that the kids will all want to collect until they can spell their own names with 'em? Brilliant!

Great art on the front! Not-so-great art on the back...

The artwork on each of the stickers really was top-notch stuff for its time. Unfortunately, they really slacked when it came to the backs of the stickers. Unlike many other sticker cards that featured stats, jokes or something on the back... these ones just showed you some ugly old cardboard. Not exactly a major selling point, even if the packs did come with one of those petrified sticks of bubblegum.

But was this actually a deal breaker? Is this why the Monster Initial cards didn't last long at all and are virtually unheard of these days? I mean, the stickers themselves looked great and while the cardboard backs were useless, they at least did put in some effort to make a collectible puzzle featuring many of the characters looking at the "spooky" stickers:

Gosh these Monster Initials sure are spooky! What a puzzle!

Not too shabby if ya ask me. What's really sad about this set is that as nice as all the artwork is, it's practically impossible to find a complete set for sale these days... even on eBay. Usually you'll just see a single card go up for sale, or maybe one pack of cards at best. Well my friends, today I'm here to give you a chance to spell your name with the original Monster Initial stickers without having to spend an eternity trying to track them down. That's right, with the help of my pal Cfr5's programming, we're now able to let you type in your name below and each letter of your name will then be "MONSTERIZED" with the original Monster Initial stickers! From there you can save the image of your name and upload it somewhere to share with your friends. Here's an example with my name:

Igor rings my R! Godzilla zaps my O! And uh, there's some spooky stuff going on in my G or something...

So what are ya waiting for!? Give your name a try!

note: there is a 20 character limit for text entered in the form.

Have any questions or comments about this piece?
Email -RoG-

 

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! YOU FOUND SCARY-ASS TRADING CARD #13!
COLLECT ALL SERIES II CARDS FOR A SURPRISE!

You found Scary-Ass Trading Card #13!
i-mockery.com/halloween/cards07/herschell-card13.jpg
*copy this URL down, you'll need it once you've found all 19 cards!*

These days he's a Direct Marketing guru, which is plenty creepy enough, but back in the sixties, Hershchell Gordon Lewis invented the splatter film. His 1963 low budget shocker "Blood Feast", a sordid tale of an Egyptian caterer who sacrifices people to Ishtar and uses them as the main ingredient in his cooking. A quick peak at the encyclopedia would have told Lewis that Ishtar was a Babylonian goddess, not Egyptian, but the speed at which he shot his films pretty much ruled out niceties like research, or for that matter, acting. In '64 he rolled out "2000 Maniacs", about a sort of Lorna Doone town of Hillbilly homicidal maniacs, and in '65 he completed his Blood Trilogy with "Color Me Blood Red" about an artist who paints with, you guessed it, blood. Lewis dabbled in all sort of exploitation quickies, including smut. In a particularly eerie example of art preceding reality, his now sadly lost "Linda and Abalene", a lesbian Western, was shot on the Spahn Ranch. A few months later, new tenants would move in. The Manson Family.

Find all 19 Series II "Scary-Ass Trading Cards" this September and October (2007) and you'll not only get a special secret final 20th card emailed to you, but you'll automatically be entered to win a Halloween prize pack from I-Mockery! Cards will be placed in random new I-Mockery articles during the months of September and October. Simply copy the URLs of each card down into a text file whenever you find them.

Once you have collected the URLs of all the cards, simply email them to webmaster@i-mockery.com with the subject line "I-Mockery's Scary-Ass Trading Cards!" and you will have the special 20th card emailed to you and you'll be entered to win a Halloween prize pack which may include masks, DVDs and more! Remember, the cards MUST say "Series II" on them or they will not be counted.

Do NOT email the actual card graphics to us. We only want you to email us the URLs of all the cards which you can find directly underneath them.

 

If you enjoyed this piece, be sure to check out:

Death's Head Terror!
Death's Head Terror!

Reader Comments

 

OLD COMMENTS:

after enough bourbon ...
Oct 4th, 2009, 11:26 PM
A-MAZ-ING!

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