Garbage Pail Kids - Oh, The Horror-ible

The Garbarge Pail Kids are back and they're taking on the icons of horror and sci-fi. I was pretty excited for this set, given that it released around Halloween, and ordered a box online. What I didn't realize was that Topps has changed how they refer to things. There used to be retail and hobby boxes, with hobby being the ones that had a guaranteed "hit" of a sketch card or something else desirable. Now they are called hobby and hobby collector boxes. Ugh. To make a long story short (too late!) I ordered a non-hit box, the up side is these are cheaper than the collector boxes. Enough boring stuff, let's get to it!

This is a Value, or Blaster, Box which is available in stores. These $10 boxes have 5 packs and a bonus mini-pack of 3 Bathroom Buddies stickers. These are usually boring ol rectangular boxes but someone had the great idea to turn it into a tombstone. Love it!

There are 200 base cards in the set but it's more like two 100 card sets as each card has an A and B name variant. Each pack has a puke green parallel and there are other various color parallels of differing rarities scattered in as well. All that means is instead of a white border, it is splashed with color.

Here are a few of the horror cards. There are mini sets categorized into Retro Horror (top), 80s Horror (middle), and Modern Horror (bottom). I was very happy to find the Addams Family represented in the retro set.

The Science Fiction cards have similar groupings top to bottom: Retro, 80s, and Modern. Most of these mini sets have 10-15 cards but there are only 5 in the Modern SciFi series.

Rounding out the base series are Classic Film Monsters (top) and Folk Lore (Bottom). The Creature from the Black Lagoon has a card in the Classic Film Monster set but I haven't seen one yet. I know the Krampus movie was a big hit but he really belongs in Folk Lore.

In addition to the basic cards, there are a few chase insert sets. The Classic Monster (80s throwback) stickers are only available in "fat packs" which is a $5 larger the normal pack. The Trick or Treat set (bottom) is available in the hobby box. There is also a horror poster parody series and a set of patch cards that you can only get from the hobby collector boxes. So if you gotta have em all, you'll be forking over lots of cash!

This is a really fun set and I'm diggin the Classic Monster stickers from the fat packs. If you're looking to do some trading, hit me up! You can find a list of my cards here.

Be sure to Trick or Treat at the participating Countdown blogs by clicking below!

Headless HorseMonday - Books

The Headless Horseman owes his origin to the printed page so I thought it only fitting to discuss a couple other versions of his legend.

First is A Sleepy Hollow Halloween which is a Little Golden Book. The cutesy art style is completely adorable and the story is told in rhyme. Being aimed at a younger audience, it tells a different version of the classic story that's less scary and more fun.

But that's not even the best part.

The book also comes with a plush Headless Horseman Itty Bitty! This is the real reason I wanted it. The book is great and all but I just couldn't pass up this pumpkin head! In case you're wondering, his head does not detach from his body.

This set is available at your local Hallmark store. If they don't have it, they can order it for you or you can order it direct from the Hallmark site and get free shipping to your store.

The next one is for the slightly older kids.

While searching Amazon a few weeks ago I found this graphic novel adaptation of the story. Even more surprising is that this is made to be used in schools. Who thought we'd see a day where comics were allowed in school?

How do I know this is made for the class room? It says Common Core right in the product title. But don't let that frighten you away. There aren't any educational pop-ups during the story. There are some questions at the end of the book to promote reading and writing skills.

The art is good and while the story may not be as in depth as the original I think it does a decent job of telling the tale. But let's face it, I'm not here for a detailed account of Ichabod Crane's struggles in Sleepy Hollow. I'm here for the Horseman!

You can get this on Amazon in print or Kindle. This same company makes other classic lit graphic novels including the Hound of the Baskervilles, Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr .Jekyll & Mr Hyde, War of the Worlds and a whole lot more. It says these are for Grade 2-3, Ages 10-14. Maybe things have changed since I was in school but when I was 10 I was in 6th grade.

At any rate, I have to give Graphic Revolve a huge hand for making these stories, that may be hard for kids to read, a little more accessible without resorting to a movie. I will definitely be checking out more of these graphic novels.

Be sure to visit the participating Countdown blogs by clicking below!

Monster Mail Order

Here's another round of ads to kick of the final full week before Halloween!

I don't remember where I found these but I'd guess Famous Monsters of Filmland. Each mail away kit send you the secrets of transforming a human into a creature of the night. Plus fangs and six wallet photos of film famous monsters. You cannot beat that for a buck!

Now this is a pretty cool ad! You can get a Spider-Man or Hulk costume with mask. If you're more about the monsters, they have you covered too. I am curious why the Wolfman mask is about x3 the cost of the other masks. Maybe it's got real hair.

This one's almost too weird for words! These Unknown Creatures are 5.5" plastic models with no real names and what even are they? And who can even imagine what The Thing in a Bag actually is? "It's whatever you may think it is"

We'll round out this batch with a pair of ad featuring Vincent Price. I always wanted to get this Shrunken Head kit just because he endorsed it.

Everyone knows Flintstones because they were so widely advertised but I don't think I remember Monster vitamins. Do you?

Be sure to Trick or Treat at the participating Countdown blogs by clicking below!