Release of 2018 Series 2 GPK Oh the Horror-ible Still Scheduled for Sept

I hate being wrong. After reporting a couple of days ago the change in release dates on the next retail set, 2018S2 Garbage Pail Kids Oh the Horror-ible, it appears the information was incorrect. Word begin to spread on Monday after both GTS Distribution and Beckett updated their release calendars showing a change in dates to July 25, 2018. However, according to Topps repersentative Susan Lulgjuraj the set is still scheduled for a Sept. 19, 2018 release. I’ve reached out to GTS and Beckett to attempt to see why the change was made.

I really strive to have things right on GPKNews when I make reports. I apologize for adding to the “Fake News” society. I thought with both GTS and Beckett making the change it was set. I will strive in the future to do a better job in reporting.

The last couple of years Topps has followed a consistent release schedule for the retail GPK sets. 2016-2018 so far has seen standard Oct./Jan. releases. That however is changing for the next release. After initially announcing a release date of Sept. 19, 2018 for 2018 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids Oh the Horror-ible, Topps is moving the date forward by nearly two months. Moving a set earlier is a rare move on Topps part, but the set is now scheduled to release July 25th, 2018. Thanks to Mikee Friesen with the first info on the date change. While there has been no official word from Topps, GTS distribution and Beckett have both updated the date change. Reasons for moving the release up are unknown. Topps should still have enough time to make the new release date. Card front art has been complete for a few weeks now, and sketch cards are due back to Topps in a little over a week. This gives Topps about a month to pack out and ship the set. Get ready for a summer filled with plenty of horror!

Artists Get Early Jump on 2018S2 GPK Sketch Cards

Updated 9/12 to remove Magnus Von Robotsoon and add Emma Burges per the checklist from Topps.

Updated 7/20 to add Ryan Moffett

Updated 5/29 to add Mike Stephens.

Updated 5/17 to add Clinton Yeager.

Update 9/12: Topps has released the official list of sketch artists for the first time as part of their checklist. The checklist can be found here. The article has been updated below to reflect all official names.

Topps has decided to make a number of changes to the sketch cards for the next retail set. One change right off the bat is the early jump start they have given the sketch artists. Before being officially announced by Topps, sketch artists were invited and sketch blanks already sent out to begin work! With a perspective fall launch, artists have been given ample time to complete the sketches. A mid-June deadline has been set by Topps for artists to return their batch of sketch cards.

Perhaps the biggest change to the sketch cards is the cards themselves. As stated in the e-mail invite to artists, Topps is going with a “Horror” theme for the upcoming set. While artists can still draw any of the previous approved characters, they are being encouraged to draw previous horror themed sketches this time around. The sketches all feature a new orange banner with black lettering for the first time. Orange nameplates are also found on the front of regular sized sketches. Classic horror GPK characters adorn the backs of the cards as well. Nasty Nick appears on the back of the regular and panoramic sketches. While Dead Ted and Weird Wendy can be found on the back of the new 3-panel sketch type, Tryptych. This new sketch type has been used previously in Star Wars sets by Topps, but is making its GPK debut. The tryptych looks to be replacing Dual Artist Panoramic sketches. Artists are are no longer being asked to complete those. Topps is also staying true to the theme by offering for the first time coffin shaped die-cut sketches. Artists were given both coffin and trashcan die-cut sketches to complete. After a small survey of artists it would appear all were given the same number of sketches to complete. Each artist is set to complete 36 regular sized, 8 puzzle, 6 die-cut (mixture of coffin and trashcan), 3 panoramic and 2 tryptych. Some artists who have already received their sketches have complained of quality issues. Many artists are reporting that some or all of their tryptych sketches came creased. They also have a handful some badly off centered regular sketches. No word yet from Topps if those sketches will be replaced prior to production.

The confirmed sketch lineup for the upcoming set is just as robust as the previous offerings. The last set, 2017S2 Battle of the Bands, had a record 55 artists take part. Of those 55, so far the following 44 have confirmed they are coming back. Those returning artists are; Bryan Abston, Simone Arena, Ro Garcia Astorga, Quinton Baker, Michael Barnard, Bobby Blakey, John Brewer, Neil Camera, Pat Chaimuang, Daniel Contois, Jasmine Contois, Sobot Cortez, Jason Crosby, Dave Dabila, Vincenzo “Chenduz” D’Ippolito, Joseph “Grotesque” Dobbins, David Gacey, Patrick Giles, Jon Gregory, Kelly Greider, Jason Heil, Lowell Isaac, Simon Jacobsohn, Robert Jimenez, Kevin Lea, Paul Mangione, Mike McHugh, Rory McQueen, “Smokin” Joe McWilliams, Chris Meeks, Lily Mercado, Rich Molinelli, JM Monserrat, Victor Moreno, Darrin Pepe, Steve Potter, Cathy Razim, Chad Scheres, Brent Scotchmer, Matt Steffens, Floydman Sumner, Gregory Tilson, Dan Burn Webster, and Gavin Williams. A total of 11 artists, for various reasons, have decided to not do GPK sketch cards this time, they are; Mike Arnold, Sean Bolger, Josh Ginter, Cecilia Granata, Marisol Henriquez, Matthew Kirscht, Ande Moores, Barry Nygma, Anthony Skubis, Magnus Von Robotsoon, and Matthew White.

Topps isn’t stopping there. So far an additional 14 artists have been identified that are either new to GPK, or returning sketch artists. After making their debut on last year’s online GPK Classic set the following artists will make their retail debuts; David Acevedo, Joey Fitchett, Shane Garvey, Daniel Goodroad, and Rickey Kipfer. Also, Dennis Gortakowski, Ryan Moffett, and longtime GPK artist David Gross will be making their GPK sketch card returns after some time off. Finally, Topps has added brand new GPK artists Emma Burges, Jay O’ Leary, Shawn Cruz, Clinton Yeager, Mike Stephens and Todd Rayner to the lineup. That brings the current known sketch artist total to 58. That is a new record high for a GPK set. There could still remain some artists out there that haven’t spoke up. This article will be updated as new artists begin known.

The final big change to sketch cards this time around is centered on artist return cards. In previous sets artists could e-mail a scan of the card to Topps for approval. However, after a number of controversies within the card hobby, Topps is changing the rules. Last year with the Star Wars sets rumors begin to swirl online about a few artists that were using questionable means to complete sketches. From using an overhead projector, to tracing images, to even using photocopied images, collectors started to question the legitimacy of sketches from a select few artists, (Note: No artists being questioned have worked on a GPK set to date.) There were also rumors of artists having other artists do their returns for them. Topps also begin to see artist returns being sent to collectors from artists prior to the set’s release. This all has added up to changes across all Topps brands when it comes to artist sketches. Starting with this next retail set, all artist returns need to be completed and mailed back to Topps with the regular sketch cards by the deadline. Topps will work to approve the sketches, and mail them back to the artists just prior to the set’s release date. In turn artists can deliver to their clients upon the release. While it does protect the quality of sketches going out, it opens up the possibility of shipping loss and damage. The “banned sketch” list continues to be the same. Artists are not allowed to sketch cards featuring Stan Lee, Gene Simmons, the Hundreds set, Riot Fest set, and all Disney properties including Star Wars and Marvel.

Expect sketch previews to start showing up from artists as the art director begins approving sketches. While no official announcement has been made, except a fall 2018 launch for 2018 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids.

 

2018 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids Oh the Horror-ible Retail Sell Sheet

Late last week Topps officially announced the details for the next retail set by releasing the Hobby/Collector sell sheet for 2018 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids Oh the Horror-ible. Thanks to Wildwood Enterprises we are able to bring you the retail sell sheet. While the configuration of the next set is similar to previous releases, Topps is making a number of changes this time. This time 200 cards make up the base set, (100 new cards in a/b versions). This is an increase over the last couple of releases. Once again, the set will be broken down into various subsets all based on horror and sci-fi themes. That’s not all the changes Topps has in store.

Retail 24 pack boxes, and Target Gravity Feed 36 pack boxes are set to return once again. Puke (Green) parallels will return 1 per pack in all retail pack types. Fool’s Gold borders randomly inserted in all pack types are also back and limited to /50 of each. Phlegm (Yellow) parallels will once again be found 1:4 packs in Target Gravity Feed boxes. Topps will debut a new Insert set called Trick or Treats. These are described as Halloween candy inspired GPKs. They will only be found in Target Gravity Feed packs. Finally, regular sized sketches, artist autographs, and printing plates will be randomly inserted in all retail pack types.

Blaster Boxes (Value Box) will return once again and be sold in two versions. However, this time around there isn’t much difference in the “EA” and “SE” versions. After exhausting all Gross Bears artwork, it looks like Topps will focus only on Bathroom Buddies. Both boxes will contains 3 “lost unpublished Series 2 artwork” from the Bathroom Buddies sets. The only difference in boxes appears to be one will have a $9.99 price label, and the other box without. Blaster boxes will continue to have 5 packs each, and contain 16 boxes per case. The popular Loaded Puzzle sketches will be randomly inserted into Blaster boxes once again.

Fat Packs also return to the retail lineup. These packs are roughly twice the size of regular pack. The “Classic” insert series returns as each Fat pack will contain 2 Classic Monster Stickers. These are reprints of past GPK monsters. Dead Ted and Nasty Nick both appear on the sell sheet. Each Fat pack also contains 2 Puke parallels. Topps will be adding a brand new parallel type called “Jelly”. No details on what those will look like yet. Those are set to fall 1 per Fat pack. Much like previous releases, Panoramic sketch cards will also be randomly inserted into Fat packs.

To view the Retail sell sheet as a PDF click here, or check out the pictures below. 2018 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids Oh the Horrible is set to release Sept. 19, 2018.

Topps Announces 2018 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids Oh The Horror-ible

After word began to leak recently that the theme for the next set would be Horror, it was only a matter of time before Topps began to solicit for the product. Today, Topps officially announced 2018 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids Oh the Horrible. The set will feature parodies of everything horror and science fiction. After last year’s successful Halloween set, Topps saw that the horror theme was something GPK fans naturally latched on to. The artists also took the theme to heart. In their excitement over 300 concepts were submitted to Topps for the set. After narrowing it down to 100, Topps is ready for what might be the most anticipated themed GPK set yet.

Topps is making a few changes this time around to the base setup. The complete set consists of 200 cards, made up of 100 new pieces of artwork available in a/b versions. This is up from the previous sets of 180 cards. Once again the set will be broken into various subsets in horror and science fiction themes. The familiar parallel format returns. All Hobby and Retail packs will contain one Puke (Green) parallel. Fool’s Gold parallels will once again be numbered /50, and are available in all pack types. Also, Bruised (Black), Spit (Blue) /99, and Bloody Nose (Red) /75 parallels will only appear in Collector packs. Collector packs will also contain an insert set called Horror Film Poster Parodies. These are Wacky Packages inspired parodies of famous horror films. Most likely these will fall one per Collector Box.

Artist autographs and printing plates will continue to be found in all pack types. Hobby and Retail packs will have regular sketches inserted. Collector boxes are once again guaranteed one hit per box, either a shaped sketch, artist auto, printing plate, or patch card. For the first time the die-cut sketches will be available both in the traditional trashcan shape, and the brand new coffin shape. Dual artist panoramic sketch cards which debuted in the 30th anniversary set are no longer mentioned on the sell sheet. Instead a new sketch type called the, “Tryptych”, will debut and be found in Collector packs. This new sketch is a three panel foldout sketch.

Once again the overall construction of the set is familiar to the other theme sets released the past few years. Once we get retail sell sheet info, I will pass it along. For now you can see the sell sheet here in PDF form, or check out the pictures below. There is also a gallery of examples of the cards for the new set. 2018S2 GPK Oh the Horror-ible is set to hit stores on Sept. 19, 2018.

2018 Series 2 Garbage Pail Kids to be Horror Themed

While sell sheets haven’t been released yet, Topps has started sending out invites to sketch artists for the next Garbage Pail Kids set. In the email to artists it’s mentioned the theme of the next retail set will be “Horror”. Artists are encouraged to do some sketch cards based on previous horror themed GPKs. Last year’s most successful online set, Halloween, was horror focused and paved the wave for the upcoming retail set.

Another big piece of news to come from the artist sketch invites is a new type of sketch card will debut in GPK. The new sketch is called a “Tryptych”. These are 3 panel connected sketch cards much like the panoramic cards have 2 panels. There is no mention of dual artist pano sketches on the invites. These new tri-panel sketches might be replacing them. Artists are set to complete a similar number of sketches as previous series. The due date is set for mid-June for the sketches to be returned by artists to Topps.

Generally sell sheets are released before the sketch invites. You can expect Topps to release official information on the upcoming set including release date.