A Wacky Shared Memory

From my friend Terri:

I remember: the smell ( not in a bad way! ) when you walked in the door.

Going behind the counter with your little brown bag and counting out your pieces of candy on the "honor" system - Do you think our hands were clean?

Grape shoestring licorice

Comic books

Buying wacky cards

Oh the good old days.

Yes, Terri, they were the good old days. I still laugh at some of those old Wacky packages cards to this day. But then I still laugh at Mad Magazine too (which I am proud to say both of my teenage sons still find to be hilarious - good old Mad humor, it is timeless).

Here is a great book that shows the history of those old Wacky Trading Cards.

And from the book:

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.

Pretty impressive that Wacky Packages cards out sold Topps baseball cards, especially as that was the era of classic baseball cards.

And you will be happy to know Terri that you can still buy grape shoestring licorice though I am sure it would not have the same great flavor as that which you bought and ate at Wagners. Nothing ever can.