LOVE STINKS

Topps and IDW went with a seasonal-theme for their second issue and created LOVE STINKS - a collection of stories surrounding Valentine's Day and good ol' L.O.V.E.


Unfortunately some production snags delayed the issue until AFTER Valentine's Day...causing some of the humor to be a little stale at the time of release. Further complicating things was an issue with the Bonus Card that pushed the release of the Deluxe issue all the way to mid-March.

This page provides a comprehensive look at Garbage Pail Kids Issue 2 from advertising all the way to production. You can even flip through the entire comic book right here at geepeekay! Enjoy!

RELEASE DATE: February/March 2015

FEATURED ARTISTS: Peter Bagge, Dean Haspiel, Mark Pingitore, Joe Simko, Jeff Zapata, Swifty Lang, Brian Winkeler, Brent Engstrom, Dave Curd, Merrily Chopp, Miran Kim, Shannon Wheeler, Martin Thomas



PROMO MATERIAL & ADVERTISING

From the IDW Website:

In December, the Garbage Pail Kids were dragged kicking and screaming into the world of comic books. Now, those miscreants are right where you’d expect to find them… in love? That can’t be right, you say? Well, if loving GPK is wrong, we don’t want to be right. So join the Kids as they celebrate Valentine’s Day the only way they know how: the exchange of bodily fluids (and solids)!

I'm not sure it's possible to ratchet down promotion from one product to the next MORE than Topps did with Issue 1 to Issue 2, but it is what it is. While PUKETACULAR was getting promoted left-and-right, LOVE STINKS received barely a whisper on any of the official Topps social network pages...nor did it receive any promo cards (or promo material of any kind)..

As the release grew closer, PREVIEWS magazine ran a full page ad in their December 2014 issue. This provided collectors with their first glimpse at the different covers and their prices. The ad featured the original cover drafts that did not have the 'LOVE STINKS' banner, nor the suggested age warning, etc.

PREVIEWS Magazine
Issue #315, 12/2014
(click to enlarge)


COVER VARIATIONS

As is typical with comic book releases, Topps and IDW decided to create a number of different cover variations for collectors to buy.

Original promo images of the comic was released that did NOT include the 'Love Stinks' banner, artist names and 'Mature Readers' warning. Also, the namebar on the 'Deulxe Edition' was added on at the last minute. In the end a total of THREE variations were released.

Click the images above for hi-res versions



BONUS CARDS

The Deluxe Edition was the only one of the three different covers to come sealed in a bag. The reason for this is because it includes a Bonus Card SP2: French Kiss TRISH (below). This card (drawn by Brent Engstrom) not only comes in the typical WHITE border, but has also be found with a rare BLACK border and an even MORE rare YELLOW border! Are there any colors left to find?!

Bonus Card SP2
(white border)
Bonus Card SP2
(black border)
Bonus Card SP2
(yellow border)


READ THE COMIC

Now that you know everything there is to know about HOW Issue 2 came to life, why not read it!? That's right, you can flip through hi-res scans of the entire LOVE STINKS below! Well…what are you waiting for...start reading!