In 1998, Comic Images, with
distribution by Dark Horse Comics, came out with the most innovative
non-sport card parody set since the Garbage Pail Kids releases
called the Meanie Babies right amidst the hype of the
Beanie Babies collecting craze going on at the time. The
creative team behind these great pieces of artwork were none other than
artist extraordinaire John Pound of GPK fame and writer Jay Lynch
who worked on all of the reverse card backs. The cards came packaged
six to a foil pack with the possibility of a insert or chase card plus
one sticker, that measure 2.5 X 3.5 inches.
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CHASE CARDS : 61 STICKERS + 1 BONUS CARD
+ 3 PROMO CARDS
+ 3 SKETCH CARDS + 6 OMNI-CHOME CARDS + 1 AUTOGRAPH CARDS
DISPLAY BOX
![]() TWO VARIATIONS : 30 COUNT BOX or 48 COUNT BOX ARTWORK : JOHN POUND |
WRAPPER
![]() NO PACKAGING CODE |
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GUFF!
COMIC
![]() INCLUDES CY-CLONE BONUS CARD |
ADVERTISEMENT SHEET
![]() DESIGN : McNABB STUDIOS : 8.5 x 11 INCHES |
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MAIL-AWAY
BINDER OFFER
![]() ![]() FRONT & BACK : 10 x 11.5 INCHES |
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MAGAZINE
COVER
![]() TUFF STUFF'S COLLECT! : JANUARY 1998 |
MAGAZINE COVER
![]() NON-SPORT UPDATE : VOL 9, NO.1 FEB-MAR 1998 |
1.
Various Autograph Cards could be located in randomly
in the Meanie Babies boxes and signed by artist John Pound. The
autographs could be found on any of the three promo cards produced for
the set, signed on the front, with an Authentic Comic Images Autograph
sticker on the backside. 500 cards were signed by Pound in total.
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2.
Besides the base card set, there is also a Parallel Sticker
Set that contains a blank, completely white reverse card back
to collect. Card #61, the checklist card, has card information only
on the frontside since the reverse card back is blank.
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3.
The Promo Cards were distributed prior to the set being released
and contained a GPK-like yellow nameplate. The nameplate was
dropped for the regular release with the card showing the characters
names in one of the six various colors found within the Meanie Babies
header. The reverse card backs give a nice break-down of the set.
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4.
Cards #3 UPCHUCK the Duck and #35 DOWNCHUCK
the DUCK are either the Same Character, vomiting after stuffing
its gullet and stuffing its gullet before vomiting, or they are antithesis
twins.
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5.
Card #59 GRRRILLA the Gorilla is the only
card character that uses the Meanie Babies Logo Header
as part of the card humor.
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6.
A deluxe, three-ring Meanie Babies Binder was offered
on the back of the wrappers for only $19.95 and came with nine, nine-pocket
pages; pictured above in the 'Product Overview' section.
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7. The
first parody set to have random Chase Cards located within the
packs not including the promo cards and bonus card. Besides the
harder-to-find Autograph Cards, the Sketch and Omni-Chrome card could
be found randomly in every box of Meanie Babies, averaging one
sketch card and 3 chromium cards per box. The Sketch card reverse backs
give a humorous account of the history of the three characters that
John Pound created and contain the color rough for the final card image.
The Omni-Chrome reverse card backs are in a vertical presentation rather
than the horizontal layout of the base card and has an altogether different
rhyme.
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8.
Unfortunately, there is No Puzzle within the release;
the blank sticker backs would have been ideal for several puzzles.
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9.
A Guff! Comic featuring the Meanie Babies was produced
by Dark Horse Comics around the same time the series was released, featuring
a storyboard by Jay Lynch and final artwork by John Pound. As an added
insentive, the comic included a Bonus Card (CY-CLONE
the Sheep)whose image cannot be found in the regular base set and whose
artwork is on the front of the comic; featured above in 'Product Overview'
section. The reverse card back layout is more like the vertical presentation
of the Omni-Chrome cards backs.
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10.
Card #38 SWAMPY has a Cabbage Patch
Kid doll floating in the sewer water the product that led
to the Garbage Pail Kids brand; John Pound's second parody assigment
for the Topps Company after the Wacky Packages.
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![]() #2 SNOTTY |
![]() #15 FLUSH |
![]() #27 FLAT |
![]() #38 SWAMPY |
![]() #47 GONUTS |
![]() #48 EXSTINKT |
![]() #50 BEAVIS |
![]() #52 GAME-BOAR |
![]() #57 HOT LIPPS |
1.
Comic Images had artist John Pound helmed the entire Meanie
Babies set himself containing 61 different card characters; almost
roughly 20 more images than a regular Garbage Pail Kids set;
ie. Pound completed 41+ pieces for the OS1 set. The entire first printing
sold out but the Beanie Babies' lawyers politely asked with a cease
and desist letter that Dark Hourse not reprint the cards, let alone
think about a second series. Card #45 POUND
the Groundhog is a self-named card after the artist's last name and
is reminiscent of the Whac-a-Mole game which is called Mole Buster
in Japan when translated to English.
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2. During
2003, artist Jay Lynch was commisioned by the Topps company to
create character drawings for a potential new parody set called Garbage
Pail Pets. Although the product was never produced, Lynch developed
three pre-production pen and ink concept sketches for the proposed set.
Instead, Topps slightly rendered and eventually released the unpublished
OS16 set from 1988 re-titled All-New Series from their non-sport card
division. The idea is very similar to the 1998 Meanie Babies
set by Comic Images, though the Garbage Pail Pets are a parody
of the GPK format. The artwork was redrawn by artist Mark Pingitore
and included in the Garbage Pail Pets subset for cards #1 through #3
for the 2015S2 30th anniversary set.
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3.
Jay Lynch wrote all of the limericks on the reverse card backs
for the set and mini-profiles; his writing is exceptional as usual,
and is very reminiscent of the profile backs of some of the earlier
GPK card backs.
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#
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CARD & STICKER
NAME + MINI MEANINGS
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ARTIST
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WRITER
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1 | HAIRBALL the Cat; A ball of hair formed in the stomach from licking fur. |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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2 | SNOTTY the Baby Bull; A cow's runny nose |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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3 | UPCHUCK the Duck; To vomit; throw up |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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4 | SPHINXTER the Baby Sphinx; sphinx + sphincter, the muscle of the anus |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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5 | NO BRAINER the Camel; parody of Joe Camel, the cigarette mascot |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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6 | PICKLES the Pickled Pig; pickled pig feet + pickled cucumbers |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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7 | LITTERS the Cat; kitty litter box |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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8 | BABY CUE the Unicorn; barbecue skewer |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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9 | SCUMMY the Baby Pond Scum; a mass of algae formed on stagnant water |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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10 | WARTY the Frog; warts + frog, although, toads have warts, not frogs |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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11 | VAL the Crow; Velcro + black crow, fastening strip |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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12 | FROGENSTEIN the Frog; frog + Frankenstein |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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13 | MOLDIE the Dead Goldfish; fungus growing on damp decaying organic matter |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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14 | ROADHOG the Pig; road hog, a motorist who drives recklessly or inconsiderately |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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15 | FLUSH the Alligator; a parody of 'sewer alligator' stories, urban legends |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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16 | E.COLI the Baby Bacteria; Escherichia coli bacteria that lives in the intestines |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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17 | EDDIE the Yetti; rhyming parody of a mythical apelike creature resembling Bigfoot |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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18 | BAD HARE the Rabbit; bad hair + hare, a fast-running, long-eared & hind legs mammal |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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19 | SALMONELLA the Salmon; a bacterium that occurs in the intestine; food poisoning |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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20 | PIERCY the Rhino; body & face piercing + rhinoplasty; thick skinned |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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21 | FARTFACE the Bear; slang for worthless talk + gas releasing magical beans |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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22 | SPRITZER the Cobra; spitting cobra + spritzer, a mixture of wine & soda water |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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23 | HIPPY the Hippopotamus; hippy + hippo, similar-sounding |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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24 | ROTO ROOSTER the Domestic Fowl; a parody of Roto-Rooter plumbing service |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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25 | PICKY-PICKY the Elephant; to pick with the fingers (trunk proboscis), pick the nose |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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26 | ZIPPITY the Bunny; to zip or zipper + hippity hop bunny movements |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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27 | FLAT the Squished Cat; roadkill flattened by traffic; parody of Goodyear tires (marks) |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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28 | BUM-BEE the Bee; bum + bumblebee, no money/no honey panhandling parody |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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29 | DOWNSIZE the Dog; to make smaller, to press |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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30 | HOLEY COW the Heavenly Cow; holy cow exclamation + swiss cheese w/ holes |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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31 | SUCKER the Mosquito; bloodsucking mosquitos + an easily deceived person |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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32 | SPOT-LESS the Dalmation; Spot the dog + spot remover = spotlessly immaculate |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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33 | CLEARCUT the Beaver; clear cut forests + beaver felled trees |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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34 | BIG MOUTH the Mouse; the juxtpostion one of the smallest rodents + largest mouth |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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35 | DOWNCHUCK the Duck; down-chuck means to drop or 'throw down'; an idiot |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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36 | VILE-RUS the Computer Virus; vile + walrus, an extremely unpleasant infective agent |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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37 | RAT-RACE the Rat; a frustratig, hard-to-break financial lifestyle; competitive |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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38 | SWAMPY the Sewer Creature; a murky, muddy, dirty conduit for waste & refuse |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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39 | PIDDLES the Poodle; piddle, to urinate, or the act of urinating; puddles of piddle |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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40 | OXYMORON the Ox; ox + moron (stupid person), opposing terms appearing in conjunction |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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41 | DE-ODOR-ANT the Ant; de- prefix (to remove) + odor (unpleasant body stink), conceal |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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42 | HUNGRY the Lion; a strong desire for food, hungry like a wolf, bear, etc; self-cannibalism |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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43 | BULL-ONEY the Bull; foolish talk, nonsense; the variant of bologna mystery meat product |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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44 | MAGGOTY the Maggot; the legless, soft-bodied, wormlike larva found in decaying matter |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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45 | POUND the Groundhog; to hit severely; a pounding, splitting headache; Bayer aspirin |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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46 | SMARTASS the Donkey; smart + ass (a hoofed mammal, jackass or stupid person) |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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47 | GONUTS the Squirrel; idiom, to do something enthusiastically; squirrels zipper & eat nuts |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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48 | EXSTINKT the Saber-Toothed Skunk; stink + extinct, to smell + no longer exist |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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49 | NOSEJOB the Reindeer; a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer parody; rinoplasty |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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50 | BEAVIS the Butt-Erfly; Beavis and Butt-head protagonists name parody, MTV show |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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51 | WHINOSAUR the Dinosaur; whine + dinosaur, to cry, wail or weep loudly, a tantrum |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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52 | GAME-BOAR the Wild Boar; Game Boy, the Nintendo handheld gaming system + a boar |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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53 | CHESTER the Turtle; chest of drawers, a bureau, furniture with stacked drawers |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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54 | WEBSTER the Spider; spider web + WWW, a network of fine threads + World Wide Web network + the online Webster dictionary |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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55 | ARMPIT the Amorphous Creature; a bushy armpit + an unclassifiable undefined form |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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56 | HOUSEFLY the Fly; quite literally, a fly shaped like a house |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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57 | HOT LIPPS the Dragon; in the heat of the moment; unresistable; kissable; trumpet player |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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58 | HOOOTERS the Owl; hoot + hooters, an owl noise + chichis, a woman's breast |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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59 | GRRRILLA the Gorilla; Grr + Gorilla, a growling, angry sound + a chest-beating great ape |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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60 | TICKED OFF the Deer; ticked off + deer tick, upset or angry + an ixodid tick, parasitic on deer that transmit infectious agents including the bacterium causing Lyme disease |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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61 | CHECKLIST |
none
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none
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#
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CHASE CARDS
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ARTIST
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ARTIST
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BONUS | CY-CLONE (Guff Comic Bonus Card); closed, rotating circular fluid motion + clone, a organism or cell, or group, produced asexually from one ancestor or stock; genetically identical |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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P1 of 3 | LITTERS |
John Pound
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none
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P2 of 3 | UPCHUCK |
John Pound
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none
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P3 of 3 | SPHINXTER |
John Pound
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none
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SKETCH 1 | VILE-RUS |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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SKETCH 2 | NO-BRAINER |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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SKETCH 3 | BAD-HARE |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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OMNI 1 | FLUSH |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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OMNI 2 | WARTY |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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OMNI 3 | MOLDIE |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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OMNI 4 | BABY CUE |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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OMNI 5 | ROTO ROOSTER |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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OMNI 6 | ZIPPITY |
John Pound
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Jay Lynch
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AUTO 1 of 3 | LITTERS (Autograph Card w/ Seal) |
John Pound
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none
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AUTO 2 of 3 | UPCHUCK (Autograph Card w/ Seal) |
John Pound
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none
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AUTO 3 of 3 | SPHINXTER (Autograph Card w/ Seal) |
John Pound
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none
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CHASE CARDS
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ARTIST
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ARTIST
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