Topps is best known for their Baseball cards and other collectible non-sports cards, like their ongoing sets of Star Wars cards, but a lot of people don’t realize that they have put out a couple of truly creative, and extremely weird original sets over the years. The most famous is probably the Mars Attacks set from the 1960’s. That set was brought to life by Tim Burton in the 1996 film by the same name. My favorite, however, has got to be the ‘Dinosaurs Attack’ cards they created in 1988. The 55 card set tells the story, in graphic detail, of a lab experiment gone wrong, which brings hordes of hungry dinosaurs into modern times.
The cards are not just beautifully painted, but they are funny as hell. Flipping through them, you can see everything from a Stegosaurus impaling a bride and groom to a Parasaurolophus chomping down on a human baby. They even took aim at their target market by setting a giant lizard loose at a comic book convention.
The talent behind these cards come down to three main people: Art Spiegelman (Creator of Maus and Garbage Pail Kid Artist), Len Brown (designer and writer of the original Mars Attacks cards), and Gary Gerani (the developer of the series).
If you like what you see, head over HERE to a library of the full set, complete with the front and back of each card.