Redartz: Good day, and welcome to another episode of "Pulled from the Pack". Today we recall a series of wild, wacky stickers from the people at Donruss cards: Odd Rods (and a 'thank you' to Wikipedia for the background info on these goodies). These featured the always winning combination of monsters and cars, both depicted in an exaggerated, manic style.
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| 1965 Ad for Monogram "Mouse" models |
They were created by cartoonist B.K. Taylor (a cover artist for "Sick" magazine, and a cartoonist for "National Lampoon"), and were sold in several series between 1969 and 1973. In appearance, they were obviously reminiscent of the work of "Big Daddy" Ed Roth from the 60's ("Rat Fink") and Stanley "Mouse" Miller (designer of Monogram model kits featuring such characters as "Super Fuzz" and "Fred Flypogger").
They were sold in packs for 5 cents (when was the last time you saw ANYTHING for sale for 5 cents?). Thus a kid like yours truly, with limited allowance funds, could get several packs for his quarter (assuming there were no comic purchases to make that week). And of course, they also included a stick of that petrified, tooth-cracking bubble gum.
I discovered these stickers about the same time that I found "Wacky Packages", in the late years of elementary school. And like those "Wackies", the "Odd Rods" stickers became currency-du-jour at recess and after school. The appeal of these stickers to pre-teen kids was apparent: bug-eyed monsters, loud colors, hot cars with oversized engines. No wonder the classrooms were full of sticker-encased notebooks. Mine included, in fact my favorite was planted dead-center on my blue school folder: the "VW Varmit":
Here are a few more examples:
Anyone else remember these stickers? Perhaps you built some of those model kits, or had an older brother with those car magazines. Perhaps you still have a school folder, buried somewhere, covered up in monster stickers...
