Monsterrific Valentine's Day Collectibles!

[Hepcat]

Well it's that time of year again so a thread of this sort is apropos. I'll start with some pics of my 1959 Topps Funny Valentine cards and wrappers:











While the Funny Valentines are neither scarce nor expensive, they're among the most beloved items in my collection. Not only do I remember them from the schoolyard but the Jack Davis artwork is just too cool!

[Sir Masksalot]

Haha, flower scene with the Monster; that's clever for Valentine's Day.

[Hepcat]

Topps followed up in 1960 with the Funny Valentines A card set:









The card stock used for the Funny Valentines A cards was tan in comparison to the white used for the Funny Valentines of the previous year. And here's a shot of my Canadian New Funny Valentines display box for the Funny Valentines A packs:

[Hepcat]

The Topps Giant Funny Valentines were issued in 1961 and then reissued in 1966. The 1961 cards have reddish orange backs while the 1966 reissue has bright red backs. Here's a side-by-side comparison shot of the back of a 1961 card (on the left) with that of a 1966 card:



The two colours are noticeably different.

The 1966 reissue was also printed in both the U.S. and Canada. They're easy to differentiate because the U.S. version was printed on white card stock while the Canadian version was printed on grey card stock. The fine print on the back also tells you in which country the cards were printed.

Here are scans of a sheet of my Canadian Giant Funny Valentines:





And here for comparative purposes are a couple of backs from the 1966 U.S. version:

And here's my 1966 U.S. wrapper:

[Hepcat]

I very much dislike the artwork on the front of these Topps Monster Greeting Cards from 1965 cards but I do appreciate the insults around which the cards turn:





I do however really like the wrapper!

[Hepcat]

I really like these Insult Postcards with Wally Wood and Dan Adkins artwork that Topps issued in 1966:

[Hepcat]

Norm Saunders did the artwork for the very cool Topps Frankenstein Stickers set from 1966. Here are two of the sticker cards from Monolith's collection:





And here are a few more:











The Frankenstein Stickers were among the items I admired in price guides back in the 1980's and 1990's thinking "Yeah! I'd buy those in an instant at those prices but I never see any!" But they were stickers and kids used them as such. Therefore any offerings of Frankenstein Stickers on Ebay these days tend to be at nosebleed prices.

As a result I still have nothing from the set but the wrapper:

[Hepcat]

Topps released a set of Valentine Stickers at basically the same time as the Frankenstein Valentine Stickers. The Valentine Stickers have some pretty horrific sentiments as well:















Once again, these are tough to find to put it mildly.

[Hepcat]

These Topps Nasty Notes from 1967 with fetching Wally Wood (I think) artwork were quickly repurposed as Valentine Nasty Notes in 1968:

[Hepcat]

Topps revived the foldees idea, i.e gimmick, for a Valentine Foldees set targetting a new generation of kids in 1970. Several of the designs were monstrous indeed:







Another winner for Topps despite its copycat nature!

[Hepcat]

Some of the Leaf Spook Stories from 1962 are very romantic indeed!

[Hepcat]

Some of the Topps Terror Tales cards from 1967 are very romantic as well:

[Hepcat]

Here's "The Bride of Frankenstein" Monsterchrome chase card from 1994 Topps Universal Monsters Illustrated set:



The romance portrayed in The Bride of Frankenstein was equalled only once in the 20th century by that in The Lady and a Tramp.

[Hepcat]

Wonder Woman was the DC superhero most often portrayed battling monsters:





Or even marrying them!



Mark 1 released a series of 48 DC Superhero greeting cards in 1978 many of which were illustrated by Dick Giordano. So here are scans of a few of the Valentine themed ones featuring Wonder Woman:

















And here are a few more incorporating a friend or two:

[Akira-Devilman]

Here's "The Bride of Frankenstein" Monsterchrome chase card from 1994 Topps Universal Monsters Illustrated set:



The romance portrayed in The Bride of Frankenstein was equalled only once in the 20th century by that in The Lady and a Tramp.

This is by far my favorite love from the Monster and i always wanted this set of cards but never saw them at my country. I really do miss collecting cards. Thanks to post all this magnificent art, every singe one is soo unique and fun.