We live in an age of celebrity worship. Even though we don’t like to admit it, the hours of which news channels devoted to Paris Hilton, a girl who has done little more than have a low-rated faux reality show, a sex tape and a social life, going to prison is proof of it. Want more? How about the constant play-by-play of the sex lives of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Or the hair stylings of Britney Spears. I could go on and on but it’s already starting to make me feel ill. But that’s because I acknowledge I’m part of the problem.
Well, Topps has come out with a highly entertaining coping mechanism in their latest original series Hollywood Zombies, a gross-out set with the Garbage Pail Kids vibe. The set features the tabloid fodder “zombified” with hilarious results. Not only is there original artwork in the vein of GPK, Wacky Packages and Mars Attacks!, but there’s a storyline that goes with it. Of course, Hollywood Zombies is done as satire, but it’s all too timely given the magazine covers and headlines that dot the television and grocery store isles. This timeliness will hopefully give way to future sets with more zombie fun. I would like to point out that there’s a nifty little three-card collage on cards 64, 65, 66 featuring the strange threesome of Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and Kelso-whatever-his-name-is. It’s this kind of touch that elevates the set further.
In my box I did complete one base set and was short one card (the title card) for a second. Normally I’m fine with that, however I did get four and five copies of several other cards so it would have been nice to replace just one for the last card. Oh well, that’s why I trade.
The lack of high-end chase cards is refreshing. This is a series with the base set builder in mind. There’s only two insert sets. The first is the Freaky Foil parallel set. With only four falling per box, almost 20 are needed without doubles to finish the set. So while they’re not super tough to come by, finishing the run is going to be challenging. Secondly there’s the Glow-in-the-Dark Mugshots, which feature said mugshot on the front of a celebrity who’s had a run in or 12 with the law. One the back there’s another image that is completed with the lights out. With only ten cards in the set and six coming in each box, these can almost be treated as part of the base set in their relative ease to track down. My box went according to the odds as far as inserts go.
Hollywood Zombies is the freshest set to come along in a very long time. Kudos to Topps for doing something that’s timely and fun.
2007 Topps Hollywood Zombies Box Breakdown:
Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 7
Total cards: 168
Cards in set: 72
Singles: 72
Doubles: 71
Triples+: 15
Inserts: 10
- Freaky Foil (1:6): 4 (6. Scary-Kate and Ghastly, 9. Howeird Stern, 19. Leo DeCapitate, 23. Tobey Magore)
- Glow-in-the-Dark Mugshots (1:4): 6 (2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10)
