Retro on the Cheap: Back to the Dolla Store!

Out running some errands today and had to make a stop at The Dollar Tree. While there I found a few new things in the trading card section. This time around they had comics. Not the 2 comics and 1 pack of cards for a dollar bundles I love so much, but single "Hot Comics" for $1 each. There were not any real winners out of the bunch, but I did grab a couple.

Captain America # 362 (Marvel, 1989)

Rogue #4 (Marvel, 1995)

I am a sucker for Dollar Tree's "Ultimate Super Jumbo Packs" of cards. It's 30 mixed sport cards for $1. How can you go wrong? This pack contained 27 baseball cards and 3 basketball. Hardly a "Mixed Sport" pack. I am starting to think these packs are a way for Cards One Company to unload all of their commons. They put a Superstar card on the front to suck you in and then you're stuck with 29 cards of players like Mitch Webster or Chris Nabholz. Anyway, here are the highlights:

Next up, the Dollar Tree had special 2 packs of vintage cards for $1! I picked up packs of Fleer Adrenaline (2000), Score Football/Soccer (1992) and TriStar Hidden Treasures Hockey (2006). Nothing great in these packs. Here are a few examples of what was inside.

And lastly I picked up a pack of Star Venus Swimwear International Model Search Limited Edition cards! Yes these were a thing and they are totally 90s! Reminds me of old episodes of the show California Dreams. From the hair to the card design to the day glo bikinis. AMAZING! Take a look for yourself.

Crazy how styles and tastes change so much over time. These cards are a true time capsule of the era. Click the video below and enjoy some more 90s hotness courtesy of Kelly Packard and the rest of the California Dreams band!

Retro on the Cheap: Garbage Pail Kids

I found myself in the trading card area again at The Dollar Tree and felt the need to pick up a pack of Garbage Pail Kids: American As Apple Pie In Your Face! Yes, I collected GPK as a kid and stuck them to everything from my dresser to notebooks to photo albums. Every time I see a pack of these gross-out era relics I feel the need to pick one up, especially when a pack is only $1. I tore open the wrapper and here's what was inside:

 Savage Sanders (2016 Presidential Candidate Sticker)

 Art Apart (America's Pastimes Sticker)

 Garbage Pail Kim (American Inventor Sticker)

Leaky Lou (U.S. Summer Olym-picks Sticker)

I felt sort of let down by the less-than-stellar artwork on these cards. The characters seem a bit rushed and there is absolutely no background on the cards. It also seems to me that the grossness of the cards has been toned down. I feel like the charm that these cards once had is lost due to concerns over parental backlash. I would much rather prefer a re-issue of older cards to these new ones...although the Savage Sanders card did make me laugh a little.

Retro on the Cheap: 90's Comics

Out at a local entertainment store yesterday I saw a few bins of comics labeled "4 for $1!" As a comic collector how could I resist. Of course there were not any of the popular comics we know and love like Spider-Man, Superman or Batman. Instead it was full of 90's small press comics that came out during the height of the indie comics boom. I remember some of these comics being listed as "HOT" in the industry mags back in the day, now they are in the quarter bin. No wonder the boom busted. Here's what I picked up:

Alpha Flight #40 (Marvel 1986)

Breed #1 (Malibu 1994)

Crimson #3 (Image/Cliffhanger 1998)

Darker Image #1 (Image 1993)

Ex-Mutants #2 (Malibu 1992)

Gen 13 #0 (Image 1994)

Miami Mice (Rip Off Press 1986)

Turok Dinosaur Hunter #11 (Valiant 1994)

In addition to the comics, I also scored these great collectors cards. Remember when every comic had some kind of gimmick to try and get you to buy their book? I kinda miss that...and I kinda don't. So altogether I walked up to the counter thinking I was gonna spend $2. After everything was rung in the grand total was $1.64! That's about $0.20 per comic. I know this is not the first appearance of Deadpool, but for the money I was pleased with my purchase.

Retro on the Cheap: Dollar Store Card Packs

While visiting the local Dollar Tree store last week, I came across their trading card section. Dollar Tree had everything from Star Wars to Garbage Pail Kids to Topps Baseball cards. The one pack on the rack that caught my eye though, was the "Ultimate Super Jumbo Pack" mixed edition! These contained 30 cards per pack of mixed sports including Hockey, Baseball, Football, Basketball and even NASCAR & Golf. Most of these cards were from the 80s & 90s. All for $1! I dug through each pack looking for a card that I wanted and then I found it...

No, it wasn't that sweet Doug Wilson Pro Set card. It was the Topps Stadium Club "Frequent Flyers" Scottie Pippen card from the 1993-94 series! Anything from the 90s Chicago Bulls teams will always catch my attention. So, I tore open the pack hoping to find more super stars in the mix. Here are the best cards I pulled from the pack:

Orel Hershiser 1989 Topps All-Star card, Jeromy Burnitz 1991 Classic Rookie Card...

 Andre "Awesome" Dawson 1988 Topps card, Fred McGriff 1991 Classic Card...

and the silver tuna of the group, Scottie Pippen 1993-94 Topps Stadium Club "Frequent Flyers" card!

Then there were 25 other common cards that featured players like Bip Roberts that I really didn't care about. Overall, I feel like I got my dollar's worth out of the pack and if I found another "Ultimate Super Jumbo Pack" with a card I wanted to own in it, I would spend the dollar.