Topps "24 Tattoos" came out in 1981. I ordered a box of these not too long ago. There are 12 different sheets to collect with 24 tattoos on each sheet. There are duplicates on some sheets and in some cases smaller or larger versions of the same image. The sheets are perforated to rip apart the separate tattoos which just adhere with water.
A couple months ago I was at the thrift store and came across an old shoebox. It was full of small catalogs, mini-comics, and game manuals from the early 1980s. I like finding things like this because it is like opening a time capsule from my childhood years. After getting it home and taking a closer look, I found that about 50% of the box was filled with old ATARI manuals and catalogs. Some were from games I grew up playing and others were one I'd never heard of before. My 13 year old son got a thing this last Christmas that has a whole bunch of ATARI games on it from his grandma. It was fun playing those together and watching my kids make fun of the poor graphics. I tried to explain to them that as a kid video games were a lot different. Even when the Nintendo first came out it was not the kind of thing a kid would just get as a Christmas gift for themselves (unless maybe they were an only-child?) it was a gift for the whole family to share. When I think back to the ATARI even more so. I can remember the whole family playing Pong and Frogger all sitting around together taking turns. It was a lot different back then I think.
Anyway, let's take a look at the manuals. It's a shame I can't scan the insides. It's already going to have to be a two-part post.
AIR-SEA BATTLE (1987)
ASTEROIDS (1979) <---I'm highlighting in green the games I remember playing!! BASKETBALL (1978)
It looks like the basketball players have a penis? What is that supposed to be?
BERZERK (1980)
BERZERK
BOWLING (1978)
BREAKOUT (1978)
This game and a lot of others have a small cameo in an excellent short film "PIXEL". Check it out.
CHOPPER COMMAND (1982)
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
The rushed production of this game (six weeks) to meet the 1982 Christmas holiday season resulted in one of the worst video games ever made, and according to the Wikipedia, "one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming history." E.T. is frequently cited as a contributing factor to Atari's massive financial losses during 1983 and 1984. As a result of overproduction and returns, unsold cartridges were also buried in a New Mexico landfill. Due to high anticipation and unexpected competition between 2.5 and 3.5 million cartridges went unsold. (see more at Wikipedia)
GALAXIAN 1983
GHOSTBUSTERS 1984
JR. PAC-MAN 1986
KANGAROO 1983
KRULL 1986
I watched about half of this on late night T.V. a few months ago.
KUNG-FU MASTER 1987
MATH GRAN PRIX 1987
MILLIPEDE 1984
You can play this game online at
http://www.atari.com/play/atari/millipede
MISSLE COMMAND 1981
MOONPATROL 1983
MS. PAC-MAN 1982
OTHELLO 1981
PAC-MAN 1981
PITFALL 1982
Here's the commercial for pitfall featuring 13 year old Jack Black.
POLE POSITION 1982
Q*BERT 1983
SPIDERMAN 1983
STREET RACER 1978
SUBMARINE COMMANDER 1982
Is it just my artist's imagination, or does this island from Submarine Commander look like a dead rabbit?
a little photoshop...
VOLLEYBALL 1982
WARLORDS 1981
YARS' REVENGE 1982
Along with the manuals were an assortment of Atari game catalogs featuring listings of available games of the time and some ATARI FORCE mini comics that were included with the games.
1983
1981
1981
ATARI FORCE was the name of two comic book series published by DC Comics from 1982-1986.
Along with the manuals, catalogs, and Atari stuff there were also 63 other 80's mini-comics in the shoebox. If anyone can comment a guess on what they are, I've got duplicates and I'll mail them to you???? I'll post the answer and pics in a week.
I came home to a pleasant surprise a few days ago. I received an envelope full of stuff from my favorite artist Tom Bunk!! He found one of my envelopes in his studio and was nice enough to mail me some recent sketches for things he has been working on.
He sent two really neat cards (one he made for New Years) I know the scans don't do them justice.
He sent the sketches for his illustration in Mad #507 (Feb 2011)
There were actually 5 different stages the last one being my favorite. I really wish sometimes that Mad would do a better job of printing some of these a bit larger. There are so many excellent details readers might miss out on. Getting the sketches from Tom, I kind of feel spoiled to get a deeper look.
He also sent a couple sketches from one of his gorgeous pin-up girls. The rest of these beauties can be found on his blog
He also sent his preliminary work for his new Mad spoof of Donald Trump's "Undercover Boss" from the latest issue of Mad (#508 April 2011) which should be in stores now.
( These images have been removed temporarily. When I got my issue with my subscription I was unaware that it had not reached the shelves quite yet. Sorry Mad, and sorry Tom. Won't happen again!)
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