This post started off as a side point in a post I made a few days ago about some cards that I had gotten but then forgot about. It started to get a little too involved for a side point so I decided to expand it into it’s own post. It all started when I was writing about a 1962 Topps Jerry Kindall and was pointing out what I liked and didn’t like about the card.

First, I want to point out that in the past I’ve been pretty vocal about not being a huge fan of 1962 Topps, but I’ve got to admit that over the last year or so, the set has really grown on me. I don’t think it has much to do with the fact that last years Heritage was based off of it. If anything, last years Heritage, to me, epitomized everything that I didn’t like about this set, namely, boring, close up pictures of guys who you can’t tell which team they play for.

For the longest time, the only ’62 cards that I owned were from guys on the Mets. Due to the fact that the Mets weren’t in existence prior to 1962, the majority of those cards featured boring, close-ups of dudes without hats that I hate so much. Ironically, I think that’s what made me initially dislike this set. I think what’s made me change my tune over the last year year or so is that I’ve acquired a bunch of non-Mets who are wearing hats and are not shown super close up and it’s given me a whole new appreciation for the set.

Another big thing that’s given me a real appreciation for the 1962 set is the cartoons on the back. I’ve always loved cartoons on the back of any baseball cards but there’s something kind of dark and creepy about these cartoons as compared to other Topps sets. When it comes to comics, dark and creepy is right up my alley. Like a lot of collectors, when I was a lad, baseball cards weren’t my only vice. I was also heavily into comics, which worked out well for me since my local baseball card shop also happened to be the local comic book store.

Although I really liked a lot of the comic book titles you would expect, such as Spider-Man and the X-Men and G.I. Joe, I really loved a lot of the the weirder titles, like Ghost Rider (the original), Dr. Strange and the short-lived  Son of Satan. I also was a big fan of the EC Comics titles, which I might not have picked up on if it weren’t for the fact that reprints of classic EC titles like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror happened to show up in the comic shop around the same time I was spending a lot of time there.

Anyway, as I was noticing how dark and creepy a lot of those 1962 Topps cartoons looked, it occurred to me that they very much had the feel of those old EC Comic books. I still have one of those EC reprints and I took a quick gander through it and picked a random panel to use as an example.

And now here’s the cartoon from the rear end of that Jerry Kindall card.

Still not convinced? How’s about this?

Tags: 1962 Topps, cartoon, Jerry Kindall
Filed Under: Some Cards by slangon
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