AstroBoy Online Forums

Back in the sixties in the U.S. of A., when Astro Boy was making ratings records, NBC Enterprises was busily setting up merchandising for Astro Boy. One of the items they sold a license to was Topps, an American maker of trading cards, also known as bubblegum cards because they were sold in a packet of five or so cards and a stick of bubblegum.

What the Topps people did with Astro Boy was sell Astro Boy bubblegum and on the inside of the wrapper was a temporary tattoo that if you wet the surface of the side of the wrapper with the tattoo, it would stick to your arm, or any part of your body you would want to place it. (Or was it wet you arm and then place the tatto!? I forget exactly! Anywho!)

So here goes my first attempt at posting a picture!
This would be the template they would use to print the tattos onto the wrapper!

Whoa . . . I never saw those!! They look as if they were drawn by the infamous Ken Stacey. I do remember the tatoos, and they NEVER really worked - I remember you had to wet your skin, then apply the tatoo.

And because it NEVER worked, I tried it the other way (wet the tatoo and apply to dry skin) - and as soon as the water hit the "ink" it all ran together. Your skin had to be almost dry, and even then it was very tricky to apply.

What a find this was - Thanks Astrobuddy!

Lol cute, lucky those aren't permanent though. I don't think I'd want them on my arm for life although they are very nice.

"AprilSeven" wrote:Whoa . . . I never saw those!! They look as if they were drawn by the infamous Ken Stacey. I do remember the tatoos, and they NEVER really worked - I remember you had to wet your skin, then apply the tatoo. And because it NEVER worked, I tried it the other way (wet the tatoo and apply to dry skin) - and as soon as the water hit the "ink" it all ran together. Your skin had to be almost dry, and even then it was very tricky to apply. What a find this was - Thanks Astrobuddy!

Why "infamous Ken Steacy" (correct spelling of his name)? Hmn!? Ken Steacy is a well-regarded artist, who aside from the NOW Astro Boy series, is best known for the SF graphic novel, "Night and the Enemy" based on the works of Harlan Ellison, author of the original Outer Limits episode, "Demon with the Glass Hand" and the classic original Star Trek episode, "City on the Edge of Forever" and whose work was James Cameron's main inspiration in creating the "Terminator" series.
But I am glad you remembered the tattoos. I thought the artwork was crude, yet had a certain charm about it. Btw this set was the only set to feature Astro Girl, which is why I was glad to have them as part of my collection. And now that it is much easier to post pictures and such on this site, I am definitely going to try to add more "Stuf" to my posts!

I used word "Infamous" in reference to Fauna's NOW Comics reviews, that's all. I'm not familiar with Stacey's other works, but i don't personally care for how he drew Astro, and these tattoos resemble the style he used.

My understanding is the that the artists working on that comic series weren't paid very well, and - as the wife of a working illustrator - I'm guessing he might have matched his time on the project to his compensation (and I totally understand that).

You didn't say, but did the bubble gum also come with cards, or just the tattoos. I'll bet those are worth something!

Awesome!! I wish I had one

"AprilSeven" wrote:I used word "Infamous" in reference to Fauna's NOW Comics reviews, that's all. I'm not familiar with Stacey's other works, but i don't personally care for how he drew Astro, and these tattoos resemble the style he used.

My understanding is the that the artists working on that comic series weren't paid very well, and - as the wife of a working illustrator - I'm guessing he might have matched his time on the project to his compensation (and I totally understand that).

You didn't say, but did the bubble gum also come with cards, or just the tattoos. I'll bet those are worth something!

Okay, I don't really get the "Fauna" reference, but I am aware of her reviews. Personally eventhough I count the NOW Astro Boy series as part of the Astro Boy multiverse, I could take them or leave them. Especially since they were the only Astro Boy series available at the time since they were before the Dark Horse series.
Yes I grant that you are entitled to your opinion, eventhough personally in my opinion I don't see any similarity in styles other than they both feature Astro Boy and Astro Girl, but again that is just my opinion.

As I stated before Topps decided to market Astro Boy as a bubblegum with tattoo wrappers. I don't know if it was because they believed their market consisted of little children who would probably like tattoos as more fun and active or because of the expense of making trading cards. It could also be that trading cards for television characters was still in its infancy; trading cards traditionally being for sports fans, i.e. baseball cards. I remember the Superman and Batman trading cards came out much later in the mid sixties along with the Marvel Super Heroes cards that came out about 1966 when the cartoon series was on the air.
Any way Topps did not issue a set of Astro Boy trading cards back in the sixties. Too bad!

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