Introduced in 1985, the Garbage Pail Kids trading cards were designed as a grotesque parody of the Cabbage Patch Kid fad that had been dominating the toy industry. Overseen by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman and Mark Newgarden, the first series drawn by John Pound became such an odd hit that more series were produced, with art by Jay Lynch, Tom Bunk, James Warhola, and many others. It became popular enough to inspire a short-lived animated series that never aired in the United States, and a feature film that was a huge commercial flop. But behind all the controversy over the content of cards marketed toward children was some genuinely unique art that attracted collectors who liked just how different Garbage Pail Kids were from anything else. 30 Years Of Garbage is a documentary about the history of the card series, its several revivals in recent decades, and the continued ire from parent groups. It features interviews with Spiegelman, Newgarden, Pound, Bunk, Lynch, Len Brown, current artists Brent Engstrom and Joe Simko, and many more artists and collectors.
The film has a Kickstarter campaign going with 25 days left to donate, so any trading card collectors or fans of gross-out art have ample time to donate and receive rewards like t-shirts, acrylic painting proofs signed by GPK artists, and exclusive promo cards specially designed for the film.