Foldee Frankenstein

A Frankenstein Monster by Wally Wood.

Comic Book Foldees were bubblegum cards issues by the Topps Company in 1966. The novelty set featured a large card with a DC Comics superhero on one side and two unrelated characters on the reverse. Separated horizontally, the top and bottom halves of the cards would fold and overlap each other, creating “funny pictures”. The Flash would appear to have the legs of Tarzan, or the torso of a generic spaceman. Robin The Boy Wonder’s legs would fit a robot torso, or Benjamin Franklin flying a kite. Characters in the set included a Castro-like “Cuban Dictator”, “Honest” Abe Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and a “Fanged” Dracula. One of the more bizarre combos had The Atom matched with Fido The Pooch and… Mahatma Gandhi.

Pictured above, Foldee number 8 in the 44-card set has The Green Lantern backed a bikinied “Bathing Beauty” and a “Scary Frankenstein”. Folding would give you a “Scary Green Lantern”, a “Beautiful Frankenstein¨, and so on, nine combinations in all.

The Foldees were illustrated by the celebrated Wally Wood, a regular and welcome contributor to many Topps card sets. Among others, Wood designed and storyboarded the famous Mars Attacks! set painted by Norman Saunders.

With big time thanks to Rob Kelly for the image.