Garbage Pail Kids Legend Joe Simko Reveals Next Iteration of Craniacs (Exclusive)

July 15, 2025, 9:00am

Fans of Garbage Pail Kids and Craniacs are in for a treat with the next addition to the fan-favorite franchises. The popular sticker trading cards from the ’80s were an instant hit with kids, mostly due to the comical drawings created by a host of artists, including Joe Simko. Together with Ira Friedman, they created Craniacs, a series of trading cards featuring skull-faced characters living on a planet composed of two distinct civilizations. Titmouse, the animation studio behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, is developing a Craniacs TV series, but fans can get a first look at a Craniacs comic book releasing through Titan Comics.

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ComicBook has the exclusive first look at covers and interior pages for Craniacs #1 by writer Sholly Fisch (Batman, Scooby-Doo) and Joe Simko (Garbage Pail Kids). The pages take readers inside the world of Craniacs, with two stories that converge into one through a flip book. One story features the stone-aged Retrovia, while the other has the futuristic Futerra. We see kids being woken up for school, as they race to make it there on time.

The covers include a flip cover by Joe Simko, Ashleigh Izi, and Niclas Mortensen, as well as an exclusive trading card included edition.

CRANIACS #1 (of 4)

(W) Sholly Fisch (A) Joe Simko
FC, 32pp, $4.99, On Sale October 15, 2025
DEBUT COMIC BASED ON HIT CRANIACS TRADING CARDS!
CRANIACS TV SERIES IN ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT FROM ANIMATION STUDIO TITMOUSE (SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE)!INTERIOR ART BY GARBAGE PAIL KIDS LEGEND JOE SIMKO!
FROM JOE SIMKO (GARBAGE PAIL KIDS), IRA FRIEDMAN (TOPPS) AND ACCLAIMED WRITER SHOLLY FISCH (BATMAN, SCOOBY-DOO)! Two planets collide, forming one world. Two distinct skull-faced societies split down the middle! One side is wild & stone age named RETROVIA; the other side is systematic & ultra-futuristic named FUTERRA.
Innovative reading experience! Read the story of RETROVIA then turn and flip to read about FUTERRA. Two stories that meet in the middle, which leads onto issue #2
COVER A: JOE SIMKO FLIP COVER
COVER B: ASHLEIGH IZIENICKI
COVER C: NICLAS MORTENSEN
COVER D: COLOR YOUR OWN FLIP COVER ($6.99)
COVER E: JOE SIMKO EXCLUSIVE TRADING CARD BAGGED ($9.99)