Comic-Classic Greeting Cards Straight from the Providence Derby League
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Under her Providence Roller Derby League moniker, Rhoda Perdition, Alison Blackwell has designed and produced a set of greeting cards that are like the evil, and wittier, twin of Hallmark.
The cards have the pastel dotted softness of old comics, and the mock-ups of bright super-hero garb on big-eyed, curvy cartoon bodies. This perfectly retro comic book-style cards are matched with taglines that Rhoda Perdition has self-described as “groan-inducing, punny, cheeky, cute, in questionable taste, or just disgraceful!” Mostly, they are all of these at once.
Most cards feature some sort of cheerfully pain-inducing prank – Slappy Birthday, Spanks for Everything. In one card a girl approaches her friend with a cupcake, ready to snap her bra-strap under the title “Wishing you a Snappy Birthday!” A little violence, in the best of sentiments.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe most charming and paradoxical thing about these cards lies in their concept; thank you cards are the height of etiquette, and these cards walk the highly comical line between vulgar and crude. Blackwell explains how these two worlds came together. “I was raised always to send thank-you notes when people do nice things for me, like buy me a present or take me out to dinner, but I was embarrassed about how smaltzy most of them were, and if I was lucky maybe I could find Superman, but most of the cards had flowers on them,” says Blackwell, “so a few years I started making my own that were more in line with a sense of humor my friends know more.”
There’s a healthy dose of sassy roller-derby chics, lesbians, and a mustached accordionist under the scripted banner, “I Just Wanna Squeeze Ya!” While these themes will please a specialty bunch, they will be sure to delight anyone with a sense of rowdy humor. They also appeal to the comic-book fanatic, with their simple and nostalgic color palette. This throw-back feel fits well with the punny headlines, both witty and trying, which are reminiscent of the charmingly stale jokes from 1950s stand-up. “I guess I just want to let everyone know that puns are very underrated,” she says.
With old-school style colors, hand-drawn consideration, and carefully selected sentiments, these cards hit you where it hearts. Sending a loved one a delightfully dirty pun will always be the write move.
Price from $3-$5, pack of ten for $22 at www.etsy.com/shop/