Norman Saunders (1907-1989) was a prolific commercial artist who produced paintings for pulp magazines, paperbacks, men's magazines, comic books, and trading cards. He was born in Minot, North Dakota. His earliest training in his eventual profession was though a mail order art course. He soon landed a job at Fawcett Publications, where he was employed from 1928-1934. He left this job to become a freelance pulp artist, moved to New York, and studied under Harvey Dunn at the Grand Central School of Art. He painted for all the major publishers and was known for his fast-action scenes, his beautiful women, and his ability to meet a deadline. He worked in almost any genre--westerns, weird menace, detective, sports and even the 'saucys' (under the psuedonym of Blaine). He was able to paint very quickly, producing one hundred paintings a year--two a week from 1935 through 1942. 1907 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This is a list of magazines marketed primarily for men. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card which is intended for trading and collecting. ... Minot today, seen from North Hill Minot, population 36,567, is a city located in north central North Dakota, USA. Minot is the fourth largest city in the state and is the trading centre of a large portion of northern North Dakota, southeastern Saskatchewan, and southwestern Manitoba. ... Fawcett Publications was launched in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford H. Captain Billy Fawcett (1883-1940) with his bawdy cartoon and joke magazine, It began October, 1919, as a mimeographed pamphlet, and the early mimeographed issues were peddled around Minneapolis by Captain Billy and Claire Fawcetts four sons...

In 1958 Saunders obtained his first job at the Topps company, painting over photographs of baseball players who had been traded, so that they would appear to be wearing the jersey of their new team. Topps soon employed Saunders' talents for many other assignments working on their bubble gum cards. He was hired to paint scenes for one of the most successful nonsport-card sets in history: Mars Attacks!, in 1962. They were so successful that letters of protest poured in from parents, and Topps had to use a different brand name. His Wacky Packages cards were even more commerically successful. He also produced a number of less well known trading card series including Ugly Stickers, Your Own Name, Civil War, and others. 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Topps Company (NASDAQ: TOPP) is a publicly traded company based in New York City that manufactures candy and collectibles. ... Mars Attacks! started out as a science fiction trading card series created by Topps in 1962. ... Wacky Packages were a series of non-sports trading cards produced by the Topps company between 1967 and 1992. ...