Who Killed Cardvark? (Part One)

Sketch by Finnian (2011)

Was it all just a dream? Could the collective unconscious of three crazy kids have given life to such a figure, part Golem and part Goofy? And given it such a name? Or did the MTA really introduce a mascot named Cardvark (possibly Caardvark) as part of its PR campaign to promote the then forthcoming MetroCard to a ridership grown fat and happy on tokens, tokens, tokens, tenpacks of tokens?

If there was a Cardvark, why is there no trace of it on the Internet? It was only 25 or 30 years ago. And what did it look like? To begin, we engaged a talented young sketch artist to reconstruct a plausible likeness from our descriptions--note the swiper-paws. And then I got serious. No more Googling with myself and cooking up conspiracy theories (about these, more to come). Time to storm the castle: the archives of the MTA itself.

Fortress MTA, Brooklyn

Tomorrow: What we discovered!