One of the reasons Star Wars has pop culture staying power is because of its merchandising prowess. It’s more prevalent than ever right now thanks to the super strong marketing arm of Disney, but Lucasfilm has more than held their own since 1977. Topps trading cards were debuted after Star Wars: A New Hope was released in theaters, and they’re right up there with Kenner action figures in the categories of popularity and nostalgia. Abrams ComicArts is celebrating the original trading cards in a new book, Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One.
The book collects the fronts and backs of 330 trading cards from the initial releases (there were three different series released in the year after A New Hope) and 55 stickers. Gary Gerani, editor of the cards, has an introduction and commentary in the book. I imagine flipping through the pages will be like a trip down memory lane. And since many Star Wars fans are currently hooked on Topps’ digital card trading app, this is the ideal time to show off high quality images of actual cards.
Enough talking though. We an exclusive look at interiors. Look:
Luke Skywalker sticker. The painted celestial backgrounds on the stickers were lifted from a previous Star Trek card set, with an X-wing fighter replacing the Enterprise.
See more interiors in the gallery below. Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One will be available just in time to gift it for the holidays.
Did you collect Topps trading cards, and do you see any cards you used to own? Head to the commentsand tell me about your collection.
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Images: Abrams
