You don’t know the power of nostalgia, and nothing speaks to the 80’s memories like Topps Star Wars Cards
I look back to a time when I got my first wallet. I was still young but way too old to keep carrying money in my sock. I had no credit cards, no membership cards or pictures, Hell, I had no money… really. But an empty wallet just seemed like a waste of pocket space. I figured I had to put something inside. That something was Empire Strikes Back card number 262; “Acting can be a Dirty Job!”
The only real significance was that it was the only surviving card I had from that set. Ever since, I have been wishing for the remaining cards from the series. I often looked on ebay for them but never could pull the trigger when I found them.
I have always thought that trading cards typically just took up space in the back of a closet, forgotten and I would never take the time to look at them (mostly because I would not want to dig them out.
So it was a great pleasure when I discovered the series of books written by Gary Gerani and published by Abrams ComicArts that covers the entire Topps Star Wars Cards history.
Of course the first one I got was my beloved Empire Strikes Back, which is arguably the best movie of the whole series. A New Hope is has been released already with Jedi on the way later this year (August 16th, 2016)
The book , which is officially titled: The Empire Strikes Back, The original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume 2, features 352 cards showing front and back of each card in the series as well as the 88 stickers (originally found one per pack) Additionally it includes all 30 of the giant photo cards reprinted for the first time. As an added bonus there are 4 exclusive trading cards produced by Abrams ComicArts, tucked neatly in the back of the book not to mention images of the checklists, pictures of the display boxes and other promotional materials.
The Good:
The 584 page tome replaces that huge box of old, frayed edge, musty smelling Star Wars cards that you tucked away in a forgotten closet.
I am certainly not opposed to having the original Star Wars cards. They are a great piece of nostalgia but truthfully for most of us, they stay hidden and become a source of worry. I often wonder if they are being cared for appropriately, if I didn’t forget about them completely.
It is the entire set, even the giant photo cards, no gaps to fill. All of the cards are beautiful high resolution pictures of mint or near mint Star Wars cards representing the Empire Strikes Back sets. While true, you don’t actually have the individual cards but you do get see them all, easily, in this small formatted book measuring roughly 7.5 x 6 x 2 inches. It fits nicely on your book shelf and looks really cool.
One of the coolest features is that it comes with a wax paper dust jacket reminiscent of the old wax packs that the original Star Wars cards came wrapped in. It is an excellent presentation piece. The only thing missing is the stale gum that turns to dust when you chew it.
The Bad:
The wax paper dust jacket is really cool but it gets marks on it all too easily. Excessive handling or not exercising enough care, may cause your book to look like a 36 year old pack of cards.
There is not much text throughout the book, though, Gary Gerani, the author (of this book) and original editor of the Topps Star Wars series, sprinkles some random comments and history about specific cards throughout. I would have liked to have seen a bit more history about the series contained within the book. Perhaps the publishers just decided to keep it short because it wasn’t all that exciting or maybe they said all they needed to in the intro.
Other than these extremely tiny and mostly unimportant nitpicks, I really don’t have anything bad to say. The book is awesome! I love it! I am a huge Star Wars fan. I don’t really collect many trading cards. I don’t have a lot of mine left from that era, although I think about getting them all the time. This book fills that need for me. It would be a great gift for any Star Wars fan especially if they grew up in that era and had some of the Star Wars cards.
As a testament to my enjoyment of this book, I ordered the first volume and pre-ordered the third one along with it. I can’t wait!
Feel free to share your Topps Star Wars cards collections and memories in the comments below!
CONNECT!
with 80's Toy Review