Review- PLANET OF THE APES: THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES

PLANET OF THE APES: THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES (Abrams Comicarts, First Printing, 2017; Hardcover)

Spine with dustjacket on.

I was too young to see any of the original quintilogy at the movie theater but fell in love with Planet Of The Apes during the late '70s Apes Week, when WXYZ Channel 7 in Detroit would show the five movies and the reedited/reconfigured TV series in their “movie” forms several times a year. These aired from 4 PM until 6 PM Monday through Friday. I remember watching them many times. In the world of no cable TV or VCRs this was as good as it got.

Front cover sans dustjacket.

All of which brings us to this book, which collects the front and backs of the cards from all three Topps trading cards series. The 1969 set for the original movie, the 1975 set for the television series, and the set for the 2001 abomination of a film. It's nice that the latter it is included here for completist's sake but that is all. Let us never speak of it again in this review, or anywhere else for that matter.

Back cover sans dustjacket.

Gary Gerani is our guide, being involved with all three sets while working for Topps. He offers endless behind the scenes information throughout the book. Like I've stated in my reviews of the Topps Star Wars Trading Cards books, these cards were the only game in town for remembering scenes from the movie, and Gerani does a fantastic job of putting this in proper context.

I am a grade A sucker for these books of scanned cards. I would buy pretty much anything that I used to collect. Give me Alien, Mork And Mindy, Battlestar Galactica, King Kong, Jaws, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, E.T...heck, I'll take Fleer cards books for Kiss and Charlie's Angels while we're at it! Take my money!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The four bonus trading cards which are included with this book, seen here on top of the dustjacket when laid flat.

The OCD zone- This book is a small, chunky book clocking in at around 480 pages.

Paper stock: Thick coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Sewn binding. The binding is very tight, requiring two hands to keep it open at all times. This is the result of the book block being glued square to the casing. On the plus side, there is no way that this book will ever fall apart. The denizens of 2148 will delight in this book, as it will surely outlast me.

Book spine sans dustjacket.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: The dustjacket has a waxpaper feel to it, similar in spirit to the wrappers of the original cards. The image on the front of the paper casewrap is the stick of gum found in every pack of cards. The back cover of the hardback shows the stick of gum broken. The casewrap has a matte coating.