Review- STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI- THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES VOL. 3

STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE JEDI- THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES VOL. 3 (Abrams Comicarts, Second Printing, 2016; Hardcover)

Collects the red and blue sets of The Topps Star Wars Return Of The Jedi trading cards and stickers. 

I remember asking for the owner of the corner store to save me an empty box and he did. This was back in a time when a kid could wander around his neighborhood unsupervised. 

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. These Topps trading cards were one of the few ways to relive these movies in the days before home video and in a time when many homes (like mine) did not have cable television. I have gone over all of this in my reviews for the first two volumes in this line, so I'll skip the rest of that spiel and get to the meat of it. This series of books is a blast of nostalgia for those of us who were around to buy these cards at the time.

I managed to cobble together both sets of cards in 1983. I was surprised back then that there was only two sets while Empire had three, but it was a relief in a way since I started “officially” collecting comic books in January of 1983 and couldn't afford to split my money in two directions. Jedi was the last series of cards that I sought to complete. While I would buy packs of, say, Garbage Pail Kids and a few others afterward, I was never compelled to buy them all.

There's not much else to say. These are high resolution scans of the original cards, with the front on one page and the back side on the next page. Flipping through the book is similar to looking at a deck of the trading cards. If you love Star Wars, love trading cards, or are a younger fan who wants a chance to check out merchandise which was released at the time of the original trilogy then these books are a fun, relatively inexpensive way to relive the fun of buying these cards in 1983.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials of physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

This book is a small, chunky book clocking in at 528 pages. The cards and stickers are presented in their original size.

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.

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.

Review- STAR WARS- THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES VOLUME 1

STAR WARS- THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES VOLUME 1 (Abrams Comicarts, Third Printing, 2015; Hardcover)

Trading cards were very important to kids in prehistoric world of no cable television or home video. Kids like me, who was 4-5 years old when these cards were released. These Topps cards were the only game in town to remember and relive the Star Wars movies in the comfort of your own home. I didn't see the first movie until late spring 1978, so the cards and comics were how I first learned about this movie, building my anticipation to a fever pitch...and I was not disappointed when I finally saw the movie.

One of my favorites from the blue set when I was a kid.

Even many months after it's release the movie was a big deal. I remember my mom taking us to see it at the show and standing in a line that wrapped around the block of the two-screen movie house. No multiple screens or showings back then. We got in line for a one o'clock show and finally got up to the window for the 3:30 showing. I have never seen anything like that for a movie since then.

I stuck this sticker on the door to the upstairs of my mom's house. She never said a word about it, nor did she ever remove it. It was there until I moved out of her house.

It is impossible to overstate how huge of an event that this movie was to those who were too young to experience it. It was a cultural atom bomb on par with Elvis' swiveling hips and The Beatles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show. Star Wars, Kiss, and Queen...1977-78 were the zenith of Western Civilization, a cultural golden age that we'll likely never see again.

I really enjoyed this picture as a kid. I'm not sure why.

I had several packs of the blue set as a kid, while the red set was not sold on my end of town. I was unaware of their existence until 1984, and my mind was blown when I discovered this “lost” set. I had several packs of the yellow set, maybe two of the green, and only one pack of the orange set as a kid. My family was poor and my mom would occasionally buy me a pack of cards here and there. I treasured them, spending countless hours flipping through them and learning how to read partially by memorizing the back of the cards.

The Wonder Bread cards were awesome.

It was a blast to go through and relive the excitement of collecting these cards. The cards are all scanned, front and back. In 1987 I was able to get complete sets for under $10 each. Sealed wax packs of the Topps cards were $1 each. I opened them and tried a stick of the then-10 year old gum. It crumbled to dust when it hit my tongue.

The Wonder Bread cards are included, which is a great bonus. I remember my brother taking every loaf of Wonder Bread off of the shelf looking for the missing cards to complete his set. I had most if not all of them back then.

These are the four bonus cards, seen here laying on the dustjacket.

There are four bonus cards included for reasons I cannot ascertain. In an age of nearly limitless hard drive storage and images being a right click away it may sound silly to young people to pay for pieces of cardboard with an image printed on them. But these cards were and are a treasure. My son collects card games like Magic and Pokemon, so trading cards aren't dead, they have just changed into games that kids trade. The days of Topps issuing mass market pop culture cards found in every convenience and drugstore in the country might be gone, but their place as an indispensable part of the original Star Wars experience and popular culture as a whole is secure.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This book is a small, chunky book.

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.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: The dustjacket has a waxpaper feel to it, similar 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.

Review- STAR WARS- THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES VOLUME 2: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

STAR WARS- THE ORIGINAL TOPPS TRADING CARD SERIES VOLUME 2: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (Abrams Comicarts, First Printing, 2016; Hardcover)

Trading cards were very important to the kids of 1980. In the land of no cable television or home video (most people did not own VCRs at the time), these Topps cards were the only game in town to remember and relive the Star Wars movies in the comfort of your own home. I bought as many of them as I could afford, scraping together quarters and empty pop bottles. My brother and I would trade our doubles, eventually completing all three sets.

It was a blast to go through and relive the excitement of collecting these cards, memorizing the facts on the backs of the cards and doing the puzzles from the backs of the stickers. I remember using the alphabet stickers on school folders, and my brother putting S W A M P on our bedroom door. He was a big M.A.S.H. fan and called our room the Swamp after that show.

The cards are all scanned, front and back. Some are presented slightly larger than the original cards, while some are slightly smaller due to the front and back being on the same page. I enjoyed the commentary about the first series, which was planned before the movie was released.

This book is a real trip down memory lane. I still need to get the book for the cards from the first movie, Star Wars (suck it, you 1981 rerelease A New Hope revisionists!) and am looking forward to the Return Of The Jedi book.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This book is a small, chunky book.

Paper stock: Thick coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Smyth 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.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: The dustjacket has a waxpaper feel to it, similar 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 which gets scuffed fairly easily.