Star Wars Galaxy: The Original Topps Trading Card Series (Topps Star Wars)

these books are cool! can't wait for the last one to come out

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There is so much nostalgia contained within these pages for me. These were the Star Wars cards I collected growing up. Nearly every time I turned the page I would smile and say, "I remember that one!". The book unfortunately doesn't contain all the cards from the sets, and the commentary is very much on the light side. That didn't keep me from enjoying my time with it though.

was awesome

This book is an incomplete representation of the first three Star Wars Galaxy card sets issued in the early-to-mid 1990s and a major letdown especially when compared to the superb Volume One book reviewing the original 1977 SW sets also published by Abrams and written by Gary Gerani. 1977 Volume One came in at a hefty 547 pages, showed all 330 cards and 66 stickers (front and back images) from all five original series, and as a bonus had a section on the Wonderbread promo set. The Galaxy book only has 223 pages and only highlights the New Visions artwork, omitting the vast majority of the 365 base cards in Galaxy I, II, III. While the New Visions subset was an integral part of the these sets, it was only part of what made these sets special at the time. Subsets such as "The Design of Star Wars" and "The Art of Star Wars" were just as important -- if not more so -- than New Visions and they are completely absent here, aside from Gerani's brief comments in the introduction. The backs of the cards in the Galaxy sets were a huge leap forward from the original sets from the 1970s-1980s, with full color artwork and well written text, but are completely absent in this book. Even the introduction, while an interesting read, is copied almost word-for-word in some places from Generi's "The Art of Star Wars Galaxy" book that was published alongside the original set in the 90's and is very light on content. How can there be no mention of the infamous Yodas P3 promo card for Galaxy II that was pulled and destroyed because Lucasfilm ultimately didn't approve of the content? And on a lesser scale no mention of the promo card showing an Ewok attacking a Biker Scout with a knife, where the knife was ultimately removed when issued in the regular set. Surely the history behind these two cards was worth of a mention, but here they are completely ignored with not even a scanned image. Generi provided some good insight on the infamous "x-rated" C-3PO card in the previous book, and his lack of commentary on these two cards sticks out like a sore thumb. Ultimately, I can't recommend this purchase. If you want just the New Visions artwork, buy the old "Art of Star Wars Galaxy" books, which can be found for a couple bucks used or better yet, just buy the original physical card sets, which can be found very cheap. I hope the forthecoming book on The Empire Strikes Back sets is more along the lines of the Volume One book and not this Galaxy book.

This books showcases the Star Wars Galaxy line of trading cards. The card series showcased interpretations of characters and elements from the Original Trilogy by famous comic book, fantasy, and science-fiction illustrators. Among the featured illustrators are Marvel Comics legends Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko; other comics greats like Mike Mignola, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Gibbons, Sergio Aragones, and Greg Capullo; genre movie illustrators Moebius, William Stout, Mark "Crash" McCreery; and master Star Wars artists Ralph McQuarrie & Drew Struzan. I've only recently become fully aware of this line of trading cards. With so much Star Wars merchandise out there, it just got lost in the shuffle. But I'm still glad to have found about it after the fact. The cards tap into two fields of nostalgia for me. One is the revival of Star Wars merchandise and Expanded Universe media in the early-to-the-mid 90s. From the release of the Thrawn Trilogy novels and Dark Empire comics in 1991 up through the controversies surrounding the Special Edition revision of the films and the Prequel Trilogy, it was fascinating to see George Lucas's space opera saga make a gradual but triumphant return. The other is the comic book world of the 1990s and how it sometimes overlapped with the popularity of trading cards. While the speculator boom and bust ended up being a debacle, lots of interesting things came out during this time. Comic book creators were treated like rock stars, and were so popular, that they even branched out into trading cards. Lots of DC, Marvel, and Image titles were given trading card series with exclusive art by assorted talent, so for Star Wars to get the same treatment was a delight. Unfortunately, this book has several major flaws. One is the fact that it only covers the first three waves of cards, and omits the recent series 4-7. This is unfortunate, but expected given the focus of the book. What is less forgivable is that all of the artwork seems to be taken from scans of the cards. It is very unfortunate that Topps and Lucasfilm were unable (or unwilling) to seek the original art files for at least some of the cards. The scanned artwork still looks acceptable, but I wish they could have taken the time to find better copies of the artwork. This book is still an interesting introduction to the Star Wars Galaxy trading cards, and includes some intriguing behind-the-scenes information. But I wouldn't recommend paying full price for it. If you want a better guide to these cards, I'd suggest looking for used copies of The Art of Star Wars Galaxy and The Art of Star Wars Galaxy, Vol. 2 , as well as seeking out the magazines Star Wars Galaxy Magazine (13 issues), Star Wars Galaxy Collector (8 issues), and the one-shots Star Wars : BOBA FETT and Star Wars : The Official 20th Anniversary Commemorative Magazine .

Even better than expeced. Thanks!

Fantastic card sets back in the day. But this is a poorly executed book with many, many omissions.

Great book that brings back memories of collecting as a kid

Fantástico libro con parte de las tres primeras series. Excelente para la biblioteca personal. Recomendable para los coleccionistas Star wars

This was a great art book! Totally honoring Star Wars in every way. Thank you to all the artists and Topps for making this book happen:)

Lo compre de segunda mano i a llegado nuevo con las sobrecubiertas perfectas i los cromos precintados.El libro es típico de TOPPS el tamaño e ilustraciones de sus libros suele ser de este tipo" lo sé porque tengo el de la pandilla basura i es igual en tamaño".tiene algunas ilustraciones en las que aparece el señor LUCAS que son para quitarse el sombrero.Perfecto i muy contento ya que en teoría estaba programado que llegara el 2 de agosto i a llegado muchísimo antes en un estado genial para ser de segunda mano,un 10 para el vendedor.

This is a fantastic book. From the book cover that's like a card wrapper, the fantastic artwork, the physical cards included, right down to a picture of a bubblegum stuck on the front and back of the cover. Any fan of Star Wars should have this book in their collection.