Book Review: 'Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: The Original Topps Trading Card Series - Volume Three'

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(C) 2016 Abrams ComicArts and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)
On August 16, 2016, Abrams ComicArts, an imprint of New York City-based Abrams Books, published Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, the third volume in writer-editor Gary Gerani's series of books about Topps' Star Wars-themed trading card series. 

Like the previous two volumes (Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: The Original Topps Trading Card Series), Gerani's book tells a Topps insider's story about the creation of the 220 trading cards and 55 stickers that the confectionary and trading card company produced between 1983 and 1984. 
Gary Gerani, the Topps editor in charge of the company's Star Wars trading card line, chose Drew Struzan's iconic imagery used in the now-rare Revenge of the Jedi poster created before George Lucas changed the name of Episode VI to Return of the Jedi. (C) 1983 Topps Chewing Gum Company and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)

In addition, the 528-page hardcover includes reproductions of the front and reverse sides of every Star Wars: Return of the Jedi produced by Topps in two separate series. These include a title card with art by famed movie poster artist Drew Struzan, plus cards with character profiles, story summaries, and "Star Quiz" trivia tests. 

 Following the success of Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Topps released two brand-new sets of collectable trading cards in 1983 to coincide with Return of the Jedi, the final installment of George Lucas’s original Star Wars trilogy. Now, for the first time, all 220 cards and 55 stickers are reprinted in one deluxe volume. As with the previous books in the Topps series, this collection features the fronts and backs of each card, including character profiles and puzzles featuring all of your favorite scenes from Return of the Jedi. Also included are four bonus trading cards, rare promotional images, and an introduction and commentary by Gary Gerani, the original editor of the Star Wars Topps series.- From the publisher's dust jacket blurb

As in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, the cards scanned for this book belong to the Robert V. Conte Collection, perhaps one of the world's most complete archives of Topps' Star Wars trading cards. 

Now, if you think that Topps' Return of the Jedi trading card series consists of less cards than the company's collections from the previous two films of the Star Wars saga, you're absolutely right. Return of the Jedi was, after all, the concluding chapter of George Lucas's space-fantasy trilogy, and in 1983, at least, there was a sense of uncertainty as to whether it was the last Star Wars film ever or if Lucas would make the implied Prequel Trilogy that would reveal how Darth Vader came to be. 

The first card (after the title card with Struzan's teaser poster art) in Series One. (C) 1983 Topps Chewing Gum Company and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)


As Gerani explains in his introduction, when Topps decided to make Series 2 only 132-cards strong, "there was a general feeling that interest in Star Wars would peak with the release of Return of the Jedi, then taper off as the realization that it was "all over" settled in. For the most part, this was sound reasoning and a sharp business judgment. I'm not sure if other Star Wars licensees predicted and prepared for a post-Jedi dip, but it said a lot about the curious sense of relief we all felt. Star Wars had dominated and in some ways defined our lives for seven years. It was an amazing and fortifying ride, but we were a little tired...just like filmmaker George Lucas. We all needed a vacation from Star Wars, especially after the breathless, impossible-to-ignore, and inevitable conclusion known as Return of the Jedi."

Here are the six package wrapping designs for Series One and Two. The line art was provided to Topps by Lucasfilm Ltd. (C) 1983 Topps Chewing Gum Company and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)


My Take

When Topps introduced Star Wars trading cards in 1977, I didn't have much of a Star Wars collection. That fateful year, my mom decided to sell our house in Miami-Dade County's Westchester neighborhood and bought a townhouse in one of the many condominium developments that made up Fountainbleau Park. The house in Westchester sold in September, but the townhouse that the developers had promised would be ready by October was not complete yet, so I couldn't have bought anything larger than trading cards and Del Rey's mass paperback edition of the Star Wars novelization even if Kenner Toys had had anything to offer before Christmas of 1977.  

And for a while, anyway, I went on a Star Wars trading card binge in an attempt to collect them all. I succeeded, more or less, with the 1977-1979 Topps card series, but once we were settled in our townhouse (which was ready by the end of February 1978), I also began to collect Kenner's 3.75-inch action figures, their vehicles, and other accessories. And because my allowance money could only be stretched so far, I had to choose between being a card collector or an action figures completist. I chose the latter. 
By 1979 I had to choose between collecting Kenner's figures or Topps trading cards. For 16-year-old me, the figures were more appealing. (C) 1978 Kenner Toys and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation



As I wrote in my review of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: The Original Topps Trading Card Series: 

 And, that, dear reader, was the death blow for my [trading] card collection. My visits to the Camelot hobby store in the nearby shopping plaza didn't quite stop; I bought a couple of Star Wars  model kits there,  and before the elderly owners retired and sold the store, I purchased my first Playboy magazines there. But except for a handful of Return of the Jedi trading card packs I bought at that store in the summer of 1983, I didn't ask the clerk for "my usual Star Wars cards."

As a Star Wars fan and book lover, I have to give props to Abrams ComicArts for the cleverness of the publisher's Topps Star Wars trading cards series. All three of the volumes I own, including this one, are a loving tribute to the cards, the stickers, the package design, and the movies they are derived from.

 The book's design is ingenious, an adjective that I use sparingly. The dust jacket art is derived from the wrapper design for one of the Series One packages; Abrams ComicArts even uses the same text layout and wax paper (or a facsimile of wax paper) used in Topps' trading cards packages. (If you remove the dust jacket, you'll see a pink stick of "gum" printed on the book cover.

 For me, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: The Original Topps Trading Card Series - Volume Three is a relatively inexpensive and space-efficient way to collect every Return of the Jedi trading card and sticker Topps printed in 1983. I don't need to go on eBay or other online sites to hunt down hard-to-find (and pricey) sets of cards, plus I don't have to worry about wear-and-tear or storage issues.

 Like the other two books in my Topps trading card collection, this book is compact enough to fit even on small bookshelves, and in addition to Gerani's introduction, there is plenty of commentary about the cards, stickers, and their various features within its 548 pages.

 All in all, this is a highly enjoyable book for collectors and readers alike. So if you love Topps trading cards, the Star Wars saga, or both, this is the book you are looking for. 

  

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