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Marcus Errico

How Topps' 'Star Wars' Trading Cards Took the Galaxy by Storm (No Thanks to C-3PO)

Marcus ErricoEditor-in-Chief, Yahoo Entertainment
Cover/Original Card Wrapper

Cover/Original Card Wrapper

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“Movies were generally considered an iffy proposition for trading cards prior to Star Wars, because they came and went so quickly,” explains Gerani. “On top of that, science fiction was sort of a tough sell. NPD [New Products Division] Creative Director Len Brown and I fought hard to get Topps to license Star Trek the year before, and we bombed in the mass market. … So getting Topps President Arthur Shorin interested in a new, untested, science-fiction movie wasn’t the easiest thing in the world.” But Shorin came around and Topps cashed in. (Credit: Abrams ComicArts and Lucasfilm, LTD 2015)

Back in 1977, as Star Wars blew up in the zeitgeist, iconic scenes from the film were plastered on everything: books, records, posters, lunchboxes. Perhaps the most popular and enduring ephemera created during that period were the Star Wars trading cards by Topps. The publisher, best known for sports cards, had a spotty track record with the pop-culture lines produced by its New Products Division. One of the in-house editors, Gary Gerani, pushed hard for the company to take a flier on Star Wars, which went on to become one of Topps’ all-time sellers. To coincide with the release of his new book, Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series Volume One (Abrams), which reprints all the cards, stickers, and related material from the initial 1977-78 lines, Gerani revealed to Yahoo Movies the genesis of the trading cards, the mistakes that made it to print (including a legendarily bawdy C-3PO), and how the legacy of those cards extends to The Force Awakens

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