Last years Topps Star Wars A New Hope Black and White Trading Cards set was an interesting release, bringing familiar images back to a modern day trading card set with the classy spin of presenting them in monochrome.
This year we move on to The Empire Strikes Back, diving into Episode V with gusto and re-presenting this classic movie. The basic 150 card set runs us chronologically through the film, using rarely seen images that compliment the film perfectly.
Parallels sets bring colour to the series with one sepia card per pack, Blue (1:4 packs), Green (/99), Purple (/25), Red (/10) and Orange (/5). There are also metal one of ones.
The series also has a wide selection of signed cards, 24 in total for single cards, along with parallels:
Blue Hue Shift – /99
Green Hue Shift – /25
Purple Hue Shift – /10
Orange Hue Shift – /5
Red Hue Shift – 1/1
There are 8 dual autos, 5 short print colour autos, 5 triple auto cards and 1 six person card featuring Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker and Peter Mayhew. 
As for sketch card there are panoramic, portrait and shaped cards from 147 artists including Kevin Liell, Marsha Parkins and Dan Tearle.
The series also has a selection of inserts, giving us a glimpse behind the scenes with the 40 card Behind the Scenes set, the 10 card Concept Art set, the 20 cards Iconic Characters set and the 10 card Posters set.
As the galaxy expands, so Topps continue to push on the add a fresh spin to their classic material. I imagine it would be VERY easy for Topps and other companies to only focus on the new post 2012 material – and I’m sure Disney would have little issue with that, there;’s plenty to pull from – but as on OG licensee, Topps understand better than most that the heart of the entire Star Wars experience is the original trilogy. It might not be everyone’s entry point – you’d now need to be in your late 30’s to remember experiencing it on the big screen – and it might not be the best, that’s a purely objective opinion that is different for everyone, but as the sequels thematically and visually build on the OT era, just as the prequel trilogy built towards it, refreshing looks at those classic films are very welcome.
And as always, as a collector of these cards, a Black and White trading card folder would be very welcome indeed.
Many thanks to Topps for the review box.
