1996 Kellogg’s Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire trading cards focus on the book that bridged the gap between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. That said, when you actually look at the cards, more take shots directly from the original trilogy, which makes sense when Shadows of the Empire was primarily a novel (although Topps did a full release with artwork by the Hildebrandt Brothers).
This is a food-issue release that was available in Canada. Cards came printed on specially marked boxes of Kellogg’s cereal in the form of four-card panels. One card per panel has a piece of art connected to the book like a cover or a character illustration. The three remaining cards use Original Trilogy images of existing characters like Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa and Darth Vader connected to the story.
Here’s a panel-by panel breakdown:
A
- Shadows of the Empire – Emperor Palpatine / Prince Xizor / Luke Skywalker
- C-3PO
- Jabba the Hutt
- Darth Vader
B
- Han Solo
- Emperor Palpatine
- Shadows of the Empire – Boba Fett / Leia Organa
- Ben Kenobi
C
- R2-D2
- Shadows of the Empire – Black Sun Emblem
- Boba Fett
- Lando Calrissian
D
- Luke Skywalker
- Shadows of the Empire – Prince Xizor
- Chewbacca
- Princess Leia
Because it’s a Canadian release, this is a fairly tough set of Star Wars trading cards to track down. There’s also the fact that the cards came on cereal boxes and had to be cut out. This creates some condition challenges as it’s easy to make a bad cut or do things too small. Many people who held onto the cards, though, kept the entire box panel. This helps as it gives the cards themselves a border buffer from dings and damage.
1996 Kellogg’s Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Checklist
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12 cards.
Buy on eBay:
Black Sun Emblem (Shadows of the Empire)
Boba Fett
Boba Fett / Leia Organa (Shadows of the Empire)
C-3PO
Chewbacca
Darth Vader
Emperor Palpatine / Prince Xizor / Luke Skywalker (Shadows of the Empire)
Jabba the Hutt
Lando Calrissian
Luke Skywalker
Prince Xizor
Princess Leia
