I've made no bones about my infatuation with Star Wars Card Trader. I've been hooked on the digital trading card app since the tail end of summer, and subsequent months have seen me fall further and further into the hoarding hole. I'm checking the reddit. I'm checking the multiple official and unofficial Twitter feeds. Anything that has news about new cards coming is something I immediately seek out.

Just last week, Topps brought back its popular Marathon series in grand fashion, with six new sets for fans to collect on a weekly basis for the next 30 weeks. Producer Ian Hundiak also teased there would be new drops not tied to Marathons coming as well, but didn't have much more to share beyond that... until today. Courtesy of Topps, we've got an exclusive first look at the next insert series, Original Art.

I'd say it's strange how quickly I fell down this particular pit of Star Wars fandom, but that wouldn't be entirely truthful. I've got a long history of card collecting, and after being out of that world for so long, this app scratched two big itches: Star Wars and trading cards. While my early months with the app weren't quite as eventful as those who'd been there since the beginning, there were still a fair share of new cards being dropped regularly for me and anyone else who was a latecomer to enjoy.

For the most part, the cards available in Star Wars Card Trader have all been based on images from the various films and television series, with many sharing key art with other licensed goods like shirts, cups, and all sorts of other Star Wars-related merchandise. While Topps' creative team has put their own spins on the art and photography to make it unique to the app, there have been few series that focused on art created specifically for SWCT. With Original Art, that will soon change.

Over the next several months, Original Art inserts will be offered in the app in three varieties. There will be one set for the original sketch, one for the inked version and one for full-color final piece. Each version of the card will be offered in different ways within the app, but the set size and odds are still under wraps. We do know Topps designer and Eisner nominee Matthew Petz will handle the art duties. I'm a little partial to the inked variant, but lining up all three of just the Darth Mauls we're showing here for the first time gives some great insight into the process. Hopefully we'll get a wide range of characters from across the franchise. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Sabine and a Bespin Luke.

The Original Art set is due to drop very soon, and you can check out Star Wars Card Trader for yourself by downloading it here.

Topps

Topps