Set of collectible trading cards
Civil War News was a set of collectible trading cards issued in the early 1960s by Topps. The set featured colorful painted artwork and was characterized by vivid colors, graphic depictions of violence, death and blood (base card #21 "Painful Death" being a prime example) and exaggerations of warfare, in a similar tone to the 1938 Gum Inc.'s Horrors of War, which was equally popular.[1]
Overview
The complete set consists of 88 cards, including a checklist, and was first printed for the United States market in 1962 to coincide with the centennial of the American Civil War. While the fronts of the cards featuring painted art several artists (mainly Norman Saunders, but also Wally Wood and Bob Powell),[2]the backs were designed as a newspaper, telling the history of the American Civil War through a brief history of a campaign battle or person presented in a newspaper article-like fashion, complete with a headline.[1]
A similar series with the same artwork was later issued in Canada and A&BC produced a similar set in England, plus a French-language version for sale in France. A Spanish-language version was issued by Topps in 1968, with predominantly different artwork. The cards were issued five to a wax pack and were accompanied by facsimiles of paper currency of the Confederate States of America.[3] The original selling price was five cents per package. Topps later issued the cards in cellophane-wrapped strips ("cello packs").
In popular culture
A monthly newspaper with the same title has been published by Historical Publications, Inc. since 1989 in Tunbridge, Vermont.
