Heroes seemed like the perfect show to bring over to trading cards. Heck, during it’s first season, Heroes seemed like the perfect show to sell just about anything. And 2008 Topps Heroes trading cards do a good job of capturing the show while mixing in three types of premium inserts. But there’s not much else beyond that.
The base set has 90 cards. Sticking with the massive cast, nearly the first third is dedicated entirely to character bios. From there, the first season is recapped. It’s rounded out with subsets dedicated to Tim Sale’s comic art, the show’s special effects and a couple of season two preview cards.
Autographs, Memorabilia Cards and Sketch Cards
Hobby boxes for the first set of Heroes trading cards come with the promise of either an autograph, memorabilia or sketch card.
The autograph checklist is very strong. It has nearly all of the central stars including Hayden Panettiere (Claire, aka The Cheerleader), Masi Oka (Hiro) and Milo Ventimiglia (Peter). Inserted 1:135 hobby packs, they’re the hardest of the hits to pull. Like virtually all Topps entertainment sets from the time, they all use stickers to hold the signatures.
2008 Topps Heroes has five different memorabilia cards. Inserted 1:44 hobby packs, each has a swatch from a show-worn costume. The most popular is the card with a patch from Claire’s cheerleading outfit.
Today, sketch cards are usually more than just quick doodles. That wasn’t the case back in 2008. The sketch cards here have a broad range of quality. While some are done with great detail and in full color, others really are sketches. It is worth noting that Topps got Tim Sale, the show’s artist, to draw a handful of cards.
Additional 2008 Topps Heroes Inserts
2008 Topps Heroes has just two other inserts. Foil Cards are the easiest to pull, landing 1:3 packs for both hobby and retail. Lenticular Motion cards are retail-exclusives and can be tricky to find now.
When this set was released, it was very popular. Key autographs and high-end sketch cards were fetching hundreds of dollars. But then Heroes lost a lot of its steam in a hurry. As a result, interest diminished. Some of the autographs, particularly Panettiere, and other high-end cards still command strong prices but not at the same levels they once did.
See also: 2008 Topps Heroes Review
2008 Topps Heroes Checklist
Click on links to shop for cards or check current market values on eBay.
Cards per pack: 7
Packs per hobby box: 24
Boxes per hobby case: 8
Shop for 2008 Topps Heroes boxes on eBay.
Base Set
90 cards.
1 Title Card
2 Peter Petrelli
3 Claire Bennet
4 Hiro Nakamura
5 Nathan Petrelli
6 Isaac Mendez
7 Mohinder Suresh
8 Gabriel Sylar
9 Matt Parkman
10 Niki Sanders
11 D.L. Hawkins
12 Micah Sanders
13 Noah Bennet
14 The Haitian
15 Angela Petrelli
16 Claude Raines
17 Ted Sprague
18 Simone Deveaux
19 Ando Masahashi
20 Eden McCain
21 Mr. Linderman
22 Candice Wilmer
23 Mr. Thompson
24 Kaito Nakamura
25 The Original Pilot
26 “Genesis”
27 Power of Flight Revealed
28 “Don’t Look Back”
29 Agents of Our Destiny
30 “One Giant Leap”
31 Claire’s Awakening
32 “Collision”
33 Painting the Answers
34 “Hiro’s”
35 Zugunruhe
36 “Better Halves”
37 Healing the Burns
38 “Nothing to Hide”
39 The Petrelli Brothers
40 “Seven Minutes to Midnight”
41 No Place to Hide
42 “Homecoming”
43 The Sum of Our Fears
44 “Six Months Ago”
45 Eden’s Journey Begins
46 “Fallout”
47 Searching for the Truth
48 “Godsend”
49 Peter’s Frightening Fate
50 “The Fix”
51 Micah’s Hidden Talent
52 “Distractions”
53 All in the Family
54 “Run!”
55 Jessica Caught Off Guard
56 “Unexpected”
57 A New Direction
58 “Company Man”
59 He Chose a Family
60 “Parasite”
61 The Fate of New York?
62 “0.7%”
63 The Passage of Precognition
64 “Five Years Ago”
65 Future Shock
66 “The Hard Part”
67 A Failed First Attempt
68 “Landside”
69 Sylar’s New Trick
70 “How to Stop an Exploding Man”
71 Changing the Future
72 What’s Next for “Heroes”?
73 The Art of Flight
74 Death of a Cheerleader
75 Bloody Homecoming
76 Shadows and Fear
77 Adventures of Super-Hiro
78 Up, Up and Away
79 Marked by Destiny
80 Out of the Flames
81 Superhuman Powers
82 Come Fly with Me
83 Radiation Rampage
84 The Transparent Man
85 Charred Cheerleader
86 The Sylar Slayings
87 Showdown at Kirby Plaza
88 The Coming of “Heroes”
89 The Future of “Heroes”
90 Checklist
Autographs
10 cards, 1:135 hobby packs.
Jack Coleman as Noah Bennet
Noah Gray-Cabey as Micah Sanders
Greg Grunberg as Matt Parkman
Jason Kyson Lee as Ando Masahashi
Masi Oka as Hiro Nakamura
Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet
Adrian Pasdar as Nathan Petrelli
Zachary Quinto as Gabriel Syler
Sendhil Ramamurthy as Mohinder Suresh
Milo Ventimiglia as Peter Petrelli
Memorabilia Cards
5 cards, 1:44 hobby packs.
Claire Bennet’s Cheerleading Outfit
Claire Bennet’s Cheerleading Outfit – Patch
Hiro Nakamura’s Jacket or Shirt
Isaac Mendez’s Painting Shirt
Matt Parkman’s Police Uniform
Sketch Cards
45 artists. 1:86 hobby packs.
Noah Albrecht
Brian Ashmore
Paul Allen Ballard
Joseph Booth
Alex Buechel
Matt Busch
Jeff Chandler
Katie Cook
Dan Cooney
Joe Corroney
Cynthia Cummens
Otto Dieffenbach
Kevin Doyle
Michael Duron
Otis Frampton
Matthew Goodmanson
Grant Gould
Paul Gutierrez
Ingrid Hardy
Gabe Hernandez
Tom Hodges
Brian Kong
Leah Mangue
Randy Martinez
Mark McHaley
Lord Mesa
Jake Minor
Edward Mize
Rich Molinelli
William O’Neill
Steve Oatney
Jon Ocampo
Jason Palmer
Sean Pence
Amy Pronovost
Edward Pun
Craig Rousseau
Tim Sale
Tony Shasteen
Howard Shum
Allison Sohn
Taki Soma
Cat Staggs
Russell Walks
John Watkins-Chow
Foil Cards
10 cards, 1:3 packs.
1 Claire Bennet
2 Peter Petrelli
3 Hiro Nakmura
4 Nathan Petrelli
5 Matt Parkman
6 Mohinder Suresh
7 Niki Sanders
8 Micah Sanders
9 D.L. Hawkins
10 Issac Mendez
Motion Lenticular Cards
10 cards, exclusive to retail packs.
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