In October 1990, Impel Marketing released the first Marvel Universe trading card series featuring bonus holograms of their flagship characters. A series from DC Comics followed in February 1992 with the Inaugural Edition of DC Cosmic Cards. The card text was edited by Bhob Stewart.

Each box contains 36 packs and with 12 cards per pack. Complete factory sets are numbered to 4,500. A collector album binder was sold separately. The series contains 180 base cards and 10 "Hologram Hall of Fame" cards. The odds of finding a hologram are approximately 1:10 packs.

DC characters are profiled from the 1963 "Crisis on Earth-One!" storyline to the "War of the Gods" in 1991. Aside from Dick Grayson as Nightwing, Batman and related Gotham characters are missing from this series. At the time, Topps controlled Batman card licensing for the Tim Burton films. Batman would not appear in a DC Universe trading card set until early 1994. Green Arrow is also absent, but Speedy is featured.

The "Hero Heritage" subset depicts three versions of Superman throughout history. Steve Rude provided art for the Golden Age Superman. Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson (Swanderson) were fittingly selected to represent the Silver Age Superman. The Statue of Liberty background and Modern Age Superman card was illustrated by Jerry Ordway.

  

The series includes one Superman hologram (DCH8) and one featuring Clark Kent and Lois Lane (DCH1). The "Hologram Hall of Fame" subset was illustrated by Walt Simonson.

The "Classic Covers" subset showcases the first issues of Action Comics and Superman. The cover of Action Comics #1 was illustrated an unknown Detective Comics staff member based on an interior panel by Joe Shuster.

The cover of Superman #1 (Summer 1939) appears on card #169. The frame artwork is by Leo O’Mealia. The image of Superman is based on the opening panel of Action Comics #10 (March 1939) by Joe Shuster. A similar panel by Shuster appears in the newspaper strip "Is Superman Late?" from May 1939.

Superman makes a cameo appearance on eleven additional base cards. Uncut four-card promotional panels include Modern Age Superman. Promotional five-card cellophane packs include a Modern Age Superman variation with no large set number on the back. Silver Age Superman is included on promo sheets distributed by SkyBox during the National Sports Convention on July 9–12, 1992.

The back of each card has a copyright date of 1991 and text that states "1992 Series I". The 1993 DC Cosmic Teams release was originally referred to as "Cosmic Cards II" by Wizard magazine. The numbering format for the "Hologram Hall of Fame" subset continues in DC Cosmic Teams.

On April 15, 1992, Impel Marketing Inc. rebranded as SkyBox International Inc. Artwork from DC Cosmic Cards was reused in the DC Stars series released by SkyBox and Walmart. Original artboards from DC Cosmic Cards have been observed in private collections.