There have been three ‘waves’ of comics based on The X-Files to date. Topps released 41 issues of original stories from 1995 to late 1998, its run finishing sometime in the interim between the first X-Files movie and the show’s subsequent sixth season. The show would continue to produce new episodes until its eventual cancellation in 2002, but no other X-Files comics were produced whilst it was on air besides a one-shot based on The Lone Gunmen spin-off show from 2001.

For those who wish to read the classic X-Files comics published by Topps in the 1990s without buying one single issue after another on, say, Ebay, don’t worry, as there are plenty of ways to collect that series in trade paperback or hardback form. IDW has collected the entire Topps run by reprinting all 41 issues over four volumes during 2013–2014, along with a 2015 reissue of 1997’s Ground Zero mini-series. That said, it hasn’t yet re-released all the other stories from various Topps annuals, digests and mini issues that were released in the 90s. Scroll down below to find out how to get your hands on those particular stories.

Panel from Ground Zero (1997). Art by Gordon Purcell

The Ground Zero series was different to the other Topps tales, being an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Kevin J. Anderson, itself an original tale based on the show that was never made into an episode, nor connected to one. In a similar vein are the Season One comics Topps put out in 1997, adaptations of episodes from the show’s inaugural season which have also been collected by IDW.