This week marks the twentieth anniversary of airing of the pilot episode of The X-Files. Almost as soon as the first episode was on the air, writer Stefan Petrucha (now a prolific novelist), artist Charlie Adlard (now best known for The Walking Dead) and cover artist Miran Kim began crafting an evocative series for Topps Comics that turned into a best seller as its TV counterpart turned into a hit. In fact, many of that creative team’s issues stand up as well as or even better than many of the episodes of the show itself.

This 20th anniversary makes a great time to reinvestigate those back issues, and a terrific way to do that comes in the form of The X-Files Classics – Volume 1, which collects the first nine issues of the Topps series.

In addition to the archival collection, IDW is also publishing a new Season 10 of X-Files stories under the editorial guidance of the series’ creator, Chris Carter. The X-Files Season 10 #3 features one of the series most beloved, and paradoxically feared, characters of all time, The Cigarette Smoking Man. Written by Joe Harris with art by Michael Walsh, the issue finds Mulder and Scully working apart by necessity.