After 70 years of life and 70 translated volumes, it was high time English-speaking readers were offered a hardback collected edition. For this first volume we chose to start with title that herald the golden age of the series. Doc Doxey's Elixir (including Manhunt) and Phil Wire (including Lucky Luke and Pill) were first published in 1955 and 1956, and already Luke is much closer to the cowboy that we now have in mind. The third volume, Rails on the Prairie, was the first collaboration between Morris and Goscinny – ushering in 30 years of a legendary collaboration. These stories are prefaced by a staggering 46 pages of extra material – biographies, essays, interviews, illustrations – that will delight every fan.

Born and raised in Belgium, Morris moved to the United States in 1946 for six years. There, he worked for MAD magazine and met René Goscinny, with whom he collaborated from 1955 until Goscinny's death in 1977. Goscinny also created the Iznogoud series with illustrator Tabary, published in English by Cinebook, and the hugely successful Asterix series with illustrator Uderzo.