XIII La Version Irlandaise (Édition Noir Et Blanc)

XIII La Version Irlandaise Noir Et Blanc cover

The keys to XIII’s identity! Who really is XIII, the most famous amnesiac in comics? Jason Fly, son of an American journalist murdered by the Ku Klux Klan? Kelly Brian, Irish terrorist? These two men once climbed a mountain. Only one came down … Which one? It is the journey of these two boys, their friendship and their last tragic face-to-face that The Irish Version tells. Volume 18 of the XIII series. Find the pleasure of admiring the work of Jean Giraud in this large-format black and white edition.

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  • XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 1
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As with all AE format material (Artist’s Editions, Artifact Editions, Gallery Editions, Art Editions, Studio Editions, etc.), this is a collection of classic comic material and I’ll be reviewing the book and not the story. For a complete list of all current and announced editions, with review links, please visit our Index. Also, see What is an Artist’s Edition and our Artist Index. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 1
XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 2
XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 3

The long-running saga XIII had one album drawn by Jean Giraud, aka Moebius, and Dargaud published the original art in a special volume. I’ve put Édition Noir Et Blanc in parentheses above because even though Dargaud is releasing Blueberry volumes by Giraud under that banner this book isn’t. The colophon is conspicuously minimal, with no mention of the title.

We do learn that this is a limited edition. The colophon reads “2999 copies of the first edition of this work were printed this one bears the number 1620″.

Scans are excellent: nary a blur to be found. Blacks show minimal gradients. No margin notes or correction fluid. Having the cover use the original art is a nice touch.

XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 4
XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 5
XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 8

Design is very minimal. The book’s title page had a nice pencil sketch by Giraud. The colophon is strictly text, and then the body of the work. No chapter dividers, no embellishments.

Production is good. A glued binding of heavy paper stock stitched signatures. Heavy paper stock for the soft cover.

I can’t find this book on Dargaud’s website, which seems quite odd. Perhaps they remove sold out books?

XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 6
XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 7
XIII La Version Irlandaise NB interior 9

These Dargaud volumes continue to be an exceptional value. Twenty Euros for a collection of original art pages is a value we don’t see elsewhere. Unfortunately, this one is from 2015 and requires some searching to find a copy: Canadian Librairie Pantoute is your best bet.