Wizard 2002 Relaunch Cover Format

**Books whose first edition was in the *Wizard 2002 Relaunch Cover* Format**

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The Wizard 2002 Relaunch Cover Format was the first of the Wizard Book Cover Formats for the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks published by Wizard Books.

2002 Relaunch - Series 1[]

For the 2002 relaunch there were two formats for the main series of books, the "Special Limited Edition" and the "Standard Edition". These two formats are then subdivided dependent on whether the book is a Sorcery! book or not. Also of note are the different boxset designs as well as other non-standard covers.

"Special Limited Edition"[]

WizSorSLE — *Sorcery!* "Special Limited Edition"

The first run of each book published by Wizard Books was marketed as a "Special Limited Edition". There were two versions of this, the main series based books and the Sorcery! based books, despite the fact that these two original series were merged into one series by Wizard Books.

Books Based on Main Series[]

The "Special Limited Edition" had a cover with the Wizard Books Logo in the bottom right hand corner. This silver circular logo was embossed with the words "Special Limited Edition" surrounding its circumference. The title of the book was in silver and was also in raised embossed writing. The name of the author sat atop the title but was not embossed. The spine had the title in a metallic finish and the back cover had the words "Special Limited Edition" across the top.^[1]

Books Based on the Sorcery! Series[]

Although part of Wizard's main series, numbered according to when they were published, the Sorcery! books were differentiated in the cover design. The title on the front cover was not in silver but in gold. Also the name of the series Steve Jackson's Sorcery! was made prominent with the name of the book sitting below this in a smaller type. All of these elements, (author name, series name and book name) were in gold. In the "Special Limited Edition" this was embossed.

The Wizard Books logo for Sorcery! differed as well, but only in that it was gold not silver. This sat in the bottom right hand corner and in the case of the Sorcery! series, the number of the book as it appeared in the sequence of the Sorcery! series (as opposed to where it appeared in the sequence of the Main Series) was written in white type on top of the logo. In the "Special Limited Edition" the logo was embossed but instead of the words "Special Limited Edition" surrounding its circumference (as with the main series), the Sorcery! books instead had the words "Steve Jackson's Sorcery!" surrounding the logo circumference.

As with the main series, the spine had the title in a metallic finish and the back cover had the words "Special Limited Edition" across the top.

"Standard Edition"[]

These were very similar to the "Special Limited Editions" except that the embossed features disappeared, the metallic style writing for the titles was dulled and the words "Special Limited Edition" did not appear anywhere.

Wizard Only Books[]

It should be noted that the original Wizard publications followed the model applied to the Main Series, detailed above, with the addition of a banner under the title proclaiming it to be a "Brand New Adventure".

The **Fighting Fantasy** Cover Formats - Wizard
2002	2002

"Special Limited Edition"	"Standard Edition"

Non-Standard Covers[]

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Sample Adventure[]

As well as the "Special Limited Edition" and "Standard Edition", The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was also published as a shortened sample adventure in an issue of the Cartoon Network Comic (Issue 68:December 2003). The cover was as for the "Standard Edition" except that across the bottom it had a red banner with white writing saying "Sample Adventure".

Boxsets[]

Main article: Fighting Fantasy Boxset

Although the boxsets are covered in their own article, the general format of the Wizard Boxsets is worth noting here because in the short time they have been publishing Fighting Fantasy material, Wizard have had two different styles of boxset.

Original Wizard Boxsets[]

The Original Boxsets were the following:

Books 1 to 4
Books 5 to 8
Books 1 to 8
Books 1 to 10
Sorcery! Series Boxed Set - Wizard Original
- This contained all four books, from the Wizard Books release.

These were each published with artwork from the covers of the books they contained.

New Wizard Boxsets[]

The same boxsets were re-packaged (with the exception of the ten book set) so that they all followed a standard format with the Wizard Fighting Fantasy Logo on the sides (silver for Books 1 to 4, Books 5 to 8 and Books 1 to 8 and in gold for Sorcery!). The only difference between sets, apart from the contents, was the main colour of the slipcase, as follows:

Books 1 to 4 - red
Books 5 to 8 - metallic blue
Books 1 to 8 - yellow
Sorcery! - silver/platinum

The words "Fighting Fantasy" were also on the sides of the slip case, in silver, except for Sorcery! where these words were replaced with the "Steve Jackson's Sorcery!" logo.

Fighting Fantasy Collection 10 Books Set Pack[]

It is worth noting that a set of the first ten Shield Format books was released, bound purely in clear plastic and sold by the "The Book People" in 2010.

References[]

↑ Wizard Book #14, Armies of Death, was not published in the "Special Limited Edition" format due to printing reasons.

[1] Wizard Book #14, Armies of Death, was not published in the "Special Limited Edition" format due to printing reasons.

[1]

Puffin Book Cover Formats 1982 — 1995																																																											DD Video 1998	Wizard Book Cover Formats 2002 — present
Wrap around	Colour No.						Adventure Gamebooks																	Dragon Cover Format																																				2002 Relaunch										Retro	2009 Relaunch										Old School Cover Format
																								Gold												No No.			Spine No.												No Foil