By: Joe Harris and Chris Carter (story), Harris (writer), Michael Walsh (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors) and Tom B. Long (letters)
The Story: The climax of the first arc as Mulder and Scully deal with the (possibly) alien Acolytes in Yellowstone Park.
Review (with SPOILERS): This issue is the first hiccup for a series that has been mostly flawless since its launch a few months ago.
The things that I’ve loved about the first four issue are still there. Namely, the combination of writing and art makes this seem like a completely organic continuation of the X-Files TV series; when you read the word balloons, it is almost like David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have come over to narrate a comic just for you. The speech patterns are the same, the art makes the characters look authentic without being too photo-referency and even the coloring matches the original TV series. I also applaud the creative team for making this a 5-issue arc which keeps it snappier than a longer arc would have felt.
But, this issue still had some problems that worry me for the future of the series.
The biggest problem is that the story wants to roll around in the TV series’ “mythology”. I remember loving the mythology of the X-Files when the series on originally airing. But, did any of you ever watch an episode with a newbie? Some family member, girlfriend, pal, etc. who had read in TV Guide how awesome The X-Files was and wanted to check it out? Do you remember the questions they’d ask?
Why don’t those guys have eyes? What is that black oil? So, is Scully’s baby an alien? What’s with the bees? Is it the government or aliens who are doing the abducting? Is Mulder related to the Cigarette Smoking Man?
The questions would start to flow and I would never have adequate answers for any of it. Heck, I couldn’t even explain it to myself! The mythology never really made any sense to me and I don’t think I’m alone in that.
So, why is this comic going right back to that mythology? It didn’t make sense when we were watching it weekly ~15 years ago and I certainly don’t remember it now. I just think it is very dangerous to try to recapture something that even the most ardent fans were confused by. I really think this trick is to veer off on a tangent: No retractable icepicks to the base of the skull, no Cigarette Smoking Man… Just wipe the slate as clean as possible and don’t remind us of what was confusing.
Another problem could be something that is just inherent in comics. The TV series thrived by being intentionally vague on all these questions related to the mythology. It’s a LOT harder to do that in a comic. So much in the TV series was communicated by a raised eyebrow or a scowl that made us think that Agent Spender wasn’t actually such a bad guy or that perhaps Deep Throat knew more than he was letting on. It’s almost impossible do that sort of subtlety in comics and you certainly cannot do it in the first story arc. The Walking Dead is able to do that sort of subtlety now because Charlie Adlard has been drawing 100+ issues and we know how he composes faces and scenes, if he draws a raised eyebrow, we know it was intentional. We don’t have that same level of communication with Michael Walsh on The X-Files. It doesn’t mean he is a worse artist than Charlie Adlard; he just isn’t as familiar to us with these characters.
This vagueness problem rears its head in the final scene where the Cigarette-Smoking-Man is revealed (?) as an alien or as an Acolyte….or something. The whole thing isn’t very clear. It’s the sort of scene where the TV series would have been fine with the vagueness, but in a comic you’re left wondering if the artist drew it correctly or not.
Anyway, I still like this series. I’ll probably never drop it. Heck, I continue to buy GI Joe and that has a million times less promise than this series. I think IDW and the creative team are doing a lovely job because they’re recaptured the voice of one of my all-time favorite stories. I just think they need to be careful about how they use that voice.
Conclusion: Good and troubling at the same time.
Grade: C+
-Dean Stell