I’m using the cover with The Cigarette Smoking Man. I don’t care if it isn’t the normal cover, don’t care if it is the normal cover; either way, this shit is awesome! Aw, damn, there are two! One by Menton 3, and one by Carlos Valenzuela. Screw it, you’re getting both covers of CSM! Frankly, I’m having to much fun nostaligia-ing, I really don’t care if this sucks, but fuck it, let’s see if it’s good!
The X-Files Season 10 #3 (IDW)
Joe Harris, with the blessing of Chris Carter (Judging by Carter’s panel manner at SDCC he just shrugged and went “whatever, do it, I guess,”) keeps this crazy train-a-rollin’. As a bitter X-Files nerd, it gives me great pleasure to inform you that not only does Agent Doggett get killed off, but in this issue, Reyes gets killed off too! Hooray! Besides that, I straight up fanboy gushed when the Cigarette Smoking Man got his reveal in the backseat of Mulder’s car. Even though he was obviously going to be in the issue, because he’s on three of the four covers.
Which allows my to segue quite nicely into the art by Michael Walsh. I’ve heard likenesses are hard to do, so I can forgive him for Agent Reyes, (and really, what do I care? He could have made her 400 pounds; I hated that character). Still, he gets the important likenesses down (send your hate mail to…) like Mulder, Scully, Skinner, Lone Gunman, and Cigarette Smoking Man. And holy shit, this has the most epic panel where Mulder gets bitch-slapped by the Cigarette Smoking Man. It looks like quite the backhand too! Anyway, the art does its job, and while a more unique artist might have given a nice flair to the series, Walsh’s brand of art works well. After all, you want to be able to see and recognize the characters, and you don’t want to go with anyone to experimental, in fear you’d scare off fans of the show. Besides, we get all the wonderful covers for different artists takes on X-Files characters. Might I add: Menton 3, I am in awe of your Cigarette Smoking Man. Furthermore, your Fluke Man picture I saw (shout out to Jennifer Cooper for the heads up on that gem!) was also quite squee-inducing.
Normally I bitch about the coloring (by the way, colorist is Jordie Bellaire) but I don’t know. Maybe the pastel-ness has grown on me, or maybe it’s because there is so much black, and so many scenes set in the snow, but I think it works fine in this comic. Compare that to something like Thumbprint, where I think it makes everybody look like they live in a washed-out world.
8.5
- Crazy reveals of characters thought dead!
- Creepy at times.
- Does justice to the show.
- Still kind of washed out coloring.
- Hard for non-devoted X-Files fans to follow probably.
Is It Good?
Look, numbers are a mystery to me. Rating things based on numbers is intimidating, because I’ll drive myself nutty debating about half a point for almost a half hour or more. In any case, the reason I didn’t rate this comic higher was this issue is a little confusing. It’s starting to get to the point where if you haven’t kept up with the show, you really don’t know what’s going on. It’s not hard to do a quick Google search to find out what’s what, but I could see how this would detract from a reader who has only seen a few episodes, and just wanted to pick this up for a fun read.
However, hardcore X-Philes (I hate the term so much, but it’s the most widely used, so sometimes you gotta just say fuck it), will definitely get a kick out of this. Perhaps it might come off as fan fiction, but in all honesty, I’m liking this better than many of the episodes in seasons 8 and 9, and the second movie (don’t throw up Sean, wait until the end of the review to throw up). If you want a comic that does The X-Files justice, definitely read The X-Files Season 10. Just don’t expect to get it if you’ve only seen Bad Blood and the episode Stephen King wrote (while those were both awesome and quite funny). The one King wrote was called Chinga. It has Scully vacationing in Maine. It has a tub scene. Okay, right, done now.
Anderson was really hot in Chinga. Dolls are always creepy aren’t they? Okay, seriously, I’m walking away from the keyboard now…
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