This week brings us the second issue (and first proper arc) of the 11th season/2nd series of IDW’s X-Files franchise. Is it good?
The X-Files: Season 11 #2 (IDW Publishing)
- Gibson Praise is still scary…and still kind of a dick.
- Scully is trying to figure out what the heck Gibson Praise is up to. Fortunately, she’s not the only one on the inside of the FBI who realizes something weird is going on.
- But Mulder…oh poor, poor Mulder. I don’t want to spoil what he finds, but let’s just say that he has a run in with some folks from what might arguably be the grossest, weirdest episode in the franchise’s history.
Click that link at your own risk, but seriously, read the issue first without any knowing anything going in. It’s an opportunity I was not afforded because my fellow AiPT! contributor/longtime nemesis/sometimes lover David Brooke TOTALLY SPOILED IT FOR ME. THANKS A LOT, DAVE!
See that callus jerk telling Mulder how other people’s well being doesn’t matter? That’s what every conversation with David Brooke ends up leading to.
But seriously, if you know your X-Files lore, it’s a pretty cool reveal. The way we get there, however, is another story…
Is It Good?
Ugh. Okay. I really don’t want to spoil anything because it’s a cool reveal. But gosh darn it, Joe Harris, did you really have to telegraph the first twist with sexual tension via cow milking?
I mean, I get it. Milking a cow seems perfectly innocent, but you then think about that first person who ever attempted it and you’re like ‘HOLY CRAP WHAT WERE THEY TRYING TO DO?’ But here, it just ends up feeling kind of contrived (and a little corny). Fortunately, Harris makes up for it with a secondary twist/cliffhanger that made my skin crawl.
Helping Harris on that end is artist Matthew Dow Smith, who goes to town with…arrgggh! I can’t talk about it yet. Until then, I’ll just say that I like what Harris is setting up to give us a trip down nostalgia lane through a surprisingly organic plot thread. This issue isn’t the best one in the series by any measure, but the arc as a whole has the potential to be really good. And for what it’s worth, I might be one of the few X-Files fans out there who did not like the episode that this one references…like at all. Maybe I’m just kind of squeamish about…that subject. But with this story, I’m actually looking forward to where it might go (as long as I can read the next issue on an empty stomach).
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