For anyone who’s known me at any point past the age of 13, you know that The Lone Gunmen are probably one of my most favorite things on the planet. Yes, I include the television show, because… well… I can. So, when I see the three of them on a cover, I can’t help but feel a little twitterpatted, even if, at heart, I feel more addlepated. I mean… spoiler alert… but I’m pretty sure they all died in such a way that I nearly swore off ”The X-Files’ forever.
I don’t normally get attached to characters like that, but there it is.
So last month, we were re-introduced to Mulder, Scully, and Skinner. This week? We get Doggett, Frohike, Beyers, and Langly. Oh, and a certain gentlemen that smokes Morley cigarettes. One of these characters is not like the others and I’ll give you a hint. He didn’t die in the television run of ‘The X-Files’.
In any case this issue feels like the story is moving far too close to occult, what with wards being drawn around houses, and people called “Acolytes” wearing cloaks, and then melting inexplicably into mush due to seemingly mystical powers. Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that ‘The X-Files’ tried to make even the supernatural events seem scientific (though Mulder did have a tendency to try and make things sound like it could happen), but after the last three seasons being almost constantly alien conspiracy, the shift itself is feeling almost supernatural to me.
Did I say ‘Supernatural’? Good, because that’s what this is starting to remind me of. It’s been said that the show ‘Supernatural’ borrowed heavily from the book of ‘The X-files’, even spoofing it in “Clap Your Hands if You Believe”.
My point? Well, maybe ‘The X-Files’ is borrowing from the book of ‘Supernatural’, and doing that whole the-character-is-dead-until-we-want-them-back-thing. Bringing back characters is a tricky thing. It’s pandering to fans, and that goes wrong so much more often than it goes right.
But I’m digressing. It’s only issue two. This is probably a case of me reading too much into it.
Doggett’s introduction to the story is inexplicable at the moment, but I don’t care because in the three pages he had, his character was spot-on. Scully crying while confronting her possible attempted-murder (but we’re not sure) feels incredibly out of place. And despite Mulder’s character feeling overly jokey last issue, this Mulder feels closer to canon.
Other than that, there isn’t much to say. The new conspiracy to solve is about who is hacking into the old X-files and what does it have to do with Scully’s son. I think it’s an interesting direction for the series to go, so I’m willing to go along for the ride, though the seemingly appearance of the Cigarette Smoking Man at the end, is going to take more than a few grains of salt with me.
THE X-FILES: SEASON 10 #2
Story by Joe Harris with Chirs Carter
Written by Joe Harris
Art by Michael Walsh
