COMICS IN THE CAN- Episode XIII (X Files #9)

COMICS IN THE CAN
I used to have time to read my comics in a coffee shop. Now I have to read them in the bathroom. Then I write reviews of them. I wash my hands in between.

THE X-FILES: SEASON 10 #9

I have admittedly been a little slacktastic the last couple days. It’s been a helluva week. BUT, constant reader, I had hotel pizza for lunch today (much obliged to the Mayor) and I should in a position to crank out a few right in a row here.

First off, full disclosure: I LOVE THE X-FILES. Love it. Like, unhealthy relationship stalker-love. And I have for over twenty years (Jesus Christ, this show premiered in 1993? The majority of you whippersnappers reading this should probably get offa my lawn). I mean, I’ve had television obsessions since (LOST, Alias, Heroes) but not a one of them can hold a candle to my XF love. People, I framed a TV Guide cover with the whole cast on it. A TV GUIDE COVER. I needed an intervention and I never got one. Just look at this shelf. I joined the Mutual UFO Network. If the X-Files had bushes I was crouching in them. If it had trash I was going through it.  There probably should have been a restraining order.

That being said, I am an expert witness to rate this book. As a whole, this series has been an incredibly fun ride. They are calling it ‘Season 10’ and its *mostly* keeping with the established continuity, even the movies. So of course that gives me a boner in itself. But to send me right over the edge the storyline has an unseen power/force/ antagonist revisiting old XF cases and targeting people related to them. So far we’ve seen The Lone Gunmen, Skinner, Cancer Man, Doggett, Reyes and The Flukeman (men!!!). It’s like being a kid in a candy store for fans of the show, like myself.

And really, readers, If you haven’t watched the series in its entirety, from start to finish, what are you waiting for? Between the Netflix and the Internets, there’s no reason you can’t pull it off in a month or two. It was GROUNDBREAKING television and is still being aped to this day! You owe it to yourself to, at the suggestion of some dope reviewing comics in the bathroom, commit 200+ hours of your life to this show. You will thank me when you’re done!

This specific issue isn’t quite as knock-down drag-out awesome as the first 8, but the analogy from my previous review of ‘SEX’ applies here. So that means it’s still pretty freakin’ cool. I thought it was a throwback to the episode ‘War of the Coprophages’ (the one with the cockroaches) but I can’t seem to see how, expect for the appearance of said cockroaches. You’d think they would connect the two somehow. That episode was pretty (simultaneously) awesome and gross and, I would think, fair game for a revisit. At least to reconnect Mulder & Dr. Bambi. Alas, it instead introduces something called ‘The Chittering God’ and insinuates that it feeds on despair and pain and is after Scully. The immediate threat of the small town half-crazy zealot is neutralized and what appears to be a ‘monster of the week’ episode homage is closed. OR. SO. WE. THINK!!!!

The characters and the world they inhabit is wonderfully slavishly reverent to what came before. The art is strong and the character likenesses are often beyond spot-on. You really can’t go wrong with this book. Naturally, if you are even a passing fan of the show you’ll get infinitely more out of it. But I can gladly say this series washes my mouth clear of the less-than-stellar Topps X-Files books of yore (that, yes, I also bought. I have a problem.).