Visual Literature // The X Files – Season Ten (IDW)

This year (2013) marks the twentieth anniversary of the debut of The X Files. The event was marked with a well attended and much reported panel at Comic Con and by this new comic book continuation of the series.

Season 1o takes place in the present day and sees Mulder and Scully return to their posts at the FBI to investigate the mounds of X Files that have piled up since their departure a decade ago. With creator and series Executive producer back on board and a return of the iconic duo to what they do best this is diverting read even for the non reader of comics.

But putting the date aside, does The X Files really need to return in any form? Some may argue that after more than 200 episodes and two movies it has said more than any tv show could ever need to. But you have to remember that this is a world changed by the advent of technology and social media on a scale that we couldn’t have imagined a decade ago. When The X Files ended its original run there was no Facebook, no YouTube and the smart phone was but the wet dream of an engineer.

But imagine what a show such as The X Files can do with all these new forms of potential surveillance, the sheer flow of signals crossing the world for any extra terrestrial life to discover as they pass and just how much the powers that be are mistrusted by the public even more. You could say that the cause of Fox Mulder has advanced into the public eye even more convincingly with the advent of social media.

So it is that the new series presents a world like our own and sees returns from some key characters from the series past including a now promoted Skinner, the Cigarette Smoking Man and even a resurrection of sorts for The Lone Gunmen. We won’t spoil the beginning five part arc, but suffice to say some of the lead cast from later seasons feature in addition to our regulars as a cult threatens anybody who has had a connection to The X Files. It’s well drawn, with realistic likenesses mostly and a touch that feels as if you’re watching it on the television back in the day.

There is even a nice touch of the nostalgic as we see an augmented poster with I Want To Believe enhanced with a ‘Still’. It seems that the iconic images are back as are two characters that will always be welcome for many millions of fans worldwide. Many might say gives us a new series – but as the yearly mentions of a third movie to conclude the arc fade away and an official comic continuation in the form of the comic we speak of here it seems unlikely.

But whatever the case, there are still stories to tell and this series is well worth investigating. If you want to believe in something, believe this is a worthy continuation of a modern television classic.

Words by C. Agent