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Review: ‘X Files Season 10’ #3

Published

11 years ago

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“The X-Files Season 10” continues to emulate the best episodes of the show. Providing excellent pacing, deep mythology, and a sense of mystery this continues the perfect rebirth of the classic science fiction series.

WRITTEN BY: Joe Harris
ART BY: Michael Walsh
PUBLISHER: IDW
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: August 14, 2013

Joe Harris is on to something with the way he paces his scripts. He has effectively written them like episodes of television. There are teasers, mini act breaks, and multiple plots that dovetail perfectly in the end. This could all possibly be a coincidence, but I like to think it’s by design. The result is an expertly paced dose of “X-Files” every month that refuses to let up.

The issue begins with an innocent enough visit by two FBI agents. We see them questioning William’s parents, and the mystery of the child is thickened. We then get back to Scully’s dire circumstances, and learn that her captor may not be hostile after all.

Best of all we get the reintroduction of the Cigarette Smoking Man. Mulder and the CSM share the best scenes in the book. There is a certain exposition going here, and while it felt almost forced, you learn in the end it likely is misdirection. The CSM seems to have a good reason to do what he’s doing. But how is he alive? And why is he helping?

The Acolytes are developed. It’s particularly surprising and intriguing. I believe I have a inkling as to what is going on, but could be so very wrong. They seem nefarious and threatening in all the right ways.

Walsh’s art continues to deliver. The small moments here are what really make it. His attention to the details in CSM’s face, the little smirk as he lights another cigarette after he’s told to put his first out. Even the way Walsh draws Mulder captures his hunched posture. This is the work of someone completely of this world. It is inspired and a total treat.

“X-Files Season 10” shouldn’t be this good. The series has been off the air for years, and these characters have been dormant for far too long. Harris makes the case for keeping these characters around, and manages to push them in new and interesting ways.

What results is a fantastic rebirth of the beloved series on the page. The overarching serialized nature of the story helps to improve on the monster of the week formula that the show relied so heavily on. What results is a product better than the thing that inspired it. Bold claim, I know. Since the show has been off the air storytelling has evolved, for the better.

A couple plot points are resolved, for… well just because. The series has a tendency to allow mystery to do all the work. I would have liked a little more resolution with the CSM, but this is the “X-Files” after all, and resolution isn’t always the name of the game.

“Season 10” is the culmination and evolution of everything before it. As much as I love the show, these issues are better. Walsh’s art gives every page a flow that allows the action to move with incredible speed. Harris script is smart, and weaves around the characters like a snake. I’m so incredibly happy that this book exists, and even happier to report that it just keeps getting better.

4/5 Skulls

Reviewed by – Jimbus_Christ

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‘The Toxic Avenger’ Returns with Cover Artwork for First Issue of New Comic Book Series [Exclusive]

Published

5 days ago

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May 13, 2024

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With a remake on the way and a new 4K restoration of the original classic now streaming, it’s a good time to be a fan of Troma’s The Toxic Avenger. Additionally, Matt Bors — the founder of The Nib and a political cartoonist who has twice been named a Pulitzer Prize finalist —and acclaimed artist Fred Harper (Snelson) are collaborating on an all-new 5-issue comic book series starring the satirical superhero of the Troma Films cult classic films!

TOXIC AVENGER #1 will land in stores on October 9, 2024.

While you wait, you can exclusively check out the issue #1 cover art from Fred Harper below, along with a set of emojis designed by Harper for the extremely online teens of Tromaville.

“The Toxic Avenger delivers what Troma fans want,” said AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer. “The series has violent action, gross mutations, bursting pustules, eye-popping visuals, and trenchant humor.” 

“If there was ever a superhuman hero for these toxic, miserable times, Toxie is the one!” said Lloyd Kaufman. “Only AHOY Comics and Bors & Harper could pull this off…er…mop this up! Toxie and the Troma Team can’t wait ‘til you read -no, experience – the art and stories that the Toxic Avenger Comic Book will explode in your brain, your soul, and your heart. Above all, remember – Toxie loves you and so do I.”

“This series will combine elements of the original films with the Toxic Crusaders cartoon and characters in familiar ways, updated to tell a story of environmental devastation, corporate control, and social media mutation,” said Bors. “The Toxic Avenger is first and foremost an environmental satire, one about a small town and its unremarkable people trapped and transformed by circumstances they don’t control. The story Fred Harper and I are telling is about people frustrated by authorities telling them not to worry about their life, that things are fine, even as their dog mutates in front of their eyes. And at its core it is about a powerless boy, Melvin, who finds out he can be incredibly strong, hideously mutated, well-admired, and incredibly heroic… but still ultimately powerless over human behavior.”

In The Toxic Avenger, teenager Melvin Junko helps run his parent’s junkyard in Tromaville, a small town in New Jersey where nothing much ever happens — until an ill-timed train derailment of toxic waste transforms Melvin into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength: the Toxic Avenger!

Under a media blackout imposed by Biohazard Solutions (BS) and their PR-spewing Chairwoman Lindsay Flick, Melvin emerges as a hero fighting against BS and the mutated threats that keep popping up around Tromaville.

Eventually Melvin uncovers a vast conspiracy more far-reaching than he could have ever imagined — but he knows if everyone is simply made aware of the crisis, they’ll act to stop it. Right?

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