Robot 6
The truth is out there, again: The X-Files returning to comics
Mulder and Scully are returning to comics in June with a new X-Files series from IDW Publishing.
Airing from 1993 to 2002 on Fox, The X-Files helped to define pre-millennium paranoia television as FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) investigated cases involving paranormal phenomena ranging from alien abductions to bizarre murders, many tied to byzantine government conspiracies.
Although the series ran for nine seasons (the last few of which are largely forgettable), it was never a ratings powerhouse: It reached its peek of popularity with Season 5, averaging 19.8 million viewers. Still, it spawned two feature films, inspired countless subsequent dramas — from The Burning Zone and Dark Skies to Fringe and Supernatural — and spun off comics series at Topps and Wildstorm. The characters last appeared in the 2009 Wildstorm/IDW crossover 30 Days of Night/The X-Files.
As part of its deal with 20th Century Fox Consumer Products, IDW will publish collections of those X-Files comics released between 1995 and 2009.
“Few shows have captured the zeitgeist and fans’ imaginations like The X-Files, and fewer shows still have left people hungry for more in the way this one did,” IDW Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall said in a statement. “Our new series will be picking up where the second film left off, which will hopefully be as exciting for fans to read as it is for us to develop.”
7 Comments
Wraith
January 28, 2013 at 12:38 pm
And this time, we’re packin’ HEAT!!
SJNeal
January 28, 2013 at 12:45 pm
The fact that the second film wasn’t very good doesn’t leaves me hopeful, but I’ll still give it a shot…
Jason Green
January 28, 2013 at 12:47 pm
And considering a lot of those Topps comics were drawn by Charlie Adlard, I imagine those new collections’ll have “FROM THE ARTIST OF THE WALKING DEAD” plastered all over them, too, right?
The X-Files works pretty well in the comic book format (I remember really liking that miniseries Wildstorm put out), so this could be worth a look with the right creative team.
Martin
January 28, 2013 at 1:24 pm
I’m sure that many writers and artists could do a great job on this, but I’d love to read some more John Rozum stories.
Ian A.
January 28, 2013 at 5:05 pm
A week ago, Jordie Bellaire posted a Scully commission drawn by Dave Johnson that she colored, along with the following text:
IDW would be wise to hire her.
Steve
January 29, 2013 at 11:26 am
Regarding ratings, the show finished 11th or 12th in its three middle seasons. The use of “never a ratings powerhouse ” is kind of a disservice. It wasn’t Friends or Seinfeld, but it was extremely popular for a few years.
AJ
January 29, 2013 at 4:42 pm
I will be very excited about this on the condition that Chris Carter and his people have some influence on the shape of the storyline, even if they’re not writing it themselves (although that would be even better). That would make it official, at least in my mind, especially since this is intended to continue the story, rather than just present more stories set during the series like previous novels/comics/etc. have done.
I am not generally a comics person, but done right, this is one I could definitely get into.