X-Files: Season 10 #6 – Review

By: Joe Harris (writer), Elena Casagrande & Silvia Califano (art), Arianna Florean with Valentina Cuomo (colors) and Neil Uyetake & Tom B. Long (letters)

The Story: Return of Flukeman.

The Review (with SPOILERS): This was a new story arc for The X-Files, Season 10 and it represents a big test to see how well the series can maintain fan interest with a non-mythology storyline.  If you were a fan of the X-Files TV program, you remember that the stories fell into two categories.  The program was best known for it’s continuing government conspiracy/alien invasion story, but – since it was the 1990s – they still had to make ~25 episodes for a full season.  So, Agents Mulder and Scully were just as often investigating other forms of weirdness as they were dealing with the Cigarette Smoking Man and getting information from The Lone Gunmen.  These standalone episodes are usually referred to as “Monster of the Week”.

The ironic thing about the TV program is that the alien mythology story eventually fell apart like wet toilet paper at the end of the show’s run.  So, the story for which the show was best known ended up being the least rewatchable; it was fun while the story was ongoing, but the final resolution wasn’t all that satisfying.  For you younger folks, the best comparison would be Lost.

X-Files: Season 10 #5 – Review

By: Joe Harris and Chris Carter (story), Harris (writer), Michael Walsh (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors) and Tom B. Long (letters)

The Story: The climax of the first arc as Mulder and Scully deal with the (possibly) alien Acolytes in Yellowstone Park.

Review (with SPOILERS): This issue is the first hiccup for a series that has been mostly flawless since its launch a few months ago.

The things that I’ve loved about the first four issue are still there.  Namely, the combination of writing and art makes this seem like a completely organic continuation of the X-Files TV series; when you read the word balloons, it is almost like David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have come over to narrate a comic just for you.  The speech patterns are the same, the art makes the characters look authentic without being too photo-referency and even the coloring matches the original TV series.  I also applaud the creative team for making this a 5-issue arc which keeps it snappier than a longer arc would have felt.

Choker #6 – Review

By: Ben McCool (writer), Ben Templesmith (art) and Tom B. Long (letters)

The Story: Private Investigator Johnny Jackson has his final showdown with the mutant vampires and corrupt cops in Shotgun City.

Review: It might be cliché to point out the delays on this title, but those delays are very germane to this review.  The first issue came out in February 2010.  That was before I started writing for WCBR and still ran my own comic review blog.  Back then, I said that the art in Choker #1 was kick ass and that the story had promise.  I gave it a 7.2/10.

But, a lot of time has passed. Choker #4 came out in October 2010 and Choker #5 was in January 2011.  So, we’ve only had 2 issues of this comic in the last 18 months.  That’s enough time that anything but the broadest themes of the story have dribbled out of my mind.  I remember that there is this hard-boiled P.I. named Johnny Jackson.  Jackson is a former cop and is working on a series of grisly crimes committed by folks jacked up on some drug that turns them into kinda vampires.  Oh and corrupt police are involved and the corrupt police are using some kind of super-steroid called Man Plus.  That’s about all I remember.  What’s lost for me are all the little relationships among the characters that would make the climax of this issue strike an emotional chord.  I just can’t remember if I’m supposed to be cheering for Jackson’s Deena Pilgrim-esque partner??  I can’t remember if his sidekick is sympathetic or dorky?  I feel like I should be happy about the outcome, but it just didn’t resonate for me.

Now, it could be that this will read a lot better in trade.  And, I could go back an reread my single issues.  But honestly, with the backlog of comic material in my house, something has to be pretty damn special to elbow its way back onto the reading list as a refresher due to publishing delays. And I’m not sure Choker is that special.  It’s nice, but it’s simply not the greatest thing ever.  Certainly it isn’t good enough to kick my current back issue project (rereading ROM Spaceknight) to the side.

Memoir #2 – Review

By: Ben McCool (writer), Nikki Cook (illustrator) and Tom B. Long (letters)

The Story: A writer continues investigating why a small town had its memories erased.

What’s Good: Creepy and unsettling.  That’s the best way to describe Memoir.  Last issue established all the basics for this story: small town where everyone lost their memories due to some sinister but mysterious “event” + writer has gone to investigate hoping to break the big story.  With that out of the way, McCool and Cook can really crank up the creepiness.

Once again we get fragmented images from the day of the event.  It’s unclear whose perspective these memories are from or what is going on, but the continuing mystery is unsettling as we see townsfolk running away from dudes in hazmat suits.  Interestingly, this is not the only mystery as there are also shadowy figures lurking around town.  It’s unclear who they are or what they want, but they seem evil.

Most of the story development comes from a meeting between our writer and the one person in town who seems to have kept his memories.  Of course, he can’t come right out and say what happened (that would spoil the story, huh?), but instead gives a chilling and confusing account of what happened to him on that fateful day.  The creators were obviously trying to create a feeling of unease in the reader and they succeeded with me.

Throughout the story, McCool does a very good job of playing to Nikki Cook’s strengths.  She really knows how to establish an uncomfortable air in a panel by using things like low camera angles, tight shots of character’s faces and when to go with a black background.  The most effective scene of the issue involves a weird girl in a hospital gown who is straight out of a Japanese horror film.  And, all of this is done in B&W which is so much more effective for this type of story.

Memoir #1 – Review

By: Ben McCool (writer), Nikki Cook (illustrations), Tom B. Long (letters)

The Story: A reporter visits a creepy town where everyone has lost their memory.

What’s Good: Yeah!  Black and White comics kick ass!  One of the hopes I have for the success of The Walking Dead is that it’ll make B&W comics a little more viable as fewer fans turn their noses up instinctively.  B&W actually works better for certain types of stories (in my opinion).  Anyone who has done photography knows that you get a level of contrast and atmosphere when you shoot B&W and comics are no different.  Basically, without the colors to make things look pretty your brain can focus like a laser on what is actually happening in a panel.  Plus, there’s also the fact that B&W comics are cheaper to produce and that lesser expense makes the break-even point easier to achieve for a creator-owned project like Memoir.  I wish more comic creators would think of why their comic needs color, rather than just retaining a colorist.

And what a creepy story McCool is telling here.  The basic concept is that this little town had an incident where everyone in the town lost their memory.  Since the accident, the townsfolk have mostly stayed in their town and now, 10 years later, a news reporter is entering the town to do a little investigative journalism.  What he finds is a creepy town that clearly has some ghastly secrets.  McCool isn’t copying from countless stories of “creepy small towns”, but he does seem aware that the reader is familiar with those stories and that makes it easier for him to establish the creep-factor without dumbing down his own story.

I talked about it a little above, but this comic would be very different with different art.  Nikki Cook’s art builds the creepy atmosphere to a very high level.  As you get further and further into this issue, the art gives you a real sense of foreboding that I’m sure is intentional.  I always think it’s a huge achievement when and artist can trigger an emotion in today’s desensitized reader!  Her art almost has you hearing a creepy soundtrack in your head and that’s a pretty rare thing.

Bonus: A GOOD John Cassiday cover!  I was really worried that he had lost his fastball after seeing his covers for Shadowland recently, but THIS is the guy who drew Planetary and Astonishing X-Men.  I wish we could get some interior work of this caliber.