The X-Files Volume 2

By Stefan Isaksson

The X-Files Volume 2
Kevin J. Anderson, Stefan Petrucha, Charles Adlard, et al
Checker Book Publishing Group
200 pages
ISBN: 1933160039

I assume that everybody knows what kind of TV-series the X-Files is, and thus I skip the description and go straight to the review instead, that is, the second collection about Mulder and Scully published by Checker Publishing Group. This time it’s issues 20-26, issue 1/2 and X-Files Comic Digest Issue 1 that have been collected.

And the end result is more or less what I had expected it to be: as with Volume 1, Volume 2 is something that the hardcore-fans and comic buffs will appreciate while the everyday reader might not think too much of it. It’s very true that everybody involved are very skilled; the authors know how to create a genuine X-Files style story, and the artists are all veterans and highly professional. However, the problem remains the same: Mulder’s and Scully’s adventures, when on paper, are lightyears from what they are when on the TV-screen. All the things that made the TV-series special; the lights, the creepy music, the camera work, and more; all these ingredients disappear when the adventures are done on paper, and the result is therefore not very surprisingly a comic that is neither good nor bad.

Some of the episodes have a LOT of text, and this is thus not a comic that you’ll read in an instant. The paranormal phenomena under investigation are all quite “traditional”, that is, ball lightning, ghosts, Bigfoot, and so on, and if you thought that the mysteries were “solved” surprisingly quickly in the TV-series, then you won’t think much different when reading Volume 2. Here Mulder and Scully “solve” everything in the blink of an eye, and it’s actually quite annoying and not very believable to see how all the pieces of the puzzle seem to come together more or less right after they’ve arrived at the scene of the crime.

The X-Files Volume 2 wasn’t a complete disappointment, though. From time to time it’s quite entertaining, and it’s always interesting to see how “traditional” paranormal phenomena can be approached in new and innovative ways. However, after finishing it I felt just as I did after finishing Volume 1, that is, if I want to hang out with agents Mulder and Scully I much rather do it using a TV instead of a comic.