Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

(The) X-Files Year Zero TPB

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Todd Jordan
    Smut is good.

  • X-Files, The - Year Zero TPB



    Published by: IDW Publishing
    Released on: Mar. 4, 2015
    Writer: Karl Kesel
    Artist: Greg Scott, Vic Malhotra
    Cover artist: Carlos Valenzuela
    Purchase at Amazon

    Ever been curious about the origin of The X-Files? As in how it came to be as an entity of the FBI? Your curiosity for the truth shall be slaked in IDW's The X-Files: Year Zero. A database assembled for Fox Mulder by The Lone Gunmen chronicles every case covered by the secret branch of the FBI and he decides to share the very first case with his partner Dana Scully.

    Alamogordo, New Mexico in 1946: Special Agent Bing Ellison stops the escape of a scientist from a government facility outside of town, fearing the man could reveal atomic secrets to the wrong people. Ellison makes it obvious rather quickly that he is not one to take crap from anyone and has some baggage left over from the war. Back at headquarters in Washington D.C., an office worker named Millie Ohio, former member of the Women's Army Corps, is unhappy as a clerk for the FBI and wants to be taken seriously as a valuable member of the team. She wants to become the first female agent in the FBI's history, but she seems to be the only one to take her seriously.

    She manages her boss and the director to give her an assignment and is paired with the unwanted Agent Ellison, both feeling as though they are being purposefully set up to fail. With a letter she received from Long Island, she and Ellison act on a tip that could show a series of murders in Montana to be more than an animal attack. Once in Long Island to visit the person who wrote the letter, the two agents happen upon an unnaturally athletic man who easily gets away from them, someone they learn to be called “Mr. Xero”.

    Bookended with some exposition between Scully and Mulder, the story sets things up rather nicely for the first case to play out. At the same time, they have their own case to contend with, one involving large cats. The two cases are connected for sure, which is what prompts Mulder to tell Scully the story to begin with.

    Back to the past, Special Agent Bing Ellison and specially appointed agent Millie Ohio do battle with a werewolf creature when the local yokel cops show up and kill the beast. The young Native American man they picked up along the way lets them know the beast didn't die, just the vessel it was in. He calls it a Manitou and says it escaped and will come back. Another letter comes to Millie with the next stop on their quest to find Mr. Xero and they make their way to his next known place of hanging out. And he knows they are on to him.

    Meanwhile in present day, Scully and Mulder, a worker at an animal shelter is the latest person Mr. Xero visits. Yes, Mr. Xero is old. Dell Spoon is an unassuming man and his visitations from Mr. Xero at his home put the two agents on a stake out. It pays off, but it may not be exactly what they were hoping for. Back to the past, the two agents get to really know Dorothy, the Long Island lady who has what would seem a serious relationship of sorts with the mysterious pointy-eared being that is Mr. Xero. She displays psychic abilities, which is why Mr. Xero focused in on her in the first place.



    In the present, the agents have a serious conversation with Dell and Mr. Xero, and learn something about both of them not known before now. It seems Dell is an empath, and he really can communicate with animals through thoughts. Mr. Xero has plans for him, but can't see Dell's future past the next day. Something is going to happen and the two agents have until midnight the next evening to figure out how to save Dell.

    The waitress at the diner becomes of particular interest to the FBI duo, and they figured out exactly who she is. Once her cover is blown, she goes into a narrative and explains what happened to Dorothy Sears all those years ago on Long Island. Dell Spoon might be interested in that information too, but right now he's busy with a couple of bad guys who run dog fights.

    The waitress knows where Dell is and leads Mulder and Scully to him, hopefully in time, or else say goodbye to Dell. But the dog catcher's got a trick up his sleeve, and if that fails maybe Mr. Zero/Mr. Xero will show up and lend a hand. And if he does, maybe he'll answer a question or two to satisfy Mulder's curiosity. There's a lot going on in this last chapter, most of which is in current time, but there is a bit of the 1946 story left and it serves as an epilogue of sorts. J. Edgar Hoover gives his opinion of the work Millie and Bing performed on the first X-Files case, and the probability of further adventures of the two is revealed.

    The book moves along at a great pace and jumps flawlessly between the past and the present. Part of the success of the jumps is owed to the coloring technique used by Mat Lopes, who makes the past look very different than the present. But most of the credit goes to Karl Kesel, a man who is no stranger to readers and his work is up to its normal level of ability. Although it's surely easier to work with established characters, he creates a couple new ones with the two agents from 1946 that are instantly likeable. A couple of underdogs looking to make a name for themselves and proves the naysayers wrong is their motivation, but that will no doubt change. For this reader the post WWII portion of the book is far more entertaining than the modern day material. Mulder and Scully really aren't even needed in this book at all, but it's probable they have to be included since it's an X-Files book. The art is fine, but its pretty average as far as comic art goes. It gets the job done but isn't the star of the book. There is some nice detail to be had, and the panel construction flows well, but there is nothing that stands out. But the book overall is entertaining enough and worth checking out if you dig on X-Files.

    Despite the mediocre art, the solid script work keeps the comic flowing and entertaining. Chapter stops are marked by using the covers that housed that issue, and the back of the book displays all of the seemingly required variant covers. Robert Hack's contribution are easily the best, and although Carlos Valenzuela's covers are nothing at all to sneer at, Hack's pulp-themed covers really take the cake. The X-Files Year Zero is not a book that makes you want more of the same, but it certainly results in a book worth reading even if you are not a big X-Files fan. You can pick it up and know nothing about the show or the printed material it continues to spawn, but still have a good story to read.






      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    Working...
    X