Volume 1 of the new X-Files comic series was released this week. The interesting thing about this series is that it is billed as “Season 10” and intends to pick up roughly where the second movie, I Want to Believe, left off. Since the comic series is broken up into multiple continuous parts (the first one is part one of five), and thus this first one ends in a cliffhanger, I won’t attempt to offer a full review of it right now. However, it is worth highlighting certain aspects of the new story.
(For those who have not read the story yet, the comments below may contain minor spoilers.)
This first episode is titled “Believers.” Who the believers are or what they believe in is not yet clear from part 1, but there are some mysterious, hooded figures who are reminiscent of a cult or a Dan Brown novel. Scully’s cross necklace features prominently on the first page, even before we clearly see her face. Mulder apparently has been busy at work on his memoir, appropriately entitled, “I Want to Believe” (his poster can be seen in the background in his office). Thus, the two main symbols of belief on the show make a pronounced appearance.
There is also a secondary theme of magic. Mulder and Scully’s new undercover last name is a reference to Mulder’s favorite childhood show, The Magician. He references this shortly after making a baseball apparently disappear while he is talking to some kids. He later tosses the ball to Skinner, who looks at it on his way out the door, saying to himself, “The Magician.” This may not have any importance beyond this short reference to Mulder’s childhood and his “spooky” nature, but magic itself relies on belief, since the magic is only as real as the observer believes it to be.
So far, in this comic series the theme of belief is no more emphasized than it was in the television series, but it is also significant that this theme in particular was chosen to be highlighted in a continuation of the X-Files story line. What happens next in the story remains to be seen...
The next part is due out in July.
