Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

X-Files #5 of 6
Wildstorm Comics (DC Comics)
Moench & Denham

A new story starts in this issue and it’s a real eye opener. Scully and Mulder are sent to the Badlands to investigate some disappearances. They interrogate a suspect but find that the guy seems to have two personalities. Mulder finds some common ground discussing the occult and other interesting mystical things while Scully just sees a suspect. It’s a good issue with a real strange ending. Strange in a good way.

This issue has an odd element in it because Scully and Mulder have a falling out. This leads Scully to do some paper investigating on her own which takes her down one road. While Mulder decides just to sniff around the trailer of the suspect and keeps finding more signs of devilish things that make him dig deeper and deeper until he finds some huge trouble at the end.

The issue has a couple of high points going for it. For one thing, Scully and Mulder work well off both the suspect and local police. Their interactions help the characters become more than just props. They feel like actual supporting characters. Another item that makes the issue work well is Mulder’s willingness to believe anything even remotely possible with regard to disappearances or murder. It helps get him into trouble, but it also helps to keep the reader guessing as to what the real thing is at work here. Mulder does a good job of making anything seem possible.

There are a couple of things that I wasn’t too crazy about. The interrogation of the suspect was little more than Mulder just fishing for the strangest things the guy was willing to talk about. It felt so rushed that I couldn’t believe Scully would just sit there and listen to it, much less the local cops. Another thing that made the issue feel strange was the falling out that Mulder and Scully had. Their fight didn’t seem to be about anything at all. Then Scully expected an apology? When did she become high maintenance?

The issue leaves off with such an interesting possibility for the disappearances. There is only one issue left in the arc and I suspect we will have a lot of unraveling to do. Could Mulder actually be correct for once about what was really going on?

The artwork is probably the best in the series so far. Perhaps it’s because there is more to work with than just faces amidst the shadows. The ending in the trailer and the cave and with what Mulder finds helps to make the issue’s art really pop off the page.

The series has been good for the most part but this story looks like it might be the most off the regular path if it’s going where I think its going. This issue may be my favorite among this short series but I’d like to see how it ends up before I make my final judgment.

3.5 out of 5 geek goggles