IDW Publishing and Fox Consumer Products just entered into a partnership to bring the X-Files back in Comic Book form. This partnership will initially start by re-printing collections of the original classic X-Files comics that was originally published between 1995 and 2009. Then later this year all new adventures will be published. What is not entirely clear in the announcement is, whether or not IDW will treat this property like recent TV Show adaptations – as an official continuation (ala Buffy Season 9) or if these will be further random out of time stories – like the original X-Files series. While this news excites me, as a long time X-Files fan, I will be very upset if it ends up being just random, out of context, monster of the week stories. Official press release after the break.
San Diego, CA (January 28, 2013) – IDW Publishing and Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products are thrilled to announce a partnership to publish an exciting series of works based on the legendary series, THE X-FILES. IDW’s publishing plan includes reprinting collections of the classic issues published intermittently from 1995 through 2009, as well as creating brand-new X-FILES comics to launch in June 2013.
Over two movies and two hundred television episodes, THE X-FILES, is a juggernaut of science fiction-tinged intrigue, unique characters and carefully constructed stories. The show’s popularity raged into the comic world, seeing successful series mounted by publishers Topps and Wildstorm. Despite this, new publishing has not been available since 2009’s joint Wildstorm/IDW crossover – 30 Days of Night/The X-Files – leaving fans without a venue for the continuing sequential adventures of Mulder and Scully… until now.
“THE X-FILES is a classic property that helped redefine fans’ expectations for the science-fiction and horror genres,” said IDW’s President/Chief Operating Officer Greg Goldstein. “The possibilities for new comic stories are virtually unlimited!”
“The fans of THE X-FILES have remained loyal to the series since its conclusion. What better way to continue the show’s legacy and give back to them than through new stories in a different medium,” said Jeffrey Godsick, President of Fox Consumer Products. “IDW has worked with a number of our Fox properties, and we know they’re going to do great things with these iconic characters.”
In 2013, fans of THE X-FILES will want to believe in new comics from IDW Publishing! The home of successful kindred series like 30 Days of Night, Doctor Who, and Locke & Key, to name a few, IDW is excited to bring the enduring legacy of THE X-FILES back to comics.
“Few shows have captured the zeitgeist and fans’ imaginations like THE X-FILES, and fewer shows still have left people hungry for more in the way this one did,” said Chris Ryall, IDW’s Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief. “Our new series will be picking up where the second film left off, which will hopefully be as exciting for fans to read as it is for us to develop.”
Sounds like a good idea. If only the last season of the show hadn’t been so spotty.
I think a series that somehow figured out how to explain, or retrofit, the series many contradictions (that whole ‘walk-in’ thing for example) might be fun – or maybe one that started at the beginning and looked at an alternate history of the show where the contradictions never happened. Sadly, given the way the series pooped out at the end of its run, carrying on from the series finale would just be wrong. The X-Files series finale was just further proof that Chris Carter hadn’t thought anything through.