IDW Publishing 2017
Written by Denton J. Tipton
Illustrated by Menton3
Lettered by Saida Temofonte
I love the timing of this book, you know it was planned out well in advance of it’s release date and #45’s attempts at distracting people from what he’s doing by releasing the JFK Assassination Documents. Still I find it interesting that this and that are so close together oh and far as the U.S. Government goes I find this one much believable than what they’ll release.
First things first, normally I talk about the story for a bit but I have to say that my eye was immediately drawn into this thanks to Menton3. The work he does here is utterly fabulous and the likenesses of Scully and Mulder are beyond any of my expectations. His eye for storytelling is phenomenal as we see in the utilisation of page layouts, angles, perspective and even backgrounds or lack thereof as the case may be. The attention to detail mixed with this old black and white kind of Noir feeling just mesmerises and captures the imagination in ways that don’t readily let go. His work has always been beautiful and edgy but this feels so light years ahead of what I’ve seen from him previously as if the man doesn’t know how to stop growing and evolving his work.
As for the story itself well this Denton being Denton and I love it. The opening makes you think that the Cigarette Smoking Man is involved and that snaps you to attention and widen the eyes in anticipation. Which is then replaced by the swirling events that happened in Dallas on November 22nd 1963, a mere seven years before my birth but it’s something that my parents remember vividly and talk about with great sadness. I’m not sure but as far as I know this is their first collaboration and that strikes me as amazing because they seem so in sync with one another.
The way this book is structured, it’s flow and how and when information is revealed takes the reader on a true journey. Emotional high and lows, shocking secrets and revelations that focus on Fox Mulder and as he continues to learn more the more incredulous it all seems to him. This is some top of the line characterisation here in these pages and it makes you feel that these aren’t made up characters in a story but based on people known in real life. Not the actors but the characters as real people that exist alongside us.
Then as if it’s not enough that we’re talking the killing John F. Kennedy, Denton decides to take us on both a historical journey through the rise of Las Vegas and Mulder’s stock in trade. If you don’t know what I’m referring to then well you obviously haven’t seen the show so welcome to the madness and awesomeness that is the X-Files. In all honesty if this weren’t done well I’d be the first to say there are too many cooks spoiling the broth but since Denton has the talent and ability it comes across as a string of events that relate to one another and have that domino effect.
Not only is all that in play here, but wait there’s more!, we also learn what Fox’s father’s role in all this was. That alone would’ve been enough I mean Fox’s dad being involved with the Assassination of President Kennedy is something that could’ve filled an arc alone but to add that to everything else and it might be sensory overload for Fox Mulder. Yet as the information flows and more is revealed and Fox’s questions answered by a man undeterred from telling the tale as it should be told, see in the right order so that the whole story will make complete sense and not jumping from A to F then back to C and finally in the blanks, it all has it’s place and it just feels right.
Outrageously fun, smart and exceptionally well executed with some of Menton3’s best interior artwork make this one you shouldn’t miss out on!