There was much noise online when this issue was announced. The confusion between the titles for The X-Files revival episodes and the comics went on for a while, so did the themes, and so much more speculation. Sitting down with “Home Again” Part 1 finally happened, and I’m here to report my findings.
Previously, we learn that Mulder and Scully continue to be separated while on their task to try and clear Mulder’s name and deal with Gibson’s looming threats. So how far along do we get with this new installment?
Click after the jump for our recap and review.
Six weeks ago, Skywatch’s satellite communicates with Centcom: a signal has caught their attention, as if “it was hailing them.” In the previous issue, Mulder recovered the parts of a satellite that had crashed in the desert with Gibson manipulating him and hot on his tail. Is this the same?
Mulder wakes up, and we’re led to believe that was a dream. Or was it? The conductor of the bus informs him that he’s arrived at his stop. Mulder didn’t follow the Lone Gunmen’s advice to come back to Scully, so he finds himself on a dusty road in Garden County, Nebraska. Gibson hasn’t meddled with his mind as of late. A group of kids ask him if he’s part of the fracking drilling teams that are working nearby. When he negates it, the kids guide him to a tower camouflaged behind tall corn crops. He wants to find the owner of this land, but the foreman informs him that most of it has been leased to them. Most of it, with the exception of the expanse close to them where a farmhouse still stands. They refuse to lease the land no matter how much money they’ve been offered. Mulder sarcastically notes that the reluctant farmers might have the right idea not joining the toxic drilling on their land, but the man doesn’t bite, urging him to advise them to accept the offer. Mulder makes his way to the farmhouse while the men are left behind preparing for the day’s work, as Cantus’ personnel.
In Georgetown, Scully covertly meets with Skinner in a secluded area within the boulevard’ shops. Crowds seem to block Gibson from reaching her. She’s aware that he’s playing with her; she knows that Mulder is stateside and that Gibson is using him for his own agenda as well.
She informs Skinner that Mulder may be aware of this broad manipulation and of Gibson’s long tendrils into the current situation at the FBI. Cantus has been contracted to absorb many operations within the bureau and other government agencies and that now puts Gibson’s at a great place of power.
Gibson brought the Peacock Family file to her attention. The case remains unsolved and Skinner suspects that he may be looking into finishing cases Mulder couldn’t close. Gibson’s motivations aren’t clear to anyone, and according to Scully they’ll never be able to think ahead of him. Skinner fears that Gibson isn’t the only one interested in putting old X-Files to bed. And twenty years later… yesterday’s monsters might not be the same.
Back to Mulder. He arrives at the lonely and awfully familiar farmhouse. At the barn, he finds Molly, a slim blonde milking one of the cows. Surprised, she threatens him with a hay fork, fearing that he’s from the IRS. Mulder apologizes and introduces himself as Blake. While she lowers her guard at that, she tenses when he mentions the drilling operation nearby. This land is their home since they arrived twenty years ago, but even if they don’t sell they’re surrounded by fracking, Mulder points out. She knows it’s a strategy to corner them out of their land, given that the whole town would prefer that they didn’t exist.
Molly appreciates Mulder’s physique while he assures her that he’s just looking for inspiration, but he’s suddenly attacked by a troop of deformed kids chanting “Poppa!” at him. Falling in the mud, he may not have found a sign, but the gore has certainly found him. Another deformed man approaches as Molly gives him the order to take Mulder home.
At the FBI, AD Morales intercepts Scully. The boss brings up the OPR hearing where one of the Directors fell ill, unbeknownst to her under Gibson’s spell. Morales suspects foul play; no one has clear recollection of the exact course of events and she finds it too much of a coincidence that a medical doctor was in the room. That’s an offhanded accusation to the agent. The woman is defiant, and Scully grows hesitant, if respectful of the woman’s higher rank. Between the lines, she demurely reminds Scully of the new chain of command she has assumed. It could get difficult for Mulder and her, even though they’re used to having a difficult relationship with the Bureau. Scully promises to clarify the events of the OPR meeting, but Morales hands her an envelope, advising her that if they were to cooperate, they’d both get what they want. The envelope is stamped ‘Secret Clearance of Higher” and wields the Cantus logo.
Mulder wakes up, pantless, in a dingy bed, confused as the deformed Edmund Peacock approaches him. Molly warns him to not scare Mulder as it “makes the milk sour early and curdle up.” She knows that Edmund and he have met in the past, and holds a grudge for Mulder having killed his brothers and making them run away from their previous home.
Molly snidely reminds Mulder of the “insular” nature of their family and how difficult it is for them to preserve their lineage; despite looking perfectly normal, she’s a Peacock as well. Edmund has fathered hundreds of kids but now has reached the end of his breeding career… they’re looking at Mulder for his replacement. Mulder objects, horrified, but Molly flaunts her honed talents as a cow milker as a selling point that falls flat. She scoffs at his assumption that she’d be the one breeding the new progeny, as a feminine voice claims that she was sure that he’d refuse since this isn’t his home. It’s the crippled Peacock mother, still dragging herself around on her wooden cart. Unfortunately for everyone, desperate times call for desperate measures.
Review
The highs of this issue: I have to admit that some of the events were unsettling for me, but this is a good thing, even though that may sound wrong. I didn’t expect it to disgust me so much. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that “Home Again” was gorier than the original episode, but it certainly struck a chord. It certainly is not an enjoyable issue if you have gripes with strong themes like rape and incest. My recap certainly comes up short to the actual scene description, and what went through my head imagining Molly’s advances and what’s actually left to our interpretation. As a terrifying sequence, it certainly succeeds.
Given that this is a two parter story, I didn’t expect it to deliver everything in a tight package, leaving hanging threads of what’s to come, especially when it’s intertwined with the grand conspiracy of the season. On a second issue, we’re just collecting the pieces of this puzzle that Harris continues to lay out, and my hope is that we can follow the very complex architecture of Gibson’s plans as they promise to be. A part of me, somehow, still hopes for him to be redeemable. It’s hard thinking about him as an enemy, even when we know the road that got him to this point.
Finding a true low point in this issue would be really nitpicky; the characterizations are good, the story continues to move along and it keeps me entertained. I would argue that I wanted to have a more active involvement from Gibson, but as it is, his presence is everywhere, whether he’s in their thoughts or the events unfolding. My constant question would continue to be, will we ever see William in these comics?
Art and colors are solid as always on the hands of Matthew Dow Smith and Jordie Bellaire. This issue delivers three covers: the chilling regular version by menton3, a haunting subscription cover and my favorite by Brian Miller, and a third cover that features the photo from the original episode with Mulder and Mama Peacock.
As always the invitation is to continue supporting this production if it has struck a chord with you. You can also comment on their work by writing to