Previously on The X-Files: Season 11 #7 - Mulder and Scully had briefly met at a magnetite extraction mine in Utah, before he got ambushed by Gibson and she was taken by faceless aliens working with and lead by AD Morales.
Mulder had taken one of the aliens as his hostage and in the midst of escaping he got intercepted by AD Skinner who was being controlled by Gibson, telepathically. Meanwhile, Scully had woken up at a hospital in the outskirts of Salt Lake City. Morales gave her the 411 on her involvement with the faceless alien faction, making it clear that the agent was at the mercy of her orders.
We have now hit the last issue of this series. As you may have heard, IDW has decided to work in tandem with the current timeline established for The X-Files revival on FOX. While the actual details of the upcoming issues haven’t been revealed yet, Joe Harris is really excited to be taking on this endeavor. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Click on read more for our recap and review of “End Games, part 3” the last issue of IDW’s The X-Files: Season 11.
Review
I came to this issue without actual expectations but with a lot of curiosity of how Joe Harris would wrap this story up and give a plausible way to what’s to come. Even though it took me a re-read or two to get my head around the concept, it’s quite clever to use the “warp” as a way to not only justify the shift but also give closure and reasoning to Gibson’s motivations.
I have to admit I probably wanted to see more of this story on screen than some of the stuff I saw for the revival. The truth of the matter is that regardless of its eventual faults, Joe Harris’ proposal was very well received by a large portion of the fans and it gave a different take on characters that we never dreamed would find the demise that they did in this series. There were many triumphs for IDW's take on The X-Files and this should be actually held as a badge of honor.
It is very clever and actually rewarding to me that Gibson’s character wasn’t at the end striped of all of his “humanity” and made a senseless villain for the sake of having one. This last part actually delivers redemption that made the journey much more valuable and makes you reconsider all those seeds planted and all those actions that went unnoticed along the way. Now I definitely feel like the experience of rereading these as a binge, knowing the ending, would be a completely different ride.
For me, Harris’ Mulder and Scully are true to the ones that Chris Carter made us love while still having his own style. The sense of partnership and even the romantic longing was clear in the pages as we went through the whole ride. It kept a welcoming balance between the two elements, allowing for some neutral zone for the different sides of the audience.
I would have truly loved more involvement of the “supporting cast.” While we got a fair participation of the Lone Gunmen, Monica Reyes, John Doggett and even Skinner to some extent, we could have been used more and given us more inside look into their lives after “The Truth.” It would have been so welcoming especially because of their level or nature of involvement (or lack of thereof) in the current storyline for the show.
As of late, I found myself minding the complexity of the dialogue, and this is an aspect that bothered me enough to question if I was truly getting the meaning of what Harris tried to convey. Sometimes, even though it became a character trait for Gibson, it felt that it brought less benefits than expected… though, I do appreciate the opportunity to exercise different muscles when trying to marry with certain narratives.
I’m really thankful to the opportunities that Joe gave us to touch upon current matters, like geopolitics, environmental issues and even the odd economy and cultural commentary. Most of the time, I was left wanting more and this is a good sign.
Of note - as always - is the work that Matthew D. Smith and Jordie Bellaire put on the creation of these realities and the collaborative spirit behind it. It was a very rare occurrence - if it ever really happened - that I felt that the story wasn’t supported by the artists. In this particular last issue, my favorite panels were those with the looking glass; it’s so easy to have flashbacks and flashforwards seem cheesy and out of place and this really translated nicely. The character's facial expresions were great in this last issue and throughout the series, upping up the ante on what we received.
As for the covers, with a regular one designed by Menton3 and a Subscription cover by Robert Hack and Stephen Downer, it was a hard choice but I really enjoyed the latter. In general, and while I found myself every week always choosing the alternates, I really enjoy Menton3’s work, and overall it captures a sense of eeriness that it’s true to The X-Files as a whole.
I can’t wait for the next stage of these comics, though starting with the new “season”, Sophie Brown will take on the distinguished task of carrying on with these reviews. It’s been a pleasure to analyze and discuss this property for the last years, and I’ll continue being a faithful reader and fan.
I want to thank Denton Tipton and Joe Harris for always allowing us to have such a direct line for every kind of commentary and enriching conversations about these comics and the show. Thanks for your continued support, it’s been a pleasure to accompany you guys along the way.
If you haven’t already, make sure to stop by your local comic book store and get this and previous issues before they run out. Support the local small business! I invite you one more time to share your thoughts in the comments, and also drop the creators a line or two by writing to