The X-Files, Volume 1

by Stefan Petrucha, John Rozum, Miran Kim

Miran Kim's eerie cover art sets the tone of each issue, while Petrucha and Rozum captivate readers with compelling and fast-paced plots. A must-have for any X-Files fan, these stories parallel the series, but hold their own in the realm of graphic storytelling. Mulder and Scully face killer computer programs, solve mysterious reappearances, get captured by survivalists and, of course, uncover government secrets in adventures that could only be inspired by the X-Files legacy.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Fiction, Paranormal

200 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2005

About the author

Stefan Petrucha (born January 27, 1959) is an American writer for adults and young adults. He has written graphic novels in the The X-Files and Nancy Drew series, as well as science fiction and horror.
Born in the Bronx, he has spent time in the big city and the suburbs, and now lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, fellow writer Sarah Kinney, and their daughters. At times he has been a tech writer, an educational writer, a public relations writer and an editor for trade journals, but his preference is for fiction in all its forms.

Reviews

[Katie.dorny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scully and Muller are arguably my favourite duo.

[Josh Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually liked this book it was a real solid adaption of the tv series. It follows the adventure of the x files unit in the FBI with agent muller and agent scully and they deal with supernatural things. Wheter it is aliens, extra terrestials, and even computers that go haywire and get a mind of their own. It has a creepy ominus feel to it just like the tv show made me feel when i was younger and i was afraid of it. All and all solid book due to it's freak factor and it's sci-fi fantasy factor.

[Christine (KizzieReads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be a bind up of the first couple of episodes, but instead, it is a bind up of several different episodes and in no particular order. It has no cohesiveness and the graphics barely resemble the characters and it is just off putting. I almost didn't finish reading it. Not impressed with this at all and I doubt I will continue on.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, but was a bit disappointed that at least two of the stories were just graphic novelizations of two X-Files episodes from season one. I was hoping for new material.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uneven! The volume consisted of 6 distinct stories. I avoid calling them episodes because, although I was a fan of the TV series and watched as many as I could catch I haven't watched them all. So some here might not actually appear as episodes that made the series--I will defer to more knowledgeable fans. Chapter 1, (I call it story 1) is "One Player Only". Bodies turn up and a computer program is suspected of getting into a programmer's brain. It was a sub-par performance by the high X-File standard, but not bad. I think what took away a lot was the poor ending. The art was not good. I see what they were trying to do with the virtual look, but still, poorly executed. Chapter 2, story 2 "Falling." Mulder investigates a UFO crash. Some kids found it first and are protecting it. Mulder is trapped by a falling tree trap. The bad kid of the group gets his gun and then Lord of the Flies happens. I stopped caring about this one early! There is some danger of radiation. Scully dons a hazmat suit and investigates. That's Scully? Maybe I could draw a better likeness. In case you didn't get it, Mulder reads Lord of the Flies when in the hospital. Maybe Scully should have had a name tag on her hazmat suit. Oh, and the preachy "guns are bad and so is the big bully government" message was off-putting. Chapter 3 and 4 made up the 3rd storyline "Home of the Brave." Mulder and Scully investigate a crashed UFO out in the boonies. They run afoul of a survivalist compound. Simple message: fascists are brutal cavemen and it would be better to be beamed away by a UFO than to live with them. It is important to hear this if you haven't run across the same message somewhere else this week. The fascists get their due, because Scully shows her FBI hand-to-hand skills, and the government cart them away at the end. Chapter 5, story 4 "Thin Air." A man reported to be a Navy pilot survivor of a flight of planes lost in the Bermuda Triangle over fifty years before. He hasn't aged. The investigation is intriguing and a good read. It ends unresolved and screams for a continuation which doesn't appear in this volume. Chapter 6, story 5 "Squeeze." In the table of contents it is billed as an "episode adaption." I remember this from TV. Solid! Well-paced and satisfying. We see Mulder versus conventional investigational thinking and methods with Scully deliciously in-between. If only the whole volume could have been like this. It is what I was expecting when I got this volume to read. Chapter 7, story 6. Is billed as "Issue 0 (Pilot Episode) Originally telecast Sept. 10, 1993." It entails alien abduction, implants and cover-up, and Mulder's backstory about his sister's similar disappearance. It captures the same winning formula in chapter 6: mystery, good pacing, Mulder and Scully against the world, as well as clever use of Scully as storyteller and source of sexual tension. The formula, Chris Carter's gold mine, is strong in this episode! If only it all could have been like stories 6 and 7!

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a collection of extra X-Files stories, this wasn't completely bad. There were some good story ideas in here and it was nice to see the Pilot episode and Squeeze included. It just such a shame that the artwork, particularly for the two from the show, is so bad, I nearly gave up on the first story. It took a lot longer to read because I just wasn't invested.

[Mary Beth Str8K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short x-files vignettes. Disjointed stories and artwork that often didn't mesh with the text. Several stories were hard to follow and I often double-checked to see if a page was missing. Only the last story in the book felt complete. Not sure I'll be looking for Volume II.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology includes a full synopsis of the pilot, which was fun.

[George Ilsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't read much graphic materials, so my opinion is basically worthless here. The last story was one of the first X-Files episodes, re-done in this format, and so one must ask why? I have no answer.

Of more concern is the printing errors. Pages were not numbered, and on a couple of occasions the pages where mis-ordered. That sort of confusion cancelled any possible reading enjoying.

[Jamie Rosen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Checker is not renowned for the quality of its productions, and this is no exception, as they managed to print several pages out of sequence. Oddly, the best stories are the episode adaptations at the end. The art isn't particularly good, especially in the first issue with the digitized photographs at the beginning.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah X-Files, how I love thee. I was very happy to buy three volumes of the comic at GenCon. They certainly date themselves, but they were pretty good! I don't understand why the last two stories were Tooms and the Pilot, word for word, but art-wise it was fun and interesting to read and look at.

[Hillingdon Libraries]

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

[Shazza Maddog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good stories - the originals are written in the manner of the tv series though I could've done without the rehash of two of the episodes as they were not told in any different way than what we'd already seen on the show.

Will be looking for more in this series.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my note in my blog:

http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/20...

[Toy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Familiar characters and plots from the tv show. Fans will love it.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I no doubt purchased some of these original comics at my corner newsstand as a teenager.