Is It Good? X-Files Annual 2015 Review

After an excellent run of issues this year, the X-Files annual for 2015 is here. Is it good?

X-Files Annual 2015 (IDW Publishing)

Mulder and Scully attend a high school reunion. Much to Scully’s surprise, it’s not where Mulder went to high school. Instead, he is doing his annual ‘Search for a Missing Kid in Honor of Samantha’ thing undercover.

I was really hoping he’d write Heywood Jablowme.

Turns out that this high school is home to a couple of famous TV ghost hunters who claim that one of their classmates, Colin, was kidnapped by evil spirits. Colin did go missing, but for once, its Mulder who doesn’t believe the paranormal explanation.

New factors begin to enter the investigation as it moves forward: Corrupt small town law enforcement, high school social hierarchy, hero worship, etc. All the usual tropes. Then about two thirds of the way through, it all gets turned on its head with a gut churning series of revelations.

Is It Good?

Yes it was. I’m just not sure it was $7.99 cover price good. The story by Mike Raicht requires a tad more suspension of disbelief than I would have liked, but he still does an excellent job setting us up for the twist near the end. He also makes the dialogue between Mulder and Scully a lot fun. The artwork by Kevin Van Hook is a little static at times, but very well done overall.

It just feels like this was a really good 22 page story that got stretched out quite a bit. $8 is a lot to spend on a comic, even if it includes a cool Season 11 preview. This isn’t an issue that you absolutely must own if you’re an X-Files fan, but it’s also one that you are very likely to enjoy…even if it does break your weekly book budget a bit.