Part of the San Diego Comic Con is still about comics, and IDW at SDCC 2013 was there to promote The X-Files Season 10, of which #2 came out the day before the con. Chris Carter and Gillian Anderson, present for the TV Guide panel, also participated on the IDW panel, along with IDW Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall, XF Season 10 Editor Denton J. Tipton, XF Season 10 writer Joe Harris and Lone Gunman and conventions regular Dean Haglund.
From left to right: Tipton, Ryall, Anderson, Carter, Harris.
The X-Files Season 10 IDW panel was somewhat covered in the press (less so than the TV Guide panel, the audience was also smaller):
Audio (bad quality, but includes Chris Ryall’s intro and an awesome joke on X-Files #3)
Interspersed below are also drawings from Michael Walsh, who has continued to tease with art from the next issues on his Instagram account — with a lot of Scully!
XF Season 10: More or less canon?
SDCC was the opportunity to ask Chris Carter repeatedly about the future of the X-Files, his role as executive producer of Season 10, and how do these new comics articulate with his vision for a potential third X-Files feature film.
More than any other event earlier this year, and I expect more than any even for the remainder of 2013, The X-Files‘ 20th anniversary was celebrated at San Diego Comic Con International 2013. The size of the event and the media coverage it got is the reason why this was a key event. The big panel was hosted by TV Guide, the second panel by Season 10 comics publisher IDW, and then there were of course signings and pricey photo shoots.
X-Files’ 20th anniversary
This was the biggest cast & crew reunion since the Paley Festival in 2008. From right to left: host Michael Schneider; Chris Carter; David Duchovny; Gillian Anderson; James Wong; Glen Morgan; John Shiban; Darin Morgan; Howard Gordon; Vince Gilligan; and out of frame, David Amann (photo from syzzlyn). From the writing team, you could say that all the people who shaped the show were there, apart from Frank Spotnitz (in Europe, busy with other projects) and Gordon’s writing partner Alex Gansa. As would be expected in such media-intensive events, the focus was much more on Anderson and Duchovny instead of the rest of the creative team — given how short the panel was, some of them only spoke once!
Host Michael Schneider posted a kind of “making of” of the whole event, which is a very entertaining read but is also revealing. The panel was organized by TV Guide, and within TV Guide, Schneider played an essential role: in inviting people and handling the organization of the event on the day. The involvement of FOX is nowhere to be seen apart from their mere approval. Still, we guess that they were watching, gauging interest in the X-Files to see if it has a future. The fans were certainly there!
As with every issue, Comic Book Resources has published a 7-page preview (which corresponds to about a third of the length of the issue!…). A season 8-9 character makes a painful return, and it’s been months we have been teased with the return of the Lone Gunmen. Will they be ghosts like in 9X19/20: The Truth? Will they have faked their deaths, as Dean Haglund has been saying for years? Will they be zombies?
#2 cover gallery previously posted in EatTheCorn here.
As with every month over three months before publication date, IDW Publishing releases its solicitations, for comic book buyers to place their pre-orders and for comic book makers to better assess their print volumes. The program is out for October 2013, and The X-Files Season 10 #5 is out; beware of spoilers below!
S10 #5 cover by Carlos Valenzuela
The X-Files: Season 10 #5 Joe Harris (w) • Michael Walsh (a) • Carlos Valenzuela (c) “Believers,” Part 5 of 5: The sense-shattering conclusion! Reunited at last, Mulder and Scully pursue the Deacon deep beneath the surface of Yellowstone National Park. Also in pursuit are the telltale black helicopters of the FBI, but are they friend… or foe? FC • 32 pages • $3.99
The first translated edition for Season 10 is known: it will be in German! The edition will collect the first five issues (128 pages), i.e. the whole of the first story arc, Believers, and is announced for December 2013. This will also be the first collected volume of Season 10 to be published: for the time being, no word yet from IDW on a first trade paperback (TPB) and how many issues it would collect. Previous IDW collections gather 4 issues, Believers is 5 issues, most comics TPBs gather 6 issues. (Thanks to Thomas!)
Edit: Thanks to the super powers of Twitter, we know that the IDW collections will be hardcovers for every 5 issues, with collected “Believers” coming in December 2013. (Thanks to S10 editor Denton J. Tipton!)
Michael Walsh has continued teasing with art from the upcoming issues, with an old lady who will probably be appearing somewhere around issue #4. As per twitter (amazing how much you can find!), he finished #4 on July 12!
So what’s coming after the mythology-filled Believers? menton3 has posted his cover art for issue #6. My take on the title? “Invasion of the Mutant Fluke Men!”
For those interested in numbers, Bleeding Cool announced the comic books sales for June 2013 and issue #1 is barely at number 94 — however consider that it came out late in June (on the 19th), that it exceeded IDW’s expectations as a second printing was necessary, that it’s IDW’s third best-selling title (after My Little Pony!…), and that digital sales are not included (which should be important given that X-philes are a quite international group).
On July 10, IDW also started publishing its “X-Files Classics” in hardcover, which collect the old Topps Comics. Volume 1 collects the first 9 issues of the monthly comic, in my opinion among the best issues of the entire XF comics run, by Stefan Petrucha & Charlie Adlard. More on this later; in the meantime, read more about pre-S10 XF comics on EatTheCorn here!
The other big event is the Mecca of popular culture, crowd madness and consumerist marketing, the 2013 San Diego Comic Con, in which several events celebrate the X-Files’ 20th anniversary and the publication of Season 10!
Los Angeles-based X-Files News has collected all the XF-related events in one nice post here. Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Comic Book Resources, Joe Harris and Chris Ryall (IDW) have also posted. The biggest event is TV Guide’s panel, with the biggest cast & crew reunion since the Paley Festival in 2008 right before the release of I Want To Believe, and as it seems it will be the biggest event related to the 20th anniversary of the series! I still hope FOX will announce in September a BluRay release, but don’t hold your breath about anything related to an X-Files 3. Interesting that Carter will be joining the IDW panel for promoting Season 10, which shows his good faith in the project. Expect a host of SDCC-related news in all pop culture sites this week!
One and a half decade ago (!), June 19 1998, “The X Files Movie“, better known by its main tagline “Fight The Future” premiered in the USA and Canada! (…and only in those countries on that day! That was a time when studios and audiences were less globalized and it felt like film reels had to cross the ocean by steamboat before reaching you. Release dates spread from June 19 to December 5!) Season 5 had just wrapped up, the show was so successful that FOX was willing to abide by the lead’s desire to move production from Vancouver to the more expensive Los Angeles, and Chris Carter was playing the Deep Throat informant with his fans: this was the high point of the show’s life.
Interestingly, 15 years later the same date was chosen for the launch of Season 10 of the X-Files in comics form. The same XF logo variant that was first introduced with Fight The Future is also used for Season 10, instead of the classic “typewriter X” of the show’s opening titles that was used for the Topps comics.
In rememberance, the definition of 1998, the year of Fight The Future, with Noel Gallagher’s Teotihuacan!
A day to celebrate! Let us hope Season 10 will be a worthy extension of the franchise.
For this occasion, X-Files News offers us a short interview with Chris Carter (which was done, apparently, some time in May or earlier in June):
XFN:You said once that Mulder and Scully were the light in dark places. What does it say to you that after 20 years, Mulder and Scully remain in the consciousness of so many people?
CC: “I’m blown away by the show and the character longevity. David and Gillian struck a deep chord with their portrayals.”
XFN: Reminiscing about when this great ride started, we’ve read earlier versions of the pilot that included a character named Agent Drazen. Do you remember what your plans were for this character and why he didn’t make it to the final version that was eventually produced?
CC: “I remember writing that character as a minor foil. He was named after a director. He and Scully’s boyfriend, played by Tim Ransom, didn’t make the cut, though Drazen disappeared before we shot. Something that’s not well-known is at the end of the pilot when Mulder calls Scully and she answers the phone in bed, her boyfriend’s beside her.”
XFN: Thinking back to the first day of filming the Pilot or even the whole shoot in Canada, is there a memory that strikes you about this first episode?
CC: “I have many memories, but the casting of Billy Miles comes to mind. We saw many actors before Zach Ansley came in and nailed it. I also remember how hard it was to stage the abduction sequences, with minimal special effects.”
XFN: When you think of everything that you have accomplished what is the most rewarding moment of your career so far?
CC: “We were honored by the WGA yesterday as one of the 101 best-written TV shows of all time. That is pretty amazing.”
XFN: We miss having a Chris Carter show on TV, what can you tell us about your latest projects?
CC: “I’m working on several different scripts for several different networks. The TV business is very exciting right now.”
XFN: There have been rumors that Fox is planing something for the 20th anniversary of The X-Files, what can you tell us about that?
CC: “I don’t know that Fox is planning anything, but I did hear this week that they’re bringing the series out in HD! Wow.”
XFN: It’s been heard through the grapevine that the show is being remastered to be released on Bluray, just like they’ve done with Star Trek. Is there anything you can tell us about this ambitious project?
CC: “I don’t think you’ll see the series in Bluray, but anything is possible.”
XFN: We’re really excited about the release of fresh stories via the new X-Files comics, but we’re curious, how will they fit between The X-Files: I Want To Believe and what we hope will be XF3? What can you tell us about this new stage?
CC: “The comics will pick up after the end of the second movie. Look out for some surprises, though. And trust no one.”
XFN: The unavoidable question – X-Files 3, When? What? How? The fandom is there, the timing it still there… What is the missing piece to get this project up and running?
CC: “XF3 will happen if the studio wants it to happen, and only then.”
XFN: You attended the Insect Fear Film Festival in February and attended The X-Files screening planned as the closing event for the Hero Complex Film Festival. What do you enjoy about these events and meeting fans of the show after all these years?
CC: “I’m always struck by how generally nice and respectful X-files fans are. It makes it a pleasure to do these events.”
The XFN Quick 6:
Favorite Food? Rufina’s chile rellenos
Favorite Word? Yes
Favorite X-Files Quote? Too many to choose!
Guilty pleasure? Wouldn’t you like to know.
I wish I had invented… A foolproof lie-detector
Dream Job/occupation: To surf one wave as Kelly Slater.
Thanks so much to Mr. Carter for the opportunity, and Mr. Gabe Rotter for your assistance during this interview!
This interview offers several insights.
First, after several rumours, this is the first official declaration that a HD version of the series is being prepared! An HD version would be used for broadcasting in modern TV sets, this is why Carter separates that item from a BluRay release in a somewhat puzzling remark — however once FOX will have an HD version there is no reason whatsoever not to release it in BluRay.
Second, he does tease Season 10 — but this is the only time he has done so, leaving principal writer Joe Harris to do all the promotion. This might also reflect the two creators’ relative contributions to Season 10, meaning that Carter is very little involved in this project beyond very generic indications. Joe Harris has been acknowledging and praising Carter’s contributions in all his interviews, however some of his replies sound like kind attempts to downplay Carter’s importance in the series. Carter’s participation as “executive producer” in Season 10 was/is a big marketing argument on behalf of IDW and is the only argument that makes this effort part of canon. His presence behind the scenes and absence in front might mean that this effort is not very important to him, or that we are witnessing a definitive passing of the torch.
Thirdly, Chris Carter’s characteristic few words and careful choice of words and what that says for Season 10 and a potential X-Files 3. All his answers were one-liners, he didn’t say anything more than the bare necessary and didn’t spend time on this interview more than was necessary. If he wanted to, if he really wanted this Season 10 project to happen, he’d be all over it. He has never been particularly extroverted as a character or internet-savvy, which is fine. But there are plenty of things he could do. In comparison with other creators who nurture their fanbase and know how to communicate and raise interest for a project that is close to their heart (Joss Whedon, Guillermo del Toro, JM Straczynski just to name a few) there’s a world of difference. He’s not particularly vocal on his other projects either. One possible reason for this is because he has become too afraid or weary of being the subject of attention and criticism, too averse to the idea of failure or of lack of acceptance from critics and fans. The hard work he poured in the X-Files and in “I Want To Believe” and the flood of criticism he got with the latter seasons of XF and with IWTB have taken their toll — the fact that he was hospitalized for exhaustion in September 2008 after a summer of promotion of IWTB is telling. He would like to step away from the spotlight, and that is perfectly fine, but he doesn’t seem keen to strongly defend his projects either. Perhaps, after “protecting his territory” by sticking with the X-Files after season 7 (his contract would end) throughout seasons 8 and 9 and all the way to IWTB, he has decided to relinquish some creative control and let the story go where it may. For the past five years, Carter and FOX have been playing ping-pong on whom the responsibility lies for launching the production of an XF3. If this relinquishing of control finally means that Carter is willing to let go of the idea of an XF3 and focus on other things, I’ll follow him on his next projects but I would just like him to be honest with the future of the things he’s created and stop this politically correct game of expectations.
EatTheCorn v2.0 is now active — or rather still a hybrid between the old-school HTML EatTheCorn and a blog-like and comment-friendly EatTheCorn. More than seven years after the launch of EatTheCorn, it was about time!
