On the menu: Season 10 progress, covers, teaser art, scripts, Lone Gunmen madness, Joe Harris interview, Michael Walsh inkings and Season 10 reviews.

The solicitations for IDW for January 2014 are out: “Hosts” is followed by #8, a single issue story titled “For the Benefit of Mr. X“.

The X-Files: Season 10 #8
Joe Harris (w) • Michael Walsh (a) • Carlos Valenzuela (c)
With hints of a new conspiracy bubbling to the surface, and whispers of a new “Syndicate” organization in the wings, a secret from the past poses a threat that only Agents Mulder and Scully can tackle. But what does the former fixit man—and long-deceased informant—named “X” have to do with it?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99
Ask your retailer about the Georges Jeanty (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) cover!
A special standalone story revealing secrets of the long-dead informant known as X!
Series artist, Michael Walsh, returns!

The covers by Carlos Valenzuela continue to impress:

This all sounds exciting! Season 10 continues to play a lot on nostalgia, bringing back more beloved characters — but at least for this one he is unambiguously announced as “long-dead”. Flashbacks could be involved.

Indeed, when X-Files News interviewed writer Joe Harris, he said:

I also look for little hooks and opportunities to tie something I’m writing, today, into the past a bit… […] In an upcoming story, we take some cues from the incident detailed by Deep Throat in “The Erlenmeyer Flask” involving children in a “southern state” being exposed to Purity. And I am absolutely—almost obsessively—determined to dramatize Mulder’s trip to a DC-area headshop to buy the “I Want to Believe” poster, as described in “Chinga,” in a flashback that’s also important to whatever we’re doing, presently, that month in the series.

And so it’s not impossible that Season 10 might flow on its own pace, mixing flashback stories or scenes with Monster-of-the-Week stories, new characters and new mytharc developments. With Mr. X, #8 might be one of those flashback issues.

Other quotes from that interesting interview:

“Believers” allowed us to bring back a lot of the characters, with some new baggage and mysteries in tow. The next short arc, “Hosts” brings us the return, and sheds some light on the origins of, Flukeman, and that’s been a lot of fun as that was always my own friends’ favorite episode from those early days. And I’m really excited to start rolling out the next big mythology arc later this year, which will bring back more classic X-Files concepts, elements and characters while pushing the overall mythology, and emerging neo-conspiracy, to some new places.

But I think I’m most excited about the new stuff we’re doing. The new monsters and mysteries. Some new characters we’ll be introducing. We need to make all of this stuff work in concert, so we’re mining the past in the right ways, and pushing things forward too.

What I want for fans to take away from this series is a feeling that we both delivered that old-timey feeling which was just retro enough to feel comfortable and classic, but also aspired to something on its own. One thing I really love about this book is how it doesn’t look like most might expect a licensed comic book to look. There aren’t any super photo-referenced likenesses, rather, there are interpretations which are as faithful as the dedicated hand will draw them, while offering our own spin. We aspire for this series to add its own chapter to the mythos, and to be its own thing while hitting the right notes along to way to keep it connected. I think of Michael, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and I as having our own band and doing our own thing, as well as carrying the mantle of what’s come before.

What is more surprising is all the Lone Gunmen craziness that accompanied that January 2014 solicitations announcement! More below.

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