[Edit: This page refers to the X-Files comics published up to 2008. For the newer comics published by IDW since 2013, see Season 10 and onwards.]

The X-Files comics are something of a semi-canon merchandise, occasionally rising at a much higher quality than what would be expected by a common tie-in product in both artwork and storyline, and occasionally being nothing more than that.

X-Files comics started being published during the peak of the show’s popularity in 1995 by Topps comics. Nobody from the creative team of Ten Thirteen participated in their writing or production, although all comics were green-lit by Ten Thirteen. The monthly magazine (41 issues) was published from winter 1995 to summer 1998, i.e. from the middle of season 2 to right before the launch of season 6 of the show.

This is the “classic” X-Files comic, with Miran Kim’s masterful and iconic covers, a combination of single, double and triple-issue stories, the “Deep Postage” column of information of all things X-Files and fan mail, and an announcement of the next issue. The comics had to be approved by Ten Thirteen productions, who had the final word on all X-Files-related merchandise. The series was essentially handled by two teams of writers/artists, Petrucha/Adlard (#1-16, art sample left) and Rozum/Saviuk (#30-41, art sample below), or combinations (Adlard stayed till #29), along with contributions by Purcell (#17-29) and a few others. The beginning of the series is memorable for a series of issues with interconnected stories coming together at the last issue (#1-12, my personal favourites), with Petrucha creating his own conspiracy to feature in the comics, as the Syndicate storyline of the TV series was something to be developed exclusively on TV. Petrucha complained that the relation with Ten Thirteen was a strenuous one, their approval process being too long and painstakingly strict. After some great scripts with meticulous research and literacy, Petrucha left (#16) and was replaced by Rozum; Adlard, with his particular but fittingly dark style, followed him later (#29). As the series progressed, Saviuk & Magyar’s depiction of Mulder & Scully got better (and followed the changes in Scully’s hairstyle), as was Rozum’s (more Mulderisms and Scullyisms). In Rozum’s scripts, it was obvious that the 22 pages of a single issue were too few to make up a satisfying story, as the double and triple-issue stories were the most memorable; themes related to the environment and to man’s or scientists’ misuse of nature were most recurrent. There were hints at an attempt at building a continuing story, with #27-29 obviously setting up characters that could have made a comeback, #39 reusing characters and stroylines from #30-31, and references to events in past issues and past TV episodes in the dialogue. However, the series ended suddenly with #41, which did not feature an announcement of next issue’s contents.

Parallel to that, several special comics were produced by Topps (2 mini-comics and 6 issues), along with one graphic novel and an adaptation of the 1996 Kevin J. Anderson novel Ground Zero (4 issues). Some mini-comics were produced for the short-lived first run of the X-Files Magazine by Topps (2 issues) in 1996. The same team of writers and artists worked here, with some occasional guest artists weighing in.

Most, if not all, of these Topps comics were republished or translated in several languages during the show’s peak, either in the same or near-same format as the US magazine (story with fan mail, accompanying article on the series’ themes) or incorporated as part of a larger X-Files magazine: UK, France, Germany, Greece, …

During season 5 and the build-up to Fight the Future (1997-1998), several season 1 episodes were adapted in comic form (9 issues), with the Pilot being released as a test issue a year before. This series served as a kind of artists showcase, with a single writer doing the episode adaptations and 4 artists doing the artwork. The series stopped suddenly, with several issues that had been planned that were not published.

A graphic novel of Fight the Future, combining prose by Rozum and gloriously dark illustrations by John Van Fleet, was also published.

The longer-run X-Files Official Magazine by MVP (1996-2001, 18 issues) featured no comics.

To coincide with the airing of the Lone Gunmen series (2001), a comic was produced (along with a mini-comic strip).

Ten years after the last comics, in the wake of the release of I Want To Believe (2008), Wildstorm published a new series of comics (7 issues). Frank Spotnitz participated in the writing 3 issues; a two-issue story, the most interesting of this series, even included references to Roush Technologies, part of X-Files’ mythology (see 5X03: Redux II and 6X01: The Beginning). Spotnitz promis ed more comics would come, but nothing came out of it.

In 2010, DC Comics published a cross-over between “The X-Files” and “30 Days of Night” (6 issues), a horrible mix of gore and more gore.

No comics based on Millennium or Harsh Realm have been produced.

Special appearances

• Skinner: Topps #1, 3, 36; TS15
• CSM: Topps #1, 3, 17
• The Lone Gunmen: Topps #3, 13; LG1, LG2
• X: Topps #13
• Senator Matheson: #27

Resources

• The X-Files Comics Checklist
• The X-Files Cover Checklist
• The X-Files on ComicVine
• Great reviews of Topps #1-12

Full list of published XF comics:

Total issues: 80 (+1 strip)
Total stories: 56 (+1 strip; 46 original)
Total pages: 2447

The Team: Topps Comics (Monthly series, Specials, Season One)

Dwight Jon Zimmerman, executive editor	Jim Salicrup, editor in chief
Renee Witterstaetter, editor	Miran Kim, cover artist
Stefan Petrucha, writer	John Rozum, writer
Kevin J. Anderson, writer	Roy Thomas, writer
Charles Adlard, artist [penciler & inker]	Alex Saviuk, artist [penciler]
Gordon Purcell, artist [penciler]	Josef Rubinstein, artist [inker]
George Freeman, colorist	John Workman, letterer
? Rick Magyar, artist [inker]	? Ted Boonthanakit, artist
Angelo Torres, artist	Claude St. Aubin, artist
Armando Gil, artist	Jill Thompson, artist
? Larry Mahlstedt, artist	John Van Fleet, artist
Val Mayerik, artist	? Sean Scoffield, artist

The Team: The Lone Gunmen

Jane Espenson, writer

? Paul Lee, artist

The Team: Wildstorm

Frank Spotnitz, writer	Marv Wolfman, writer
Doug Moench, writer	Brian Denham, artist

The Team: DC Comics (XF/30 Days of Night)

Steve Niles, writer	Adam Jones, writer
Tom Mandrake, artist