Great shows never die; they just jump to Netflix and Hulu. Anyone who wants to relive nine seasons of The X-Files need only subscribe to a streaming video service. So how does the show hold up after all these years?Veteran webcomicker Shaenon Garrity decided to dive into an X-Files rewatch with her pens and pencils in hand. In Monster of the Week, she recaps the supernatural adventures of Agents Mulder and Scully, with all of the alien obsession, small-town weirdos, and dubious detective work that goes with it.
Garrity is someone who knows her monsters and mad scientists. She's the creator of the long-running and now completed webcomic Narbonic, as well as co-creator of the ongoing Skin Horse. Monster of the Week is a side project, but a particularly fun one. Garrity starts from the series pilot and charges on from there, tackling those early X-Files episodes with a clear sense of affection. Yes, she addresses the Mulder as believer/Scully as skeptic dynamic, but she also pokes fun at the nonsensical plot devices, imagines what exactly is going through the redshirts...I mean guest stars' heads, and asks the question, "Why doesn't Scully just shoot stuff in every episode?"
Scully is the clear hero of these comics. She's the straight woman for all of the series' weirdness and Mulder's tendency to act like a hyperactive teenager. She's also effortlessly cool, and as quick with a jibe or a harried sigh as any of Garrity's own characters. She's Scully askew, and I wouldn't mind watching a few full-length, alternate universe X-Files episodes rewritten as a dramedy in Garrity's style.
And what if the episode is just too terrible to recap? Garrity threw out the entire Jersey Devil episode in favor of Batman fighting a Jersey Devil. Because, why not?
[Monster of the Week]
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