Chris KnowlesReseñas

occult and mythological origins of comic book characters

The Complete X-Files: Revised and Updated Edition by Chris Knowles, Matt Hurwitz, Frank Spotnitz (Foreword) is the authorized "debriefing" of the series to include this summer's season 10. Having an advance e-copy of the book I did not have access to high-quality photos or information past season six.

The X-Files can be traced back to Darren McGavin's Kolchak: The Night Stalker. A supernatural show I enjoyed as a child. However, nothing since the Rockford Files has caught my attention like the X-Files. It was a show I waited for every week and even watched the returns hoping to catch something I might have missed in the original run. It is also the only television series I bought on DVD and I have watched it over and over again. I have even read a few X-Files novels.

The Complete X-Files is filled with photographs of from behind the scenes of the cast and support. Each episode gets at least a short paragraph as a synopsis or a back story. A few had what was new information to me like in the episode called "Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man". Frohike was originally supposed to die while in the Cigarette Smoking Man's gun sight. The bits and pieces on episodes are interesting. Some the background on the making of the episode or how well the episode fared. "Home" starring the Peacock family was barred from re-airing because it was so disturbing. Entertainment Weekly gave the "The Field Where I Died" an "F" despite the outstanding acting of Kristen Cloke.

The Complete X-Files will give the reader an inside pictorial look at the series as well background on the show, the actors, the writers, and Chris Carter. This will make a nice coffee table book for any X-Files fan as well as a quick reference guide. Nicely done and will serve any fan well.

THE COMPLETE X-FILES (Revised and updated edition) by Chris Knowles and Matt Hurwitz is a comprehensive history of the X-files show, from its influences and origins all the way up to 2016 revival of the show. Lots of pictures and unique stories provide a great book for the X-files fan and those wanting to learn more about the TV series.
Knowles and Hurwitz walk the readers through the beginnings of the show, with some stories and insights I've never heard before. They were able to do extensive interviews with the actors, directors, writers, and producers to paint the picture of what it is like working not just on a TV show, but on such a unique one as the X-Files. As the book walks through the seasons, some episodes get a glancing look, while others are really delved into, either because it is now considered on of the best episodes of X-Files ever, or it carries a lot of weight in the grand scheme of what the X-Files are and what they meant to the entertainment world. I also enjoyed reading about all of the guest stars and they were even some anecdotal stories from them that made me laugh.
I can't say that someone who dislikes the X-files would enjoy this book, but even if someone has a minor interest, this book is a lot of fun.
Thank you to Insight Editions, Chris Knowles and Matt Hurwitz, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The first half of the book attempts to link ancient religious rites with the modern day music arena. The book does exemplify how the power of myth has been transferred to human figures, like movie and rock stars. But, the myths used to support the idea weren't common or wide-spread and were, occasionally, taken out of context while disregarding a substantial portion of the myths surrounding the rites or religious figures.

The author uses the phrase "renegade scholars" (page 33) to describe scholars trying to interpret ancient art as drug symbolism. The phrase stuck out as an apt description for this book.

The second half of the book reads like an encyclopedia of artist biographies, arranged by archetype - earth mothers, witchy women, princes of darkness, and so forth. I admit, I skimmed through them; they just couldn't hold my attention.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Very cool book with lots of behind-the-scenes pictures and stories from both the cast and crew spanning all nine season and both films. The only problem is that there are some minor grammatical errors that were missed by the editors but its worth getting. There is a new revised edition coming out soon.

Full review located at http://paganbookreviews.com/2008/12/22/our-gods-wear-spandex-by-christopher-know...

Not the right time for this one.

I picked up this book thinking it would be a fun and thorough examination of comics as a modern telling of religion and all the things that come along with it (mythology, mysticism, occultism, etc). It does all of that, but I think the book fell just a little short of what I was hoping for.

It opens with a detailed history of religion and mythology, and how it gave rise to occultism and mysticism. Then it follows that into the involvement of literary figures (Poe, Lovecraft, Doyle, etc.) which then creates the pulps and then eventually comics. It's a solid evolution, but it suffers greatly in its segregation of topics. The first half of the book is all about religion, with very little to do about comics. The middle is about literature and social trends, and then it picks up about comics, with little to do with religion -- certainly not enough to make a solid argument.

I think the author is 100% right in his claims. I just think they suffer in this book from being separated and isolated from one another. It seems like he felt he had to give us the background on religion first, and then show us how comics have translated it. A better outline, I think, would have been to jump right into the history of comics, told chronologically and pulling aside at times to expand on how the characters represent religious aspects.

By separating them as he's done, the author separates also characters from religion and defeats his whole purpose. At times, it felt like I was reading two, and sometimes even three, different books.

In all, I think the author almost nails it. It's a great book with great analysis and revealing comparisons. It's only fault is that it fails to combine the two aspects of comics and religion at once, choosing instead a "this and that" format.