We’ve got a peek inside the military industrial complex this week at Triple Shot.

Mara and Harbinger books both show the importance of a best laid plan while we marvel at the return of X-Files: Season 10 and a Pentagon break-in that could doom Mulder and Scully.

THE X-FILES #1
WRITER: Joe Harris
ART: Michael Walsh
COLOR: Jordie Bellaire
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Chris Carter
Publication Date: June 19, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: IDW Publishing
UPC: 82771400475500111
Buy it HERE

What better way to revisit the X-Files than in comic book form?

Do you want to believe in good comics?

IDW has teamed up with Executive Producer Chris Carter to tell new tales of Mulder and Scully set in the present day.

FBI Deputy Director Skinner pays a visit to the home of Mr. and Dr. Blake—the pseudonyms of Mulder and Scully in the Witness Protection Program or new identities formed after they were last seen in X-Files: I Want to Believe.

Skinner warns the couple that FBI archives and personnel have been compromised, including the X-Files. Scully is concerned about the safety of her son, William, who was put up for adoption in case his records were also compromised.

Mulder, struggling to work on his memoir gets a call from Skinner’s hotel room, eking out that he is in danger there. Mulder heads to rescue him, leaving Scully vulnerable to a similar attack by hooded mystery men and women. With Scully away from the boys will she also get to make a plea for help, or will she succumb to the attack by the young girl patient she was treating earlier?

This book captures the voice of the show and the actors and is setting us up for a great mystery. Are the people who adopted Scully’s son William responsible for the attacks? Michael Walsh’s art reminds us of Chris Samnee or the work Antonio Fuso is doing on G.I. Joe: Cobra Files, a simplified but sophisticated line with good storytelling.

This book is highly recommended for fans of the show!

HARBINGER #13
WRITER: Joshua Dysart
ART: Khari Evans & Trevor Hairsine
Publication Date: June 19, 2013
Price: $3.99
Publisher: Valiant Comics
UPC: 85899200304801321
Buy it HERE

The Harbinger Wars continue in this, the first crossover event for the new Valiant Universe.

Psiot Peter Stanchek leads fellow teenage super powered kids in the fight against master Toyo Harada, head of The Harbinger foundation.

This issue leads the fight to Vegas for big action, as well as a trip down Harada’s past to his first Harbinger War in 1969 at Project Rising Spirit R & D Headquarters in flashbacks.

Peter and his crew lay a well thought out plan to attacking the oncoming Bloodshot and rescue the kids under Bloodshot’s watch. What they don’t plan on is that the kids aren’t exactly looking to be rescued and that Bloodshot is way more powerful than they can imagine. The man/machine has more firepower than the five Harbingers combined, they barely slow him down.

This Harbinger Wars tie-in was action packed and we get to see how all of these teams and powered beings deal interact with each other in the Valiant Universe. While not a fan of huge crossovers in the Big Two books, the clarity of focus for these stories in a much smaller universe makes for compelling storytelling.

MARA #5 (of 6)
WRITER: Brian Wood
ARTIST: Ming Doyle
COLOR: Jordie Bellaire
Publication Date: June 19, 2013
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Image Comics
Buy it HERE

Mara Prince is the ultimate sports hero, or rather was until her secret superpowers started to manifest themselves in front of a global audience.

She has since rejected moves made on her by the military to be the ultimate weapon.

In the penultimate issue of this acclaimed mini-series the stakes are higher.

The military has her brother detained for the crime of being her brother and is tested with violence to see if he can withstand the same punishment that is superpowered sister can (he cannot, he has not manifested any powers).

What we see here in this issue is an increasingly used psychological theme in comics with a nigh-invulnerable lead character (powers like Superman for example). Seen in The Mighty(Tomasi/Samnee/Snejbjerg) and Irredemable (Waid/Krause/Barreto) are tales of heroes being callous with their powers or more simply turning from good to bad. It is hinted that Mara’s story could end similarly or that we will be surprised at Mara’s actions in the conclusion of the story.

Wood and Doyle have created a strong female lead here not typical of the genre and we look forward to the end of this story to be able to recommend the trade to our friends. There is no doubt that no matter what the outcome of issue 5 will be, this story will sell well in trade on art alone.

[READ MORE at FORCES OF GEEK]