The Lone Gunmen are back. And issue  #1 of The X-Files Conspiracy make us hope they stick around for a while.

Here’s the official word from IDW:

The event of the year begins here! When The Lone Gunmen discover Internet files from future, they learn that a plague will soon wipe out most of humanity. With Agents Mulder and Scully working one lead, the Gunmen must spring into action and investigate several urban legends: a group of ghost-hunters, mutant turtles that live in the sewers, shape-changing alien robots, and a vengeful spirit from beyond the grave!

At various times during the the long history of the X-Files franchise there’s been several attempts to give the Lone Gunmen a chance to stand on their own. And while some of these attempts have been decent, most have only served to please a certain subset of the diehard fan — a particular viewer (or reader) who delights in getting equal doses of camp with their creepiness. For those of us who like the Lone Gunman, but have never made the leap to actually loving them, issue #1 of The X-Files Conspiracy might go a long way in turning the tide. Much of the credit for this feat goes to Paul Crilley who’s penned a script that’s creepy, mysterious and (unexpectedly) philosophical — time travel tends to do the later. With the creepy quotient cranked up super high in this premise, the brilliant but fumbling antics of the Lone Gunman takes on a more textured feel, which is to say they feel like real characters and not walking gag lines. Weather this balance will hold is yet to be seen, and will, I feel, depend a lot on the coming crossover that’s hinted at in these pages.

John Stanisci offers the art here — a rich style with texture and nuance. This X-Files reboot has thus far relied heavily on artists with a super washed out styles so it’s nice to see a different interpretation in these pages. The one place where Stanisci struggles tremendously is with the rending of Scully. He nails Mulder, but Scully looks like some random red-head along for the ride. It’s hard to blame him; creating facsimiles of real people must he the worst part of this particular gig.

The X-Files Conspiracy #1 offers a great read, hitting many of the notes you’d hope for when it comes to anything featuring the Lone Gunmen: humor, mystery, and eeriness. But the real accomplishment so far is that it comes in equal doses.

4/5