Reading the title “Resident Alien: An Alien in New York” always makes me want to sing that song by Sting: “I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien”… you know the one.
But the comic from Dark Horse is not about Sting, it’s about a stranded alien, who appears to ‘earthlings’ as a doctor. His true appearance is disguised.
These days, the alien character, Harry Vanderspeigle is living in Patience, Washington. Harry and his nurse have been ‘playing amateur detective’, which is, of course, different than ‘playing doctor’. But I digress. Anyway, Harry is finding first nations people are sympathetic to his plight, and he has enlisted their help in pursuing rescue from earth.
Harry is a sympathetic and intelligent alien. We feel for the guy. He’s been stranded on earth for years now, never sure if he will ever get back home. But he’s getting strange phone messages now, calling him back to New York. (and no, it’s not Sting phoning!)
The art and story of Resident Alien are both impressive. Script is by Peter Hogan, with art by Steve Parkhouse, who obviously have their act(s) together. You see, little did I know (until reading it in this issue’s inside front cover synopsis) that this title is in its fifth miniseries. It’s been running with 4 issue miniseries’ since 2013. And kudos to the duo, as I really like this book.
The graphic style is really interesting. It reminds me of Esteban Maroto of the old Warren magazines, with a touch of Sal Buscema of Marvel comics. Mix them in a style blender, and turn up the mystery mood, and you’ve got the general idea of Steve Parkhouse’s work.
This is a fun and fascinating read, and I recommend this title!
Dark Horse Comics, Resident Alien: An Alien in New York, Issue 2 (of 4) $3.99 for 25 pages of content. Not rated.
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Good review, one slight mistake though. Resident Alien has been going since 2012 not 2013. It was actually one of the first series I bought when I started buying comics rather than just trades. I picked up both issues 0 and 1 of the first series on the 10th June 2012.
Darren, thanks for reading my review, and thanks for your comment!
I really enjoy reading Resident Alien, but know little about the character, so I looked up the title on Wikipedia. That’s where I got the date of 2013.
Thanks for setting me straight on that. Happy reading!!