Review - Resident Alien; The Suicide Blonde #1Review by Paul Fiander
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Writer; Peter Hogan
Artist; Steve Parkhouse |
Resident Alien; The Suicide Blonde is a three part series. Part one was released on September the 11th 2013.
Peter Hogan brings back one of the most interestingly titled comics of recent times, a clever play on words resident alien has a secret meaning which nicely gives you an idea what to expect. Firstly our main character is masquerading as a semi-retired doctor hence one meaning of resident. The alien part is because Dr Vanderspeigle is actually an alien with the ability to cloak his appearance from most earthlings (there are some exceptions but I’ll let you find out which).
This is actually the second run for resident alien and I have not read the first so I’m coming into this issue absolutely cold. It’s a good chance to see if newcomers can jump into Hogan’s creation. The subtle genius of the storytelling is that they can. This is a new self contained story, so you do not really need to know the history. Even the blurb at the front is very short about 8 lines, but in those sentences you feel you understand the story enough to jump straight in.
The artwork within the issue helps draw you into a story devoid of any action. A great example of what to expect is in the second panel of the issue as we see a blonde woman with the residue of vomit coming out of her mouth laying on a bed having seemingly committed suicide. This image has a strong flavour and uses a sparing amount of colour to help draw your attention to the central part of the panel. It feels like the artist is leaving cookie crumbs for you to follow but not forcing you to follow the path. In this I think Steve Parkhouse has done a great job, another example is the art showing the fair doctor. He is depicted to the reader in his true form so you can always locate him in the panel, its a simple idea but is really effective.
The story itself is a dual investigation one for the aforementioned Suicide Blonde and the second is an investigation for our resident Alien. It works as a great set up for the issues to come as most of us cannot bear to leave a mystery unsolved. I for one will be checking out the remaining two issues and reporting on them here.
This is actually the second run for resident alien and I have not read the first so I’m coming into this issue absolutely cold. It’s a good chance to see if newcomers can jump into Hogan’s creation. The subtle genius of the storytelling is that they can. This is a new self contained story, so you do not really need to know the history. Even the blurb at the front is very short about 8 lines, but in those sentences you feel you understand the story enough to jump straight in.
The artwork within the issue helps draw you into a story devoid of any action. A great example of what to expect is in the second panel of the issue as we see a blonde woman with the residue of vomit coming out of her mouth laying on a bed having seemingly committed suicide. This image has a strong flavour and uses a sparing amount of colour to help draw your attention to the central part of the panel. It feels like the artist is leaving cookie crumbs for you to follow but not forcing you to follow the path. In this I think Steve Parkhouse has done a great job, another example is the art showing the fair doctor. He is depicted to the reader in his true form so you can always locate him in the panel, its a simple idea but is really effective.
The story itself is a dual investigation one for the aforementioned Suicide Blonde and the second is an investigation for our resident Alien. It works as a great set up for the issues to come as most of us cannot bear to leave a mystery unsolved. I for one will be checking out the remaining two issues and reporting on them here.
The Comic is available in both print and digital from Dark Horse comics. Follow this link for more details.
Images courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
Comic - Provided by Publisher
Comic - Provided by Publisher
