Resident Alien : The Suicide Blonde #0 reprints material that originally appeared in Dark Horse Presents 18-20, and is the first part of a sequel to last year’s Resident Alien mini-series. The first series details the adventures of an alien (known to his human friends as Harry) that, after his spaceship had crash landed, had sojourned among the human citizens of Patience, U.S.A. and telepathically cloaked himself to appear as one of us. In the A arc of “The Suicide Blonde,” Harry has decided to extend his stay in Patience. As it becomes clear that his duration on Earth would be indefinite, Harry takes the position of town doctor. His skills are not confined to medicine; they also extend to solving crimes, and he is called to assist the local police on a case. In the B arc, Harry’s nurse Asta, aided by her dreams, suspects his true origins, and she is not the only one: federal agents are closing in on Harry.
The talent in this comic is exceptional. Steve Parkhouse is no stranger to drawing extraterrestrial doctors, having had a tenure on the Doctor Who comic book, and Peter Hogan is well known for his work on 2000 AD and Tom Strong. Parkhouse’s line has a bit of Alex Toth’s instincts for adventure art and a little of Gil Kane’s intuition of things both emotional and alien. These pages are an intensely satisfying arrangement that build suspense, as if each panel was a veil gradually lifted from the ultimate reveal that will presumably appear in the fourth issue.
Not that Resident Alien is overly suspenseful or foreboding; the tone has a full range, dipping into comedy. There’s a comical reveal in the zero issue, when the federal agents get a glimpse at the real face of their quarry. Just as they had almost decided that the “E.T. Hypothesis” was bogus, and they were tracking a spy of some sort, ATM photographs of their culprit show Harry as he is, pointy ears and pupil-less eyes and all. And what undermines anything from becoming too serious in Resident Alien is that while everyone else sees Harry as a normal guy, at all times we the readers see him as he is, so that in the most mundane situations depicted there is an alien staring back at us. There’s lots of room for both suspense and humor in this story, as Hogan has served up a feast of contrasts and ambiguity.
Resident Alien: the Suicide Blonde issue #0 is a highly recommended read. It was released in comic book shops on August 14th, and it is also available digitally on the Dark Horse website and mobile app. The first volume, Resident Alien : Welcome to Earth!, is available on Amazon.
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