4 out of 5

‘Resident Alien’ is one of those concepts – and books – so delightfully simple but unique that once a couple issues have been put down as a proof of concept, you’re sold for life.  As long as Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse keep the heart of this hopefully ongoing series of minis intact, it’s something I could read and reread for quite some time.

‘Suicide Blonde’ comes right on the heels of the previous ‘Welcome to Earth!’ collection, Harry having solved the crime and resting up with a bullet in his leg.  The 0 issue, collecting bits from DHP, reminds us that Harry’s aid, Asta, is aware of the fact that he’s actually an alien, but will choose not to reveal her knowledge to, for now, maintain the status quo.  Meanwhile some dribbles of story are dropped in – the government is aware of something unknown having crashed on Earth some years back and has been keeping its tracking of related news / findings on the backburner; a younger doctor steps in while Harry is on the mend and the latter being the town preference, the good doc agrees to stay on for a while and train the new kid up to speed.  We step into the mini proper with another mystery – a murder or a suicide, an out-of-towner found dead of supposed poisoning with a curiously staged-seeming suicide note.  Harry’s friend and the town’s Mayor, Bert, is on the suspect list… so Harry puts his “skills” to work (i.e. handy alien empathy) to find out the truth, meanwhile discovering more of interest or to appreciate about the human race.

The plotting is much smoother this time, the conclusion not just falling on us by accident but actually requiring Harry’s investigations.  Hogan weaves in some flashes back to our alien’s past as a way of shoring up the hows and whys of his pursuance of this crime, and the scenes are ridiculously humanly grounding with just the right dash of subtext.  His semi-random inclusion of the government’s activities aren’t disruptive, but they do feel rather separate from the story, although they are used to buffer the flashbacks.  But based on the way things conclude, the real reason seems moreso to just set us up for what’s next.  It’s a good way to keep the next story’s plotting tighter, but it also cheapens those scenes a tad.

Parkhouse, meanwhile, is a fucking godsend.  In series one he was already working away some of that… hrm… ‘folksy’ look he gives characters.  Everyone here has a respectable, believable dusting to them; earthy, moving or shambling across the page with perfectly visible acting.  Particularly noteworthy here were the colors: often one figure would get a palette with the rest of the panel / characters done up in one or two shades of a color.  Interestingly, it wouldn’t always be the focus who got the fuller palette, and yet every panel just felt right.  Steve is also of a more classical school of paneling where he understands that you don’t always have to fill up the page – leaving a blank corner to use a five-panel grid can work wonders for pacing.

Some books it takes me a week to get through a couple issues.  Resident Alien I read in a day.  Not for a lack of depth, just ’cause it’s so easy (and so much of a joy) to get into this world.