Resident Alien: Welcome To Earth Review: Columbo Meets Alien Nation

With an earnest and inquisitive writing style and fantastic artwork that captures the variety of emotions conveyed, Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse’s Resident Alien: Welcome to Earth is a wonderful surprise.

Visually striking and written almost like a television sitcom, it’s easily approachable and quick to get you hooked. Simply put, don’t be surprised if this series ultimately finds itself on television or on the big screen.

When alien “Harry” accidently finds himself stuck on Earth, he tries to make a life for himself. Armed with an ability to hide his appearance, he finds a home in seclusion, AKA the small town of “Patience.” After being left alone for nearly three years, the last thing he expected was to become the town doctor. But after the town doctor is mysteriously killed, Harry has to take the job to keep the town from inquiring more about him. Ironically Harry ends up enjoying his time with earthlings and finds a new home. But when a murder mystery rears its ugly head, legs and other appendages, Harry becomes an investigator of sorts.

A damn good one. Almost too good.

Harry’s ability to see through the imperfections of humans is a fair comparision of Hogan’s ability to see into the minds of his readers. The writing style in the trade is silky and smooth. Hogan makes Harry personable and the inhabitants of the small town friendly and inviting. After the first ten or so pages, you’ll be hooked. It’s almost like hanging out with an old friend. With its quick and engaging pace, it feels like an old episode of “Columbo” with splatters of “Dexter” and the cult classic Fox sitcom “Alien Nation.” It’s not usually the case that the outsider in a detective tale is the “good guy,” but Hogan embarks on the non-traditional plot and makes it work by making Harry believable, quirky and not ironically, human.

The same thing can be said for Parkhouse’s visuals. Reminiscent of the “Toxic Avenger” and “Ghost Rider” comics of the early ‘90s, Parkhouse has a style similar to Todd McFarlane and Greg Rucka. The way he captures Harry’s facial expressions is a huge reason for the success in the trade. Regardless of what Harry looks like, he is one of us. He feels and sees things for what they really are though, a trait many humans can and never will have. It’s easy to envy him, but it’s just as easy to feel his plight. He’s an outsider. He wants to go home. Parkhouse’s job of making the weird and unknown somehow relatable is no easy task. He makes it look easy.

Inviting, charismatic and divinely human, “Resident Alien” is one of the best new comics out today.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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