The Good

I like this story, and I truly liked the science fiction meets murder mystery story going on here. Dr Vanderspeigle (the alien) has some great interactions with the people within this town. This is more of a talking head book than anything else, but it's extremely satisfying on that level.

His powers come into play during this issue as he tries to find out who killed Mr Hodges. He can sense other people's emotions and he uses this during a funeral scene to see if he can find the killer. On top of that, he can mask his true form from people. I'm still not sure, even after reading this who knows he's an alien and who doesn't. It seems know one in this issue knows.

It's a great slice-of-life comic that focuses on people's place in life and how they interact with each other. I think the art fits incredibly well with the story. The art tells the story and the words bring you along for the ride.

The Bad

On the first page, of the first issue, you are thrusted into a world and story and there's an editor's note that says, and I quote, "Nope. Our story doesn't begin here. You need to read Resident Alien #0 before reading this." Huh? I thought this was the first issue. Why call this issue number one if it isn't issue number one? Many books have done an issue zero in the past, but they weren't necessary reads. Issue 0 of R.A. seems to be. Frankly, that's ridiculous and insanely frustrating for any person picking this book up for the first time. For a person that just picked this up off the shelf, thinking it's a number one issue, how are they supposed to know there's a zero issue? Let's call this what it truly is then, issue two of Resident Alien.

This was my only problem with this book. Resident Alien is utterly confusing without that opening paragraph on so many levels, even though it's the first issue. You NEED the zero issue to read this.

The Verdict

In my years of reading, this is the most frustrating single issue I've read because it says it's the first issue of a series, and it's not. It' took me a couple read-thrus to understand fully what was going on, but you have to read issue zero to get a full scope what is going on here. This was my biggest complaint about the book and it really hurt my enjoyment in reading this book.

On the plus side, this is a great story that focuses on people's lives and how an alien adapts to their world as he solves a crime. The art and story work incredibly well together, and it truly is a great read front to back.

Overall, I recommend this issue, but only if you read the first issue. It is a fantastic issue, but the fact this should be the second issue of the book, not the first, really frustrated me as I read through it. Pick up issue zero first!