While the USA/SyFy Channel Resident Alien just aired the final episode a few weeks ago, the gods of corporate synergy demand something to get people into comic shops, hence the release of Resident Alien: The Book of Changes. Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse’s long-running series starring Harry, an alien who crash landed on Earth and now moonlights as a retired doctor, has covered a lot of narrative ground, so naturally they wouldn’t all be translated to the streaming screen. As someone who watched the show and only had a read the initial run, I was expecting something different from with the source material, especially considering how much of it there is. But not even I would have been prepared for the fact that in this ninth miniseries, Harry and Asta are new parents.
Wait, what?
Yes, this is a far cry from the Resident Alien that was portrayed by Alan Tudyk on TV screens the past few years, but even with the source material whiplash, there was enough to latch onto with Hogan and Parkhouse’s story. Harry, now fully immersed in life as a doctor in Patience, is preparing for the arrival of more members of his race who are coming to inspect the new addition to the family, Clover. With the child’s status as an alien/human hybrid, the rules regarding Earth and the planets that make up the Circle of Worlds change: Earth will now be protected by the Circle, and depending on how the alien reports on our planet go, may even be granted full membership as well. Harry also sees these new arrivals as a way to help him with the government agents that have been trailing him since he first crash landed on Earth years ago.
Even without the proper background context, I was still able to lock into what Peter Hogan’s drive for this new miniseries is aiming for. Hogan’s script balances charming small town life and family worry with larger extraterrestrial issues like joining planets together in ways that work a lot more than they should. Getting this new angle on Harry’s character is very interesting, even if it’s a far cry from what I knew of him based on the show. While I’m still a little unsure as to what members of the community are aware of Harry’s true heritage and what ones are not, Hogan’s script doesn’t waste time in getting to the true drive of the story, and has a breezy, laid back feel. There’s also some great dialogue from the new aliens and their interactions with Earth, especially when they get the chance to try out hamburgers.
Steve Parkhouse’s art adds a very dynamic twist to the small town setting as well. The juxtaposition between Harry and his alien “relatives” against every day things like a living room couch or chomping on a burger adds a layer of weirdness to the issue, making for an amusingly jarring experience. His art works best when it’s trying to be moody and spooky, like when Harry is meeting up with the aliens outside, which is probably the high point of the issue. Parkhouse’s facial work is excellent, with faces so believable that I was honestly kind of shocked by how effective they were. The alien designs aren’t that much different from the classic “grey alien” look, but that simple and well-known design is tweaked just enough here to make it Parkhouse’s own. While it’s always a little strange to go into the source material after seeing the characters done in another medium, I’m glad that Parkhouse didn’t try to make the characters match their live-action counterparts here, as that would really diminish the impact of the art on the story.
It’s clear that Hogan, Parkhouse, and Dark Horse are expecting a lot of people who watched Resident Alien to pick this up. From the “As Seen On USA” blurb on the front cover to the (actually very helpful) “previously on” first page, Book of Changes is definitely being marketed as a “you’ve seen the show, now read the comic” type of series. While I’m not entirely sure this is as new-reader friendly as the creatives intend it to be, I was surprised at how easily I was able to follow along with this storyline and am genuinely considering grabbing the collected editions to see how Harry and Asta got to this point. So while it may be a while until I get to the next installment of Book of Changes, I’ll at least be extending my time with Harry, just in a different form.
