SAUCER COUNTRY #1

SAUCER COUNTRY #1 by Linsay @softlyspokenlas

March 25, 2012, 12:43 pm
Filed under: Comic Reviews, Vertigo Comics | Tags: PaulCornell, ryankelly, saucercountry, Vertigo, xfiles

Do you regularly find yourself lost in 50 minutes of bliss after stumbling upon an X-Files repeat midweek? Like well articulated team books with strong female characters a la Peter David’s X-Factor? If yes, then take a look at Vertigo’s brand new ongoing book Saucer Country. Written by Paul Cornell, pencils and inks from Ryan Kelly and colours by Guilia Brusco the book has arrived with a huge amount on fanfare from a somewhat marginalised looking Vertigo.

I’ll admit to getting caught up in a fair bit of the hype and looking forward to the books release date, although probably not for the same reasons as most. I was a huge X-Files fan, and after the success of the 30 Days/ X-Files crossover and the delivery failure of Xenoholics I have a serious need for some kind of witty supernatural conspiracy driven governmental drama comic. Shit, I’m almost out of adjectives.

After Cornell’s underwhelming stint on StormWatch and confusing and rubbishy take on the character in Demon Knights I was more than curious to see how he would execute this interesting and seemingly original premise. I’m not a fan of Doctor Who either, so this is a completely unbiased review.

After the first read Saucer Country comes off as an interesting comic which promises multiple sup plots to keep the reader interested in both plot and character development. Its a little more ‘West Wing’ than X-Files than I thought it would be which makes for an interesting standpoint through which to view a possible conspiracy.

Arcadia Alvarado is a female, divorced Hispanic Governor of New Mexico who plans to run for President. We’re shown multiple facets of her personality and enough of both her personal and professional life to get interested in her, and more importantly, get behind her when the trouble starts to show. There are some interesting looking support characters too, that if utilised to their full potential should see the book improve in leaps and bounds.

Art wise things are essentially functional. The page layouts are quite cluttered at times and I can only assume this is down to the creative team trying to cram in as much as possible. There are some nice tonal touches in the colouring that bring out the changing mood of the story very well.

Overall this is a cool comic book that has got me interested enough to ensure I get issue two. I think a more distinct and stylised approach to the art work, as well as streamlining a few pages would have helped this first issue do better.

6/10

Also make sure to check out our recent interview Paul when we caught up with him at this year’s London Super Comic Con.

Linsay @softlyspokenlas

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