The brand new comic series Resident Alien launches today with Issue #0, a collection of the pages featured in Dark Horse Presents. We chatted with writer Peter Hogan about his new comic and what unique quirks it brings to the comics world.
Dark Horse Comics: What do you think Resident Alien brings to comics that you haven’t yet seen?
I think you get interesting sparks when you rub two genres together like this—and hopefully there are enough different intriguing aspects to the story and the various characters to keep the readers turning the pages.
DHC: The comic is a really wonderful mystery investigated by a man that just so happens to be an alien in disguise. What do you think that dynamic brings to the story?
It makes him the ultimate outsider, and outsiders by definition make good observers. The fact that Harry has more sensitivity than a regular human being—he receives more information, if you like—means that it’s a little bit like sticking a god in a small town. Most people are pretty transparent to him…but he’s also fallible. Sometimes he gets it wrong.
DHC: There’s a lot of heart in Resident Alien, much of it coming from a nonhuman. Do you find that dichotomy interesting?
That kind of ties in to the last question. The fact that Harry reacts to people with compassion automatically makes him likable, I think. We see a lot of human frailty in our cast of characters, but hopefully that only makes them seem more real. It might be Harry’s story, but the supporting cast here all really matter too.
DHC: How closely do you two work together to shape the story?
Steve provided the initial impetus, in that he wanted to work on something involving an alien, and this is the story that I eventually came up with. Beyond that it’s largely been a case of me winging it and Steve encouraging me, though I’m sure he’s also probably told me which aspects of it he’s really liked, and I’ve probably developed them more because of that.
DHC: Did any part of working on this comic’s story, art, or theme surprise you once you had finished it?
Oh, all of it. What you’re always aiming for is to make the story ring true, and that’s especially important when you’re offering up something fantastical like an alien—you just want to make it all seem believable. But however much you plan things out, really odd stuff comes out of nowhere to surprise you, because your subconscious has its own agenda. I called the town Patience simply because I like all those town names like Harmony and Providence—they’ve just got a kind of ring to them. It was only later that it occurred to me that, well, he’s the doctor, and so the whole town are his patients…
Powernapping.
THANK YOU, Peter Hogan!