Who are the Men in Black? What really happened at Hangar 51? Writer Gale Roanoake teams up with aerospace illustrator and comics artist E. Silas Smith to explore these and other questions in a deluxe boxed set of fifty trading cards. Roanaoke has thoroughly researched accounts of U.F.O.s throughout history, and has developed what may be the definitive roundup of sightings, types of space ships, and personalities associated with "flying saucers." Each card focuses on a different aspect of the U.F.O. phenomenon, and Roanoake's commentary is beautifully complemented by Smith's painted illustrations.

Smith, whose background in aerospace and technical illustration lent itself ideally to this detail-intense project, came away from it with a different perspective than when he began the work. "After completing the research for this U.F.O. project, I was left with more questions than answers. Perhaps the search for other life in the universe is a search for our own beginnings," he commented.

"These cards are the most precise interpertations of one of our greatest mysteries I could have imagined," project coordinator David Scroggy remarked, "and I now realize why the creators had us electronically tranfer their payments to an e-mail address on Alpha-Centauri. They said they were just on a research trip to photograph reference, but now I think they actually live there!"

The deluxe U.F.O. trading-card set will be invading comics shops January 7 for $14.95. The set will also be available as an uncut sheet for $19.95.