Resident Alien is an American comic book series created by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse. The series was published by Dark Horse Comics in five installments of four-issue miniseries, followed by a six-issue miniseries, from 2012 to 2021. A seventh miniseries will be published in late 2022.
The story is about an alien who crash lands on Earth, then poses as a doctor while he awaits a rescue. He is pursued by a government agency and passes his time solving murders and other mysteries. The series has received positive reviews from critics, particularly for Parkhouse's ability to draw expressions.
A television adaptation for Syfy starring Alan Tudyk premiered on January 27, 2021.
Publication history
Development
Parkhouse and Hogan had previously collaborated on five issues of The Dreaming for Vertigo comics in 1999, and Hogan had been wanting to collaborate again. When Hogan asked Parkhouse what kind of project he would like to do, Parkhouse suggested something with an alien. The two worked closely on the broader aspects of the plot, but Hogan developed most of the story. Dark Horse Publisher Mike Richardson provided editorial input that helped Hogan and Parkhouse find the right tone for the narrative.
Hogan felt the depiction of "aliens as monsters or invaders had become stale" and wanted to bring a "sympathetic attitude to a nonhuman character". He also wanted to mix the science fiction and mystery genres to get some "interesting sparks". He drew inspiration from Twin Peaks, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and My Favorite Martian, and he specifically requested Parkhouse base the design for the main character upon aliens from DC comics published in the early 1960s, such as Chameleon Boy.
The title came from a conversation Hogan had many years earlier with an English friend who was married to an American. When asked if he had a Green Card, the friend instead showed an ID that read "Resident Alien". Hogan thought the phrase was funny and would make a great title.
Publication
Because Parkhouse is unable to maintain the work pace necessary for a monthly series, Resident Alien is being published as a series of four-issue miniseries. Hogan said a new miniseries each year is "the best balance for us, though I sometimes wish we could squeeze in another issue or two". For the first three miniseries, the first chapter was serialized in the anthology series Dark Horse Presents before being collected as issue zero. Issues are then published monthly, and a trade paperback (TPB) collection is released shortly after the miniseries concludes.
The first chapter was serialized in Dark Horse Presents vol 2 #4–6 (October – December 2011). When it was collected as Resident Alien #0 in April 2012, it was the 268th best selling issue of the month with estimated orders around 4,800 copies. Issue #1, released the following month, had estimated orders of about 5,700. The collected volume was released February 27, 2013 with the subtitle Welcome to Earth!.
The second miniseries followed a similar publication schedule. The first chapter of the second miniseries, subtitled The Suicide Blonde, was serialized in Dark Horse Presents vol 2 #18–20 (November 2012 – January 2013) before being reprinted as issue zero in August 2013. The first issue, published the following month, had estimated orders of about 3,900. The 104 page trade paperback was released on May 28, 2014.
The third miniseries, subtitled The Sam Hain Mystery, was written before the second miniseries began publication. Parkhouse got the idea for a detective named "Sam Hain" from Neil Gaiman in 1990 during a conversation about the holiday Samhain. When he decided to write a fictional detective into Resident Alien, he asked Gaiman for permission before using the name. The first chapter was serialized in Dark Horse Presents vol 3 #1–3 (August – October 2014) and reprinted as issue zero on April 29, 2015. The trade paperback was released on November 11, 2015.
A fourth miniseries, The Man With No Name, began in September 2016 and was followed by a fifth miniseries, An Alien in New York, which began in April 2018. Instead of serializing the first chapter and starting with a zero issue, these miniseries were numbered one through four. A sixth miniseries, Your Ride's Here, premiered in 2020 and was planned as the story's conclusion. The success of the television adaptation led to a seventh miniseries, The Book of Love, in 2022.
Collected editions
Resident Alien has been collected in a series of trade paperback releases.
Resident Alien has also been collected in the following Omnibus editions.