Alienated #1 – Comic Review
I’ve been excited for Alienated since it was announced at New York Comic Con in 2019. That was the show where I finally got to meet the wonderful Chris Wildgoose (Porcelain, Batman: Nightwalker) who is on art duties for this one. It’s written by Si Spurrier (Angelic, Hellblazer) with colours from André May (Porcelain). Alienated #1 came out a week ago and has already sold through TWO printings (the second hasn’t even gone out from the distributors yet!) and is being fast tracked for a third.
That alone should tell you everything you need to know. But I’m going to write this review anyway because, quite simply, I LOVE this book.
BOOM! Studios released a really rather awesome trailer for the book, I’ll post it below but it does contain spoilers so consider yourself warned
Three outcasts with all the power in the universe. What do you suppose they'll do with it?
ALIENATED #1 from @sispurrier @MrRiktus André May & @CampbellLetters is in comic shops now! https://t.co/Ig3gHnrpq8 pic.twitter.com/gV6Sy9tQX5
— BOOM! Studios (@boomstudios) February 15, 2020
Series Synopsis
Three teenagers, each an outcast in their own way, stumble upon an unearthly entity as it’s born. As they bond over this shared secret and the creature’s incredible abilities, it becomes clear to the teenagers that their cute little pet is a predator in the making—and it’s in need of prey. Guided by the best intentions at first, the teens’ decisions soon become corrupted by adolescent desires, small town jealousies, and internal rivalries, sending them into a catastrophic spiral of their own making.
Alienated
Alienated #1 kicks off a 6 part series that centres on 3 teenagers named Sam (Samuel, Samantha and Samir) who are all outcasts at their high school. A chance encounter during a walk through the woods brings the teens far closer together than they ever could have imagined. Like, literally in each other’s heads.
Samuel is a loner, he runs a YouTube channel and is desperate to be a household name, but doesn’t actually want anyone to know who he is. Samantha used to be one of the popular girls but fell from grace. She just wants to keep her head down, finish school and run from this town. And then there’s Samir, he wants EVERYONE to like him, and will do whatever it takes to make that happen.
What do you get with three teens who live inside their own heads when suddenly they are in each other’s? Well in the hands of anyone else, probably a whole mess of confusion. Thanks to a very nifty device the Alienated team make it make sense.
You see, each of our three protagonists has a distinct colour. Samuel is blue, Samantha is green and Samir is red. Their thoughts are all colour coded, so once alien hijinks ensue, and they find themselves linked, it’s easy to distinguish between them. Credit to both colourist André May and letterer Jim Campbell for making this work as well as it does.
Is Good?
Spurrier’s script manages to nail teenage banter without it ever sounding cringey. At least not to my very-not-a-teenager self. It also includes what could be one of my favourite lines ever “She’s a velociraptor in a C-cup”.
The Sams soldier through their school day, dealing with lessons, bullies and the general drama of high-school, while also trying to handle having two other people in each of their heads. Things take a dark turn at the end of the day, tying the three Sams together with an even tighter bond, and setting them on a potentially dangerous course.
I’d just like to give a shout out to Chris Wildgoose because not only is his art (as always) stunning, but he’s managed to create the cutest little homicidal alien critter. I can’t wait to see how the little guy evolves.
Coming up
To say I’m excited to see how it plays out is an understatement. I’ve already pre-ordered the rest of the series (that’s available so far) and next month can’t come fast enough. If you want to check out Alienated #1 and see if it’s for you then you can try your local comic book store. I’m in the UK and ordered mine from Forbidden Planet. It’s also available via comiXology.
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