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Resident Alien creator Peter Hogan makes contact in first look at Vol. 1 omnibus from Dark Horse
It came from outer space! The first-ever adventures of Doctor Harry Vanderspeigle (space alien in disguise!) will be returning, as SYFY WIRE exclusively announces the upcoming publication of Resident Alien Omnibus Volume 1 from Dark Horse this summer. It's perfect timing since SYFY's live-action television adaptation of the comic crash-lands on the small screen this summer as well.
Created by writer Peter Hogan and artist Steve Parkhouse, the Resident Alien comic told the story of an alien who arrives on Earth and assumes the identity of a local doctor in order to fit in with humanity.
"The idea is to give any new readers that come along a user-friendly way of getting into the story, and what you get here is quite a chunky read," Hogan tells SYFY WIRE of this new collected edition. "The omnibus contains the first three books — Welcome To Earth, The Suicide Blonde, and The Sam Hain Mystery — collected together, at a very reasonable price."
Get an exclusive first look at the omnibus cover below. Originally used for Issue #0 in 2015, the intense cover artwork was specially pulled out of the Dark Horse archives for this collection.
If you're a newcomer to the Resident Alien comics, don't fret. Mr. Hogan is here to provide you with a brief, but effective, synopsis of what awaits you in the Volume 1 omnibus.
"One of the things I did from the start was try to have a supporting cast that was as strong as I could make them, and add new people as we went on. So, you get to see those people develop, and explore the relationships between them ... as you’re seeing Harry the alien learning how to fit in on Earth," he explains. "Each of the books also has a mystery — usually a murder mystery — for Harry to solve, which gets wrapped up by the end of that book, while Harry’s own personal story progresses from book to book."
In the live-action space, Vanderspeigle will be played by the talented Alan Tudyk of Firefly, Rogue One, and Doom Patrol fame.
"The minute they told me it was going to be Alan, it struck me as kind of dream casting, and his performance as Harry proves that to be true," continues Hogan. "There’s a real ... otherness to Alan that makes him perfect for the role. Of course, the TV version of Harry isn’t exactly the same as the book version, but they still have a lot in common. Alan’s also great at physical comedy, which is something that’s very difficult to pull off in a comic book."
Featuring over 288 pages, Resident Alien Omnibus Volume 1 goes on sale on Aug. 18.
"It’s been a slow and steady development. The critics generally liked us from the start, and the readership has grown over the years, I think mostly through word-of-mouth," Hogan concludes, talking about how his and Parkhouse's creation has reached the public. "It’ll be interesting to see how many people decide to check the books out for the first time after watching the TV show, and also what they’ll make of them. In some ways, the books and the show are very different [from] each other, but even if the two things aren’t exactly twins, they’re definitely still siblings."
No set premiere date has been set for the TV series just yet.
