Hogan has such a wonderful pace with Resident Alien. This issue is a resolution to the mystery–or explanation of it–but it’s not exciting. It’s just Harry sitting around, hearing what’s happened, trying to figure out what he’s going to do.

Resident Alien is incredibly gentle but never too much. Parkhouse’s art has an edge to it and Hogan’s writing relies on that edge. Is what’s brewing under the surface of small town Patience, USA evil? No. It’s humanity. And who better to experience that humanity than the reader (through alien Harry).

The issue has a handful of surprises, some meant to entice the reader back for the next mystery, others just to add texture to the series. Even with the limitations (three issues, having to have the big mystery draw for each limited series), Hogan and Parkhouse do quite a bit with the book.

It’s unassumingly ambitious stuff.

It’s another mellow issue of Resident Alien. I wish it were a weekly, just with a scene or two. This issue has Harry investigating (of course) and getting rid of a problem employee. There’s practically more drama in the employee’s going away party than in the investigation. It’s certainly livelier.

Most of Harry’s investigating is in the form of a pulp non-fiction confession. There’s flashback art and Parkhouse does a rather good job with it. One forgets, when he’s setting stories amid the calm of Harry’s town, he’s so capable of doing intense suspense. There’s some really good art this issue. And not just on that suspense–the gentle hard cliffhanger has some great art too.

With only one more issue of Sam Hain–the third Resident Alien series–one has to wonder if Hogan has a plan for the series. Then one has to wonder if it matters.

Harry the Resident Alien is back with a swinging adventure called The Sam Hain Mystery. Swinging in the sixties sense. And not really. The story’s again set in Harry’s small town, amid all the small town secrets.

Writer Peter Hogan gives Harry a little mystery to solve, one he thinks he can wrap up on lunch–Resident Alien, for those (unfortunately) unaware, is often a genial mystery book–and it turns out to be a bigger mystery and one connected to some of Harry’s other developing interests.

Since Resident Alien is on its third series, Hogan’s got to greet new and returning readers, probably more towards the latter. He does a good job with it; the interactions with the supporting cast are amusing enough to interest new readers while still reminding returning ones why they enjoy the comic.

And Steve Parkhouse’s art is fantastic from page one. Some great stuff.

Even though this issue is Sam Hain Mystery zero, most of the comic is spent on Harry the Alien’s backstory. How did he change from duplicated bills to bills he could use without raising suspicion. Why did he even come to Earth in the first place. Is he believable as a town doctor.

Okay, that last one takes place in what seems to be the present–writer Peter Hogan assumes everyone is well-versed in Harry and Resident Alien; this issue occasionally has boxes explaining the time period, but there either aren’t enough of them or it just doesn’t work. The comic needs fades, fading in, fading out; Hogan’s jumping all over the place.

He doesn’t just jump around Harry, he jumps around Asta too, which is simultaneously cool (she’s a good character) and not enough (she only gets a few pages to herself).

It’s undeniably pleasant, its problems forgivable.