THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2024! Circumstances dictated that Paul Cornell and Ryan Kelly’s Saucer Country took a particularly tortuous route to eventual completion. Originally published by DC’s Vertigo imprint between 2012 and 2013 the original run lasted fourteen issues before it came to a truncated finish; one that nevertheless did manage to give it a sense of closure. Returning in 2017 as Saucer State from IDW Publishing the tale resumed with another six issues. Sadly, this time its second run came to an abrupt end, finishing on a cliffhanger. That wasn’t the end of the story though. In 2022 a Zoop crowdfunding campaign was launched to collect the entire saga to date alongside its finale for backers. And last month Image Comics brought that volume, The Complete[d] Saucer Country to wider audiences.
Like I said, it has an involved publishing history. But it’s a book that deserved that final chapter rather than languishing in the great limbo of unresolved series that leave us wondering “if only…” And reading all 21 chapters in one sitting allows us to fully appreciate the breadth and intricacies of Cornell’s plotting.
Its premise in its most concise form seems elegantly simple. Presidential candidate and governor of New Mexico Arcadia Alvarado believes she was abducted by aliens and seeks to use her profile and influence to discover the truth. Thrown into the mix are her alcoholic husband Michael who was also there that fateful night, academic Professor Kidd who treats the subject with scepticism but is also the subject of visitations from two seemingly otherworldly entities, her ruthless political strategist Chloe Saunders, and her dependable Chief of Staff Harry Brooks. What follows is a pursuit for the truth that takes in abductee testimony, secret organisations, conspiracies within conspiracies, political intrigue and, with an ominous prescience given when the series was written, a little Russian interference in American politics for good measure…
This isn’t your run-of-the-mill UFO fare. What Cornell crafts here is a narrative that is less concerned with aliens themselves and more about the mythology that surrounds them. It’s about the iconography, the obfuscation, and the near-folklore that attaches itself to reported phenomena. There’s an obvious depth of research here that seems to admire that mythology as almost a kind of performance art, posing questions as to why it is encouraged by the very forces one would expect to be debunking it. A fascinating exercise in looking at how we project our own archetypes onto the unknown, mixed with pure political thriller, and wrapped up with a concluding part that is a masterclass in pulling together dangling plot threads into a complete whole with consummate skill.
While those interweaving plotlines, and the allure of the mystery, are big draws in Saucer Country’s success the sheer humanity of its often flawed cast also plays a significant part, and that’s in no small part due to Ryan Kelly’s visual characterisation. A vital factor in a story that relies on so much character interplay to propel the cast forwards. He also ably juxtaposes those elements of the fantastic and the mundane with a knowing nod at the reader, balancing the ludicrous with the plausible in a narrative that relishes flip-flopping between the two.
A very human story dressed in the trappings of a very alien one, The Complete[d] Saucer Country is a much recommended Thought Bubble buy for those looking for engrossing longer-form storytelling at Harrogate this weekend.
Paul Cornell (W), Ryan Kelly w/ Jimmy Broxton, Mirko Kolak, David Lapham, Andrea Mutti & Goran Sudžuka (A), Giulia Brusco, Adam Guzowski, Lee Loughridge, Cris Peter, Dave Stewart, Pippa Mather-Bowland (C), Sal Cipriano, Simon Bowland (L) • Image Comics/Syzygy Publishing, $29.99
Review by Andy Oliver
Paul Cornell will be at Table A14 in the DSTLRY Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2024 runs from November 11th-17th with the convention weekend taking place on the 16th-17th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2024 coverage so far in one place here.
Art by Rocío Arreola Mendoza
