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Saucer Country / State #1-2
Saucer Country
THEY'RE UP THERE... Meet Arcadia Alvarado, Governor of New Mexico and Presidential hopeful. She's dealing with immigration policy, budget cuts, an alcoholic ex--and she was abducted by aliens. Or was she?
Shadowy organizations, hypno-regression therapy, missing Roswell files, a lot to deal with while running for President and in a desperate act, Governor Alvarado seeks help from a disgraced, Harvard UFOologist who... might not be completely sane. It's a strange road to the White House but Alvarado is determined to get there because she has information that could stop an alien invasion and save the world.
From the warped minds of writer Paul Cornell and artist Ryan Kelly SAUCER COUNTRY is a gripping story that explores the dirty world of politics while probing for the truth at the core of alien mythology and the American psyche.
Collects all 14 issues of the original series.
Shadowy organizations, hypno-regression therapy, missing Roswell files, a lot to deal with while running for President and in a desperate act, Governor Alvarado seeks help from a disgraced, Harvard UFOologist who... might not be completely sane. It's a strange road to the White House but Alvarado is determined to get there because she has information that could stop an alien invasion and save the world.
From the warped minds of writer Paul Cornell and artist Ryan Kelly SAUCER COUNTRY is a gripping story that explores the dirty world of politics while probing for the truth at the core of alien mythology and the American psyche.
Collects all 14 issues of the original series.
320 pages, Paperback
First published September 5, 2017
8 people are currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Paul Cornell
616 books1,501 followersPaul Cornell is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy prose, comics and television. He's been Hugo Award-nominated for all three media, and has won the BSFA Award for his short fiction, and the Eagle Award for his comics. He's the writer of Saucer Country for Vertigo, Demon Knights for DC, and has written for the Doctor Who TV series. His new urban fantasy novel is London Falling, out from Tor on December 6th.
via Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cor...
via Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cor...
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 25, 2019
Paul Cornell missed an opportunity here. The governor of New Mexico is abducted by aliens and decides to use her presidential candidacy to help discover the truth. What should be a fascinating story is bogged down by multiple issues of info dumps of every UFO conspiracy out there. It's boring to the point of frustration. I found myself yelling at the comic, "Why aren't you interesting? I love conspiracy theory stuff." There's also tons of bullshit hallucination scenes where you and the character aren't sure if they happened or not. They just constantly left me confused about what actually happened. Oh and at 14 issues that could have been condensed to 6, this isn't done. It spins off into a new series where supposedly Cornell will answer what you expected to find out in this yawner. This just left me disappointed.
October 3, 2018
Disappointing. Arcadia Alvarado is a presidential hopeful who was recently kidnapped by aliens alongside her ex-husband. Is she going to drop out of the race? Hell no! She's going to win the presidency precisely so she can warn the world about these alien's existence!
What should be a six-issue series max stretches out to 14 interminable issues. Alvarado is repeatedly questioned about her encounter, outside sources are called in to confirm what happened or provide info about alien mythologies. Sometimes it's like reading a textbook - the pacing can be molasses-like. A brief moment of excitement, such as an assassination attempt, is quickly swept aside for more wild speculation about conspiracy theories.
The main downfall of the series is that I cared very little for any of the characters. Even though the core cast was small, we never really got to spend time with anyone as an individual. Saucer Country felt like reading X-Files, except without the interesting leads and all the weird adventures were packed haphazardly into one episode. It all just comes off as kinda dumb.
What should be a six-issue series max stretches out to 14 interminable issues. Alvarado is repeatedly questioned about her encounter, outside sources are called in to confirm what happened or provide info about alien mythologies. Sometimes it's like reading a textbook - the pacing can be molasses-like. A brief moment of excitement, such as an assassination attempt, is quickly swept aside for more wild speculation about conspiracy theories.
The main downfall of the series is that I cared very little for any of the characters. Even though the core cast was small, we never really got to spend time with anyone as an individual. Saucer Country felt like reading X-Files, except without the interesting leads and all the weird adventures were packed haphazardly into one episode. It all just comes off as kinda dumb.
May 7, 2018
For more than seventy years, the enigma of UFOs has hung over us. It has continued to intrigue and baffle, inspiring scientists and layman alike to try and answer what it all means. Writers and artists are no exceptions, as the myriad of UFO movies and TV shows reveals. A more recent page bound take on the enigma came from the DC-owned comics company Vertigo with British writer Paul Cornell and American artist Ryan Kelly giving us Saucer Country which ran between 2012 and 2013 and which is now available collected from IDW. It's a tale involving UFOs, conspiracy theories, and American politics.
Cornell focuses Saucer Country on Arcadia Alvarado, the child of immigrants New Mexico governor running for President of the United States. On the eve of announcing her run, during a drive with her alcoholic ex-husband Michael, who remains a close friend, something strange happens in the desert that has all the hallmarks of being an alien abduction. The experience and the questions it raises send Arcadia and her campaign team onto the trail of flying saucers as they recruit the UFO interested former Harvard Professor Kidd to help them investigate.
In a way, Cornell being British might be a boost to the series. Not being American, it affords him some perspective on the mythology of UFO lore. Indeed, Cornell noted the influence of Mark Pilkington's book Mirage Men on the series which looked at how disinformation and pop culture had helped shape what many have come to believe. It's something that he's able to explore through Professor Kidd's investigations and sequences towards the middle of the series where hypnosis is used to try to piece together what happened in the desert that night.
It also allows Cornell to explore aspects of it that might be a little too close for some Americans to look at objectively. One of the big things being his ability to explore the competing theories about the underlying phenomenon from the "nuts and bolts" explanation of real craft put forth by a group calling itself the Bluebirds to Kidd's more sociological based explorations. Is either true, is the reality a mixture of answers or is it even stranger? There's also the question of deliberate manipulation of perceptions of UFOs as well from the Men in Black (for whom Cornell gives an immensely satisfying and plausible solution) to "whistleblowers" claiming to reveal what they know. It makes Saucer Country a surprisingly informative and even sane look at a subject that is meant to be ridiculous.
Even better is that it does so while telling a compelling story. It would have been easy to make this just another rip-off of something like The X-Files or Dark Skies. Instead, by choosing to it around an elected official running for higher office, the story becomes as much a political thriller as a conspiracy one as it deals with the ins and outs of an election campaign with all the shenanigans involved. Lastly, while Cornell is British, one would never know it from the characterizations or dialogue which feel correct throughout. It's a thriller that's well told.
Cornell's writing is only one part of the equation. The other half is the artwork from Ryan Kelly. It's easy to imagine that this could have been a slightly surreal piece from an artist point of view. Instead, like Cornell, Kelly keeps things firmly rooted to the ground. He's not afraid to bring in the surreal, especially when the plot calls for it, but even then there's a tendency to keep even that rooted in reality such as during Michael's attempts to make sense of his "abduction" experience. The result is Kelly's artwork does the same job as Cornell's writing in telling a compelling story without going too far.
Saucer Country is a UFO story with a difference. Cornell as the writer isn't keen on playing it safe by sticking with the tropes of the genre and mythology but instead works to subvert and question it with an outsider's perspective. Aided by Kelly's artwork, it presents the reader with a compelling thriller that plays the incredible along with the mundane, making it all the more plausible. The result?
Saucer Country might be the best UFO series you haven't read.
Cornell focuses Saucer Country on Arcadia Alvarado, the child of immigrants New Mexico governor running for President of the United States. On the eve of announcing her run, during a drive with her alcoholic ex-husband Michael, who remains a close friend, something strange happens in the desert that has all the hallmarks of being an alien abduction. The experience and the questions it raises send Arcadia and her campaign team onto the trail of flying saucers as they recruit the UFO interested former Harvard Professor Kidd to help them investigate.
In a way, Cornell being British might be a boost to the series. Not being American, it affords him some perspective on the mythology of UFO lore. Indeed, Cornell noted the influence of Mark Pilkington's book Mirage Men on the series which looked at how disinformation and pop culture had helped shape what many have come to believe. It's something that he's able to explore through Professor Kidd's investigations and sequences towards the middle of the series where hypnosis is used to try to piece together what happened in the desert that night.
It also allows Cornell to explore aspects of it that might be a little too close for some Americans to look at objectively. One of the big things being his ability to explore the competing theories about the underlying phenomenon from the "nuts and bolts" explanation of real craft put forth by a group calling itself the Bluebirds to Kidd's more sociological based explorations. Is either true, is the reality a mixture of answers or is it even stranger? There's also the question of deliberate manipulation of perceptions of UFOs as well from the Men in Black (for whom Cornell gives an immensely satisfying and plausible solution) to "whistleblowers" claiming to reveal what they know. It makes Saucer Country a surprisingly informative and even sane look at a subject that is meant to be ridiculous.
Even better is that it does so while telling a compelling story. It would have been easy to make this just another rip-off of something like The X-Files or Dark Skies. Instead, by choosing to it around an elected official running for higher office, the story becomes as much a political thriller as a conspiracy one as it deals with the ins and outs of an election campaign with all the shenanigans involved. Lastly, while Cornell is British, one would never know it from the characterizations or dialogue which feel correct throughout. It's a thriller that's well told.
Cornell's writing is only one part of the equation. The other half is the artwork from Ryan Kelly. It's easy to imagine that this could have been a slightly surreal piece from an artist point of view. Instead, like Cornell, Kelly keeps things firmly rooted to the ground. He's not afraid to bring in the surreal, especially when the plot calls for it, but even then there's a tendency to keep even that rooted in reality such as during Michael's attempts to make sense of his "abduction" experience. The result is Kelly's artwork does the same job as Cornell's writing in telling a compelling story without going too far.
Saucer Country is a UFO story with a difference. Cornell as the writer isn't keen on playing it safe by sticking with the tropes of the genre and mythology but instead works to subvert and question it with an outsider's perspective. Aided by Kelly's artwork, it presents the reader with a compelling thriller that plays the incredible along with the mundane, making it all the more plausible. The result?
Saucer Country might be the best UFO series you haven't read.
October 15, 2021
Collects Saucer Country issues #1-14
This larger collection collects what was originally known as Volumes 1 and 2, so below are my reviews, separated by review:
Volume #1:
In this graphic novel, a woman with a political background gets abducted by aliens. Believing that, with the right political power, she can fight against the aliens and learn the truth about what happened to her, she decides to run for president.
Volume #2:
The mystery continues to be built in this volume, but there were times where I felt like the writer was spinning his wheels. I couldn't feel the story moving towards a destination. Then, all of the sudden, things were in fast forward, and the story had a sort of wrap-up. There were definitely story threads not fully explored, but if you stopped reading after this volume, there is the feeling of a full story between Volumes 1 and 2.
This series was cancelled after Issue #14, however I recently heard that the story is starting back up in 2017 under the new title, "Saucer State." I will definitely read more in this universe, because although there were times of frustration during the reading, the intriguing story line outweighs any negative feelings I had.
This larger collection collects what was originally known as Volumes 1 and 2, so below are my reviews, separated by review:
Volume #1:
In this graphic novel, a woman with a political background gets abducted by aliens. Believing that, with the right political power, she can fight against the aliens and learn the truth about what happened to her, she decides to run for president.
Volume #2:
The mystery continues to be built in this volume, but there were times where I felt like the writer was spinning his wheels. I couldn't feel the story moving towards a destination. Then, all of the sudden, things were in fast forward, and the story had a sort of wrap-up. There were definitely story threads not fully explored, but if you stopped reading after this volume, there is the feeling of a full story between Volumes 1 and 2.
This series was cancelled after Issue #14, however I recently heard that the story is starting back up in 2017 under the new title, "Saucer State." I will definitely read more in this universe, because although there were times of frustration during the reading, the intriguing story line outweighs any negative feelings I had.
April 23, 2019
Saucer Country lured me in with the idea of a presidential candidate who is partially (or maybe wholly?) motivated by being granted all the Extraterrestrial knowledge a US President would be privy to. It explored a few different variations on the UFO mythology such as greys, reptilians and even faeries. Unfortunately the story is a slog to get through. It took me months to read this 14 issue collection, and while there were things I enjoyed it always ended up leaving more questions than answers. In a way I liked that because it resonates with modern Ufology but as a story it leaves me feeling a bit disappointing.
There is a follow-up series but I wonder if it will just follow the same trend?
There is a follow-up series but I wonder if it will just follow the same trend?
August 12, 2019
Interestingly echoes some of the themes in a non-fiction book I read recently, American Cosmic. Saucer Country is s fictionalized overview of the current state of UFO folklore/conspiracy theories in the United States, with a "West Wing"-style political plot laid on top. The pacing is slow (feels padded out at times), and it ends without any real resolution, just a lead-up into the the sequel comic, Saucer State. There are some satisfyingly weird moments, but the story is rambling and doesn't really pay off. It just... ends.
July 5, 2018
What a strange ride. I did not realize there was a second book so I was getting towards the end and wondering how the author was going to resolve everything- I guess my answer is that he wasn’t going to, til the next book!
September 2, 2022
This is a really fun combination of aliens and conspiracy theories and the plot is very cleverly constructed. And even when answers come, you're never quite sure whether the answer is real or if it's yet another layer of lies and mysteries.
October 10, 2024
I would have thought it impossible to make aliens boring but this book does it. The disjointed, plodding narrative left me confused about what was real and what was not. None of the characters were developed beyond their prior 'encounters'. Disappointing.
October 31, 2017
Great storytelling, among Cornell's best, and art that supports rather than distracts.
March 4, 2018
Conspiracies within conspiracies, cut outs, patsy’s, dupes – and politicians with presidential aspirations. A fun read with the X-Files mixed with the latest political soap opera.
July 25, 2018
Fantastic. And fully in line with the story, the creators basically reveal very little about the overall plot in the 14 issues of this series.
December 30, 2018
Review to follow...
September 22, 2022
I liked this. It’s interesting. Wish there was more.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews