The US presidential elections always throw up candidates who say they will blow the lid off the UFO controversy, if they get elected, but it never comes to anything. Some hoped the maverick Trump would finally say they have extraterrestrials lurking in Area 51, so far there are no signs of this happening.
As more than adequate compensation, we get Paul Cornell’s story of Arcadia Alvarado, a quick thinking Democrat politician, who with her husband Michael is abducted by aliens in New Mexico.
On becoming President, Arcadia hires a UFO expert, Professor Joshua Kidd, to dig out the truth about UFOs and what really happened during her abduction, and who was behind it? Was this some form of manipulation by human agencies or aliens?
Her presidential advisor, Chloe, is a sassy and sceptical political wheeler dealer who thinks it might be a good idea for Arcadia to go public with her abduction experience, optioning that ‘“I think I met aliens” might not poll too badly in the post-truth environment. It’s funky.’ Arcadia isn’t convinced or impressed!
One explanation is that a microwave projector has been used to induce hallucinations, although this does not explain the presence of a Silver Space Lady…Whilst Arcadia investigates through official channels, Michael, now her ex-husband, has to deal with fairy-like space people who have haunted him since childhood. Then it looks like genuine extraterrestrial signals are being picked up by NASA. We are left wondering if this is the moment we will make contact at last.
This is the first of a two six-issue mini-series and it takes up all the loose strands of Paul’s previous Saucer Country series (that IDW will publish in one volume soon). His experience as a screenwriter for Doctor Who and novelist shows in the pace of the action and pithy dialogue between the characters, and he cleverly draws in the many strands of UFO mythology and conspiracy theory worthy of our post-truth era.
SAUCER STATE / WRITER: PAUL CORNELL / ARTIST: RYAN KELLY / PUBLISHER: TED ADAMS / IDW PUBLISHING/ RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW.
