Saucer Country #2

Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Ryan Kelly

I find myself much more intrigued this month with Saucer Country, which reads very smoothly.  Governor Arcadia Alvarado has just announced her intention to run for President of the United States, and then informed her closest adviser, and her recently-hired campaign manager that she believes the Earth is under threat of alien invasion.

Clearly, that announcement doesn't go over too well (especially with the Republican manager), but Arcadia calmly explains that she is not going to jeopardize her chances of gaining the office, and that she intends to use it to help combat the threat, but that she is going to keep that a secret.

All of this hinges on the events that took place just prior to the beginning of the first issue.  Arcadia and her ex-husband were in their car somewhere in the desert, but neither of them remembers what happened.  Arcadia visits a doctor, who confirms that she was anally raped, but she has no memory of it.  The ex goes to a hypno-therapist, who also turns up some interesting results.

Gaining prominence in this story is a Harvard professor who has been sanctioned for his unorthodox opinions on the topic of aliens.  Now, the Alvarado campaign is reaching out to him, although he doesn't yet know why.  Cornell is spending these first couple of issues getting his ducks in a row, and the intrigue is building palpably. 

I am also really liking Ryan Kelly's work on this book.  Arcadia must be a difficult character to draw - Kelly shows her as a confident and Presidential candidate, who is also dealing with a great amount of uncertainty in her life.  All of this comes across in the art, which is pretty amazing.