Title: Resident Alien (Dark Horse Comics) Media: A semi-ongoing comic series running from 2012 to present that tends to update with a miniseries every couple of years. Approximate Length: Twenty-seven issues to date
What It's About An alien in disguise on Earth gets roped into becoming a small-town doctor and decides to solve mysteries in his spare time.
The longer version: Captain Hah Re, a biologist from an advanced alien civilization, is surreptitiously surveying Earth when his ship is shot down by a fighter jet and he crash-lands in the U.S. While his nonhuman features are visible on film, his telepathic powers allow him to project an illusion of a human appearance that fools most people, and through these powers and his ingenuity, he manages to elude the Men in Black on his tail for three years and eventually settles down in Patience, Washington, where he lives in the guise of retired doctor Harry Vanderspeigle and spends his days fishing and reading mystery novels while waiting to be rescued.
His life takes a turn when the small town's only real doctor is murdered and Harry is temporarily recruited to fill in. He becomes embroiled in the investigation, has his secret discovered by nurse/love interest Asta Twelvetrees and befriends her along with her father Dan Twelvetrees, and eventually decides to stay on as a doctor. And solves mysteries.
Along with Asta and Dan, other townspeople and their small town drama feature in the story, as well as a subplot involving one of the Men in Black chasing after Harry. Agent Jones is revealed to be a widower who lost his husband young, and who eventually returns to Harry's home planet in his stead to start a new life.
Where to Find It The series is available in print and digitally wherever comics are sold. Lists of trade paperbacks, omnibuses and individual issues are available on the Dark Horse website.
What I Love About It The classic ridiculousness of its premise and scope. Harry is not here on a grand mission of intergalactic diplomacy or exploration, and his pursuit by the Men in Black is more subplot than central tension. He is a small-town doctor who solves Mysteries of the Week with his cool nurse friend/later girlfriend, and also he occasionally grapples with the inconvenience of being an undercover alien. There's a throwback earnestness that I love, on top of featuring one of my favourite tropes: humanity seen from an outsider's point of view.
I'm Requesting Harry solo fic, particularly thinking about fish out of water backstory or culture clashes that lean into his experience as an alien on Earth, as well as Harry/Dan Twelvetrees (particularly interested in AUs where Harry and Dan hit it off first instead of Harry/Asta), Harry & Dan Twelvetrees friendship fic and casefic, and Agent Jones/Original Male Alien that explores what happens after he went to space.
Content Warnings As implied above, despite having come out in the 2010s, the series has a very 1980s/90s sensibility in its premise of [Insert Wacky Twist Here] Solves Crime. This isn't exactly a content warning, but just a general note that while the series has a spirit of well-intentioned inclusivity, there are some elements—particularly re: Dan and Asta as Kanienʼkehá꞉ka people—that I bounced off periodically.
Resident Alien (Dark Horse Comics)
Media: A semi-ongoing comic series running from 2012 to present that tends to update with a miniseries every couple of years.
Approximate Length: Twenty-seven issues to date
What It's About
An alien in disguise on Earth gets roped into becoming a small-town doctor and decides to solve mysteries in his spare time.
The longer version: Captain Hah Re, a biologist from an advanced alien civilization, is surreptitiously surveying Earth when his ship is shot down by a fighter jet and he crash-lands in the U.S. While his nonhuman features are visible on film, his telepathic powers allow him to project an illusion of a human appearance that fools most people, and through these powers and his ingenuity, he manages to elude the Men in Black on his tail for three years and eventually settles down in Patience, Washington, where he lives in the guise of retired doctor Harry Vanderspeigle and spends his days fishing and reading mystery novels while waiting to be rescued.
His life takes a turn when the small town's only real doctor is murdered and Harry is temporarily recruited to fill in. He becomes embroiled in the investigation, has his secret discovered by nurse/love interest Asta Twelvetrees and befriends her along with her father Dan Twelvetrees, and eventually decides to stay on as a doctor. And solves mysteries.
Along with Asta and Dan, other townspeople and their small town drama feature in the story, as well as a subplot involving one of the Men in Black chasing after Harry. Agent Jones is revealed to be a widower who lost his husband young, and who eventually returns to Harry's home planet in his stead to start a new life.
Where to Find It
The series is available in print and digitally wherever comics are sold. Lists of trade paperbacks, omnibuses and individual issues are available on the Dark Horse website.
What I Love About It
The classic ridiculousness of its premise and scope. Harry is not here on a grand mission of intergalactic diplomacy or exploration, and his pursuit by the Men in Black is more subplot than central tension. He is a small-town doctor who solves Mysteries of the Week with his cool nurse friend/later girlfriend, and also he occasionally grapples with the inconvenience of being an undercover alien. There's a throwback earnestness that I love, on top of featuring one of my favourite tropes: humanity seen from an outsider's point of view.
I'm Requesting
Harry solo fic, particularly thinking about fish out of water backstory or culture clashes that lean into his experience as an alien on Earth, as well as Harry/Dan Twelvetrees (particularly interested in AUs where Harry and Dan hit it off first instead of Harry/Asta), Harry & Dan Twelvetrees friendship fic and casefic, and Agent Jones/Original Male Alien that explores what happens after he went to space.
Content Warnings
As implied above, despite having come out in the 2010s, the series has a very 1980s/90s sensibility in its premise of [Insert Wacky Twist Here] Solves Crime. This isn't exactly a content warning, but just a general note that while the series has a spirit of well-intentioned inclusivity, there are some elements—particularly re: Dan and Asta as Kanienʼkehá꞉ka people—that I bounced off periodically.