Alienated #3: Find and Seek

Alienated focuses on Samantha’s turn alone with their pet alien for issue three. The events that unfold follow the same path as last issue did for Samuel- discussion amongst the three main characters, an exploration of Chip’s powers, a temptation for the Sam watching Chip, and finally a realization of what they consider Chip to be. While this pattern could be read as repetitive, instead, Simon Spurrier presents the events in a way that highlights the differences in the two characters and how they react to the world. Unlike the last issue, this pattern occurs with a further exploration of how Samantha’s past lead to her current status as an outsider, providing a more authentic story than Samuel’s search for fame as an angry YouTube vlogger.

The illustration by Chris Wildgoose and the colors by Andre May remain consistently beautiful. They manage to take the bright and, at times, literally warped images to showcase the surreal aspect of Chip’s power. But continue to anchor the story in the real world emotions experienced by the main characters and the victims of their exploits. This duality carries as much weight telling the story as the plot and text, working flawlessly together to tell the story.

The plot of the story continues to move forward as the three teens learn more about what Chip is and what he is capable of. The further into the story we get, the more apparent it is that this progression is merely a backdrop for the character exploration and progress of the three Sams. Lure us in with a story about a weird all-powerful alien thing and hit us with a tale of three outsiders faced with the choice of what to do with this power.