I am not a believer.

I have no real opinion on the alien debate in real life. I’ve never been abducted by anything stranger than an ambitious ex. And no one I know has tried to convince me that they’ve encountered Visitors, or whatever you’d like to refer to them as. The problem with stories about being abducted by aliens is that they tend to fall into cliche territory.

From the first issue of Paul Cornell’s “Saucer Country”, it is unclear if this will fall into trope territory. Sure, the aliens on the cover look like, well, 90% of the aliens shown on Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, or your average 1980s TV show depicting run ins with other planetary adventurers. But whether they will they behave as your average alien probers is not really determined in this issue.

What we do have is a double entendre (and not a sexual one) on the word aliens, as the protagonist is a Democratic presidential candidate who not only was abducted by space aliens, but is descended from immigrants. I find that simple word play rather gag worthy, especially when it appears to be the foundation for a book, but your mileage may vary.

If this series is setting the foundation for a President battling an alien invasion that impregnated her pre-taking office, it could be interesting. The first issue, however, didn’t fill me with an urgent need to follow where the story is going.