I - - Alien
Reviewed date: 2025 Aug 19
Rating: 1
185 pages
Illustrated by Terry Austin
Urban superhero
The book is set in 1970s urban Los Angeles, with everything that brings. It's also illustrated, which is to say almost 20% of the pages are full-page line drawings by artist Terry Austin. Apparently he was known for his work in comics. I can't say I appreciated his contribution to the story. He's got talent, sure, but this isn't a comic book and so the story stands or falls on the strength of the writing. Mr. Austin's artwork has an urban superhero vibe, and I'm not a fan of superheroes, so, you know, take my opinion for what it's worth.
And you know, it only occurred to me just now as I'm writing this review, that I - - Alien is not science fiction, it's a superhero origin story. It isn't technically a comic book, but it is absolutely in the comic book superhero genre, not the science fiction genre.
Maybe that explains why I didn't like it.
Meet Caliban and Chelsea
Our hero finds himself suddenly transported from his home planet of Tauran to a back alley in Los Angeles where he is attacked by a gang of teenagers. He fights them off but drops his energy quirt in the process. A girl in a van rescues him.
Our hero is Calibantraneq, Caliban for short. The rescuer is Chelsea Chandler, a student at LAU who's saving money by living in her converted van. Chelsea reads science fiction, so she's modern and enlightened: instead of turning him over to the government to be poked and prodded and studied, she treats him like a person. She takes him in and teaches him English.
Jerilyn, distortion, tessaracts, Tauran and Balthar
We learn more about Caliban's background. He's from the planet Tauran, which destroyed itself through conflict. Now the only habitable zone is in the domed city of Balthar. Caliban and his partner Jerilyn had been sent to explore the Outland zone, and Caliban ended up on Earth by accidentally crossing through a tessaract.
Caliban is indistinguishable from a human except for one little adjustment: his eyes have been removed and swapped for mechanical implants which allow him to project a Distortion. The Distortion affects people's perception of the world. Crudely put, it turns the world into an MC Escher drawing, and that's offputting enough to disorient and disable most foes. Importantly for the plot, Distortion doesn't work on animals, only on people. When he gets to Earth, Caliban wears sunglasses to disguise his eyes, allowing him to pass for human.
Caliban wants to do two things: 1) get back to Tauran, and 2) find Jerilyn. He's sorta, maybe, developed feelings for Jerilyn. The author is leaving that open because this is a superhero origin story and we want to leave room for all sorts of romantic interests in later stories. (There are no later stories.)
Kim Zelmer, Crossing, Jack Gamer, Zachariah Day, and the Rainbow Riders (with Fred Simon)
When Chelsea shows Caliban some artwork made by her friend Kim, Caliban recognizes the cityscape of Balthar: the domed city on his home planet Tauran. Kim is the key to Caliban getting back home. Chelsea explains that Kim has been having visions of another world, and that she's been talking about this world as if it were real, and that soon she will make the Crossing into her new world. Apparently Kim is able to naturally open a tessaract with her mind.
Chelsea and Caliban try to visit Kim, but are accosted by her friend/stalker/neighbor Jack Gamer and his motorcycle gang, the Rainbow Riders. Caliban uses Distortion to disorient the Rainbow Riders and escape.
That's unfortunate, because the boss of the Rainbow Riders is one Fred Simon. He's a conman who started the Rainbow Riders as a motorcycle gang / religious cult, and if there's one thing a gang boss and cult leader can't abide, it's a challenge to his authority. The Rainbow Riders are coming for Caliban.
Mr. Patrick Brade, Roger Bantain, and Internal Security Agency (ISA)
The Rainbow Riders are not the only people after Caliban. The energy quirt that Caliban dropped in the alleyway has come to the attention of Mr. Patrick Brade at the Internal Security Agency (ISA). Brade takes his colleague Roger Bantain and flies to Los Angeles to find and apprehend the alien invader.
There is the mandatory capture-escape-recapture plot line. Eventually it all comes down to one final showdown.
Showdown at Marathon Studios: borgan, slashan, and dand (and David Kincaid)
Kim's visions are getting stronger, and she knows the time for Crossover is near. She heads to Marathon Studios where she opens a tessaract. Everybody else shows up too--Caliban, Chelsea, Jack, Brade, etc. Monsters from Tauran come through the tessaract: first, a borgan--a large tiger-like creature with horns. Then a slashan--"a snake-like creature with bat-wings and a hammer-shaped head full of teeth." Finally a dand: monstrous ape-like creature with a wolfish face. Caliban and allies defeat them all. Caliban talks Kim out of crossing over--Tauran is too dangerous. The tesseract closes. Roger Bantain (who has now switched allegiances) helps Caliban and friend escape.
I - - Alien in New York
Bantain mentions that there was another tesseract incident in Manhattan two months before Caliban's tesseract dropped him in LA. Could Jerilyn be in Manhattan? Chelsea and Caliban head to New York City to find out.
The end.