Alienated is a title from Boom! Studios. The studio also works on other titles “Something is Killing the Children” and “BRZRKR”. Of which I have already reviewed both. Check out my review of Something is Killing the Children here and BRZRKR here. What would you do if you were walking through the woods one day and you and two others, seemingly complete strangers, came across something in those woods that will forever link you all together? That’s the question that the Alienated comic series asks of you.
Written by Simon Spurrier (John Constantine: Hellblazer, The Dreaming, Wolverine: Dangerous Game) and drawn by Chris Wildgoose (Batgirl, Porcelain: Bone China, Batman: Nightwalker), Alienated comic series is a supernatural coming-of-age story about three teenagers who find themselves telepathically linked to each other after witnessing an alien being born.
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Unable to get out of each other’s heads, the three teenagers soon start to bond over this shared secret power of theirs, as well as the incredible powers of their new alien friend. Their alien friend, who they soon discover is as powerful as it is cute – and if you read the comic, you’ll see that it is indeed very, very cute.
The Alienated comic series is a story about what would happen if one day you’re just given all the power that you need to change the world, but regardless of best intentions, you’re just not ready to wield it. Being a teenager is hard, but perfectly capturing the feeling of being one is harder.
One of the reasons Alienated comic series seems to work is its ability to grab you and transport you back to your teenage years and into the world on its pages. I felt myself relating to the teenage angst as if I was still right there, going through it myself, not a full-blown adult on the cusp of looking for a spot in a retirement home.
In Alienated, we follow the lives of three teenagers who, on the outside, couldn’t be more different from each other. We have the former popular girl haunted by her past, the boy who sees the world as a terrible and disappointing place, and the popular kid everyone likes – three completely different teenagers who couldn’t be more alike.
As we watch them go through the motions, we realize that even though their problems and outlooks are different, at the core, they are all just looking for the same things – to have meaning; to be noticed; to be loved. Something so universal and relatable that most of us are still going through life looking for it.
One of the big deciding factors on if I’ll buy a comic or not comes down to its art. I have to really like a particular writer for me to read through a comic that doesn’t jump off the page at me.
Alienated is one of those comics that I had already bought the entire series in single issues without knowing a single thing about the story – it was a decision based on the art alone, and it’s one that ended up paying off.
There is something almost mesmerising about the colours, and the drawing style that Chris Wildgoose went for that’s unmatched and brought the story of Alienated off the page and to life. Alienated truly is a work of art.
Don’t get me wrong, at times, Alienated is filled with so much teenage angsts that it’s hard to read, but power through those bits, and the story is so worth it.
Looking to add Alienated to your collection? You can grab it here at Critters and Comics. The entire series is available in the following formats: Digital, Single Issues (5 Issues), or as a single Trade Paperback.