The Hypno-Hustler

Saucer Country #5

New Mexico Governor and presidential candidate Arcadia Alvarado pays a visit to shady hypnotherapist Dr. Glass with a specific plan — to let him hypnotize her so she can learn more about what happened when she was abducted by aliens, and at the same time, to lie to Glass — yes, even under hypnosis — to make sure that the revelations he got from her ex-husband’s hypnotherapy session are discredited. Glass is, of course, furious, but his conspiracy-theory co-conspirators seem to be happy with what little they’ve learned. Meanwhile, Gov. Alvarado and her staff begin making plans for how they can use the campaign as cover to investigate the aliens and find more evidence.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good story, interesting dialogue, nice characterization. Lots of interesting stuff happening here — just five issues in, and we’re already seeing the main characters taking control of their destinies, whereas in many other comics, they’ll spend at least six issues reacting to everything…

American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares #2

Agent Hobbes of the Vassals of the Morning Star reveals to former Agent Felicia Book that the secret that had previously been kept under the organization’s London headquarters was… Dracula. Well, maybe not the fictional character, but the first and most powerful of the Carpathian vampires, able to control the mind of almost any Carpathian, able to survive being staked through the heart and even able to control minds while dormant. The Russians are about to get their hands on him — they don’t want to revive him, they just don’t want the Brits to have him — but Tommy Glass, the bespectacled American Renfield, has a plan to help revive his master — and if he’s successful, the whole world is in danger…

Verdict: Thumbs up. A lot of exposition here, but it’s all really interesting exposition, and it’s balanced with plenty of plot movement, too. Wow, this Dracula vampire sounds like serious bad business, don’t he?