Comic Break: Groom Lake #1 (IDW Publishing)

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Groom Lake
Issue: #1
Writer: Chris Ryall
Artist: Ben Templesmith
32 pp. IDW Publishing. $3.99

Reviewed by Paul Stotts

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Throughout human history, men have looked at the sky, at its vastness, and have wondered: could something be out there? Could there be life out there? Other people, living on some rock, orbiting a foreign sun? It makes for a great mystery. Like Agatha Christie meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

And like all great mysteries, speculative endings have been written, and theories put forth. Some intelligent, some not. Aliens exist, and they are out there. Maybe they inhabit the galaxy around that star over there, far, far away. Mars looks suspicious—maybe there are little green men living there, toiling like alien dwarves in underground caverns. Or—wait—maybe there are already here, living among us, hiding, camouflaging themselves. Or maybe they just stop by Earth to visit, a quick pop-in, in which they participate in fly-by alien abductions. Earth nothing more than a drive-thru, an interstellar McDonalds, anal probes on-the-go with a side of cattle mutilations.

Sounds great, but what we really need is proof. Like a snapshot of their spaceship. A Kodak moment featuring every alien nut’s holy grail—the U.F.O. Maybe this photographic evidence already exists, tucked deep in some government’s top secret installation. Maybe the evidence is something more. Something living.

Writer Chris Ryall and artist Ben Templesmith take their own crack at the alien mythos in IDW Publishing’s Groom Lake, crafting an incredibly amusing and satisfying debut issue. Disturbing and irreverent, Groom Lake humorously plays on every alien contact staple out there. Hillbilly alien abduction—check. Government cover-up—check. Evil giant robots—check. Anal probing—unfortunately—check. Little green men—well, actually they’re gray, but close enough. Check. It’s a veritable cornucopia of alien goodness. An extraterrestrial smorgasbord, highlighted by Ryall’s delicious scripting and Templesmith’s one-of-a-kind visuals.

And it’s funny as hell.

Groom Lake is not to be missed, so buy often and frequently. Buy five, and give them to your friends—alien or otherwise. It’ll bring a smile to their face, and a wince to their sphincter. Guaranteed.

Final Grade: 86 out of 100

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