RETRO REVIEW: Blue Book – Volume One
Dark Horse Comics; $24.99
James Tynion IV and Michael Avon Oeming's Blue Book – Volume 1 was first published in trade paperback form in September 2023 by Dark Horse Comics. It collected Blue Book #1-5, which in turn collected the series that originally appeared on Tynion's Substack. Written by Tynion, illustrated and colored by Oeming, and lettered by Aditya Bidikar, it's a dramatization of the well-known story of the UFO encounter story related by Betty and Barney Hill.
The story recounts the experience of the Hills, a married couple from New Hampshire. In
September 1961 they reported seeing an unusual object while driving home following a trip to Canada. The story unfolded to become one of the most famous – and probably the first highly publicized – story of alien abduction, medical experimentation, and missing time in early UFO lore. Almost 50 years before Tynion and Omening's work, that experience also spawned the 1975 NBC television movie The UFO Incident, which starred James Earl Jones as Barney Hill and Estelle Parsons as Betty Hill.
Tynion and Oeming's take on the challenge of chronicling the stories behind the United States Air Force's Project Blue Book is a thoroughly compelling read, whether one is inclined to believe in UFOs or not. That's not a small compliment.
Their non-fiction approach to the story is clinical, methodical, and straightforward rather than sensationalistic. Oeming's art, colored very effectively in duotone blues, is among the best in his career. The story and the art combine for a truly thought-provoking read.
The series spawned the follow-on Blue Book: 1947, a five-issue series beginning in February 2024, which dealt with significant earlier UFO reports, and Red Book, a four-issue series that kicked off in October 2025, that spotlighted alleged UFO incidents behind the Iron Curtain.
After two trade paperbacks of the respective Blue Book series, Dark Horse published Blue Book Library Edition Volume 1 in July 2025, a 272-page oversized hardcover that collected both arcs.
– J.C. Vaughn
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RETRO REVIEW: Blue Book – Volume One
Dark Horse Comics; $24.99
James Tynion IV and Michael Avon Oeming's Blue Book – Volume 1 was first published in trade paperback form in September 2023 by Dark Horse Comics. It collected Blue Book #1-5, which in turn collected the series that originally appeared on Tynion's Substack. Written by Tynion, illustrated and colored by Oeming, and lettered by Aditya Bidikar, it's a dramatization of the well-known story of the UFO encounter story related by Betty and Barney Hill.
The story recounts the experience of the Hills, a married couple from New Hampshire. In
September 1961 they reported seeing an unusual object while driving home following a trip to Canada. The story unfolded to become one of the most famous – and probably the first highly publicized – story of alien abduction, medical experimentation, and missing time in early UFO lore. Almost 50 years before Tynion and Omening's work, that experience also spawned the 1975 NBC television movie The UFO Incident, which starred James Earl Jones as Barney Hill and Estelle Parsons as Betty Hill.
Tynion and Oeming's take on the challenge of chronicling the stories behind the United States Air Force's Project Blue Book is a thoroughly compelling read, whether one is inclined to believe in UFOs or not. That's not a small compliment.
Their non-fiction approach to the story is clinical, methodical, and straightforward rather than sensationalistic. Oeming's art, colored very effectively in duotone blues, is among the best in his career. The story and the art combine for a truly thought-provoking read.
The series spawned the follow-on Blue Book: 1947, a five-issue series beginning in February 2024, which dealt with significant earlier UFO reports, and Red Book, a four-issue series that kicked off in October 2025, that spotlighted alleged UFO incidents behind the Iron Curtain.
After two trade paperbacks of the respective Blue Book series, Dark Horse published Blue Book Library Edition Volume 1 in July 2025, a 272-page oversized hardcover that collected both arcs.
– J.C. Vaughn
Popular Topics
Overstreet Access Quick Links
