August 5, 2025 by First Second
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
When TJ's great uncle passes away, his parents take him to the funeral. Afterwords, he is a bit bored with the reception at the house, and wanders into his uncle's study, where he finds a file marked "CIA debriefing". Intrigued, he tells his mother he is just looking for something to read, and discovers a bookcase that opens and leads to an underground office. He finds out that his uncle was involved in the investigations into Area 51, and reads the files eagerly. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, motivated by the Cold War, set up Project Blue Book to investigate whether or not aliens were a threat to US security. While problematic, this group lasted until 1969. Centered near Roswell, N. M, this secure area was all too close to the site of WWII era atomic bomb testing, since people didn't quite understand all of the ramifications of nuclear fallout and radiation. Many instances of "alien sightings" were investigated, but eventually the focus of the group became to get people to be less worried about the threat of aliens! From 1970-2007, the government did not investigate anything about aliens, at least on the record! TJ reads information about Bob Lazar's claims in 1989, the "weather balloons" of the 1950s, and anecdotal evidence about "Men in Black" that takes on a different feel when he is approached by real Men in Black! He hides with the files in the bathroom so he can finish reading them, but is eventually flushed out and must surrender the files. When he tries to tell his parents about his adventure, the secret door is stuck.
This graphic novel will be a big hit with Sullivan's Unsolved Case Files or books that showcase Area 51, like Smith's Project Mercury, Murray and Smith's Alien Summer, Miller's Out There, or Fleming's Crash From Outer Space. While this story leans a bit more towards the idea that aliens did have an active presence in mid century America, I have to side with Fleming's research that shows that Yes, Virginia, it was just a weather balloon.
The style of illustrations looked very much like comic books; not surprising, given Foxe's body of work that includes book adaptations of X-Men stories. This goes well with the topic, and enjoyed TJ is his funeral suit finding the secret basement and hunkering down to read in the bathroom. There's a lot of historical information, even if this veers into science fiction territory when TJ is chased by the Men in Black.
Graphic novels are a great way to get tweens reading about historical events, and this will have a lot of comic book appeal for readers who enjoyed History Comics.
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