The Silent Invasion: Secret Affairs and Red Shadows [Paperback]

Michael Cherkas (Author), Larry Hancock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

Matt Sinkage, a reporter in the Fifties, is sure aliens are taking over people¹s bodies and our society. Others aren¹t so sure... Mixes humor and an involving suspenseful yarn.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561632406
• ISBN-13: 978-1561632404
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,146,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ahead Of Its Time, May 25, 2009

By 

Daniel J. Mooney "Going Blind from Reading." (Columbia, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Silent Invasion: Secret Affairs and Red Shadows (Paperback)

The Silent Invasion is one of those rare books that was truly ahead of its time, in several ways. Coming out in 1986, it was a black-and-white comic, well before black and white comics were fashionable. It dealt with a secret government conspiracy, involving aliens, well before the X-Files popularized the idea, and then drove it into the ground. The Silent Invasion was a victim of its own originality, and never got the recognition that it deserved.

This book collects the first 6 issues of the comic. It revolves around the character of Matt Sinkage, a newspaper reporter that had a close encounter, but was then locked in an insane asylum. Enter into the mix FBI Agent Phil Houser, and a group called the Council, who are interested in hushing up the UFOs, and feel that there is a connection between them and Communism. Matt has to balance his obsession, with an on-again off-again fiancée and, a family that is too worried about what the neighbors will think.

The story grabs your interest right away, with hints and brief glimpses on what's happening behind the scenes. A certain amount of the plot is up to guesswork or just mysterious. There is no "Ah ha, let me tell you all about my diabolical deeds, Mr. Bond" moment. That's not to say that the plot is incomprehensible, it certainly isn't, but there is always a sense of mystery about the events. The addition of the occasional Canadian spelling should do nothing to hamper a person's concentration (as other reviewers have claimed). Reading "honour" instead of "honor" really should not be a problem for anyone with a 5th grade reading capability. Nor should it be distracting, unless you're just looking for petty excuses to attack a book.

The tone of the book shows the 50's in a true light. It carefully balances cold war paranoia, with 1950's optimism. This is achieved as it mixes UFO conspiracy, with the ordinary lives of normal people. It often gives us snatches of conversations of characters in the background that add a real sense of time and place. The art matches this perfectly. It is highly stylized (another rarity for 80's comics), but gives you an excellent feel for the times, and enhances the mystery and paranoia of the plot. Each character, though stylized, is individually drawn enough for the average reader to be able to distinguish at a glance.

The story continues on in Tarnished Dreams, and is wrapped up in The Great Fear.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Paranoid Thriller, October 27, 2009

By 

Augusto Rufasto "rufasto" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Silent Invasion: Secret Affairs and Red Shadows (Paperback)

There's the central character in this book, Matt Sinkage. He's a paranoid. Or not. He knows the truth about an extraterrestrial invasion, and he will fight each and every operative of the plan, despite the fact that he is... I better stop here. Poor Matt! He's going to be hunted by too many agents, private eyes, operatives, politicians and journalists, although he himself is a natural born hunter, and won't stop stalking at the enemies of mankind until the moment he would be able to end the whole invasion plan for good. Believe me, this is good stuff. Everything starts with "Secret Affairs, Red Shadows", follows up in "Tarnished Dreams" and has the perfect, unpredictable end in the last page of "The Great Fear". Anyone who was a fan of the "Heavy Metal" magazine back there in the eighties must go get this book at once (names that come to my head are Torres, Chaland, Serge Clerc). This story really fascinated me!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Execution doesn't live up to potential of idea, January 5, 2003

By 

Sean McGurr (Reynoldsburg, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silent Invasion: Secret Affairs and Red Shadows (Paperback)

Sometimes the germ of an idea is better than its execution. This is the case in The Silent Invasion: Secret Affairs and Red Shadows, a science fiction/paranoid conspiracy tale.

I was immediately intrigued by a graphic novel set in 1950s America focusing on a reporter searching for evidence of aliens based on an encounter that he had. When a secret group that controls the media and government is involved in the alien cover-up, and a sub-story dealing with the Red Scare and communist infiltration, I was sold. Lots of elements that interest me and furthermore, this comic was originally published in the late 80s, so it preceded The X-Files and the countless imitators that dealt with many of these themes in the 90s and today.

However, I was disappointed until the final chapter of this collection, when the pacing of the story gained steam and the storytelling (both words and art) finally came together. Cherkas' black and white artwork, which I have enjoyed in other comics, didn't quite work because the heavy inks and stylized artwork made it difficult to follow the numerous characters. The art does work for a story set in the 50s though and the detail work is appropriate.

Hancock's story takes a while to get rolling, but once it does, it is engaging. By the end of this volume, I was involved with many of the characters and looked forward to another volume.

There are aspects of the storytelling that I found distracting, such as the multiple shifts from first-person to omniscient narrator that hindered the flow of the story. While I am not against this device, it was awkwardly done in this volume, often in the middle of a page. The use of English spellings of "favour," "realise," and "honour" which I don't have a problem with when reading a British or Canadian book seemed out of place in a story set in America. Most of the use of humor (or "humour") falls short and distracts rather than adds to the story.

This volume is worth reading if you are a fan of the time period and the type of story popularized in The X-Files. Two other volumes Tarnished Dreams and The Great Fear are also available.