Reviewed by Taylor Hoffman //@taylorcheckers

UFOlogy keeps the mystery of Mukawgee exciting at this halfway point of the mini-series with oddball twists and creepy revelations. After a stint in the hospital after a date turned deadly, Becky just wants everything to go back to normal, but it turns out that’s more difficult when there’s a mysterious glowing spiral on the side of her face branded by… aliens?

Story by: James Tynion IV & Noah J. Yuenkel

Art by: Matthew Fox

Colors by: Adam Metcalfe

Publisher: BOOM! Studios

Price: $3.99

Release Date: 6/24/15

It’s clear that Becky and the alien obsessed Malcolm are digging into a deeply buried classified government conspiracy right in their backyard. Unknown to the layperson, the small town of Mukawgee is actually an area 51 sort of hotspot with an awakened darkness now lurking in the shadows. The storytelling focuses on what’s not known and the importance of ignorance; knowledge is a very dangerous weapon to wield. This issue reveals unpleasant parts of the past that may have been better left undisturbed, but no amount of preparation for the future keeps secrets of paranormal activity under wraps forever. While we don’t know the who, what, when, where, and why’s of a strange, secret mission formed years ago, we do learn more about the connection and history between our cast of characters. So, what’s brought all of these people together?

This third installment mainly focuses on the adults and their connection to the little nowhere town and we’re introduced to the wonderful friendship between Malcolm’s parents and his guardian-esque teacher back when they began researching Mukawgee, which we already know was an ill-fated adventure. As self-made academics of the weird and freaky, they’re on their own ufological mission to find the source of paranormal activity on a site specific scale. The shift to examining from big picture to a contained area allows the correlation of military presence and defunct mines to cries of the extraterrestrial appear more causal, so the puzzle almost looks as though it’s ready to be solved. Of course, it’s never that easy. These ‘then’ scenes are interspersed with some other creepy character on-goings that, well, let’s say warn us of the dangers of accepting rides from strangers because they might turn out to be unexpectedly dangerous in a toxic-waste kind of way.

Meanwhile in the ‘now’, the lines between reality and fiction are blurred further as Becky’s hallucinations may or may not foster life. Inducing self-doubt in someone is one of the most effective ways to control them, so whatever Becky sees will be filtered through a lens of disbelief to others. That burn she felt on her face just looks like a bad tattoo; the eye watching her was just a passerby; the handprints on the windows were always there. The motif of the lime green spiral symbol is a ritualistic marking, an important sign if anything that there is something out there and its presence does make a noticeable difference, especially when it glows. Should we be afraid when a giant eye monster straight from a 50s b-movie movie begins to appear to her in Rorschach detective garb complete with hat and trench coat? Should she continue searching out the truth with Malocolm? Obviously, yes.

The art remains excellent and even more detailed as we get into more cybernetic and abstract technology and trippy mental delusions that border horror territory. Matthew Fox’s lines are sharp and Adam Metcalfe coloring is on point as the story swiftly switches between years. Images from issue two like the boy’s burned body and those lingering gross handprints in the windows are called back in the forms of melting flesh and green ectoplasmic goo that gives just the right amount of enough gross to feel chilling. Hues of dark blues and light greens take over the pages and solidify the sickly strange atmosphere of a town gone amok with paranormal problems long ago.

Things are looking weirder in this town each issue and will probably continue to get even more engaging the more blobs of aliens appear and corpse parts disappear.