The central figure of James Robinson & Phil Elliot's Illegal Alien (Dark Horse) may look like a London gangster circa 1964. But, in reality, he's not of this Earth. A bodiless visitor from another planet, the unnamed alien has been shot down by the American Air Force. Freed of the containment suit which his race has used for piloting their starships, the gaseous alien takes over the body of recently slain tough guy, Guido Palmano. In this form, "Guido" returns to his body's native London - and the Notting Hill domicile of his cousin Tony Bardinelli and family.

Illegal Alien is a modest black-&-white graphic novel that puts its s-f premise to the service of more mundane domestic dramedy. The primary story emphasis is on the ways that New Guido influences a family of struggling Londoners, Tony's son Dino, in particular. Because the revived gangster shows a capacity to listen and a miraculous inventiveness, he ingratiates himself into the Bardinelli family and ultimately helps each one. He alters, for example, the frequencies on the music box of Tony's ice cream truck so that whoever hears it will immediately become hungry for ice cream. The results are so phenomenal that by the end of the book Tony is the owner of his own ice cream parlour. "Now that I have that," Tony tells his still-skeptical wife, "our future is assured." (Hey, it's the mid-sixties - these are simpler times.)

Though government agents and mobsters hover on the story fringe, watching Guido and pondering what he's up to, their presence proves more of a distraction than anything. When several of these outside agents clash alongside a Brighton Beach mods and rockers riot, Robinson & Elliot pull away so quickly that you're not quite sure what happened to 'em. And though we're given several scenes where the gangster responsible for Guido's death is nonplussed by his resurrection, it never really leads anywhere. It's not what Robinson's interested in developing.