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MODEL UN: When High School Diplomacy Meets Alien Invasion
Final exams are stressful enough. Add in an alien mothership, a megalomaniacal extraterrestrial overlord, and the fate of humanity resting on a handful of misfit teens—and suddenly chemistry class feels like the least of your worries. That’s the premise of MODEL UN, the new graphic novel from writer Benjamin Hunting (Code 45, Dead Air) and artist I.E. Santillana Hernandez, launching on Kickstarter October 7, 2025.
Set in the mid-90s, MODEL UN is a nostalgic, sci-fi comedy that takes teenage angst and cranks it up to cosmic proportions. Velma, a bright student with dreams of a future beyond her private school walls, suddenly finds herself leading Earth’s “delegation” after aliens mistake her Model United Nations club for the actual UN. One weekend she’s worrying about finals and her crush; the next, she’s negotiating interstellar peace with a pompous alien leader too arrogant to admit it may have chosen the wrong negotiators.
For Hunting, the absurd premise was born out of something deeply personal. “Although I was a day student and didn’t have to board on campus, I still had to endure the full ‘British boarding school experience,’” he recalls. “It was bleak, to say the least, and it left a permanent mark on my psyche, especially regarding the hierarchies we force on children, and how tradition endures, no matter how bizarre, in a modern context.”
Instead of turning his experiences into a dark exposé, Hunting leaned into satire. The Kafka-esque rules and rigid administration he endured became fodder for alien bureaucracy. “These creatures are led by a self-important idiot of the highest order,” he says. “This contrasts against the empathy, love, and curiosity of the Model UN students who must negotiate with this overgrown child, pulling from the brightest spots of my own experiences with the students who were stuck right there alongside me back in the mid-90s.”
That mix of real adolescent struggle and cosmic comedy gives MODEL UN its unique flavor. On one hand, it’s a complete story—54 pages of humor, heart, and sci-fi chaos. On the other, it’s a love letter to outcasts who felt crushed by expectations and structures they didn’t choose. Readers who grew up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Scott Pilgrim, or even the offbeat satire of Space Ghost Coast to Coast will feel right at home.
The book’s aesthetic leans into its era: private school uniforms, awkward teen dynamics, and the looming specter of graduation, all clashing against a backdrop of bizarre spacecraft and alien egos. Artist I.E. Santillana Hernandez brings it to life with bold, expressive visuals that capture both the stiff posture of boarding school life and the ridiculousness of spacefaring negotiation. Preview images showcase a striking blend of grounded characters and exaggerated alien design, playing up the absurdity at the story’s core.
Hunting has been candid about why he chose to debut the project digitally. Rising printing and shipping costs—exacerbated by changing tariffs—made physical production too risky for this campaign. Instead, backers will receive a polished PDF edition, ensuring the story reaches readers without compromise. Future campaigns may open the door to physical editions, but for now, the focus is on telling a complete, contained story that stands on its own.
At its heart, MODEL UN is about the universal experience of being a teenager staring down a future you’re not sure you’re ready for. “We were all that kid worried about what our future holds,” Hunting says. “We just didn’t have an invading mothership and a crew of ruthless aliens to contend with.”
With its mix of heartfelt nostalgia, absurd comedy, and sharp sci-fi satire, MODEL UN looks ready to strike a chord with anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider—or wished they could rewrite their high school story with a little more adventure. Come October, Velma and her crew of unlikely diplomats will be stepping up to the negotiating table. The only question is: can they pass this final exam?
