Of all the comics I’d expect to give us a Christmassy cover Aliens wouldn’t even have crossed my mind, yet here we are with an alien and their offspring getting into the icy festive feels. Chris Halls’ incredible artwork is so very 90s and, along with that funny caption it brings an eerie, gothic horror vibe to the season. Christmas is a perfect time for some scary stories and this tongue-in-cheek cover sums that up perfectly.

The editorial page has a Predator in the background, such is the importance of that franchise in the comic and I see Hive has only six pages this time around (the Predator back-up has 14). There’s an interesting tidbit about John Bolton’s images that I assumed were US covers and news of the next Dark Horse International release coming in the new year. Hmm, that one sounds good… Anyway, on to the rest of Aliens #7.

We kick off with Newt’s Tale: Part Six, the credits for it and all of this issue’s contents you can see in the image above. This chapter takes us from the room where the aliens come through the ceiling, up to the point when Ripley and Newt make a run for the elevator after torching the alien nest right in front of the queen.

There are some obvious differences here between the original film and the Special Edition this is based on, as well as moments that were still on the cutting room floor after the release of the longer version. These mainly involve company man Carter Burke. In the finished film (both versions) we see him escape the room and lock everyone in behind him, then he turns around and an alien snaps its inner mouth at him. Clearly, he died. But this wasn’t originally the case.

Here, he simply backs out of the room and we see a pair of aliens standing behind him and that’s it. I assumed we just weren’t going to see his death but several pages later (this chapter runs to 18) we see him alive in the nest and impregnated. Ripley can’t help him, it’s too late, but she gives him a grenade to end his suffering which he’s too cowardly to use.

Apparently this was filmed but cut out by James Cameron because he realised Burke should still have a facehugger attached to him at this point, so his exit from the previous scene was reedited. (While they didn’t reshoot a death scene, the shot of the alien made it clear.) I hadn’t known about this before. Moments like this and parts of the earliest chapters are what I expected from this story instead of what has been more or less a straight adaptation.

Newt also sees her mum when she awakens in the nest and then everything suddenly speeds up. Yes, things will be changed when adapting stories for different mediums; what works on screen may not necessarily work on the page. But still, while I don’t personally know how they could’ve conveyed the stillness and terror of the scene above from the movie, having it reduced to just over a page feels underwhelming.

Maybe even more so because I just watched the film three days ago. As I’ve said described before, the first time I saw Aliens was on my birthday back when I was a teen, watching it with my mum. In memory of my mum and I really enjoying the movie together I decided to watch it again on the night of my 47th birthday. I think it’ll be a birthday/Christmas tradition from now on. So, everything is fresh in my head as I’ve read this issue. Talking about going back in time, what did the news pages of Christmas 1993 have for us?

That Aliens comic story sounds terrible but then again I’m saying that with the hindsight of the subsequent movies. But ‘Xeno-zip’? And another red species more deadly than the ones on film? I don’t know if I’d have enjoyed it. Below that I have to correct the myth of the chest burster scene in the first film. Yes, director Ridley Scott used a lot more blood than he’d told the actors to expect, but that’s it.

Of course they knew what was going to happen. It was in the script. John Hurt had his head popping up through a hole in the table with a fake torso. There were cables and puppeteers everywhere. The first few seconds of the reaction is in response to the amount of fake blood, but then cut was called and the rest of the scene then acted out as normal. I hate these myths of directors “fooling” actors when in reality they’re just good actors!

As for the competition, given the terms and conditions mention “doctored photographs” I was surprised to find out the statement was in fact true! What is also true is Predator: Cold War is still my favourite strip in the comic seven months in. How’s that for a tenuous link, eh? Having now finally watched the first two films I have to say the pages involving the Predators definitely hit differently.

Quite a lot happens in the larger background of Mark Verheiden’s story this time too. The US president wants the mission terminated because a Moscow politician is on the way, so the Americans can’t be found there. General Phillips receives the message to clear all personnel out and “stop hostilities with the aliens” so that they leave before the Soviets get a hold of their weaponry. The audacity of the Americans to think they’re in control of the Predator situation is typical in this and the Alien franchises.

The Russian government knows exactly what’s going on and are escorting our Sheriff friend from previous issues to the site so he can extract his own friend, Detective Schaefer. Speaking of him, he and Lt. Ligachev find an unusually warm area where the ice is melting and discover the Predators’ ship. Striping off so they can bare some flesh while they fight (it was the 90s), they sneak on board.

You can see it goes well. Finding parts of Ligachev’s outpost used as patchwork repairs on the ship, Schaefer theorises they must’ve crashed; all of those people lost their lives so that the aliens could scavenge for parts. Ligachev ain’t happy. They fight valiantly and Schaefer is able to stab the alien that attacks them, but the screams summon its friends!

I’ve loved this story so far. What started out as a bit clichéd on the US side of things and interesting on the Soviet side has developed into a brilliant tale, with good characterisation and a genuine building of tension. Now, with the American government worried that Schaefer destroying the ship on Russian land and the Soviets knowing an American has stopped them from using its weaponry could start World War III, all the plot points are converging on what should be an engaging climax.

According to the Comics Checklist further below the next issue will contain the final chapter, so even this slightly awkward cliffhanger with Ligachev mid-sentence can’t ruin the anticipation. To be fair, this was probably the best place to leave it for a month. I actually think I’ll go back and read the whole story again just before settling down to next month’s issue, something I most likely won’t do for the two Aliens stories.

The Alien³ videogame gets a two-page review this month and it’s basically the same as you’d expect from all other licenced games back then. The vast majority were all platformers or driving games (sometimes a mix of both) until Goldeneye came along. Alien³ throws loads of weaponry and aliens at the player, two things the movie didn’t have. But hey, when did silly things like the actual movie get in the way of a movie videogame licence all those years ago? Since then, the first-person Alien: Isolation has shown us that you only need one alien for a great game, and to scare the bejesus out of me… I mean, the player!

(I still can’t play it on my Switch for more than an hour at a time!)

The penultimate part of Jerry Prosser’s Hive is only six pages and they’ve escaped the nest and made it back to the dropship to await rescue. Their creepy android loses an arm and Julian continues the trend of humans never learning in an Alien story when she fires upon one at close range, badly burning her face in the process with its acid blood. That’s pretty much it. While they wait for the aliens to come a-knockin’ Dr. Mayakovsky makes a random reference to Ancient Rome being the key to escape before the story abruptly stops. Just as with Jurassic Park, each story is of varying lengths each issue but this feels ridiculously short.

Even shorter, at two pages, but with much more going on in a much more enjoyable story, is the next part of the Aliens Vs Predator II strip. Our protagonist is still learning from the Predators (I wish I’d read the previous story to understand who she is), most notably that a rebuke is painful and you don’t try to save everyone. Seeing the alien Queen led off and her troops hanging back is foreboding and I find myself becoming more intrigued with each monthly snippet.

It’s painfully slow though. It’s like reading one of those old three-panels-a-day newspaper adventure strips, only with much bigger gaps. However, it’s good! Actually, it probably benefits from being told this way as I find myself clamouring for each tiny little morsel. Would it be as captivating if I’d simply read it all at once? I doubt it. It’s definitely won me over.

Here’s the Comics Checklist I mentioned above and as you can see Newt’s Tale is also coming to a close, so the rest of the movie is going to fly by just as quickly as this month’s chapter. However, it’s another comic appearing here for the first time that catches my eye. It’s completely right when it describes Bram Stoker’s Dracula as “stunning” and it’s a regular watch every Hallowe’en for me. Hmm… that gives me an idea…

That’s a lie, because if I was only getting the idea now to do a real time read through of DHI’s Dracula comic I’d need to have started collecting it months ago. You see, I actually had the idea last year but by the time I collected all ten issues it was too late to start the read through in 2024. So watch out for a special introduction to Bram Stoker’s Dracula on the blog on Thursday 16th January 2025, with the premiere issue just three days later! Happy New Year, eh?

I’ll finish with the only other mention of the festive season in the whole issue, in a response to a funny reader on the Bug Hunt letters page, below. Well I hope the images from this comic (especially that creepy cover) don’t stop you from drifting into a deep sleep tonight before Santa Claus visits your area. The first issue for 2025 will be here on Tuesday 21st January and we’ve a full year’s worth of xenomorph terror to look forward to.

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