This comic is never short of fantastic covers and Colin MacRae’s introduction to #11 of Dark Horse International’s Aliens is no exception, depicting the next chapter in the Colonial Marines epic from across The Pond. (Erroneously credited as Colin MacNeil, this was corrected in #14’s editorial.) The first thing I noticed upon scanning through the issue is the page count. Just as the publisher’s Dracula gained four pages, it appears Aliens has permanently lost the same amount, the free comic given away over the past two issues disguising the fact somewhat.
As you can see another change has occurred with Cefn Ridout taking over as editor from Dick Hansom, and his first task is to give the readers a shake to get more interesting correspondence for the letters page. In his very first paragraph he even uses the accidental reprint of a previous Alien Vs Predator II chapter to comic effect in this regard. He’s definitely off to a good start! All credits for this issue are also above.
Our UK strip, Sacrifice started off fine but unremarkable, however it really kicks into gear this issue. The atmosphere is palpable! It’s certainly not for the faint-hearted, especially those with kids. I don’t personally, but ever since my mate had her’s I find scenes like this below particularly horrific. There’s even a season one episode of ER I now find more terrifying than most horror films!
After this, Ann no longer cares if she lives or dies and she slowly walks back to the compound. Masters is the one person who seemed to care about her but got all creepy last time, and when he approaches her she punches him square in the face. She may be a priest but sacrificing babies to the alien has rightfully pushed her over the edge. However, Ricketts (the guy with the grotesquely scarred face) attacks her, calling her a murderer because the alien attacked and killed villagers because it didn’t get the baby.
It’s here the strip takes a horrific turn I simply was not expecting. Not only is the question of the mysterious generator room answered, but so is my own about how many babies would be needed, a plot point I previously thought made no sense. But it wasn’t meant to make sense. I was expertly fooled by writer Peter Milligan. They’re not some form of devil worshippers. Their devil is very real for a start. The story explains all with these two pages below, the second one delivering a shock after turning the page.
The whole point of living, of trying to survive against the alien is brought into question if this is the way, and as a priest Ann’s struggles with this feel very real. We also find out Ricketts’ disfigurement occurred when he tried and failed to save his wife. He almost becomes a sympathetic character. Almost, until he does something that genuinely shocked me, I can’t lie. Something that proves this is truly a horror comic.
Ann’s mum sacrificed herself to save her daughter from an alien and the guilt has driven her ever since, so she decides she’ll face the alien instead. Ricketts is delighted, it’ll save them a few babies, and to this he earns a well deserved knee in the groin. (I may have inwardly cheered.) She’s lost her faith, but if the alien is proof evil exists then in her eyes God should too. She needs to look it in the eye to confirm her own beliefs. Masters gives her a grenade and she has her cross and a makeshift spear, and in a ‘knights of the crusade’ moment she’s ready.
The story has me gripped. And horrified. But that’s the point of a good Alien story, isn’t it? The themes are very similar to Alien³’s and I can’t wait to see what happens next, especially since the comics checklist (which gives details of the next issue) says the climax is next month.
Much like the Dracula comic at the same time, Dave Hughes’ news pages covered Alien³’s takings in the cinema the more favourable UK numbers are covered. I was in awe of The Lawnmower Man at the time which also really benefitted from a longer special edition, and even Gary Oldman’s Prince gets a shout out. On the first page is another funny competition and the comic knows fine rightly most people entering it shouldn’t really be getting their hands on the prize. I’d never heard of Charles Dutton’s sitcom Roc, but I’ve now found out all of the second season’s 25 episodes were aired live! That’s pretty damn incredible.
I think Dave perhaps meant “flawed epic” in the ‘Alien Stars’ column? More memories are stirred of seeing sequels to Poison Ivy loitering on late night telly when we first got satellite TV, and the cover to K2 never intrigued me enough in the video store. If only I’d realised who was in it. More fond memories too of that transition period when widescreen videos started to make their impact, and I can find no evidence of a film starring Bill Paxton called ‘Twisted’. It’s somewhat familiar, obviously! (Although there’s no mention of Helen Hunt.)
Our 8-page chunk of Colonial Marines this month could be seen as little more than that classic Aliens moment of the marines’ first foray into the seemingly deserted colony in the film, only reworked to a Sun Gun setting. But that doesn’t take away from the lovely, slow-burn atmosphere expertly portrayed here. This story is taking its time and works all the better for it.
As I read these pages I’m imagining the characters’ voices crackling over their comms, and in a change from the film it’s the waste disposal team that have been sent in first to check the levels of toxic waste; no one is even considering this has anything to do with aliens. Typically, the head of the team is all about profit and doesn’t care for the marines. That is, until they come across familiar, organic materials covering the walls inside. Then, of course, a piece of that wall begins to move.
Our main character, Lt. Joseph Henry suddenly realises what’s happened. As do the marines. He orders the disposal teams to evacuate but we know it’ll be too late. The strip could easily have rushed through this bit but it took its time and as a result, after the intensity of Sacrifice, this issue really isn’t pulling any punches in the atmosphere stakes.
Time for a breather and the Technical Readout details a random crane machine, proving Lee Brimmicombe-Wood can bring enjoyable details to even the most seemingly random and inconsequential bits of fictional tech. Lee gets a thank you at the end of the next feature, Jim Campbell’s Under the Knife. It’s a piece detailing an anonymous doctor’s autopsy of an alien body and it’s brilliantly written. Think a doctor’s breakdown of a dissected body can’t be compulsive reading? Think again.
Jim expertly walks the fine line between keeping the mystery of the monsters (and thus their fear factor), and giving readers just enough juicy details to keep them glued to the page and feel like they’re learning more than they actually are. Trust me, you’ll want to take five minutes out of your day to get stuck into this one. Let’s hope Jim returns to bring us something similar in future issues, perhaps for the facehugger. A little gem hidden away in this issue.
Another gem is Rites of Passage, the wordless two-part Predator back-up strip. It may only be eight pages, and it’s basically one fight scene but it makes an impact. Pitting a seemingly defenceless tribesman against the technologically advanced alien may seem familiar all these years later after the excellent Prey movie, but I can imagine how thrilling it’d have been in 1993 discovering this fight isn’t as one-sided as we (and the Predator) may have assumed.
Ian Edginton’s story is still thrilling today. We don’t even know this man’s name but we cheer him on as he uses his ingenuity to defend himself, before going on the offensive and taking out the alien’s weaponry in an exciting double-page spread by penciller Rick Leonardi, inker Dan Panosian and colourist Greg Wright. I also love how much character there is in this version of the Predator when it’s free of its helmet.
There are moments when you genuinely believe our hero is going to lose, making the eventual win all the more worthwhile. When another Predator arrives it looks closely at him and leaves, and you feel its look is its way of showing respect for the victor. We come back to the beginning of the story and the man is now an elder with familiar items attached to his shield and spear, and he sees another falling star in the night sky. Excellent stuff.
The Aliens Vs Predator II debacle is mentioned in the editorial and discussed on the letters page, but is this month’s chapter another attempt by Cefn to get readers writing in as he joked earlier? Have a read and see if you spot anything strange about this.
The strip is only two pages long as usual but I think they’ve been printed in the wrong order. The first thing I noticed was our lead character throwing her weapon at the alien Queen and being without it at the end of page one, but she has it again at the top of the next page. The first caption on page two is also a quick recap of the last chapter, the story flows from page two to page one better, and the end of page one is clearly the cliffhanger. Oh dear.
Prose story Tribes reads so much better this month, beginning with an excellent description of life inside an alien hive and then concentrating on the characters, building them into real humans in my mind. Most intriguing are MOX and Rat. The former is a psychotic human almost killed in battle but kept alive and sedated in an armoured shell until he’s needed to go berserk. The latter is an infiltration specialist who appears to have developed the skill of being silent as a child because of her abusive father.
Because it’s a novella being broken down into bite-sized chunks it’s another slow burn, something this comic seems to do incredibly well. It’s building up organically and I think it reads all the better for it. The conclusion should be all the more powerful after getting to know the people involved and caring about what happens to them. It’s also building an interesting plot and even an insight into the aliens themselves. Much improved and I’m looking forward to more.
On the inside back cover is the full-page advert for the refreshed #6 of Dracula which you can see in the review of #5 of that comic, and that just about wraps things up for another month. The best issue so far. No competition. Of course, you need to have read the previous chapters in all the stories to really appreciate them, but the emotional investment this issue brought has really surprised me. I’m locked, loaded and ready for #12 on Tuesday 20th May 2025.
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