This atmospheric cover by John Bolton promises much for the tale of the Aliens film seen from Newt’s point of view that continues within these pages. What a shame the chapter inside issue four of Dark Horse International’s Aliens comic doesn’t deliver on the promise of this terrifying image, or indeed its previous instalments. In general this is the weakest issue so far but that’s not really the fault of the UK publisher or its editor.

Editor Dick Hansom’s comic, like most UK comics of the era, chopped up the US stories into smaller bite-sized chunks and serialised them across more issues than American readers would’ve had. This meant we got to have no less than four individual stories in this monthly anthology, which is always a good thing. However, upon occasion it did highlight weaker elements of those stories. You’ll see what I mean later in the review. First up though, is chapter four of Hive.

Written by Jerry Prosser, drawn by Kelley Jones, coloured by Les Dorscheid and lettered by Clem Robins, main character Doctor Stanislaw Mayakovsky provides the narrative captions as we see android alien Norbert finally enter the hive of the title. While the doctor’s words actually describe his previous experiments involving ants on Earth, they are no less relevant here and show how his previous research would lead on to this trip to deep space.

In the ‘What Has Gone Before’ description of previous issues we’re told Max the dog wears an inhibitor that makes him imperceptible to the aliens. What? This hasn’t been explained in previous chapters and we’re given no explanation here on how it’s meant to work either. Also, given how the doctor discovered another team’s much easier way of extracting the alien jelly he craves, why is he still going through with his much more dangerous idea?

Yes, he has learned of an almost risk-free way of achieving his goal but let’s go and annoy an alien Queen anyway. And let’s sacrifice the pet dog at the same time, turning off his inhibitor so Norbert can present Max as food to the real aliens. Unless the doctor’s ego is such that he must see his own plan succeed, this makes no sense. What also doesn’t make sense is even considering that the reader might feel any kind of tension about Norbert entering the hive.

This results in me not caring about what happens to any of them

It was already established in the films that the aliens couldn’t care less about androids, only if one posed a threat would they destroy them. So there’s no tension in his entrance and once threatened they terminate him, which is actually rather sad. After this there’s a confusing turn of events when the human observers crash land, apparently hit by lightning although it’s hard to tell what’s happened, leaving them stranded on the surface. Quelle surprise.

Now that we’re a few months in to this initially intriguing story the cracks are beginning to show, the main problem being there isn’t one single likeable human character in the cast. They’ve deliberately been painted as selfish profit driven cretins, the likes of which Ripley would’ve gone up against in the movies. This results in me not caring about what happens to any of them, completely negating any suspense or tension the script and art tries hard to rack up.

The Motion Tracker news pages bring another interesting insight into the early 90s, beginning with the reveal of an Aliens Vs Predator movie. In reality, while videogame crossovers would happen soon after, it wouldn’t be until 2004 that the two franchise behemoths met on the silver screen. (I must look out for that trophy in Predator 2.)

I’m sure I borrowed that Earth Hive novel from the library as a teen and really enjoyed reading it very late at night in bed by lamplight. The news about Ridley Scott’s Alien Special Edition needs a bit of clarification. The Director’s Cut I’ve seen since is, as Ridley himself explained, a recut rather than one which adds in missing scenes. The “controversional” scene mentioned here wasn’t controversial at all. It involved Ripley discovering Dallas metamorphosing into an alien egg but it was removed because it slowed down the tense ending. Later, Aliens would reinvent how the eggs are produced and Ridley didn’t want to contradict James Cameron’s film.

“You think you know what’s going on, but I’m telling you – you don’t have a clue.”

General Mavis, Predator: Cold War

Also, $100 for a laserdisc release? No wonder those things never took off over here! Finally, under the ‘Sly Fox’ section about the upcoming releases of videos in the series, for some reason it’s stated Aliens wasn’t shot in widescreen when it very definitely was. A strange error there. Did the writer assume it wasn’t when it was released on video in 4:3 ratio? All films were released that way into the home market until widescreen transfers really took off in the 90s.

Mark Verheiden’s Predator strip, Cold War (pencilled by Ron Randall, inked by Steve Mitchell, coloured by Chris Chalenor and Rachelle Menashe, lettered by Clem) finally sees Russian Lt. Ligachev reappear but unfortunately not until the final page. Before this we’re treated to more human tension between America and the Soviet Union and, while it all starts off rather well with secretive manipulation by the US, it all boils down to a plot involving the sole survivor of a Predator attack (Ligachev) being sent to the site of another attack while coming up against people who wish to exploit the situation for profit and who don’t care about who is expendable (the Americans).

So basically, it’s the plot of Aliens reworked to fit the Predator series. Surely this isn’t a great fit for a comic based on Aliens? Wouldn’t fans see this for what it is? It might have been a decision out of editor Dick Hansom’s hands depending on what the parent company and the UK branch wanted to print over here. Oh, and it appears Detective Schaefer was in a previous Predator strip and that’s why he’s been brought in for the mission. But my point from previous reviews still stands. It still feels like he’s nothing more than a way to bring in Arnold Schwarzenegger without actually doing so (he’s the brother of Arnie’s character).

In the middle of the comic are four extra, glossy pages which make up a survey for the readers. I can’t see how useful listing favourite artists etc. would be to DHI, it’s not like they had any say over who would be creating the strips in the States, but I do find it intriguing that text stories are mentioned. Something tells me they appear later and I hope they do, it could be like reading those exciting novels again, but don’t ruin the surprise for me if you know. The readers are also given the option of choosing whether the comic should stay as a monthly or change to a fortnightly, or even a weekly! I doubt these answers had much sway though.

The Technical Readout page this month details the Remote Sentry Weapons, perhaps to the chagrin of one of the comic’s contributors, seeing as how they were used exclusively in one of the deleted scenes (the Special Edition was heavily criticised in an earlier issue). Then in the two-page Aliens Vs Predator II strip (written by Randy Stradley, drawn by Chris Warner) we find out one of the Predators is actually a human woman!

This could possibly be following on from the original strip but of course it hasn’t been printed in this volume. Regular blog readers will know that this and the chapter in Alien³ #3 were printed in the wrong order so at least the naming of Shorty is explained at last. Still, I want to find out a lot more and only getting two pages at once makes for a frustrating read, and now it’s only going to be two pages a month!

The final strip is Mike Richardson’s Newt’s Tale, which began as the brilliant idea of retelling the story of Aliens from the perspective of Newt. We’ve had some nice building of character and tension, and then last month the scenes where Newt witnessed the death of her mum and brother were truly horrific. You really felt for the child. It brought home the horrors she had to have seen in order to be in the situation we found her in during the film. Chapter three begins in suitable fashion too, as she discovers she can go places the aliens aren’t aware of simply because she’s so small, and we get this great double-page spread of her trying to survive over the next few days pencilled by Jim Somerville, inked by Brian Garvey, coloured by Gregory Wright and lettered by Pat Brosseau.

These were the moments I was looking forward to the most in the story. After the horrors she’d faced already, how exactly did Newt learn to survive in the complex, surrounded by the terrifying aliens. Unfortunately, these two pages are all we get. You can see at the top it says “Days pass…” and yet that last panel continues on to the next page and the moment Ellen and the Colonial Marines find her. Days? When Burke recruits Ripley they’d already lost contact and it took what I thought were at least weeks, possibly longer, to get there!

The rest of these pages see the interesting set up jettisoned for a typical, bland comics adaptation of the movie. We start to see scenes that don’t involve Newt and eventually she’s completely ignored for scenes of the Marines infiltrating the alien nest. The moment where Newt finally breaks her silence and tells Ellen her name is heavy with emotion and plays brilliantly after the trauma we saw her face last month, but then she just disappears from her own story for several pages.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind prompted the trend of re-thinking a movie after its initial showing and releasing it in a new cut

This is hugely disappointing. That cover promised so much and I hope next issue we’ll see more of Newt’s own story that we don’t already know. The particular section of the tale used for this issue might just be a blip in the overall original comic, unfortunately highlighted by being a chapter in and of itself in the UK comic. I can but hope, because right now I’m feeling like we’ve been sold one thing and are suddenly getting something else entirely. The issue does end on a high note however, with an interesting two-page feature on the new fad of Director’s Cuts, written by Dave Hughes.

I remember my friends and I being particularly excited for certain Director’s Cuts of films back then. Aliens is the obvious one, The Lawnmower Man was a completely different film in its lengthier cut, and some of my peers cheered when news of a Blade Runner special edition was announced. Here, some information on scenes cut from the original Alien film are notable and it goes into depth about Ridley Scott’s cyberpunk thriller. I’m glad the Aliens scene with Burke that’s mentioned was never reinstated because it was clear from his final moment that he was being killed, not taken away for implantation.

It may not have been recut by its director, but my favourite special edition is still that for Alien³ which reinstates a lot of David Fincher’s original vision, cut scenes, effects and whole story and character arcs the studio originally excised. It’s a phenomenal recut and the version which should’ve been released into cinemas at the time. It takes Alien³ (a film I already enjoyed) up to the level of the first two masterpieces and concludes an incredible trilogy for Sigourney Weaver and Ellen Ripley.

To round off the issue it’s nice to see I wasn’t alone in my thoughts about the review for the Aliens Special Edition a couple of issues back, although I do hope they don’t change their heading font, I think it’s perfectly readable and highly unique. With a comics checklist that shows how Dark Horse International was just beginning to grow, the fourth edition of Aliens comes to an end.

These may not have been the most enjoyable chapters of any of the main stories but Predator and Newt’s Tale still have the potential to correct course and, if nothing else, at least I can enjoy the humans in Hive meeting a predictably grisly end soon enough. Including the Alien³ Movie Special mini-series I can’t believe we’re already seven issues deep into this real time read through. The fact there are still so many to go, with many different stories for this anthology to tell yet, I can’t wait for #5 on Tuesday 22nd October 2024.

ALiEN³ iSSUE THREE < > ALiENS iSSUE FiVE

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Beginning with another Paul Johnson cover, the third issue of Dark Horse International’s first (and ultimately flagship) comic really settles into its format this month with a whopping four strips and well written features across its 52 pages. Aliens is a meaty read and even for the time it was great value for £1.50. I’ve so many issues remaining but already I’m really glad I chose to cover this in real time on the blog.

So, inside the first strip is part two of Newt’s Tale, Mike Richardson’s retelling of the film from the young girl’s perspective. Over its 13 pages there are some genuinely shocking moments that, with hindsight, really seem to add to the character so brilliantly portrayed by Carrie Henn (amazingly, her first acting role) and the haunted child that first appeared to Ripley and the marines. 

In a secured bunker the colonists shelter in hiding from the creatures that have appeared out of nowhere, seemingly not piecing together they’ve come from the thing that had attached itself to Newt’s dad’s face. Of course, the reader knows that alien was the queen Ripley would ultimately face. We see Newt’s mum and brother Timmy here also, her mum Annie convincing someone to give her a gun and she stays awake all night as the kids rest.

Banging noises from outside suddenly occur and arguments begin. We know what’s out there but the colonists have lost contact with their men sent to the nest to exterminate the creatures, thinking they’d easily outnumber them and just set it alight, not knowing what the aliens are actually capable of. In a moment deliberately intended to frustrate the reader we see two sides argue over opening the door. It’s frustrating because we know which side will win, that their self-imposed macho superiority will lead to disaster for everyone, including all of the children.

But there’s no reasoning with them and as soon as we turn the page they’re overrun in seconds. This page (pencils by Jim Somerville, inks by Brian Garvey, colours by Gregory Wright, letters by Pat Brosseau) is so much better than the overly cartoonish chest burster scene last time, but it’s only the beginning of the horrors over the next few pages. Such as Annie telling her children she’s sorry before aiming her gun at Timmy!

Clearly she sees what’s happening around her and, as heartbreaking and terrifying as the moment is for her, at least it would be instant and they wouldn’t suffer at the hands of the aliens. It’s only a few panels but it hits hard. Newt begs her not to and instead they make a run for the ventilation shafts where we’ve previously seen the kids playing. They know where they lead; they can escape.

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To see it played out, even if it is in comic form rather than celluloid brings the cold, harsh reality of it to bear

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Timmy and Newt are bundled inside just before Annie is grabbed from behind and a curtain of blood pours down in front of the shaft entrance a few feet from the kids. The most shocking moment of all sees Timmy jump out and pick up Annie’s gun, shouting that he’ll save his mummy. He shoots the alien, its acid blood squirting over his face and blinding him. But as if that wasn’t enough for the small child, he’s killed right in front of Newt, and this is where the chapter ends.

Of course we already knew Newt would end up being the only survivor, we knew all of the mums and dads and their children died, but it all happened off screen. To see it played out, even if it is in comic form rather than celluloid brings the cold, harsh reality of it to bear. After this part of the story it’s gone from being an interesting curiosity to the best strip of the comic.

The middle pages might initially feel like a strange place to have a back up strip, but that’s where Mark Verheiden’s Predator: Cold War tale is, sandwiched between the two Aliens stories and, while I don’t really understand a lot of what’s going on in its 12 pages, I’m still enjoying it and am eager to learn more about these particular extra-terrestrials. As Lt. Ligachev makes her way back to Siberia the aliens are preparing for another hunt at the oil pumping station.

As you can see there are pages set on board their spacecraft somewhere in the frozen wastes (pencils by Ron Randall, inks by Steve Mitchell, colours by Chris Chalenor and Rachelle Menashe, letters by Clem Robins) and while Ligachev’s internal narration of what she’s about to face again is well written, I’m pretty lost when it comes to the images. What is that disc-shaped object it’s taken from the walls and why is it discarded like that? This would probably makes sense if I’d seen the film of course.

As I’ve said before I’ll be doing so this Hallowe’en so I’ll assume (hopefully correctly) that this is all self-explanatory to Predator fans. I look forward to finding out for myself though, and the air of mystery around these creatures while I read only acts to heighten my interest. So please, as much as you might think explaining it would help, let me discover it for myself (the spooky season isn’t far off anyway).

The attack has begun and the first victim is a dog, which lures in one of the men, who then sees the aliens and makes a desperate run back to his colleagues, giving away the location of everyone else. The way they move through the complex and dispose of anyone in their path is chilling, even with the still images of a comic it’s clear to me they’re doing it for sport, for recreation, and there are some brutal moments.

Instead of running for safety, some of the men grab shotguns in an attempt to slow down the attackers. They know they’re no match for them, they know they’re alien and can’t be stopped, but they also know Ligachev is on her way and their last desperate gambit is to hold them off until their reinforcements arrive. But the first thing they come across is a load of their men strung up by their feet, blood pouring out from the gaping holes where their heads used to be.

Upon seeing it, one of them comments, “What kind of hell is this?” After a few more pages of gruesome killings, one man at a time, we arrive at the final moments of the strip and one of the Predators repeats back the very same line as the man’s torso slides down its spear. All dead, the Predators lie in wait for Ligachev and her military might. It’s atmospheric, I’ll give it that, and as an introduction to these creatures it works. I’m just impatient to see more of the interesting lead character, so I’m looking forward to the next issue.

The other main Aliens strip is the third chapter of Jerry Prosser’s Hive, originally the main story in the first issue. Mayakovsky and Lish send Norbert (the alien synthetic) and their poor dog, Max down to the surface of the planet where they find the aliens around the hive are sleeping! Max soon finds another lander ship with humans and it’s surrounded by more sleeping aliens who appear to have nodded off mid-attack.

Is it wrong of me to kind of love Norbert? I mean, he’s still programmed to act like a proper alien as you’ll soon see, but to see this frightening beast looking after Max and reporting back is genuinely funny without ever breaking the illusion of the universe created by the films. However, over the next two pages that affection soon disappears as his programming takes over with some horrific results, as drawn by Kelly Jones with Les Dorscheid’s colours and Clem’s letters.

It appears these humans (hinted at last time) have used something called “infrasonic suppression” to put the xenomorphs into a deep state of hibernation while they collected the slime our lead characters have also come for. Mayakovsky is rather jealous of their idea; it could’ve saved him a lot of time and money in developing XL1 (Norbert). But as Norbert tracks down and kills all of the crew one-by-one, part of the ship’s computer systems becomes damaged, and you just know what that part controlled, don’t you?

Yep, the aliens are now awake and have surrounded the ship. Will they realise Norbert is a synth? After all, in the films it’s established they won’t attack a synthetic human unless they’re attacked first, that they know the difference. Surely they’ll see through this? Anyway, the chapter ends with a worrying development for Max. Given Norbert’s goodbye, I don’t know if I want to see what happens next!

At the very back of the issue is the next instalment of the strange little Alien Vs Predator strip I mentioned in #1 of Alien³ (actually, it’s called Alien Vs Predator II, so I must’ve missed the original in the first volume of the comic). The strip was written in two-page chunks for Dark Horse Insider magazine in the US and ran for 14 issues. It’s written by Dark Horse co-founder Randy Stradley (Marvel Star Wars, Crimson Empire, Jedi Council) and illustrated by Chris Warner (Terminator, Alien Legion, co-creator of Barb Wire).

As you can see there’s not a lot of story to tell in two pages but by the end it’ll have lasted for 28 pages in total so we’ll see if it develops beyond a long battle between the two alien species. As I said in the review for #1 of Alien³ these two franchises hadn’t met yet on film, so this could’ve been exciting for fans of both in 1992. This will take until next summer to complete so I’m hoping there’s scope over that time for more depth.

There are the usual plethora of features in this issue including news and the Technical Readout section, the latter also containing this spread about synthetic humans, a key part of the Alien universe. There was an interview with Lance Henrikson in that one issue I bought as a teenager and I remember being disappointed that he didn’t mention the Super Mario Bros movie he was in for all of five seconds. As if he would! (No pictures of Ash from the first film though, which is a shame.)

The beginning of the Alien³ video had an exciting trailer for Alien War, a place in London where fans could experience the terror of the second film by being led through an area by Colonial Marines while being stalked by a giant xenomorph. It actually began life in Glasgow and it’s this original setting that gets its own feature in this issue. I always thought the trailer looked fantastic and would’ve given anything to have gone with my like-minded friends but alas these things just never came to Northern Ireland at the time.

At the back of the comic underneath the letters page is the latest comics checklist and the first non-Aliens title from DHI was about to launch at the end of September. Featuring an Indiana Jones back up strip (because of George Lucas’ connection), Star Wars #1 surely couldn’t miss, right? Thing is, it’s not mentioned in any of the checklists or adverts in Jurassic Park which launched the following year, so it mustn’t have lasted long, which is surprising.

Upon checking I can confirm it only lasted ten months and was abruptly cancelled even though it advertised the next issue and #11 appeared in the checklists. It’s another franchise (alongside Predator) that I haven’t really seen (I know – unforgivable!) so until I do I doubt I’ll collect this particular DHI comic, but it’s good to see them expanding already by this point in this read through, and I can’t wait to see what else they released that I might bring to the blog.

(Actually, I already have a completed set of one of their other comics! That’ll start in January 2025 and I’ll leave its name a mystery for just a bit longer.)

Three issues down and plenty to go. This comic is already pretty incredible, it’s going to be a great read through if it keeps on improving as it has already from one month to the next. Aside from the crossover strip I’m eager for the next chapter of all the stories, there’s not one of the three main stories that I’d say is a weak link. A great selection of extras too this month. Aliens #4 will be reviewed on Tuesday 24th September 2024, but before then is both #2 (Monday 26th August) and #3 (Monday 16th September) of Alien³! A busy month ahead. Bring it.

ALiEN³ iSSUE 1 < > ALiEN³ iSSUE 2

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