Aliens (comic book)
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Aliens is the key word in the titles of a number of comic book limited series and one-shots, first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1988 and set in the Alien fictional universe. Some stories often feature the company Weyland-Yutani and the United States Colonial Marines. Originally intended as a sequel to James Cameron's Aliens, the first mini-series features the characters of Rebecca 'Newt' Jorden and Corporal Dwayne Hicks. Later series also included the further adventures of Ellen Ripley. Other stories are completely unique to the Alien universe, and are often used to explore other aspects of the species, such as their sociology and biology.
Note: The first three stories formed a continuation of the two Alien films that had been released when they were published. However, they are no longer considered canonical after the Alien³ film featured the deaths of Newt and Corporal Hicks. In order to keep the stories relevant to the Alien films, Dark Horse Comics changed the names of the characters for future printings of the stories. Newt became Billie while Hicks was now known as Wilks. The only other major difference between the original publications is that as well as being renamed the trade paperbacks were also recoloured.
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[edit] Stories
[edit] Outbreak
Outbreak starts a number of years after Aliens. Both Wilks and Billie have been struggling with the aftermath of their encounter with the Xenomorphs. Billie is in a mental institution and, after nothing seems to help her, the doctors decide to wipe her memory. Wilks has never gotten over the aliens and the decimation of his squad, so he agrees to go on a mission to the alien homeworld to recover some eggs and to destroy one of the hives (the hive destroying serves no purpose other than to satisfy Wilks' hatred). Wilks goes to visit Billie before he goes, only to find out that her memory is about to be wiped. Wilks believes Billie to be the only thing that marks his existence and the only thing that marks his squad's sacrifice, so he rescues her and takes her to the homeworld. Their space-ship is followed by another though...
Meanwhile, strange things are happening on Earth. A scientific corporation has acquired an alien Queen and begins harvesting eggs. A weird cult that believes the aliens to be God's spiritual rebirth breaks in and they all give themselves up for facehugging. The Earth is overrun.
On the homeworld the team land (Billie has fallen in love with a soldier named Bueller) and are attacked by the following band of soldiers, who want the eggs for themselves. They give up their weapons and stand down, but the attackers are forced into the hive by the various other hostile species on the planet. The team gather weapons and foolishly go into the hive to rescue their attackers. They rescue a few and most of them get out, but not before the reason they so stupidly went in is revealed: they are all synthetic humans.
Billie is distraught, Bueller makes it back but is ripped in half (revealing he is actually a synthetic) and Wilks almost kills them all by waiting until he has set the charges to take off, but they make it and go back to Earth. As soon as they get there they have to leave, and are told by a general that they are following a standard military procedure against the aliens: they are retreating. There is a mass exodus of Earth, most of the survivors being military. Bueller, Wilks and Billie get on a ship and flee Earth.
[edit] Nightmare Asylum
Script by Mark Verheiden, art and title illustration by Den Beauvais and lettering by Willie Schubert.
[edit] Plot Summary
This follows on to Aliens:Outbreak begins with Billie, the synthetic Bueller, and Wilks a short time after having escaped alien infested Earth on a cargo ship. The crew discovers the ship is ferrying aliens to an unknown destination. After killing the aliens, the ship autopilots to a military post commanded by General Spears, who is breeding and attempting to train aliens to fight against their own kind on Earth. He is depicted as ruthless, and is called insane by several characters. Throughout the story it is revealed that Spears is extremely paranoid about his own safety and the safety of his aliens, and is willing to sacrifice his own troops without hesitation. As the story progresses the aliens inevitably escape captivity and begin taking over the military base. Wilks and Billie manage to hide on the same ship General Spears uses to escape. Once aboard the ship Wilks and Billie realize it is full of 'trained' aliens that Spears intends on using to take back the infested Earth. The synthetic Bueller also manages to send a transmission saying goodbye to the two main characters as they were separated in the beginning of the story. Since Bueller is a synthetic and torn in two the aliens do not engage him in any way. Bueller is left alone and abandoned in the overrun space station. Before Spears lands on Earth Wilks and Billie jettison out in a small escape pod towards a different space station aware that their chances of survival on Earth are slim. Once Spears lands on Earth he releases his 'trained' aliens and expects them to attack the Earth breed aliens. The 'trained' aliens end up turning on Spears. In the end Spears realizes that the aliens were never actually trained but simply remaining patient throughout their supposed training. The Queen and the other aliens had every intention of getting to Earth and killing Spears. Spears is brutally killed at the end of this realization.
[edit] Crossovers
There have been other comic crossovers:
- Aliens vs. Predator
- Aliens vs. Predator vs. The Terminator
- Aliens vs. Predator/Witchblade/Darkness
- Batman/Aliens
- Green Lantern Versus Aliens
- Judge Dredd vs. Aliens
- Superman vs. Aliens
- Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator
- WildC.A.T.s/Aliens
[edit] Publications
Dark Horse has produced a number of Aliens comic books and collected volumes:
- Aliens:
- Aliens 1-6 (AKA Aliens Book 1 & Outbreak, by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson, Dark Horse, 1989, ISBN 1-56971-164-X, 1996, ISBN 1-56971-174-7, Titan Books, 176 pages, 1990, ISBN 1-85286-276-9, 1996, ISBN 1-85286-756-6)
- Aliens 1-4 (AKA Aliens Book 2 & Nightmare Asylum, by Mark Verheiden, Denis Beauvais and Mark A. Nelson, Dark Horse, 1990, ISBN 1-878574-03-5, Titan Books, 112 pages, 1991, ISBN 1-85286-378-1, 1997, ISBN 1-85286-765-5)
- Earth War 1-4 (AKA Aliens Book 3 & Female War, by Mark Verheiden and Sam Kieth, Dark Horse, 176 pages, 1991, ISBN 1-878574-23-X)
- Rogue (by Ian Edginton and Will Simpson, 1993, 1994, trade paperback, 112 pages, 1995, ISBN 1-56971-023-6)
- Hive (by Jerry Prosser and Kelley Jones, 1997, 128 pages, Titan Books, 1993, ISBN 1-85286-469-9, Dark Horse, ISBN 1-56971-122-4)
- Labyrinth (by Jim Woodring and Kilian Plunkett, trade paperback, Titan Books, 136 pages, 1997, ISBN 1-85286-844-9)
- Genocide (by John Arcudi, Damon Willis and Karl Stor, tpb, 112 pages, 1997, Titan, ISBN 1-85286-805-8, Dark Horse ISBN 1-56971-196-8)
- Purge (by Ian Edginton, Phil Hester (pencils) and Ande Parks (inks), 1997, trade paperback, 88 pages, 1999, ISBN 1-56971-409-6)
- "Pig" (by Chuck Dixon, Henry Flint (pencils) and Andrew Pepoy (inks), one-shot, 1997)
- "Xenogenesis" (by Tom Bierbaum/Mary Bierbaum, Dave Ross (pencils) and Andrew Pepoy (inks), 4-issue mini-series, 1999)
- Apocalypse: The Destroying Angels (by Mark Schultz and Doug Wheatley, 4-issue mini-series, 1999, trade paperback, 96 pages, 1999, ISBN 1-56971-399-5)
- Aliens Omnibus:
- Volume 1 (collects Outbreak, Nightmare Asylum, and Female War, 384 pages, July 2007, ISBN 1593077270)[1]
- Volume 2 (collects Genocide, Harvest and Colonial Marines, 448 pages, December 2007, ISBN 1-59307-828-5)[2]
- Volume 3 (collects Rogue, Labyrinth and Salvation, 376 pages, March 2008, ISBN 1-59307-872-2)[3]
- Volume 4 (collects ...., 376 pages, July 2008, ISBN 1-59307-926-5)[4]
- Volume 5 (collects Alchemy, Kidnapped, Cargo, Survival, Alien, Earth Angel, Incubation, Havoc, Lovesick, Lucky, 364 pages, November 2008, ISBN 1-59307-991-5)[5]
[edit] See also
- Aliens, a novel series
- List of comics based on films
[edit] References
- Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Alien and Predator Films (by David A. McIntee, Telos, 272 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-903889-94-4)
[edit] Footnotes
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