Dark Horse Comic review: Aliens Salvation

What do you get when you get two comic greats Dave Gibbons and Mike Mignola to do an Aliens Comics. One hell of a story thats what. A chilling story that shows while xenomorph are lethal religious devotion is downright terrifying. The crew of the Nova Maru discover their cargo is loose and the captain decides to ditch the ship taking the ships devout but unstable cook Selkirk. Both end up on an savage planet and soon discover the Maru has crashed and loosed the aliens upon the planet. Selkirk must resort to some unsettling things to survive and use's the word of god justifie his actions.

Gibbons does fantastic work making an unnerving story with out having to rely on the Aliens but the human monster. Mignola's art is perfectly set to a tone of Alien demons and the heartless void of space.
While some might find the story too short I think its the right size and does its job well.
If your a first time Aliens comic fan this may a  good start .Its short and sweet and is a standalone story.
I highly recommend this book its a great read and you can pick up the hard back edition fairly cheap.

Dark Horse Comic review: Aliens series one to three

So after the release of Aliens Darkhorse picked up the comic rights to the franchise and made series which picked up 10 years after the events of Aliens and left us with a scared Hicks and and an emotionally scared Newt. The comics written buy Mark Verheiden were dark edgy and got the vibe off the movies right off and then some expanding the universe 10 fold. Then in 1992 Alien3 came out and in an effort to remain in line with fox continuity They changed Hicks to Wilks and Newt to Billie when the books were reprinted. You can if your lucky still get early editions where the named are changed. For this review Im going to keep the movie names and give you the title of the collected graphic novels.

Aliens Book one: Outbreak
Taking place some 10 years after Aliens the story begins with a deep space salvage crew encountering a xeno on board wrecked ship and is slaughtered. Hicks who has been in and out of the USCM stockade due and bars because of been shunned from the other marines is brought to the high brass. He told they used the info from the attacked ship to find the xenomorph homeworld.Before he goes he decides to vist Newt and learns she's going to be lobotomized. Rather then let that happen to her he smuggles her onboard the ship for the mission. Meanwhile a rival company to Wayland-Yutani bring backs an infected crew member of the salvaged ship and cause's a wide spread outbreak on earth.
Mark Neilson art style has dated badly and the story is kinda all
over the place. While not shit its not the best its not too bad either
so if your a fan check it out.







Aliens Book two: Nightmare Asylum
Taking place after Hicks and Newt escape a now infested earth one to land on a planet ruled buy a power mad General Spears who breeds xeno's with a mad scheme to train them and use them to take back earth. This of course makes Hicks relise that Spears is nuts. Spears while weary of them keeps them alive because their experience of the bugs.Newt still comes to terms wth the loss of her lover she had in the first book and Hick trys to lead an uprising to stop Spears plan.

This book is wicked..the story wicked, the action wicked...the art work buy Den Beauvais fantastic.
This is a vast improvement from the the last book. and is a must for an Aliens fan.

Aliens book three: Female War

So after Spears attempt failed which causes Ripely to come out of hiding joining up with Hicks and Newt and formulates a plans to lure the high Queen to one city drawing the rest of the hive and nuking it.
Ripley's departure and absence is explained well and does make a number of nods to the movies. He relationship is with Newt is strained and Hicks doesnt trust her which is far more intresting then the main story. 

The art work buy Sam Keith who worked on Sandman and while intresting I did not think it was ideal for the story. With a silly plot and odd set of stylized art work it not the most impressive of the books but still needed for completion sake for an Aliens fan.

So if your going start collecting comics those three books are a good starting point. All three can be found in Aliens Omnibus volume one.

Dark Horse Comic review: Predator Big Game

Right so its Yautja month I'll be reviewing some of Dark horse awesome Predator comic's starting with Big Game.  While there are others with far more impressive Art styles and stories Big Game captures the feel and spirit of the Predator movies.

Set in small town of Cole New Mexico a community near an army base a Predator Craft lands and its pilot decides to bag some game. A local grunt Enoch Nakai is embroiled in a battle of wits with the savage Yautja hunter and when his army training fails he puts his skills as a Indian Brave into use to tackle the hunter from the stars.

The art work buy Evan Dorkin isnt great but isnt bad either. The Predator looks awesome and the landscape  epic but the humans could have been drawn much better. John Arcudi's story while nothing groundbreaking is primal and tense and he does however make Enoch a really fleshed out character with a rich backstory which lends its self to the conflict. The story's climax is pure raw testosterone driven and kinda hints in a cheeky way what might have happened if Billy not Dutch survived to duke it out with the predator.


I was lucky and came across an early collected edition and two singles with the awesome Chris Warner covers. You can also find this story in the Predator Omnibus volume Two. Pick it up if you can because it is one of the more action packed and well crafted Predator stories.

Dark Horse sets date for Prometheus comic series.

So early in the year I told you guys that Dark Horse is rebooting its Aliens and Predator comics to fit in with Prometheus continuity and expand the universe franchise. While skeptical at first I've gotten a look at some of the art work and strips and am liking what I'm seeing.

The first book in the series titled Prometheus:Fire and Stone will hit shelves on Sept 10 2014.

Here's a link to a free preview http://io9.com/discover-how-prometheus-continues-in-this-free-comic-pr-1553849788

Dark Horse comic Review: Judge Dredd vs. Aliens

What do you get when you pit the ultimate Lawman against the ultimate killing machine....one hell of an awesome comic. Written buy the Dredd creator John Wagner and Andy Diggle and some wicked artwork buy Henry Flint.

The setting of Mega city one makes for the perfect stalking ground for the xenomorph and when Dredd gets wind of an infestation, he and a bunch of badass exterminators decide its time to go bug stomping.
The story starts off a slow burner like Alien with just one "Alien" and shows how much damage one bug can do then things go bat shit when it transpire theirs an entire hive right under the justice department leading to an all out war with the Judges and the Aliens.

This comic is fast paced and show's how even a kickass like Dredd has trouble taking on the Xeno. Flints art work is nice and gritty doing justice to both the world of Dredd and the Aliens. If your a comicbook fan of either 2000A.D or Aliens.....this is most definitely for you. So go out buy it and do what Dredd does best for his books. Justice.

Interview with Aliens super fan Giz O'Shaughnessy.

I decided to have a quick chat with Giz O'Shaughnessy contributor to the Emerald Gore Society and Aliens super fan.

Martin: Which of the Aliens franchise was your favorite and why?

Giz: While I love the films (yes even the ones considered bad by most) and tend to read a lot of books, I have to admit that it's the comics aspect of the franchise that really apeals to me. First off, alot of the novels were just expanded adaptaions of comic stories which means I've already gone through them. Secondly, while the Aliens franchise might have started in movie form it's fairly obvious that the first 2 films were the best. And that is exactly where the original stories start off, dealing with what happens with Newt, Hicks and later on Ripley after the events of Aliens. From there, we have a multitude of stories dealing with humanities misadventures with the universes perfect killing machines. Where the films focus on Ripley (they may aswell be called the Adventures of Ripley :P) and the games tend to be military shoot'em ups (I admit, I don't play that many video games.....except for a select few childhood variants) in the comics we get to explore more ground within the Aliens universe. Plus, it's always cool to see some  new way of throwing a potential nightmare at people in possibly one of the scariest environs ever, the unknown vastness of space

Martin: Which  Aliens character was your favorite and why?

Giz: Honestly? The Xenomorphs themselves. At the end of the day, we don't watch the films, play the games or read the books because we care about the humans. Lets face it, we're in this for those cute and cudely killing machines. And yeah, maybe we want to see if the main protagonist makes it through the needle teethed tunnel of death in one piece. But that wanting pales in comparisson to the longing to see one of the sci/fi horror industries best loved creatures doing what they do best, killing, eating and propagating.....Kinda like that other universal virus known as humanity. That being said, the cigar smoking, plasma gun wielding, smart ass, Synthetic Alien known as Jeri was cool ;)

Martin: Where would you like to see the Alien franchise go considering the mess that was Prometheus?

Giz: Um, how about in it's own direction like Promethius did? Seriously, I don't know why sci/fi fans give that film such a hard time. Was it because you all wanted another installment of The Adventures of Ripley with a different actor or did no one understand the notion that this film was supposed to deal with a specieces that wasn't Xenomorphs? Cus guess what, that's what it did. Far as I'm concerned, it was a very good science fiction story (sorry there wasn't enough fast paced action for the masses to get into :P ) dealing with one of the oldest questions us higher function cave dwellers have ever come up with: Who are we and where did we come from? Simple as that. So it happens to be set in the same unviverse and focuses on an expadition from the infamous Wayland (without Yutani) corp. Hell, if anything it gives us all the answer to a near forgotton question: How in the name and honor of the Gods did The Nostromo's computer know what kind of signal to be on the lookout for when it woke her crew? As to the issue of whether or not we got to see the origions of a Xenomorph in what seemed to be completly to late a date to correspond with what was found in Alien, I have this simple question to ask: What's the difference between ebola and Anthrax? Sure, they look a little different and attack things in different ways, but your still just as dead at the end of things. It is stated in the film that they walked into a weapons lab. It is stated there were multiple ships. It can be surmised that there were multiple strains of living weapons being worked on by a species who knew their way around genetics like a master painters know's their way around a canvase. The future of The Alien film franchise has nothing to do with promethius or what they may do in any of their sequals, it instead depends on what we chose to do with a genetically engenired killing machine that has been the stuff of nightmares since 1979. But maybe no more Ripley, eh? She had a good run, but it's time to find some new blood to shed :)

You can check out more from Giz and the rest of the Emerald Gore Society here at the link below.
http://www.emeraldgoresociety.com/
and heres their facebook
https://www.facebook.com/EmeraldGoreSociety

Dark Horse Comics Review: Aliens: fast track to heaven

Fast track to heaven is a impressive Graphic Novella and the latest run from Dark Horse comics along with  Inhuman Condition. While not a sizable book is still pretty decent and beautifully put together. Liam Sharp does a wonderful job as both author and artiest in this wicked tale.

set beneath the ice of Jupiter''s moon Europa the crew of the orbital station lose contact with the research station below the crew descend in the elevator into a nightmare situation and come face to face with a very pissed off alien.

Sharp's artwork is awesome with a gritty and edgy tone very in the spirit of the first Alien and adding to that is there is only one Alien. Sharp makes the point that like in first movie even one xeno is fucking lethal.

All in all Fast track to haven is an awesome book and is'nt too hefty on the pocket so if you can track it down pick it up. You wont be sorry.

Dark Horse Comics Review: Aliens: Labyrinth.

I'm going to start with my first ever and what many consider to be the best Aliens graphic novels from Dark horse. Aliens Labyrinth takes a bit of deviation from prior Aliens comics where it favors Horror over action in its story telling. A lot of the Aliens comics had the same theme as the 2nd movie...bugs vs Marines. This one while having a opening like that take a more horror and primal tone with its tale penned wonderfully buy Jim Woodring.

Col Dr Crespi a survivor of a bug hunt gone bad is sent into deep space to investigate research going on aboard the space station Innominata being conducted buy Dr Paul Chruch who himself survived a harrowing encounter with the xenomorph. The more Crespi investigates the more sinister things become leading to a chilling battle of wits with Church for the lives of all aboard the station.

Fellow Irish man Killian Plunkett line work and art is amazing and lend to the comics Mary Shelly/ David Cronenberg vib. You can easily find the Dark Horse reprint 2nd hand in most comic stores or if not its featured in Aliens Omnibus: Volume 3. Pick it up if you can its well worth the read.

Dark Horse Rebooting the AVP universe.

So I love the Dark Horse Aliens and Predator comics...I nearly have them all. So when I herd that they were going doing more after 2010 story arch of AVP: Three World war I was thrilled. Now not so much.
Not only are they rebooting it and ignoring everything that happened it the previous comic their also going to wedge Prometheus into the AVP universe. I still have issue's with that movie but to stick it into fray with AVP dosent sound at all good. Although the Art looks wicked and the story do tempt me some what I fear for overall amazing run of comic books. All I can do is wait and hope.