Dark Horse Comics 2016
Written by Brian Wood
Illustrated by Tristan Jones
Coloured by Dan Jackson
Lettered by Nate Piekos of Blambot
I’ve been saying I think Dark Horse should make the Alien franchise one of their staple series to take the place of the Star Wars. With a story like this one that case is made so much stronger! I’ve been thrilled and excited before but I gotta tell after reading this issue, which is in stores April 27th!, I got the chills. This couldn’t have been any better it combines all the elements of things we’ve seen so far and continues the story from almost every angle so that it fits in the history of this world seamlessly.
Now i’m an art snob, yes we all know, so seeing Tristan and Dan’s work made me over the moon with happiness. The attention to detail is phenomenal I mean seriously the way the clothes look and the backgrounds c’mon this is some of the most intense and insane work. Then there’s the eye for staging, the way the panels on the page flow and his use of perspective make you feel like this is a movie storyboard. Tristan has such an eye for this that i’m completely and utterly blown away there isn’t anything about the interiors that wouldn’t tell the story if you didn’t see any words.
Private first class Zula Hendricks, a Colonial Marine, is the focal character here. She’s damaged and yet trying to overcome everything and still find the best she can be. I like it there’s a lot of room for character development and growth. Smartly done by Brian in creating her and what we see of her background here. Also the folks she’s traveling with yeah that’s another wonderful point and something of consternation in any point in time of the Alien saga.
There’s so much going on here, it’s a first issue and you want a reader to be grabbed immediately and it does that. With a lot of things thrown at you so that you want to come back and see how each of the segments plays out. Plus we are introduced to such an amazing characters outside of Hendricks and a wonderfully placed easter egg. I kinda feel like there’s been a Hendricks in the series before but I can’t quite place it but if so then i’m even more impressed.
The setup is brilliantly done. There is so much here that just makes a fan of the franchise so happy and for those that may be new this is a great place to start. New reader friendly and easy to follow the writing, dialogue and actions are all so freakin smooth. Brian has really gotten into this world and he’s made this as exciting as seeing Alien for the first time. That’s hard to do folks to reinvigorate the franchise for people who love it yeah that’s some talented folks.
So perfect for new readers and longtime fans with incredibly solid writing and mind blowing interiors prepare for no one to hear you scream in space!