Alien (2022) #1-6

Alien #1-6

Originally released in 2022

Written by Philip Kennedy Johnson

Art by Julius Ohta

I'm changing up my order today, as today is Alien Day (it's April 26th, or 4/26, and the planet where the Xenomorph is discovered in the movie Alien is designated LV-426).  I decided to read one of the Alien comics on Marvel Unlimited, going for a recent completed one. (also, the covers by Bjorn Barends caught my eye, as they're beautifully painted)

I've seen Alien, Aliens, Alien vs. Predator, and Prometheus, though I'm not familiar with the broader series. (I tried Alien Isolation, but chickened out by the end of mission 1)  Unlike those, which focus on humans (space truckers, scientists, soldiers who are unprepared for what's to come, etc.), this focuses on a team of androids who left society after it became clear that humans were prejudiced towards them and they'd never receive fair treatment.

The promise of full citizenship for all synthetics (not just them) upon completing a mission is enough to convince them.  Despite the events of Aliens taking place roughly a hundred years earlier, Weyland-Yutani (the mega-corporation from the movies) has learned absolutely nothing from those events (and numerous attempts after the fact) - a planet has been overrun by Xenomorphs, and Weyland-Yutani wants a Xenomorph egg for genetic research. (they claim it's for humanitarian purposes, like making people immune to radiation, but they presumably want it to create an army under the misguided belief that they can control the Xenomorphs)

The settings are among the highlights here, as once they arrive on the planet, we see an overgrown high-tech paradise that, over the years, has started to resemble the Xenomorphs themselves as they make it their home.  While here, the androids encounter human survivors, and the themes of prejudice and bigotry really start to kick in.  The humans don't trust the androids, referring to them using various slurs, and one android is particularly bigoted against humans, allowing a human to be infected by a Xenomorph-insect hybrid.

Eventually, the Xenomorphs themselves do show up, and Julius Ohta does a fantastic job with transferring them from the silver screen to the comic.  This comic takes more inspiration from Aliens (the action-heavy sequel) than it does from Alien (the original horror movie), so the individual Xenomorphs aren't much of a threat to the androids, though the androids aren't invincible - they may be tougher than humans, but decapitation will still kill them.

The comic moves by at a quick pace, and I made it through the six issues quicker than I thought I would.  The comic has some fantastic imagery, such as the lead android Freyja facing down a Xenomorph queen in a rainstorm, and while androids fighting the acid-blooded Xenomorphs with swords doesn't seem like the best idea, it's such a cool concept that I can overlook it.

There are some ties to Marvel's earlier Alien comics, so I was concerned that I'd have to read those to follow what's going on, but thankfully, this story works as a standalone.  Some of the story elements can be a bit cliché, but I enjoyed reading this regardless.

I'll try to look into more movie-based comics as time goes on; I enjoyed what I've read of Marvel's Star Wars output (particularly the Darth Vader series), but I'm not familiar with the older Expanded Universe material, so I could look into that.  As well, I know that Marvel's putting out a Wolverine vs. Predator series, which should hopefully be good, and I'm curious to see what comics the DC app has that are along these lines.