Aliens Vol.1 #7

Aug 1991. Cover price £1.50.
52 pages. Colour & B&W.
Trident Comics, Ltd.

Edited by Martin Skidmore.

Cover by Denis Beauvaus.
r: Aliens (Dark Horse) #01 (Aug 1989)

Contents:

 2 Contents / Title Credits / Indicia

 3 Credits / Story So Far text introduction (uncredited).

 4 Aliens Earth War, part one, w: Mark Verheiden; a: Sam Keith, lettering by Jim Massara, colouring by Monika Livingstone.

r: Aliens: Earth War (Dark Horse) #01 (Jun 1990).

28 Credits / Story So Far text introduction (uncredited).

29 Predator The Heat, part seven, w: Mark Verheiden; a: Chris Warner, lettering by David Jackson, colouring by Chris Chalenor.

r: Predator #02 (Jun 1989).

39 Credits / Story So Far text introduction (uncredited).

40 Aliens Vs Predator Untitled, part seven, w: Randy Stradley; p: Phil Norwood, i: Karl Story, lettering by Pat Brosseau.

r: Aliens Vs Predator (Dark Horse) #01 (Jun 1990).

49 Subscriptions (half page) / The Sheffield Space Centre (quarter page) advertisement. / Model Aerodrome Limited Presents (quarter page) advertisement for Halcyon Aliens figure.

50 The Terminator in-house advertisement for #01.

51 Cheap Mail Order advertisement for Planet X.

52 Aliens in-house advertisement for graphic novels and t-shirts.

Another wonderful cover marred by a poor notice placed over the art, this time promoting Earth War. While the title has every reason to bring attention to the story, the manner in which they do so lacks a style and flourish which the strip deserves. A visually stunning piece of horror fantasy which relishes its darkness, Sam Keith really pushes layouts and form to create a feast for the eyes.

Planet LV-426 - Acheron Terraforming Colony.

When I was young, I knew a little girl named Rebecca, Her friends called her Newt.

She had a doll named Casey. The two would stare for hours as manmade storms battered their tiny settlement.

The adult colonists found their new environment cruel and unrelenting, but the little girl had known nothing else. To her, the planet was home.

She only wanted what all children want -

- the warmth and security of family -

- the human connectedness that comes from belonging.

What she got was a nightmare without end.

As anyone who has seen Aliens can attest, Newt is tough. She survived in the alien-infested colony on her own, so that gives credence to her strength of character. Highlighting the fact that she would treat the colony as her home, accepting the harsh conditions there, is a clever way of preparing the reader for what is to come. What is more surprising, though understandable, is the hatred which she holds against Ripley for abandoning her. The addition to the film's conclusion, with Ripley being woken after three days in cryo by Captain Hankerson - who has been travelling in a second ship - is a rather clever way of getting more mileage out of LV-426.

Ripley is shocked when told footage from Kane's helmet still exists:

"The inboard suit recorders logged everything. The Nostromo's android dumped the data into the escape pod's computer long before you slagged him and blew the main ship."

Interested in the navigator, or pilot, which Kane discovered in the destroyed ship, Hankerson wants Ripley to accompany him to the planet to act as a guide, and to provide reliable first-hand information. Threatening to wake up Hicks or Newt if she declines, Ripley is forced to return to the LV-426 with another team of marines.

Keith's style takes some getting used to, especially when he uses more abstract techniques. Beautiful, mad, and quite amusing in places, he breathes life into the story, providing a visual counterpoint to the script's leaps of logic.

The Predators are not happy. Which might be an understatement, as they start firing on people gathered on the streets. It is only when Schaefer targets the fire hydrants that he is able to level the playing field.

Schaefer has no love for the city, his job, or even the people - so why the hell did he do it?

When it was all over, would anyone even care? Or would they turn bac to their televisions, pleased that their reception had finally cleared up -

Then I remembered what he'd said about the beast - the beast in all of us.

"Maybe the hunt is their way of keeping the beast alive"

- maybe this war was Schaefer's way of doing the same.

Mirroring protagonists with their antagonists is an old trick, though Verheiden's script is more explicit in showing the similarities than most would be comfortable with. Having previously set up the hunting background, with flashbacks, the scene doesn't jump out as being out of place, but it certainly makes the reader take notice. This hero of ours, we see, is far from heroic.

Which, given the enemy he is going up against, is probably for the best.

The Sheldon boy crashes his vehicle into a wall, bringing assistance from those investigating the unconscious Predator. The boy explains that his mother and father were killed by monsters, and when he sees the captive alien identifies it as the same species. A meeting is called after the Sheldon ranch is checked, and preparations are made for what is being considered an invasion.

Few of the ranchers had weapons or their own, and the corporate armory consisted of fifteen scatter-guns - primarily for use against fire-crawlers and briar-wolves - and ten pistols earmarked for a police force the town had never needed.

Prosperity Wells was never intended to be a fortress, but the ranchers, under Hiroki's direction, set up an admirable line of defense.

The final three pages are a masterclass in creating tension, with the aliens and Predators stepping up their sport, with Machiko stuck in the middle. The stacking of containers is reminiscent of old westerns, where the wagons are dragged into a circle, further elaborating on themes which have run through the story. As happy that I am about the threat aboard the Lector finally paying off, I do have to wonder - what have the aliens been up to all this time?

On second thoughts, I probably don't want to know...

The Terminator advert at the back of the issue is incredibly pixelated, and so stylised that it doesn't represent the eventual cover repro at all. Adverts this bad should be dropped, rather than negatively influence potential readers.

#06

Aliens Vol.1

#08