Oorah!
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Wood
Art: Tristan Jones
Colors: Dan Jackson
What They Say:
Battling demons from her past while fighting for her life, Colonial Marine Private First Class Zula Hendricks, in the company of Weyland-Yutani synthetics, is forced to question her strength and loyalty when the discovery of an insidious alien species on a derelict hauler sends her on a dangerous journey across the stars.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having been on a good run of books from Brian Wood the past year, one that really got me was a recent issue of Rebels that he wrote in which Tristan Jones stepped in for the artwork for as a standalone story. The combination was solid and learning at that the two would be working on a new Aliens book got me very excited. Set for a twelve-issue run with some side material coming out along the way, Aliens: Defiance hits all the right sweet spots at the start here as it takes place a bit after the start of Aliens since we get a brief appearance with Ripley on the moon to set the timing. It’s a small detail but a welcome one as we settle into the dynamic of 2137 and the Aliens timeline.
The premise here is a solid one to get things underway as it’s intriguingly subversive with what it wants to do. We’re introduced to Zula Hendricks, a Marine who is working through some recovery issues with her legs and is getting the odd assignments during that time. When a derelict ship enters Lunar space, she gets sent there with a dozen or so synthetics to secure it for Weyland-Yutani as they claimed salvage rights. Operating as essentially a glorified key as she puts hit, Hendricks is curious about what happened on the ship for all of maybe five minutes before all hell breaks loose. That comes in the form of a group of xenomorphs that have basically been waiting for their next interaction with a lifeform. Wood and Jones give us a solid sense of chaos in tight form here as the aliens essentially overrun things and Zula gets taken down along the way, though rescued at the last minute by the main synthetic known as Davis and put into suspended animation.
It’s at this point that the book shifts gears in the most delightful of ways. While we could have gone with a book that had your usual mostly human crew going in and getting caught up in things, the synthetic angle changes it. Even more so because Davis, down by half his team after dealing with and cleansing the ship of the xenomorphs, reveals that he’s moving beyond his programming and loyalty to Weyland-Yutani. Showing Hendricks that the xenomorphs are capable of and what the actual orders were combined with the stolen data from his masters about their longterm research and goals with them leads him to a far different mission. One he wants to work with his “kidnapped” Hendricks. Their intent is to take the derelict ship, the Europa, and follow those rumors and information and eliminate the xenomorphs before Weyland-Yutani can weaponize them. It’s a fantastic and engaging turn of events that can go in a range of directions.
In Summary:
Having thoroughly enjoyed works from this team before, Aliens: Defiance is full of potential with what it can do here. Wood’s script captures the basics that it needs to set our understanding of where things take place in the timeline while adhering to basic expectations of the company, the marines, and the synthetics. He does this while changing it up a bit along the way as well which has me really hopeful for this series. With Tristan Jones on the artwork and Dan Jackson coloring it, the book has a great look to it where it’s not like other Aliens series. This has a rough and raw nature to it that really is intriguing with all its details, giving it a far more lived in and earthy tone than we’re used to. I love his scenes in space and the montage piece with Hendricks working through her rehab. The ship interiors are really neat and I really, really, dig his design for the synthetics since it’s going for a different approach than we usually get since it’s “obvious” what they are compared to how they’ve been presented in film. With a year of material ahead of us, Aliens: Defiance is definitely going to be one of my more anticipated monthly encounters.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 27th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
