The terror of being overrun by xenomorphs!
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Brian Thies
Colors: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Michael Heisler
What They Say:
The Alien hordes descend in a desperate attempt to repossess their fetus queen from the escaping Colonial Marines. Even with the help of the Predator clan, survival for the humans doesn’t look likely.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we’re getting closer to the end of the Life and Death cycle with one more of this miniseries and then the final ending book after that, it’s got a lot of really solid tension to it. Across the two cycles overall we’ve had a lot of whittling down of the cast as each leg of the journey brought in its own groups that are now mostly together with what remains. Abnett has managed to make a number of them memorable, particularly Galgo, and this arc has really let Thies shine when it comes to delivering great action between the aliens and predators all while ensuring that the human aspect of it isn’t lost either. There’s a lot of good tension in this book but also that sense, as noted by the human side, that they’re watching a live feed of hell itself.
That side of the book takes up about half of things but it has the “problem” in that since neither side has any real dialogue to it it all has to be done just through the visuals. Which Thies does wonderfully with a there are some great pieces here as the two sides fight with a back and forth kind of motion, losses all around to be sure. But as good as it is, and I do want to say it is good, it can go only so far because it is simply primal at best with what we know of it. While you know that the xenomorphs really have nothing about them in terms of higher intelligence to some degree, the lack of really connecting and giving voice to the predators beyond what we imprint upon them continues to be a dicey area that I don’t know if we should cross through or not. After this many years I kind of want to have a real meeting of the minds and dig into actual predator culture, politics, and art.
When it comes to the human side we do get a bit more as they’re dealing with a couple of things. Cross is doing his best to get the dropship down under some pretty tense moments to be sure but that pales against the other two – though the pressure really is on him. For Chris, she’s reaching the point where she knows the queen is ready to burst through her and her freakout is definitely impacting everyone else. Her attempt at ending everything feels natural as it progresses but I’m expecting a twist here, depending on how things go emotionally as Jill gets involved. The rest of the team is dealing with the pressure in a big way as well as the xenomorphs are starting to break through on the predators and they’re getting torn to shreds bit by bit. It’s a great looking sequence that really ratchets up the tension as you wait for more name players to get taken down and the impact of it all.
In Summary:
Each of the segments in this cycle have been strong and while this piece may not be my favorite at this stage it’s one that’s definitely delivering on some very solid material as it all funnels down toward the end. We’re in the phase where the cast is being whittled away a bit more and the tension is ramping up, something that Dan Abnett is delivering on well with the script as it allows for Brian Thies to really go all out with it in the visual design department. Though a touch lighter since enough of it is focused on the dialogue-free aspects of the xenomorphs and predators, this is definitely a strong issue in bringing things closer to a conclusion.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: February 22nd, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
