A moment of honesty.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Brian Thies
Colors: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Michael Heisler
What They Say:
On LV-223, it’s the last stand for the Colonial Marines—and their Predator allies—against an overwhelming army of Alien warriors determined to protect their new queen. Only one thing can stop them . . . and it’s the last thing anybody wants!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While this is the fourth and final issue of this leg of the cycle, it’s the penultimate issue of the Life and Death cycle as a whole with an oversized book coming next that brings it all together. Abnett and Thies have done a lot of very good stuff in this arc to give it a proper final act feeling in a lot of ways and this issue in particular really does provide for some great moments. In particular, just about everything Thies does in presenting Chris’ situation is fantastic from a visual standpoint as it drove the emotion of the moment home in a big way, from her expressions as she talked and the visual of the xenomorphs around her and the predators. It just clicked perfectly.
With Chris carrying the queen, one that’s close to bursting out, she’s intent on buying some time for everyone for the lander to arrive. The situation has been well presented in seeing how intense it was getting as that battle had everyone on the losing side thanks to the xenomorphs numbers. But her walking out into the middle of them with the explosive, talking about how none of them should be here and that the xenomorphs are sick because of what the Engineers did is a pretty good wrap up of certain elements of the run. I love the chilling feeling you get with the two of them getting so close here as she talks about everything and the scared and frightened looks of the humans from the sideline knowing what’s coming. Add in the tension from the predators and it’s a great moment as it comes to the expected conclusion that bursts forth in all its glory.
While this does bring the immediate fight to a close in a way that makes you question the xenomorph approach, what we do get is pretty good as an epilogue until the expected arrival of an Engineer. The time that we get with the marines grappling with what Chris did is solid and you totally feel what Jill is going through, the hardness of it all. But I also loved how well Abnett and Thies brought to life the Galgo and Ahab story as Ahab is back in the clan now and heading back with his people. It’s got all the gruff manliness that you’d expect but it reaches beyond that. These two have had some crazy adventures since first encountering each other and a part of me really wish that it had turned with Galgo going off with Ahab and the others so we can start digging into more of Predator society and clan material.
In Summary:
With a bit more to go I’m definitely going to call this particular miniseries a success. It’s a smaller and more focused leg of the cycle with what we get as it brings the various sides together but it delivered some big action pieces, a whole lot of tension, and a great finale that leads into the capping off issue next time around. Abnett found his groove long ago back in the Fire and Stone material and he’s just killing it with ease here. But it’s elevated wonderfully thanks to Brian Thies’ artwork that just brings it out so well with the humanity of the characters and the emotions and intensity of the aliens and the predators. Definitely a lot of fun on a monthly basis and one that I imagine will read even better in a full collection.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: March 29th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
