Nothing going right is a hallmark of the franchise and still very exciting to watch unfold.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Gabriel Hardman
Colors: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Michael Heisler
What They Say:
A mother and son bound by a shared terror–separated by an implacable alien force! A spaceship that should carry them away from the fear becomes a deathtrap from which escape seems impossible!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While most books hit regularly from Dark Horse without any problem, when you do get that series where there are gaps between issues it tends to hurt more. Aliens: Dust to Dust has almost 2 ½ months between the first and second issue and no matter how strong the issue is from Gabriel Hardman that gap makes it hard to get back into. It’ll reinforce the whole reading better in trade form idea but thankfully it’s pretty damn strong in individual form as well. I really love the flow of the book as the action and tension carries forward well but Hardman’s artwork is almost intoxicating with its style and rawness, particularly with the setting.
With Trono having fallen hard to the Xenomorph scourge, seeing the way it unfolded and the mad dash to get to a shuttle and offworld was exciting. Unfortunately, as we saw at the end of the last issue, things did not go well for Maxon’s mother and her death is brutal on board the ship – which sends everyone else into a panic because of just how badly it goes with one of the creatures laid inside of her. Maxon’s panicking as would be expected by we get one of the Admin folks taking possession of him and trying to exert some authority to calm things down. But bad goes to worse quickly since the shuttle can’t make orbit now and they’re trapped with one of those things inside that’s now killed again. The nature of a closed quarters fight like this with panic civilians plays out as you’d expect.
What I do like is that they’re smart enough to land the shuttle and blow it up in order to hopefully put the thing down while waiting for another shuttle after calling in for help. The fun for the reader is seeing the ship in orbit come crashing down in flames, making it clear that they’re survival will involve staying on the planet and figuring out the best way to go about it. That’s only lightly touched on here since it’s just getting underway but with them a good distance from the main city but the nature of the world with its storms and being terraformed makes it a dangerous mission. Hardman really delivers on all of this visually with the mountain they’re on and the winds and lack of visibility tied to the image of the ship flaming on its way down. It has a really good sense of hopelessness that I can’t wait to see if it’ll creator survivors or just victims.
In Summary:
I’m really enjoying Dust to Dust but like a couple of other series that I’ve followed in the last year or two – especially with this franchise – the gaps in issues are really problematic. All the momentum of the first is lost here and even though it picks up well and moves forward in a good way you know it’s just not quite the same. Gabriel Hardman’s doing a really strong job in giving us a look at survival in all of this with fantastic visuals and just enough character material to keep us invested and moving along all while wanting more.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: July 11th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
