Even underwater on a foreign planet no one can hear you scream.
What They Say:
Beneath the ice of Jupiter’s moon, life teems in lightless oceans. But more spectacular discoveries elsewhere in the cosmos have left Europa’s research facilities underfunded and ignored, a lonely wayside with an orbital station and a decaying space elevator. When one of the elevators stops midway, the rescue team discovers a deadly cargo that threatens life on Europa and on Earth.
The Review:
Throughout history humans have told tales of things that stalk them in the night. Sometimes it is simply the unknown other, sometimes the creature from beyond the grave and sometime it is the creature from beyond the stars. In 1979 one of these creatures was introduced on the silver screen and while their origin may keep them from slipping into the same culture telling lore as nosferatu in current times, many of those who dream darkly share what they have envisioned inspired by these nightmare creatures.
Aliens: Fast Track to Heaven is billed as a “Graphic Novella” and its author, Liam Sharp will take readers on an adventure of fear as far away from comfort as they can imagine while also staying (relatively) close to home. The story takes place at some unidentified time in the future as man has taken more than his first steps into the stars. In fact, mankind has made so many strides that certain locals and situations that would have people today falling over themselves to see has become common place and of far less interest that one would believe from today’s vantage point.
The story opens with a rescue team being dispatched from a docking station called Heaven at the top of a giant elevator shaft that reaches from Europa’s orbit down through the ice to its ocean’s floor. A new undersea volcanic fissure unlike any seen in recent memory had been discovered and an ecological preservation team was been dispatched to check it out but their return failed as their elevator stopped on its way back up. The rescue team is dispatched down the shaft to investigate with a crew that includes an old soldier, a medic and some more ecologists to try to meet with the team that has gone silent and discover what is going on.
Unfortunately for them upon their decent from Heaven they discover that the cause of the loss of contact with their teammates is a product of a devil unlike any they have previously imagined. Now, seriously out matched this small-and growing smaller by the minute- group must try to figure out what they are going to do to confront this beast from the pit and protect themselves and Heaven. Their only salvation may lie in Hell- but what chance does man have fighting a devil there?
The Aliens franchise is not short on stories- four of their own features, two crossover films and no shortage of comics from Dark Horse along with some novels along the way. The franchise was popular enough that despite their adult origin’s Alien toys were sold in department store toy isles next to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which has helped make sure the franchise isn’t going away. Aliens have even engaged in fights with pop culture and DC Comics icons Superman and Batman, though not all of these efforts have been as successful as some of the others.
For Fast Track to Heaven the series is returned in many ways to its roots- a small group in an enclosed space fighting for their survival against a creature they don’t understand- and every piece of knowledge they obtain comes at a steep price. Having the author also having done the illustrations allows for a remarkable symmetry as he is able to use lighting effects to highlight characters and make their environment seem even smaller and it helps the danger feel even more immanent. This work pays off well as the comic reads with a brisk pace that helps to play into the feelings of dread and events that the characters go through being out of control.
The only really issue with the comic comes in its length- given the somewhat small number of pages presented here it feels like the story is a bit too cramped and it doesn’t have enough time to flesh out the characters. This lack of space helps diminish the peril they are in as it is difficult to connect with, and thus empathize with, the people living events. Even the Alien gets shorted as it really only gets the splash shots rather than the foreboding building up moments that made the original film so successful. Additional Sharp has created such a fanciful environment that it would be great if the audience had a bit of an introduction to it rather than picking up knowledge of it on the fly as if it were also an alien to be encountered and figured out. I really wish there were a more mainstream middle of having a novel with the depth that can be created along with the illustrations as that may lead to the story really reaching an outstanding plateau, though the one it does arrive at isn’t bad either.
In Summary:
Aliens: Fast Track to Heaven is a fantastically illustrated story whose colors and panels really help create the closed space dread that the original film reveled in and that helps bring a sense of dread to the reader. While parts of the story may leave a techno babble like confusion on the reader much of it is fleshed out later but it is a bit of a shame that the format doesn’t allow the author more time for the audience to connect with the characters before putting the characters into peril. Still it is a fast paced and well polished ride that puts no small number franchises film installments to shame.
Grade: B-
Readers Rating: [ratings]
