The past revealed – for all the good it does them.
Creative Staff:
Story: Corinna Bechko
Art: Javier Garcia-Miranda
What They Say:
The death toll mounts, and the fate of the Xenomorph that hatched from within Vampirella stands revealed! Meanwhile, the Martian Base pays the price for its mistrust of Vampirella as she and Lars deal with a horrifying threat that predates human history.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we hit the penultimate installment of the series, there’s a fair bit going on as you’re just waiting for things to get even worse before a sliver of survival and hope emerges. This series has largely stayed true to the mechanics of the Alien franchise and that has been a big plus in its favor, though I think it would have worked tighter and better as a four issue series. With the way it’s unfolded, we’ve had a bit of dead space up in space and in the base with what’s going on there as the focus has been on Vampirella and Lars and their attempts to survive, and by this installment the time spent away from them just feels like a bit of a drag on the momentum of the storyline.
And that side definitely feels it here, especially as outside of Sarah the rest of the characters are essentially nameless and just dead bodies waiting to happen. With the events there going as they have been, and Tucker now giving the ship permission to land, you can see bad things coming because of that. But we also see that some of them are starting to realize things are going badly down there with the arbor being a bloody mess and a look at the alien that’s making its way throughout there. And what a fright it is now that it has wings and comes across as a truly dark and scary dragon type with a lot more ferocity and agility. This creature has some decent moments in this issue and Garcia-Miranda definitely captures the impact well, though some of it feels a bit lessened by the coloring style as it needed a lot more dark moments. I’m still the fondest of the original black and white books Dark Horse did years ago and wish that someone would try doing that again.
A lot of time is spent on the run with Vampirella, Lars and out new Nosferatu. This sequence is important in that we see how he deals with understanding the rites and practices of his kind with Vampirella while also realizing that the times have changed while he slept away the eons. It’s an interesting angle to play and I really liked the brief backstory that we get of how they colonized Mars early on, using humans as food cattle while dealing with the way the colonizing didn’t go as planned. It feels like a rich enough story all on its own to explore outside of the whole Aliens side of it. Exploring what happened to them as they discover an older race that died out ages ago and how it unfolded is certainly familiar, but Bechko hits the right beats throughout it and gives Vampirella someone to give her a hand as we go into the final action act.
In Summary:
Aliens/Vampirella continues to be a fun series that it has me wanting more of, well, everything. A look at this future-world Vampirella and the social dynamics of it all, a look at the past with what the Nosferatu of old did to colonize Mars, and a look at the ancient race that existed there and their battle with the Xenomorphs. I likely won’t ever get it, but I love a writer that seeds enough material to make you want more while giving you a strong enough core story. Bechko and Garcia-Miranda strike the right balance here and overall it’s another solid entry in the series that leaves me anticipating the finale – and hopeful that the pair get another shot at either of these properties in the future.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: December 30th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
