Everything falls apart before it gets worse.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Gabriel Hardman
Colors: Rain Beredo
Letterer: Michael Heisler
What They Say:
The Trono colony on LV-871 is under attack. Emergency evacuations are ordered. Evac shuttles are taking off. All twelve-year-old Maxon and his mom have to do is make it to the spaceport. Except between them and it are . . . Aliens!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having seen some of Gabriel Hardman’s Work in a range of other properties before, including the Vampirella/Aliens crossover miniseries, I was definitely interested in seeing what he’d put together as a writer/artist focusing on a single Aliens tale itself. With Rain Beredo handling the color work for it, this opening installment gives us all the rawness and intensity it needs to deliver something that feels like it’s a hair away from being on the big screen. Story is light as one would expect at this stage as we’re thrown into the chaos but it works very well. And with this being a four-issue run that won’t be overstaying its welcome, it’s jumping into things hard and fast and we’re along for a crazy ride.
The premise for this one puts us on the colony world of Trono, aka LV-871 for those keeping track, where our main character is the twelve-year-old Maxon. That’s a dicey proposition to make for a lead and Maxon proves to be problematic a few times amid the chaos here as he wakes up to explosions in the colony. His mother’s arrival is with her wearing a facehugger that falls off, leaving her breathless but understanding that they have to get to the port because shuttles are leaving. Maxon, in proper form, doesn’t want to go because he doesn’t want to leave his home and is in a panic over everything happening. It’s understandable and how she handles him is as well, but with people shooting guns in the street, explosions abound, sticking around isn’t what you want to do.
His mother’s able to get a vehicle going to try and get out of there and that allows for Hardman to put together a great sequence as we see the carnage, the other Xenomorphs out there that avoid Maxon’s mom because we know she’s got a babymorph in her, as well as just how bad things are in this colony. She’s also able to provide a little context about being there with this turning out to be a failed terraforming that has lost its subsidies and is incredibly troubled, which means little help is likely on the way. The journey aspect of the book works really well as Hardman is distinctive in the locations in how they feel so closed in even in more open avenues while Beredo’s color work really enhances the oppressiveness that the story is conveying so well.
In Summary:
Aliens is the kind of book where sometimes we’ll get a really interesting story to go along with it while most of the time we get a crazy adventure story. This looks to be an adventure story with a twelve-year-old as our leading character as he attempts to survive some sort of Xenomorph incursion that’s happening on a colony world that looks like it’s about to be abandoned already. It’s a tense and tight opening issue with a four-issue run planned so I’m not expecting anything that expands the story scope of the Aliens comics universe. But Hardman is putting together a book that makes for a great read that already gets you visualizing it on the big screen unfolding before. I can’t wait to see more.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 25th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
