Things go from bad to worse as the bodies keep dropping.
Creative Staff:
Story: Declan Shalvey
Art: Andrea Broccardo
Colors: Triona Farrell
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
SOMETHING WICKED IS COMING THEIR WAY… The USCSS Boreas has been infiltrated! A chest-burster is wreaking havoc on base, leaving a trail of gore and eviscerated bodies in its wake. With their numbers dwindling, will the Weyland-Yutani security team be able to track the alien down before it becomes something even more deadly? And even if they do, how will they manage the horrors lurking just outside their walls beyond the ice?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Alien property has a whole lot of great creative talent behind it over the years and this series is no exception. Declan Shalvey has too many great works to cite in this space but I’m thrilled to get not just his talent on this for the scripting but also the pacing, something these books can really falter with at times. Shalvey is joined by one of my favorite Marvel artists Andrea Broccardo and that delivers us a fantastic piece with so much detail, from great character designs to ensuring amusing bits of small continuity from the original film in the backgrounds. Triona Farrell is one of the best colorists out there and they’re able to take the artwork up several notches which in turn makes the tension of the script even more palpable. There’s an embarrassment of riches here when it comes to this team.
As you’d expect from the third issue of a six-issue run, things go from bad to worse in this one. The moments of hope are dashed and it all just starts to feel hopeless, which means more deaths and more chaos. For Wendell and his team of soldiers, it’s definitely proving to be a series of bad events as they lost so many outside and the fires and explosions have taken out more of them, resulting in loosened regulations to say the least. So much so that the vault was opened but not guarded and that means facehuggers appear to be making their way out now. That’s something that Wendell seems to have a clue about and you can see his concern escalating combined with learning how there are fewer marines to get the job done with now. And that’s without realizing that the transport ship they came in on isn’t under their control anymore.
The flip side is that progress is being made, to a degree, elsewhere. Dayton has managed to gain some freedom on the ship thanks to events and even manages to commandeer it after killing the last remaining soldier on it. Getting in touch with Zasha works well as she had just snuck into the room where her mother was being held and knows they can get out since nobody is around. It’s a good series of movements but ones where Zasha is frustrated by the choices her mother makes in going to the lab, injecting herself, and all the other things she does when they just need to go. Even Dayton feels this way but he also knows Batya is going to do what she wants to do and he has to figure out how to make it work. The problem are the xenomorphs, which are swarming more of the facility all while the remaining marines inside are finding that the small slug version they saw isn’t what’s haunting the corridors any longer.
In Summary:
There’s a lot going on in this installment as we get to the halfway mark but it is also hitting plenty of familiar points. The marines are getting knocked around but are ready to go all-in on defeating the xenomorphs. The corporate guy is going to make things worse through both action and inaction, and we see how Batya’s attempts at getting leverage are just going to get them possibly killed sooner. There’s plenty to like here as it’s well-executed, but it’s also wonderfully illustrated with some great tension and forward momentum that works very well. The color design and detail all bind it together beautifully and makes you crave more.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: June 28th, 2023
MSRP: $3.99
