In the days before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a sandstorm on Jakku reveals the final resting place of the Imperial Star Destroyer Spectral. The lost behemoth has become the stuff of legends in the years since the fall of the Empire, and the dwellers of Nima Outpost believe it to be haunted.
The third issue of Dark Horse Comics’ Alien 3: The Unproduced Screenplay drops this week, giving fans of the Aliens franchise another look at the “what if” scenario created by writer William Gibson’s unused third chapter for the iconic sci-fi film franchise. Featuring the return of beloved characters like Colonial Marine Corporal Hicks, the android Bishop, and the little girl known as Newt (last survivor of the xenomorph infestation which overtook her colony on LV-426). Adapting Gibson’s vision, the creative team of Johnnie Christmas (adaptation script and art) Tamra Bonvillain (colors), and Nate Paikos (letters) uses the third issue to pull readers even deeper into the terrifying and nihilistic biological arms race taking place between Weyland-Yutani Corporation and the U.P.P. (Union of Progressive Peoples) that will lead to a horrific outcome which has been teased since the Alien franchise's inception.
Issue #4 follows our hero Faith Dreamside into the Deadside, a nightmare landscape ruled by the malevolent Belu. Belu has captured Faith’s ally and friend, Monica Jim, and plans to leverage Monica to enable his own power and conquer additional realms.
After a recon mission gone wrong, Hannah—a religious woman and pilot—is reluctantly the leading officer in charge of a group of soldiers who are stuck behind enemy lines. With little provisions, save for Go-Pills, they have to trek on, hiding in the freezing climate with something seemingly otherworldly hunting them, either in their minds or in the world.
If you’ve been following along, you know the occult sleuth Joe Golem ended up in some pretty hot water last issue (When isn’t he?) while hunting down an artifact that could have dire consequences if it falls into the wrong hands. Well, in issue five, Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden start a major turn of events for Joe and everyone surrounding him.
I love the look and feel of Aliens: Dust to Dust. Unfortunately, like a lot of other recent Xenomorph stories, it doesn’t amount to much beyond visceral levels of survival. It uses most of its time recycling ideas that have come before without fully exploring its own characters. This isn’t necessarily to say that I didn’t enjoy reading the series.
The world built by LaGuardia over these first two issues has been rich and fascinating, and I feel like we’re only just scratching the surface. Not only are there a plethora of different aliens from all around the universe, there are also a number of different aspects to the future society in which these characters live which I’d love to explore in depth.
Coda #8 is beautiful, elegant, simple, and heartbreaking. When you sit down to write a review of something that strikes you, really reaches in and rattles you, you want to write about it in a way that does the issue justice.
In the first two issues of The Empty Man, Cullen Bunn was revving his engines. In this issue, he steps down hard on the gas pedal.
In my ever-expanding quest to increase my knowledge of American history, I was intrigued when the graphic novel, The Life of Frederick Douglass, became available for review. Frederick Douglass is an iconic and almost mythological figure in our history and one whose personal life and story I knew very little of. Fortunately for us, Damon Walker has written an engrossing and informative biography which includes original photographs of Mr. Douglass as part of the bonus material.