REVIEW: Aliens: Defiance #1 ashcan

Written by: Brian Wood
Art by: Tristan Jones
Review: Will Dubbeld

Aside from Star Wars, the Alien franchise might be one of my favorite science fiction mythos, due in no small part to HR Giger's hellish conceptual designs. As such I've made a hobby of collecting books, bits of memorabilia, and of course comic books related to the franchise.

Except anything Prometheus related, because screw that piece of crap . . .

Aside from a Marvel adaptation of the first Alien film, Dark Horse Comics has been the sole license-holder for comics set in the Alien universe as far as I know. For over 20 years now DH has been printing Alien books and they are, with few exceptions, phenomenal books. A new series drops soon and the LCS was giving out free promo ashcans, prompting me to sidle up to the bar and check out the wares.

Aliens: Defiance takes place between the first and second Alien films and in true to form franchise setup involves some hapless fools exploring a derelict spaceship. The hapless fools in this case are a Colonial Marine named Zula Hendricks and an accompanying group of Wetland-Yutani security drones.

No mention of them preferring to be called Artificial Persons.

This time around the derelict in question is floating near Earth's Luna Base and is a Seegson hauler called the Europa, and it doesn't take long for Zula and her band of Synthetics to discover they are not alone aboard the Europa.
And by that I mean our familiar xenomorphs pop in and start eviscerating.
Chances are the Weyland-Yutani company is to blame . . .

I'm not sure if this is a standalone prelude for the series or a preview of the first issue, but I'm in either way. It's got the claustrophobic feel of an Alien movie and the art is reminiscent of Ron Cobb's concept work for the first movie.
We also get a fan-service appearance from Ripley's daughter Amanda, which makes me curious if they'll attempt to dovetail (or shoehorn, as you will) the series as connective tissue to the Alien: Isolation video game.

At this point in the history of our pop culture, I'll not attempt to convince anyone to buy this book. You either like the Alien franchise or you don't, and if you're unaware of it, I'm not entirely sure what to say other than "get on it."
Fans of the series are a sure sell if you've explored the Alien comicverse. The preview reminded me of the 1st Alien comic miniseries and a bit of the Aliens: Earth War comic, both high points in my opinion.
Bug hunt or not, I'll stick with this chickenshit outfit for the duration.