| Title | : | Alien (2021-2022) #1 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 31 |
| Publication | : | First published February 26, 2021 |
Alien (2021-2022) #1 Reviews
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Marvel’s latest licence acquisition is the iconic sci-fi horror franchise Alien. In this new “original” story, a dull old geezer, who dreams about an Alien version of the Borg Queen for some reason, is retiring from Weyland-Yutani and trying to reconnect with his terrorist hippie son who’s against corporations. Which, to be fair, he’s right to be given that Weyland-Yutani is the most absurdly one-dimensionally evil corporation ever - they’re STILL fucking around with xenomorphs for no good reason even though it always goes wrong!
As exciting as some Alien movies can be, the first issue of this Alien comic is sooooo boring! On the one hand that’s partly because Alien is actually a very limited concept. Only one storyline really works and it’s the Aliens running through vents hissing and eviscerating human victims. Without that, all we’re doing in this issue is waiting for the xenomorphs to appear and start doing just that. I hope I’m wrong, because it’d likely still be repetitive to see for the umpteenth time, but I don’t expect anything new from Marvel either, so that’s probably going to be the case.
And on the other hand is the fact that the non-Alien characters - in most Alien movies, but definitely in this comic - are completely uninteresting. I didn’t care about retirement man and his annoying son ranting at each other over some tedious long-past family drama, while Bishop is as placidly anodyne as ever.
Not really surprising then that the writer of the dismally-derivative fantasy series The Last God, over at DC Black Label, should produce something as unimpressive and forgettable as Alien #1 (I guess comics is another industry where you fail upwards - that or Phillip Kennedy Johnson has dirt on the Marvel top brass?). Maybe with a good writer this title has a better shot at a decent book sometime in the future but for I think for this arc beginning with Alien #1? Game over, man. Game over! -
Marvel's first crack at the Alien license is a bit slow. Not a whole lot happens other than Weyland-Yutani is still up to their old tricks. Salvador Larroca's art is still weird. Ever since Star Wars, he's not been able to draw faces properly or with emotion. Everyone might as well be manikins.
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Single comic issue review- Alien #1 comes out at a good time for me. Marvel now owns the property (and as with Star Wars), this certainly isn’t the first Alien movie franchise comic (Dark Horse had covered it), the change to Marvel promises excitement.
A good time because Covid really not only disrupted my comic shopping experience but the comics industry in general. So it’s exciting that DC is doing this big relaunch (Interestingly, Alien writer Johnson is a big part of that taking over the Superman titles) and this being a high profile comic coming from Marvel.
I have read reviews after reading this issue and I think it’s safe to say this is a bit polarizing.
You probably would start with artist Salvador Larocca. The dig on his art is it looks like he is tracing over pictures. Whether that is what he does, that has some advantages and disadvantages. Many people don’t like it. I like it because it does give the comic a movie feel. It also has to be tough theme to pull off. Though I suspect even fans of his style would be forced to admit it doesn’t do a good job with capturing facial expressions and even to a certain extent, characters tend to all look a bit a like.
I was more surprised that Johnson’s writing pulled such a mix of raves and boos. I suppose this focuses more on politics than horror.
Personally, I liked the story. It’s a great opening issue that sets the stage. There’s nothing new under the sun, of course, but Johnson hits all the right notes - establishing the world quickly, character development and setting up the tension.
I’m excited to see where this series goes. -
A nice slow burn. We get to know a little of the past, what happened to a crew who went on a mission and ran into some Xenomorphs. The rest of the issue really deals with a broken relationship between a father and son. And it all links to the horrific ending where people try to do things they have no clue what they're doing.
Overall, this is a solid entry into the Alien world for Marvel. While not great, and some of the art feels stiff, it seems like a interesting direction. A 3 out of 5. -
Eh.
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A strong start to the the first Marvel Alien book! Really good art and a satisfying story that builds up the tension before getting to the Xenomorphs at the end! Interested to see where this goes!
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Really enjoyed this slow burn. Hopefully gets better from here
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Alien 1
Wow, I didn't think the comic would go this way. But it was great, I can't wait for more comics. -
Alien #1 is written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, art by Salvador Larroca, and colors by Guru-eFX.
A Weilad-Yutani security officer retires to Earth to try and reconnect with his son. His son secretly belongs to a faction who is attempting to bring Weiland-Yutani's actions to light.
This first issue was a bit of a slow burner but that few pages picked up the action.I thought the art was a little boring- there is very little motion in the art, everyone looks like mannequins. I picked up the first issue to see if I would be interested in the story. I was intrigued so I will definitely pick up the trade when it is released. -
I like the premise. The art is a bit tricky to digest, and the pacing, like almost all contemporary comics, does too much truncated leaping and deletion for me to appreciate. That said, a dark future, a weird dream charged dream opening, and the horrifying deep black that is ALIEN are all here. I got the matte black blank black cover, because I’m a sucker. I think it’ll be worth checking out #2, too, but I worry it’ll be all bang bang bang bullets, and no horror. Weird military-worship stuff. I guess we’ll see!
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The H.R. Giger-designed bio-mechanical monstrosity from the classic 1979 Ridley Scott film “Alien” is still one of the coolest and most terrifying movie aliens ever, and that film is still one of the best horror movies ever made.
In May 2021, Marvel Comics published the first issue of a new comic book series based on the film. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and drawn beautifully by Salvador Larroca (one of my personal favorite artists working for Marvel—-his work for the Star Wars series is fantastic), Alien #1 promises to be an exciting entry in the series.
Based nearly 80 years after the events of the first film and roughly 20 years after the events of James Cameron’s equally excellent sequel “Aliens”, this series continues the story Earth-side, from the point of view of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, the company responsible for discovering the “xenomorphs” on LV-426. Secretly, the company has been trying to obtain these alien life-forms, ostensibly for research, but biowarfare applications aren’t off the table…
There are characters in this series, but it would be pointless to get to know them or grow too attached to them, as they are all simply potential food or alien egg-warmers.
Lots of gore in this first issue, but strangely enough no aliens. All of the violence in this first issue is human-on-human violence. Indeed, very few of the characters are even very likable, so I’m looking forward to when the aliens are unleashed.
Not sure if this series will follow the continuity of Scott’s other films in the Alien universe, the prequels “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant”, although I hope so, as I enjoyed both of them. Scott has intimated that he has several more sequels planned.
In the meantime, I’m hoping Marvel delivers on more of the face-hugging, many-teethed, drooling people-eaters with the penis-shaped heads. And lots more gore. -
Marvel's debut of the iconic Xenomorph from the Alien franchise delivers with a solid story provided by Johnson and the perfect artist in Larroca. Nice homages or references to the first 2 classic movies as well.
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3.75/5 Pretty good start!
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My first comic! Review to come.
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This is not art. When you open up the book and page two is this composite mess
This is not art. When you're paid by Marvel to illustrate their debut Alien comic and you start off by Google image search of alien background
And tint it blue
Then you proceed to dump in various photoshop dumps of Alien action figures and Lilith out Diablo. This is not art.
Alien hive walls are hard. And Google image search is easy. This is not art.
Without photoshop and Google Salvador Larroca wouldn't have a career. I find it staggering how someone can be paid to crap out this lazy work. Salvador Larroca is not an artist, he's a digital scrapbook creator. His work on Star Wars was derided and somehow Marvel editorial continue on with this digital plagiarism. I can't wait for issue #2 and not for the reason Marvel would like.
Respect to [actual artist] Tristan Jones for initially highlighting this crap. -
I keep trying to get into Alien and I can't seem to figure out the franchise. I just don't get the hype. I was hoping that Marvel's take on it might be my way in, but Alien #1 is another in a long line of examples that seem complicated, yet follow the same basic formula. Someone finds a Xenomorph egg and puts it where it doesn't belong. The egg hatches and face-hugs someone. Big alien comes out. People die. Rinse. Repeat. The difference in this series is that there are some folks fighting back against Weyland-Yutani. Of course, they're the ones that inadvertently set the formula in motion.
You can read James' full review at Horror DNA by
clicking here -
Story - 9 von 15 Punkte
Philipp Kennedy Johnsons Story beginnt solide, bildet jedoch nichts weltbewegendes. Es ist die übliche Geschichte, dass der Weyland-Yutani Konzern Experimente mit Alien-Überbleibseln macht.
Das ist alles andere herausfordernd. Der Story spielt im Jahr 2200, 78 Jahre nach dem originalen Alien-Film. Die Welt hat sich weiterentwickelt und das erweckt Erwartungen. Dass sich Gabriel von seinem Sohn so an der Nase herumführen lässt, finde ich nur bedingt glaubwürdig, daher gibt es hier etwas Abzug. Auch das naive Herumgeballer der Einbrecher in die Epsilon-Station finde ich ehr unrealistisch. Das Ende war natürlich Voraussehbar, ebenso voraussehbar ist die aufgebaute Spannung, welche sich daraus ergibt. Die Story gibt daher solide 9 Punkte.
Zeichnungen - 13 von 15 Punkte
Die Zeichnungen von Salvador Larroca sind sehr detailliert und wirklich hochklassig. Da lässt sich kaum etwas aussetzen. Größtenteils am Computer entstanden, fehlt es Gelegentlich den Gesichtern an Kontur bzw. die Augen sehen immer gleich aus, nur mit anderen Farbtönen. Hier macht sich dann doch ein gewisser Zeitdruck bemerkbar.
Dennoch 13 Punkte dafür.
Farben - 10 von 15 Punkte
Der Farbmix kommt eher dunkel und mit sanften Übergängen daher. Die Melange aus Blau, Grün, Orange und Schwarz erzeugt eine düstere Stimmung. Farbtöne und Schattierungen setzen die düstere Atmosphäre passend in Szene. Daher 10 Punkte von mir. Irgendwie fehlt noch das gewisse Extra in ihnen.
Atmosphäre - 10 von 15 Punkte
Diese ist sehr düster, was schon gleich mit der Doppelseite des Aliens beginnt. Im Grunde ist das keine sehr lebensbejahende Stimmung, welche durch Zeichnungen und Farben erzeugt werden.
Das Kopfkino wird jedoch recht gut durch Zeichnungen und Dialoge getriggert – vor allem durch Larrocas detaillierte Zeichnungen. Aber das Kopfkino funktioniert bei mir auch deshalb so gut, weil ich alle Aliens-Filme zigfach gesehen habe. Daher gibt es hier nur 11 Punkte von mir.
Story-Zeichnungen 8 von 15 Punkte
Hier geht es mir um das gewisse Extra eines jeden Comics: Stellen die Panels nur dar, was in den Dialogen geschildert wird, oder bieten die Panels mehr, bieten mehr Details als notwendig? Lassen einen noch etwas länger in jedem Panel verweilen und nach versteckten Details suchen?
Beispielsweise Bishops Büro: Es ist wirklich karg ausgestattet. Ein paar Details fehlen dann doch. Oder das Interieur der Autos: Es ist zwar klar gezeichnet und durchaus detailliert, aber eben nur das für die Szene Notwendige. Auch die Wohnung von Gabriel enthält fast keine Einrichtungsgegenstände. Schade, denn Larocca kann so gut zeichnen, hier wird sehr viel Potenzial einfach verschenkt. Ein Ergebnis des Zeitdrucks? Daher vergebe ich nur 8 Punkte.
Charaktere - 5 von 15 Punkte
Das ist das große Trauerkapitel, in welchem der Comic die meisten Punkte liegen lässt. Die Charaktere werden gar nicht vorgestellt, sie bieten keinen Einsatz zur Identifikation. Einzig Bisop kennen wir aus den Filmen und aus früheren Dark Horse-Comics. Er sorgt für einen kleinen Aha-Moment. Aber ansonsten lassen mich die Figuren kalt. Vielleicht ist noch die Frage interessant, was es mit Gabriels Alpträumen auf sich hat. Kommuniziert etwa das Alien versteckt mit ihm? Immerhin. Daher vergebe ich nur 5 Punkte. Ich hoffe, die Figuren gewinnen in den kommenden Ausgaben noch an Schärfe. Die Bewertung wird am Ende eines jeden Arcs nochmals überarbeitet.
Innovationen - 2 von 5 Punkte
Die Wertungen Innovation & Service sollen die Spreu vom Weizen trennen, es soll verhindert werden, dass einfach nur perfekte Story + Zeichnungen für eine Bestnote reichen. Nein, bis hierhin sind nur 90 Punkte zu holen.
Bei der Innovation dreht sich alle um die Frage, welchen neuen Beitrag der Comic dem Genre bieten kann, oder ob es einfach die zigste Neuerzählung derselben (Superhelden-)Story ist.
Das Alien-Universum ist groß, es wurde schon unglaublich viel erzählt, da kann aktuelle Story natürlich nicht übermäßig Punkten. Immerhin bietet die Story Potenzial und wir haben eine Ongoing-Serie vor uns. Das ist schon mal vielversprechend und gibt daher 2 Punkte.
Service - 2 von 5 Punkte
Beim Service geht es um die Extras für den Leser: Zusatzinfos, Einführung in die Story, Leserbriefe, Worte der Autoren. Alles, was zusätzliche Informationen oder Unterhaltungswert bietet.
Hier gibt es leider nicht viel, aber das braucht es auch nicht unbedingt – Aliens sollte jeder kennen und eine Kurzeinführung ist immerhin vorhanden. 2 Trostpunkte daher.
FAZIT - 60 von 100 Punkte
Insgesamt ergibt das 60 von 100 Punkte. Das ist schon etwas enttäuschend. Ein gewisses Potenzial bei den Charakteren und der Story ist vorhanden. Doch selbst wenn es hier noch steil nach oben geht, könnten wir am Ende vielleicht bei 70-75 Punkten landen. Eine klare Empfehlung spreche ich erst ab 75 Punkten aus. Darunter ist es nur für Genre-Fans interessant. Das könnte passieren, wenn Larroca bei den Details noch ordentlich nachschärfen würde, was ich jedoch für unwahrscheinlich halte. Aber ich bin gespannt. -
With the Disney Corporation buying Fox it was only a matter of time that the decades long partnerships between the Alien and Predator franchises came to an end with Dark Horse Comics, a company who have been producing successful and popular entries to both worlds (and their shared cross-overs) for as long as I can remember. Not only does Marvel face the daunting prospect of producing a well made and well received Alien comic, they have to compete with what came before and win over the fans of Dark Horse's works. Not an easy feat by any means.
The comic follows Gabriel Cruz, a Weyland-Yutani security chief who's retiring from company life following a career that has caused him damage to his family relationships, the loss of friends, and some pretty deep and dark trauma. We see brief flashes of Gabriel's past scattered throughout the issue, of a time where he seems to have been on a failed mission where most, if not all, of his team were killed by Xenomorphs. The details on this are still very light on the ground, and I expect that the slow revelation of this information will be an important point for this story.
The information we do get is fairly interesting, however, as it seems Weyland-Yutani sent their team to capture a Xenomorph in their continued effort to weaponize the creatures. There's also hints that there was something inside the hive that we've never seen before, some kind of bio-mechanoid like woman who bears a striking resemblance to H.R. Giger's Li 1 painting. It's not clear if this is some kind of new Xenomorph variation that we've never encountered, or a strange kind of hybrid, or even possibly an hallucination, but it does look like Wey-Yu are experimenting with Xenomorph hybrids later in the issue so it could all very well be related.
What I really liked about this mystery back story, however, was that it was being explored in a way where we could see how it was affecting Gabriel, how it all still haunts him. Through conversations he has with his psychologist, a Bishop model android, we get to get inside his head and see that inner workings of a man who I'd imagine doesn't normally open up much.

The issue isn't all about Gabriel though, as we also meet his now grown up son Danny. Danny visits his father once he's back on Earth, and we see the very strained and damaged relationship between the two of them. Danny also uses this as an opportunity to steal his fathers access to the orbiting research station Epislon. We discover that he and his girlfriend are opposed to Wey-Yu, and are something like activists and corporate terrorists, and that they believe the company is up to no good (spoiler alert, they always are).
Once on board the station Danny and his friends expect to find a server farm, but instead find a lab filled with bizarre Xenomorph experiments and hybrids, and as you should expect from a story like this, things go wrong and the creatures begin to escape.
I'm very much expecting that the relationship between Gabriel and Danny will be a big part of this story, and that Gabriel will either have to go to Epsilon to save his son, or ends up joining with the anti-Wey-Yu faction if Danny ends up dying on the station. Either way, I think this relationship is going to be a major catalyst for bringing Gabriel into conflict with the Xenomorphs, and probably the company too.
I liked that the book put Weyland-Yutani front and centre in things, that it wasn't just a shadowy group pulling strings in the far background like in the original trilogy of films, but an active participant in events. Decades after the events of the films they've finally managed to get their hands on the creatures they've wanted, and seem to be getting away with their dangerous experiments. Fans of the series have always been told how bad it would be if they ever got hold of an alien, but now we're actually going to see it unfold, and I'm definitely okay with that kind of story. -
Set after the events of Alien and Aliens, this book sees the estranged son of a retired Weyland-Yutani security chief steals his access codes and, along with a group of fellow anti-corporate activists, uses them to break into what they believe to be cyber warfare facility...but is, in fact, a bio-weapons lab. And if you're familiar with the Alien franchise, you know what that means.
I'd worried that this book would leap straight into man vs alien action, and eschew the slow build up and character moments that characterise the best entries in the movie series, but thankfully that's not true. The xenomorph only really appears in flashbacks, and all we really get is a little face hugger action at the end...and that's exactly as it should be. The main focus is on Gabriel Cruz, the aforementioned retired security chief, who's plagued by nightmares of unspeakable bio-mechanical horrors...which seem to be inspired by an incident from his past...which possibly included the death of his other son. Many questions are asked but, given that this is just the first issue, inevitably answers are in short supply.
There's a creeping sense of dread throughout the issue, and the use of a Bishop series android actually adds to this. It's a familiar face for fans, but also not quite the character we know.
Larroca's art is Larocca's art. Personally I preferred his art before he started heavily using photo reference, but I only found it to not quite work on one early double page spread. Your mileage, no doubt, will vary. But the fact that his Bishop looks exactly like Lance Henriksen is a plus as far as I'm concerned. Mostly the art gives the book a cinematic feel, but I can understand people not liking it.
Overall this is an outstanding start to the series and to the new Marvel era of Alien comics. -
El primer producto de la franquicia Alien en manos ya de Disney nos sitúa cronológicamente después de los hechos narrados en las dos primeras películas. Tenemos de protagonista a un miembro de seguridad de Weyland-Yutani recién jubilado pero que arrastra perturbadores visiones relacionadas con la amenaza xenomorfo. Entre medias vemos que trata de reconectar con su único hijo, quien resulta que pertenece a un movimiento extremista contra corporaciones.
La premisa promete en cierta medida. El fusilar y tratar de replicar la propuesta de horror space del film primordial ya está totalmente visto. Y el universo de Alien puede ser mucho más que una nave/base espacial con algún xenomorfo suelto. Espero que sí que quieran explorar el tema de las mega corporaciones (aunque meterles de contra un grupo de reaccionarios de gatillo fácil es un juego muy rastrero) que, de momento, sí que será abordado en la serie de TV que prepara Noah Hawley. Este cómic podría ser un gran complemento.
El punto más flaco es el arte de Larroca, fallando estrepitosamente en la caracterización de los rostros humanos. Que, aunque reconocibles, están exentos de cualquier atisbo de personalidad o emoción. -
I've read a handful of compendiums and graphic novels, but this will be the first real comics series I've ever read, so I'm probably not the best reviewer for this.
This first volume of Marvel's newly-licensed Alien series seems like a good start. I see a lot of other reviewers taking it to task for being too slow, but to me it both sets the stage for a crackerjack xenomorph story and gets in a lot of character development for Gabriel Cruz, a recently retired Weyland-Yutani defense commander, and his son, an anti-corporate terrorist who unwittingly lets loose a gaggle of face huggers. I'm looking forward to reading this one as it comes out. -
It is off to a good start
It has a good drama to it that is reminiscent of Ellen Ripley and her lost daughter and newfound daughter (with Newt in "Aliens") but since it was too short I can only give it four stars instead of five. I'm looking forward to volumes 2 and 3.
As an additional note, I did like the inclusion of twisted new Weyland Yutani experiments and potential new Xenomorph variants. -
This is an interesting kick off issue from Marvel. I really like Larroca's artwork. The storyline seems to have promise - I am interested in seeing where this goes. The story went by so quickly, I am looking forward to the next issue.
I believe that the Alien world could have a persistent story line, with characters entering and exiting the series. I wonder if this has ever been seriously considered. I say that knowing that many of the Dark Horse series are connected together in some form. -
A compelling start to the series, this comic makes it clear that it is an Alien comic, it is not afraid of gore, and it has that human angle that keeps the movies grounded. The art style is a little off putting to me, looking almost like it is CGI, but it did not ruin my reading experience. Sets up the rest of the series nicely, and worth a read for Alien fans or people who like a little danger in their sci-fi.
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first issue of marvel’s entry into the “alien” universe, not really sure what is going on at the moment but it’s an interesting use of familiar references that seem to be setting up a bigger story arc to come in future issues.
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After seeing page two I was a little skeptical because of some random alien-like woman....ugh just stick to the xenomorphs!!!! So I was out to not like this issue. Then it got going, and it was pretty good.
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This is a really interesting new Alien story. It's a very promising beginning and I'm happy to see that Marvel and Disney is now taking this great franchise seriously. Not as scary as I would like, bit a good fun read nonetheless.
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Marvelous 🦉
an amazing start to a new alien series with the marvel label
seeing old characters and a certain scene from aliens resurrection there was meant to be other test facility's
