Aliens Earth War

Issues 1 - 4

Dark Horse

Mark Verheiden - Writer
Sam Kieth - Artist
Jim Massara - Letterer
Monica Livingston - Colorist

1990

Aliens was a very important movie franchise for me growing up.  One of the true perfect blend of horror/sci-fi and action, the movies where some of the first we all snuck out of the video store and watched in secret without telling our parents. The comics that came out from Dark Horse in the late eighties where very 'hot'. We all wanted them and they where very collectable. It was also hard getting them as they seemed to be scooped up and hoarded.

Aliens: Earth War starts at the end of the Aliens movie. The relationship between between Ripley and Newt is strained. Ripley gets dropped back on LV-426 with remarkably similar outcomes to the movie. We learn that Earth has been over run with Aliens after someone was daft enough to take some eggs back to the home planet. Ripley works out that the Alien creatures all want to be close tot he Queen Alien, so they plan to catch one to trap all the creatures on Earth in one spot and destroy them, I'm guessing by nuking the site from orbit. Ripley wants to work alone but Newt insists on coming with her and helping. From here the book descends into standard Aliens fare.

The art is good. The plot follows the faithful lines forged by the movie franchise and never threatens to touch on anything new. The magic of the movies to me was the special effects and the way that they helped build the tension. Once the action started to unfold you were in the zone, invested and went on the ride. The weakest part of the books is the action sequences. Let's just say that I was never worried about the outcomes.

It's a qualified recommend if you are a massive fan of Aliens as the books, despite seeming to be rare and valuable years ago, are now cheap and easy to find online.