When Dark Horse first acquired the Alien license, there were only two films: Ridley Scott’s claustrophobic horror masterpiece and James Cameron’s action blockbuster. There wasn’t much lore or storytelling yet. There was the world of LV-426, the perfect killer creatures, the corporate infrastructure that considers human life disposable, the mystery surrounding the alien spaceship, the piles of dead Marines, and a handful of survivors.
The comics were initially unable to feature Ripley, so instead focused on the other two survivors from the Alien films, Newt and Hicks. Written by Mark Verheiden and illustrated by Mark A. Nelson for the first series and Dennis Beauvais for the second, the story sees aliens come to Earth, and rather than via corporate means, it focuses on military experiments to create a new army, human experimentation and, well, the pandemonium you’d expect from this sort of thing.
“What she experienced was a never-ending nightmare.”
The third book in Dark Horse’s original trilogy is Alien: Earth War, written by Verheiden, Sam Keith, Monica Livingston, Jim Massara and Pat Brosseau. It sees Ripley return for the first time in comics to take on an Earth invaded by an alien race, resolve the transmission that brought the Nostromo to LV-426, find the aliens’ origin planet and hatch a terrifying plan to wipe them out.
The theme of motherhood and responsibility runs throughout the story, starting with Newt’s feelings of abandonment when Ripley is gone, then her own desire to save the only human child left on the invaded Earth, and finally Ripley’s desire to track down, capture and kill the alien primordial queen – a direct reference to the Alien storyline that runs throughout the series, including the second set of soldiers, which was later featured in Alien: Resurrection.
This is an interesting in-between period for Sam Keith. His linework and layouts seem more confident and precise in design than his beautiful work in Sandman, moving towards more stylized and exaggerated work in Max, emphasizing detail and beautiful women while still conveying the dark and terrifying threat of the Xenomorphs. Monica Livingston’s colours are fairly bold, using limited primary colours against Keith’s dark inks, the simplicity enhancing the overall sense of dread.
The lettering styles are contrasting. Issue #1 is by Jim Massara and is quite loose; I’m not sure how to describe it, but it has a handwritten feel to it. The narration boxes and speech bubbles feel quite tight at times. Issues #2-4 are by Pat Brosseau and the lettering is more even, with more space between the boxes and speech bubbles. It feels more natural overall.
“Then I remembered what Ripley had said: This isn’t about the Earth anymore. It’s about us.”
Alien 3 came out, changed the rules, killed off Newt and Hicks, and made many of the Dark Horse spinoffs non-canon. The reprints changed the name to Billy and Wilkes to try to keep this storyline in comic canon and fit the movie continuity, but I’ve always thought of these comics as an alternate timeline, one where things play out differently. Things change even more in Alien vs. Predator and Prometheus, so this won’t be the last.
Still, Verheiden, Keith, Livingston, Massara and Brosseau’s Alien: Earth War is an epic conclusion to Dark Horse’s original trilogy, bringing back Ripley and bringing some kind of closure to the story that began with Scott’s Alien. Whether you’ve only seen the films, or haven’t seen them, or haven’t read the previous two books in the trilogy, the story remains an enjoyable journey. It captures the horror of the first film and the action of the second. It depicts a righteous revenge against a hidden conspiracy behind a world that threatens to turn us all into bags of meat.
Classic Comics Encyclopedia: Alien – War of the Earths
Alien – Earth War
Writer: Mark Verheiden
Artist: Sam Keith
Colorist: Monica Livingston
Author: Jim Massara & Pat Brosseau
Publisher: Marvel Comics (Reprint Collection) | Dark Horse (Original Publisher)
Release date: July 6, 2022 (Reprint edition) | June-October 1990 (First edition)
Included in Alien: The Original Years Omnibus – Volume 1 and Alien Epic Collection: The Original Years – Volume 1
Read previous entries in the Classic Comics Compendium!
Like this:
Like Loading…
