Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Tristan Jones
Release Date: 27 April 2016
Price: $3.99
Dark Horse Comics
The best monsters give us a glimpse of the human behind the monster mask. Think of Karloff’s immortal portrayal of Frankenstein’s monster and how he managed to convey more anguish and sorrow with one look than a whole roomful of thesps could conjure up in a fortnight of emoting.
Aliens Defiance #1, however, don’t go for mushy sentimentality. With Aliens, you get what it says on the tin. The galaxy’s ugliest, most efficient, acid-drooling killing machines who only have one thought in mind, to destroy any and everything they encounter. Aliens is undoubtedly one of the biggest, most successful franchises of all time and Aliens Defiance #1 is being released in time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Aliens films.
Make no mistake, Aliens Defiance #1 is a big deal, New York Times bestselling author Brian Wood is at the helm. So why do I get the feeling that I’ve seen it all before? Maybe because we have seen it all before. Without the contrast between the monster and the man, there’s not much else you can do except recycle the same plot endlessly.
So in Aliens Defiance #1 take one lone female protagonist, this time Colonial Marine Private First Class Zula Hendricks, strand her in space and set her on a mission to confront and destroy something that is pretty much unstoppable and there you have it, another gold star on the Aliens success chart. Again big business plays the bad guy here as Zula is despatched by Weyland-Yutani to investigate a derelict craft adrift in space which just so happens to be infested with you-know-who. Not that this is any news to her paymasters because they want to capture the aforesaid you-know-who’s for study and profit. Only Zula Hendricks team of synthetics save her from destruction, disobeying orders as they go AWOL to destroy the Aliens, which is also par for the course.
Die-hard Aliens fans and those who have been hiding in a hole for the last 30 years and have no prior knowledge of the Aliens history will Aliens Defiance #1 this entertaining enough but for the rest of us it’s the same old stuff re-hashed. Highlight for me was the line: ‘I didn’t realise synthetics could scream’. That is something that may justifiably send chills down your spine.
Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker