Waited for the trade: Aliens Omnibus Vol. 1

Mr`Orange
This format was reviewed on the site a little while back, and I liked the sound of it, so I took a look at the offerings available from Dark Horse, and though there were a few interesting titles, this series stood out from the rest. I’ve always liked the mythos behind the Aliens series, both the films and the books, so thought I’d dive right in. With no idea of when the original books where published, or how they fit into the continuity of the movies, I opened the omnibus and dived right in. The first of the books collected in this Omnibus was Outbreak

The book opens with a very quick, very basic retelling of (what I remember to be) the second movie of the franchise, Aliens. It is told from the perspective of “Billie” who I have taken to be “newt” from that film, who is now in a mental institution. Now, for me, this is the make or break of a decent “extended universe” or franchise book, how much of the back story does the reader know, and how to bring them up to speed. A good book won’t waste time with rerunning the whole back story, but you also need to give a nod in the direction of the source material.

Outbreak’s writer Mark Verheiden does a good job of bringing everyone up to date without labouring the point. The writing over all is good, not brilliant, as the book is quite dense and, living in a world of decompressed writing, it can get a bit much at times. The story overall is very good though, and plays on the themes set up in the later movies and the books where the government and Earth based companies want to monetise the Aliens through the use of them as biological weapons.

The book runs two parallel, but ultimately connected, storylines, one is about a mission led by a survivor from the mission to Rim (the second movie in the Alien franchise) and the freed Billie. It is around here that the book gets a little messy, now bear in mind this may be down to the fragmented way in which I read the book, or it could well be an underlying messiness in the scripting. A few scenes on-board the flight get confusing with a couple of the characters, though you can work out what is going on, it is a case of not knowing who exactly is carrying out these shenanigans.

The second storyline deals with Earth based events, a domestic infestation, and a cult that worships these aliens as the new coming of Christ?, as a saviour. This storyline bring up some interesting issues with the creatures, not only their goals, but how they go about achieving them. We learn a lot about the motivation of the aliens, what it is that they hope to achieve through these colonies. We learn that they are more than just mindless creatures, and are cunning, intelligent beings, which makes the plans of the Corporation that much more chilling.

The art was decent, pretty realistic, quite graphic in places, it wasn’t anything special, but did enough. Though they did try to capture the tone of the movies, it didn’t quite come through.



The second book is Nightmare Asylum With the same writer but this time the art is provided by Dan Beauvias and, barring one part where it is really rushed, the art is very well done. When it needs to, it captures the dark tone of the book, but the rest of the time it provides a cleaner, clinical feel to the story, therefore really amplifying the danger and darkness of the aliens.



The story continues from the end of the first book, with Wilks and Billie on a cargo ship to some unknown destination. We continue to follow the adventures and misfortunes of the pair while we learn more about the military’s plan for the aliens.

The state of planet Earth is explored some more, with live (TV) feeds being sent out by some of the survivors. We follow the fate of one pair, an Uncle and niece who are trying their best to remain alive on Earth. You can see what the writer was trying to do with this, adding a more “human” face to the book, adding in some characters you can sympathise with, almost empathise with, but they have been given such little screen time that they just become an annoyance.

The main story was very interesting though. It was based around a military commander’s attempt to “civilize” and train these aliens and make them into a more loyal army. Of all the military people in this universe, he is the only one that seems to have an understanding of the true nature of these creatures, of their intelligence and capabilities.

I’m not going to spoil the story, as I prefer to review the book rather than the plot, so while better than the first, both in terms of art and pacing, the book still isn’t quite hitting the notes of the first couple of movies. Though with four volumes of the Aliens omnibus out the stories must have caught the imagination of a fair few readers out there, and hopefully the quality keeps on improving.

Female War is the reason there are three more volumes. This book has come on in leaps and bounds with regard to the first two. It helps that the art is by Sam Keith, which really adds to the flow and dynamism of the book. At no point is it dark and broody as you would imagine an Aliens book, but the flow and structure of the book is so much better. The story flows so well, the art actually accentuates the story rather than just being there, as it was in the two previous books.

The other thing that came to light while reading this book, is that my assessment of the recap in the first book might have been off, it might have recapped the first Alien film and not the second, as that seems to be the one recapped here!

At one point it was rather confusing as I wasn’t sure if it was a recap or actually part of the new story, but it all worked itself out in the end. And boy what a story it was, very high octane all energy fun, well as much fun as it can be reading a book about an alien species decimating earth and those in charge of saving us, protecting us being corrupt and essentially in league with those that want to see our end. This time there was essentially only the one story, though it did dovetail the two previous stories, the people on earth and the extermination of the aliens. The writing has also really improved, you can tell that the writer now has a better understanding of the medium, as he has come from a TV / Screenplay background.

Finally we have a couple of small stories to cap off the book. First, is a diary account by a biologist that worked for the company and the Aliens project. He talks about the nature of the beast, its cultures and evolution, why they do what they do, and then, after that, came another short story. Though short in numbers of pages it was immense in scope, it really did tell a hell of a tale. I can’t really say anything about it, as it will spoil the story, but it covers a lot of themes that have come up during the three books in the omnibus: the nature of man, the nature of these aliens and the consequences of the interaction between the two. This last story has convinced me to pick up the second trade, which I would not have done otherwise. The book is ok, the art passable for the most part, but until this last little tale, it really didn’t engage me enough to carry on the series. Even the impressive third book, Female War, was not enough to bring me back to this universe; but this has. Read more!

Panelology - Who Do We Read? (Part 1)

by Brandon

Panelology triumphantly returns this week after a long, but necessary, mental health hiatus! Continuing on with my look at the essentials of collecting comic books, I'm taking up the issue of comic book companies. Who do we read? Why do we slavishly follow companies? Is there hope for mankind? Read on!

Comic book fans are pretty unusual. Our purchasing habits tend to follow one company or line with great regularity. Sure, we all venture out, but we tend to follow a company's titles as a general rule of thumb. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is a curious phenomenon that happens within our hobby. I'm a huge music buff, but I don't tend to follow record labels around. I, like any proud fanboy, also love movies. Yet, I don't find myself lining up at the the local yokel movie theater every time something from Paramount or Warner Brothers comes out. Even gamers tend to sample across the spectrum.

This isn't a rule for everybody, but many in our community tend to stay with one company for a majority of their purchases. I'm no different. I freely admit that I am Marvel fan. I do tend to dip out into other books and companies, but I would say a full two-thirds of all of my purchases come from the House of Ideas. Just this past weekend at HeroCon, I heard a young man exclaim as he was rifling through the 50% off TPB boxes, "Man, all of this shit is Marvel! Why would anybody read this stuff?"

Well, let's see...

Marvel
I love Marvel. I think Marvel tends to do a great job of mixing the fantastic with reality. I think in terms of character development in the superhero realm, Marvel does a better job than anybody out there. For super-heroics, Marvel offers a wide variety of titles, both solo and team books. Marvel doesn't seem to be afraid to take risks with their properties. Just look at Brand New Day and the Death of Captain America arcs if you don't buy this argument. For better or for worse, Marvel likes risks. I don't think they are as risky as they were back about eight years ago or so, but that was more of a function of survival than anything. Plus, they have a quasi-impressive line of labels now. Max, Ultimate, and Icon have solid potential. I believe the Ultimate line may be the only one that has at least lived up to its potential, but if rumors are true about this line, it could be going the way of Valiant pretty soon.


DC
Ah, the "old" guard. If someone wants superhero titles, DC is where it is at. Marvel has them too, but DC seems to be focused so much on the superhero that they seem to lose the characterization Marvel tends to focus on. That could be my own bias of DC coming in, but I don't think that focusing on superheroes is a bad thing. I think DC appeals to those fans who want heavy continuity and stability. I don't see them as risk takers, but more as stability-setters. They really have bought into the event trend, which is great for their readers because they tend to demand a more cohesive, connected universe of titles. Their Vertigo line is also one of the best lines out there for mature readers. It mixes fantasy, crime, science fiction, and mystery so well. Unlike the Ultimate line, Vertigo has far exceeded its potential. Vertigo acts almost like an indie label being hawked off by a major company. I really enjoy many titles from this line. Except for Jack of Fables.

Dark Horse
DH is an interesting company right now. They have tons of opportunities going for them. They have a good mix of licensed properties and original titles. On the licensed properties front, they have some big licenses with Star Wars, Conan, Indiana Jones, Buffy, Aliens, and Predator to name just a few. I bet DC and Marvel would cream themselves to snap up those properties! These properties bring in a locked-in fanbase that tend to follow the titles out of love for the characters. This is good money for DH. Chances are that at least one of those properties interests you, my fine readers. DH also has some really good original titles. Hellboy, Fear Agents and The End League immediately come to mind. All three of these titles are exceedingly well done. DH seems to be more willing to take a dip in the original title pool lately, which seems to be working for them. Also, their collected editions

Image
Image has a lot going for it these days. They have a stable of some really excellent titles that are very diverse. To use a terrible word, Image has cornered the market on "funky" titles. That's right, funky. That's probably not the right word, but it works for the time being. They have a zombie book, outlandish and grounded superhero titles, spy books, and action/adventure titles. Image seems to do a bit of everything and they are able to filter it through their funky lens to make it unique. Fell, Casanova, The Walking Dead, and Savage Dragon are all strong books in my mind from this company. Image has tons of potential, and I think Erik Larsen is doing a fine job tapping that potential.

Those are just four of the "big" companies. Just between those four, there is enough diversity in comic books for anybody to find a title they love. But what about the other comic publishers? Great question! Next week, I'll take us on a journey through some of the indie publishers.

I'll definitely be getting back on a regular weekly schedule too. Between taking two grad classes, teaching a creative writing class, and wrapping up the school year, things have been a little hectic around here for me. But never fear! I'll be back next week with Part 2!
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From Top to Bottom: Crossovers I Want To Read

by Matt

Welcome to the 6th edition of the weekly "From Top to Bottom" column! Every week I will look at something within the comics industry and give you my opinion on what I think is the best and what I think ranks amongst the bottom-feeders.

Last week I took a look at the Top and Bottom of Comic Book Women and a few weeks ago I looked at my Top and Bottom Comic Crossovers that have been published. With this week's edition, I finally post my Top 3 Comic Crossovers I want to read along with some I just might skip.

I am a HUGE sucker for crossovers, especially when one universe spills into another. Here are my Top 3 crossovers I would geek out for!


3)Predator/Punisher
Why hasn't this happened? It just seems like a perfect fit. This could have so many story lines, they could be hunting each other, after the same assassin, the Punisher may just support the Predator (after the obligatory misunderstanding fight) as it is killing criminals and follows him around, there are just a ton of possibilities.




2)GI Joe/Aliens
I was really into GI Joe toys and comics way back in the '80s and I was also a fan of the movie Aliens. Why not put them together? When I was a kid, I would play with my GI Joe action figures and I had this storyline of the Aliens taking over Cobra Island and the Joe team has to go in and rescue them. Lots of gore and death (it wouldn't be Aliens without it) and Duke would die such a horrific death since I hated him so much. I think this would be so much fun to write.

Okay I confess, I have written some of it.

1)Nexus/Solar
I have both runs of Nexus and Solar and I think a crossover between these two would definitely work and be a lot of fun. Solar caused the Earth to be thrown into a black hole resulting in the death of billions. Nexus is tracks down and executes mass murderers. What if Nexus went after Solar? It would be cool to see two god-like beings fight it out.




Some crossovers are not as natural as peanut butter and chocolate. Some crossovers are put together for the sole purpose of making money and they have as much creativity/personality as a dollar bill. With the right creators, any crossover can work. I cannot wait for the Groo/Conan crossover to finally come out. Here are my Bottom 3 crossovers that I would probably skip. (Who am I kidding? I would still buy them!)


3)Mr. Fantastic/Elongated Man
The most boring member of the Fantastic Four teaming up with a character that has lame powers. This would be a book I would pick up in a flash! I can't imagine how this type of team up would make me want to pick it up.






2)Lobo/Bloodwulf
I don't care for Lobo and I think Bloodwulf is a horrible character. This is a match made in heaven! Only Rob should draw this book too. That way we never will see it!*



*old lame joke



1)The Final Infinite Invasion of Multiple Thors
So many Thors, so much confusion. ROLL CALL! From top left, Savage Dragon Thor, Image's Thor, End League's Thor and Marvel's Thor. I guess I could have added Ultimate Thor and Clor and I am sure I am missing other Thors as well. Now this would be the brouhaha to end all brouhahas! Which Thor will survive? Will our heads explode? Ragnarok has come! Hmmmm, this suddenly sounds like I could dig it.


Now that I think about, any of these crossovers could be fun in the hands of the right creators. How can I convince everybody to do a Thor crossover?

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From Top to Bottom: Comic Movie Adaptations

by Matt

Welcome to the 4th edition of the weekly "From Top to Bottom" column! Every week I will look at something within the comics industry and give you my opinion on what I think is the best and what I think ranks amongst the bottom-feeders.

Last week I took a look at the Top and Bottom of Comic Crossovers. Instead of looking at crossovers that I wanted to see (like I said I would last week) in celebration of the new Indiana Jones movie coming out this week, I will be taking a look at the top and bottom of comic book movie adaptations.

There have been a few adaptations that are worth owning, most others are are sub par at best and others seem to have been so rushed that you can tell that they are only attempting to cash in on the movie's popularity. The biggest problem that movie adaptations are usually one-shots or short mini-series and that means there is little room to go through an entire movie and something is missing. So why should you buy an adaptation you ask? Well, in my case there are a couple of reasons. The biggest is if I am either a huge fan of the movie or a huge fan of the creators involved. Some adaptations are pulled from the original script so they may contain scenes that are not in the movie. A good example of that would be the adaptations of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Alien and the Empire Strikes Back. We'll see a few of those on this list. And now, on to the Top 3!

3)Spider-Man
This is the adaptation of the first Spider-Man movie. It made the list because I thought it was a decent adaptation of the movie, they really put as much as they could in this and it didn't feel like I missed anything. But the biggest reason I picked this up is certainly because of the creators, Stan Lee and Alan Davis. If you don't know it now, you certainly will learn that Alan Davis is my all-time favorite creator. His art was well worth the pickup. This adaptation felt like the movie.







2)Bram Stoker's Dracula
Not only is it one of my favorite movies, but it was drawn by one of my favorite artists. This 4-issue Topps mini-series adapted Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula by Roy Thomas and with art by Mike Mignola. This is a very faithful adaptation of the movie, Mignola's art was definitely well suited for this book, he captured the same creepiness 'feel' that the movie had.









1)Army of Darkness
Again it is one of my favorite movies along with one of my favorite painters in John Bolton. Based on the actual screenplay by Ivan and Sam Raimi, this follows the original script for Army of Darkness. It includes scenes that were not in theatrical release and includes the apocalyptic ending and not the S-Mart ending. Bolton easily handles the dark, spooky art while staying incredibly true to the characters appearance in the movie. The books follow the script closely and includes most everything that is in the movie, in fact you get a little bit more.





Now some adaptations are just not as good as they could be. Here are my Bottom 3 choices for comic book movie adaptations.
3)Aliens: Newt's Tale
This technically is not an official movie adaptation of the movie Aliens but it is close enough. The series does have some bright spots (which is why it is #3 and not #1), the brightness being we got to see what James Cameron really wanted to include in the theatrical release of Aliens. At the time this 2-issue series came out, we didn't have a Director's Cut of the movie, this was the closest we had. So it was cool to see how the Aliens invaded the community on Acheron and gave a good back story of the young survivor Newt. While the series did start out good, it got progressively got worse. The art suffered (the Aliens didn't look scary) and the last half of the series succumbed to what usually makes adaptations terrible. They crammed as much as they could into it and even changed the story slightly just to accommodate the lack of space.

2)Predator 2
Now this is about the comic book movie adaptation and not the movie itself! (I am looking in your direction Jon) This adaptation suffered from all the usual problems comic book movie adaptations have. The art was too cartoonish, it was not dark and campy like the movie. The writing missed on some of the better lines in the movie and it just couldn't capture the B-movie feel that the movie had. And again, Dark Horse couldn't fit everything the movie had in the two meager issues they put out. Reading this adaptation pales in comparison to the movie.





1)Return of the Jedi
I was sooo excited when the first issue came out! I had just seen the movie and couldn't wait to read the comic. And this looked like it was phoned in through a rusty old telegraph. The art was scribbling at best, the coloring was completely off, the characters barely looked like they should, it was cluttered and rushed. Marvel had 4 issues to adapt the movie, it still seemed really rushed. The major space fight between the Rebellion and the Empire in space got two panels! Out of all the Star Wars adaptations, this one was the worst.

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From Top to Bottom: Comic Crossovers

by Matt

Welcome to the 3rd edition of the weekly "From Top to Bottom" column! Every week I will look at something within the comics industry and give you my opinion on what I think is the best and what I think ranks amongst the bottom-feeders.

Last week I took a look at the Top and Bottom of comic moms. This week, I take a look at intercompany comic crossovers (that is a mouth full) and I present my Top 3 Best Comic Crossovers along with those that shouldn't have seen print.

I was reviewing some of my old monthly orders through mailordercomics.com the other day and I noticed that the new (well, it was ordered about a year ago) Batman/Spawn crossover was canceled. Now, I am a HUGE sucker for crossovers, and even though I don't follow Spawn or Batman all that much, I HAD to get this book.

Company crossovers follow 3 different formulas: either it is a full team-up with one universe visiting another, a mishmash of the characters in the same universe (see Amalgam) or somehow the characters have always existed in the same universe. I am not a huge fan of the Amalgam-type crossovers, so you won't find those here. But I am a huge fan of seeing characters from separate universes interacting. Crossovers rarely matter in the scheme of things; they are all about having fun. We all want to see heroes from separate universes smack the crap out of each other before they figure out that it was all just a misunderstanding and then team up to defeat the evildoer. Some company crossovers have been fantastic and others have been pretty close, most were not bad and some were complete disasters. In researching this, I have found that there are a ton of them out there - and I think I have them all! Here are my Top 3.
3)Backlash/Spider-Man
I am a huge Backlash fan. I loved the Kindred series, I loved his solo series, I just really love Backlash. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Spider-Man (Ben Reilly no less!) would be teaming with a B-level character like Backlash and it would be drawn by Backlash creator Brett Booth himself! While this wasn't in continuity or a crossover that was really demanded, this was meant to be fun. The Venom/Taboo symbiote angle was well-played, the idea behind the team up was good, in short the execution of this crossover just screamed fun. Of course, it helps if you are a big fan of both characters.




2)Wildcats/Aliens
This was one of the rare crossovers that actually impacted continuity in a major, major way. Stormwatch discovers a meteor heading towards Earth and they send a team to blow it up, and, ultimately, bring back Aliens to Skywatch. The Aliens massacre all but a few aboard and the original team of Wildcats goes to investigate and rescue. Battalion is the only surviving member of the Stormwatch team; all the rest were killed by the Aliens. This led to Stormwatch being discontinued and the series itself being canceled, but it did also lead to the formation of the book and team called the Authority. I love this crossover because it actually affected the book and team in continuity. I have a soft spot for Stormwatch and was so shocked after reading this book. It really lived up to the famous comic mantra that this changes EVERYTHING!

1)JLA/Avengers
The grand daddy of them all! Busiek and Perez knocked this book right out of the park. It exceeded my expectations. We got the best of both worlds, highlighting what makes the DC and Marvel universes unique and fun. We also got to see the teams fight and then we got to see them as if they were in the same universe. Aside from the writing and the insanely detailed art (I could not imagine an artist other than Perez), it was the little things that made this crossover my all-time favorite. I loved that heroes were treated differently on both worlds, that magic, the Speed Force, the Infinity Gems (and many other things) didn't work in different universes. The geek in me also loved trying to find every single incarnation of the each member of the Avengers in #4. This was a dream crossover!

Honorable Mentions: There are sooo many crossovers out there that it was hard to narrow down my top 3 favorites. so I will recommend a few more: Batman/Spider-Man (the one Bagley drew), the Nexus/Madman jam, Hellboy/Starman/Batman and the first Superman/Aliens series are also among my favorites.

And here are 3 crossovers that shouldn't have happened. In ANY universe!

3)Punisher/Archie
I admit that I haven't read this. However, just the idea is silly enough to make it onto this list. If I find this book in a 25 cent bin I'll probably snag it, just to satisfy the voyeur in me.














2)Gen13/Generation X
The first crossover between these 2 teams had some redeeming value which was called Art Adams. The second crossover was so bad that I totally have forgotten what it was all about. All I know if that it was painful to get through it. More painful than the first one, which at the time I didn't think was possible. And if I had a choice, I would rather buy the Punisher/Archie crossover at FULL PRICE than read this one again.







1)Badrock/Wolverine
It took me years to finally read this book. I bought it because like I said, I am a sucka for these type of books. Eventually, I decided to read it. After reading it, I sold it on eBay with a bunch of other crappy Image books and I have not looked back. This book represents what goes wrong with a crossover book. I thought Wolverine would be a good crossover with any character but he couldn't pull Badrock. And who wants to see a crossover with Badrock? Was there really demand for that like JLA/Avengers or Batman/Spider-Man? That would be like taking a corny Marvel character like Gladiator and team him with Supreme. Oh wait, they already did that. Crossovers only work if there is demand to see them together or if they both are similar type characters. That is what made even Team 7/Team X work better than Badrock/Wolverine.

After writing this, I thought about characters that would make excellent crossovers. So next week, I will present my Top 3 choices for crossovers that should happen and I will also give my Bottom 3 for crossovers I hope will never happen!
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