Comic Book Review: Alien #1

Rob Lake reviews Alien #1...

"In space no-one can hear you scream!"... 

Well when it comes to Marvel's first crack at crafting an Alien story, that's not entirely the case. 

When it was announced last year that Marvel had taken on the Alien and Predator franchise from Dark Horse I was quietly optimistic. The teaser art of the Predator standing tall on Avengers Tower with an Iron Man helmet in hand was all I needed to go "holy shit!". Then everything went quiet, until today!

So, Marvel's first take on the Xenomorph is as you'd expect it to be - it's a bit drab, it soon falls into those classic Alien traits, and has a lot of classic Alien moments. But does this opening issue exceed expectations? Well, it does, and it doesn't so let me explain...

Alien #1 takes place in 2200, we're about 80-years past the events on the Nostromo and 21-years after the events at Hadley's Hope and Fiorina 161. So Ellen Reply is dead, the United Systems Military of Alien Resurrection are still a few years away, so we're into the corporate hands of Wayland Yutani. 

The story kicks off onboard the Earth-orbiting, Epsilon Orbital Research and Development Platform. We're soon introduced to stone-faced Colonial Marine, Gabe Cruz. Cruz is about to retire and head home to spend time with his Son. We soon learn that Cruz has dealt with the Xenomorph in the past and that causes nightly terrors of various Alien visions and has messed him up pretty bad. 

Back on Earth, Cruz tries to reconnect with his Son who's naturally not having any of it but has an alternative meaning to visit dear old Dad. This soon takes us back to space as little Cruz and his gang of terrorists unwittingly unleash the Xenomorphs onto the station. 

And that's going to be the problem with this series moving forward - it's all been done before. You've got the Xenomorph being researched on a space station (Alien Resurrection), the gruff Marine (nearly every Alien comic ever), family issues (again, nearly every comic book ever). As a fan of the Alien franchise, I did enjoy this opening issue, but as a comic book reader, it's a bit drab. Naturally, I was fully expecting an Alien Vs. Avengers storyline - which I'm sure is coming but the hype for a Marvel produced Alien comic isn't here yet. 

The art is also a little hit and miss. There are some fantastic shorts of action but everything else falls a little short. Gabe Cruz is the biggest bug-bearer. He shows no emotion throughout the issue. Even when he's up to his neck in the Xenomorph Nest, he's still a stone-faced nobody. 

I want to like Alien #1, and again the Alien fan in me does. But there isn't enough "oomph" to make this one any different from what we've seen already. 

Rating 3/10

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev