Aliens: Earth War

Aliens / Predator / Prometheus Universe

by Mark Verheiden, Sam Kieth (Illustrator)

Mark Verheiden and Sam Keith teamed up to bring to life a tale that features everyone's favorite tough girl, Ripley, in this an action-packed full-color space adventure. She leads a commando team that includes Newt and Hicks on a suicide mission to stop the alien infestation that has brought Earth to its knees.

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Aliens, Horror, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Mark Verheiden is an American television, movie, and comic book writer. He was a co-executive producer for the television series Falling Skies for DreamWorks Television and the TNT Network.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ripley finally makes her return. The story is out there as they go to the Xenomorph homeworld to gather some kind of Alien Empress and bring her back to Earth. Verheiden gets a bit stuck in the trap of paralleling the events of the first two movies.

Sam Keith's art is great. It can still be a bit cartoonish when it comes to humans but he draws some fantastic Aliens and their homeworld.

[Benji's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third miniseries in the original Dark Horse years, but can be read on its own. It's highly recommended that you watch the first two Alien films, though, as this could be a sequel to Aliens.

There's a good story here and some varying artwork, but it beats Alien 3 and 4. Would recommend.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cool Aliens comic. I should have read the earlier ones first because this is obviously continued from the Dark Horse Universe of Aliens. But it features Ridley as a main character, so it's easy for fans of the movies to read.

Sam Keith is the artist here and does a fantastic job. As usual, he's not a very consistent artist but the good pages are great.

The story has Ridley tracking down and going to the home planet of the Aliens. We learn more about the source of the Aliens and the architects. This was probably all in conflict with the newer Alien movies... but it's a fun read regardless.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

As usual, I read my original presses of these comics. I first read these around middle school age... so about 30-ish years ago and I remember really enjoying them back then. After consuming a lot more modern Sci-Fi, even within the Aliens universe, these just don't stand the test of time. Through the lens of a child these were far more entertaining and I was definitely much less critical of the story and art at the time... with my re-reading project, now that I'm nearly forty, I'm just not walking away feeling the same way.

First off, Verheiden feels like he's losing steam in the storyboard department. In my re-reads I've actually been reading over the letters columns this time around, something I usually don't do when reading comics, mainly because I don't care what other people think about something... but I am quite interested in the editors responses, so those have been rife with information. Now, one of the things that I thought was a real benefit of the series was a lack of Ripley, in fact, I've been coming around to the mind that I wish this wasn't even about Hicks and Newt anymore. When these were initially published I was really excited to read the continued adventures, but in retrospect I think their adventures should be left to just the films mainly. (However, I tend to agree with most people that Alien 3 was a terrible idea. I'd actually say Alien 3 would have been a great Alien story IF it did not involve itself as a sequel to Aliens with Ripley, Newt, and Hicks. Alien 3 should have just been about a different character or something, then I think everyone would have liked it more to be honest.)

Either way, the public seemed to really want Ripley back, so at the end of the last issue she was brought back into the fold. I was mildly curious how they would treat her involvement in the story concerning Hicks and Newt, but I was disappointed in the actual outcome. It feels more like Ripley was haphazardly inserted back into the story, literally for the sake of appeasing fans. The entire first issue is dedicated to a story explaining why Ripley abandoned Newt. Which, I'm glad they did that, but it was literally just the same story from the very first Aliens: Book One... but like with Ripley now. It was kind of just bad writing. It also served as an excuse to get another team of marines, since those seem to keep dying off...

In any event by the second issue we finally start to get into the meat of the story. In this story they try to focus on the reason for the dreams of the Aliens and Ripley thinks she understands all these connections. There's some super queen alien calling to all her children to come home. Apparently, the other queens and drones don't hear this? So humans need to bring them or something? I don't know, it's kind of phenomenally bad writing at this point and I think there could have been a waaaay better explanation for the dreams. So, Ripley hatches a plan to go on a mission to get this super queen and take her back to Earth, then lure all the Aliens on Earth to her and blow them all up. If you're sitting over there and saying "this sounds kind of stupid," you are correct. There has never been anything in the prior stories to suggest that any of these assertions could possibly true. The make matters worse the characters are all going to the "Alien home world" to get this queen. BUT if you remember Aliens Vol. 1, which apparently Verheiden didn't, the characters WENT there already and they already blew up the giant hive there. That was the whole climactic point of the first series after all... but here we are again... in a fever dream desperate attempt to write a final installment for the sake of Ripley coming back.

Needless to say the succeed, because why would you expect any less, I'm not even spoiling it at this point. The crazy part is at the end when they detonate the bombs, I still can't figure out if they blew up Earth? Or at the very least they detonated so many Nukes it must have just made the place unlivable... but it doesn't seem anyone really cares about that aspect of what they did. Hey, at least there's no more Aliens? But, like, the outcome is exactly the same, we still lost Earth. The end.

I'm happy to report that I'm pretty sure the future installment of Aliens comics sort of bailed on any aspect of the repurcussions of this tale. They basically act like this whole event didn't happen, perhaps that has a bit of an excuse in the release of Alien 3, but if Alien 3 is the reason this time line got ignored, good. Other comic series pick up and do much better with the franchise anyway. It's a real shame because the first two stories Verheiden wrote were truly spectacular.

To end on a further low note, we must now talk about the Sam Kieth controversy, as the letter column editor put it. Back when this was released it seemed it was a pretty solid 50/50 split on whether Kieth's art was good. I tend to fall pretty solidly on the idea that Kieth's art is fine, it just didn't fit with Aliens at all. If you see his work on Maxx it fits, but one of the reasons I never got that comic was because I didn't like the art that much. It's not bad, just not my thing. I think what made the switch worse was after switching gears from artists like Mark Nelson and Denis Beauvais whose art truly fit the atmosphere of Aliens, Sam Kieth steps in with his goofier more cartoony style and it just feels weird. It's weird, Kieth's Aliens were pretty much on point, it's his humans that were all out of whack. Ripley, literally does not even look like Ripley. Hicks looks like some jacked Schwarzenegger guy and Newt looks more like her young self than the woman we got to know in all the prior issues. The real kicker was the "humans" left on Earth... I don't know what in the world Kieth was thinking with this one, but he drew these "creatures" to look like zombies, ghouls, or whatever. No, the humans that worshipped the Aliens were still regular humans, that's the whole point. Worshipping the Aliens doesn't turn you into a weird misshapen monster, it was just so bad.

I think part of the other shocking aspect of the bad interior art is that John Bolton was commissioned to draw the covers. And let me say, his covers are amazing. I truly wish Bolton had drawn the comic in general, because his covers are some of the best out there. This series is worth it even for covers alone!

A sad end to an otherwise promising set of stories. I still think the first two installments are some of the greatest stories and ideas in the Aliens expanded universe. Verheiden definitely set an excellent tone of voice for future issues, it's just sad to see the final story kind of fall flat and rely on just trying to tell the same story over again... it truly felt like he ran out of ideas, unfortunately. So, this one didn't stand the test of time.

[OmniBen · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 3.75/5
If only this one started as strong as it finished, you would be looking at full marks here. Unfortunately, the narrative began to waver, unable to maintain the poetic majesty of its opening issues. Not only that, but the artwork, which was initially exceptional, also suffered a downgrade as the story continued. It was still excellent for the most part, maintaining that grainy, gritty realism of the late 80's I love so much. But more and more, panels began to look rushed and sloppy. It may have been an intentional artistic choice to go with something more sparse and stark, but it just didn't stand up to the brilliance of the earlier issues.
All that said, this was still a strong offering from the opening few arcs of the Aliens omnibus volume one, which I would think is where most people will read this now. No doubt the omnibus is now a cheaper option that this long O.O.P print trade is. Definitely worth checking out. 3.75/5


OmniBen

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was honestly a little let down by this book, it began to spiral out near the end so that it was difficult to follow all of the plot points. Still, Sam Keith's art was great, but best of all was Monika Livingston's color-work. This is a gorgeous book and a fine addition to the Alien lore.

[Eddie B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite disappointing.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following the stunning second volume of the series, Nightmare Asylum, this being merely a good volume feels like a bit of a let down, but it shouldn't: this is still a very enjoyable series, especially for a tie in. The art isn't in the same painted style as it previously was, but it's a delightfully 90s aesthetic, with real attention paid to the layouts. Story-wise, this is the introduction of Ripley to the comics and they make decent use of her. It's definitely playing things safer than the previous two storylines.

[Jimmy Fingers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like nice old school art but this is not flawless, also story wise I found Newts flashbacks distracting. Ripley looks nothing like in actual movies. It also has some confusingly done panels that just jump from one scene to other along with very chaotically drawn action. Its a bit better in second half but still not enough as I had to push myself to finish reading it till the end which is no good.

[Mich Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

You could say I am biased when it comes to the Aliens universe. It is just like my MCU can never get enough of these creatures and their characters and (and new ones) trying to figure out a way to survive. All these crazy people trying to outsmart the xenomorphs and most times doesn't work.

[Nuno Ferreira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estes livros de Aliens foram muito idênticos aos filmes da franquia, sobretudo aqueles protagonizados por Sigourney Weaver. Na verdade, era isso mesmo que eu procurava, bom entretenimento com o alienígena mais famoso da indústria, portanto estes três volumes publicados entre 1989 e 1991 serviram para preparar-me para o novo Alien: Romulus que, dizem, faz jus aos predecessores.

[Babar · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read if not great.

[Shamus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, I am fortunate enough to have the unedited, original four part comics for this collection. I will need to check out how it is altered for the post-'Alien3' story. Ripley is finally united with Newt and Hicks and the first issue covers the story of why she disappeared. Three days after 'Aliens' she was woken up by The Corporation's backup ship and forced to lead a mission down to the alien ship from her first encounter with the Alien. The results of this mission lead her to a psychic encounter with the Queen Mother of all the xenomorph Aliens, as well as her going into hiding for the next ten years. Now that Earth is overrun with the Aliens, Ripley has a mission prepared to bring the Queen Mother to Earth so that all the Aliens can be psychically drawn to her location and destroyed.

First, the story. The first half of this limited series is well told and a great buildup to what is supposed to come, an invasion of the Alien Homeworld. Unfortunately, after this the story is rushed through the remaining two issues and leaves you with a lot of unbelievable action.

Second, the art. Sam Keith is an interesting artist, but he leaves the women looking dumpy, with hanging breasts and large flabby asses. The men get scrunched up faces with shadows instead of eyes. Even worse, he seems to get lazy as the issues continue. Backgrounds are left as colored smears, Aliens are drawn as outlines for most panels, and battle scenes are depicted in ridiculous fashion. When a group of soldiers are fighting a more powerful form of Alien, they are depicted as surrounded by thousands of them but somehow they are not overrun but simply form a circle and spend minutes shooting in an outward direction. No attempt to create a landscape that would make this believable, just lazy drawing.

Mostly, this is a disappointment as an ending to a long and enjoyable trilogy by Mark Verheiden. The ending is good, but the way it is told and drawn is not. You still need to read it for the ending, and I really love what was done for the Aliens mythos, both for the xenomorphs and the elephantine alien from the original film, I just wish more effort had been put in.

[Kaisersoze · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember reading the novel version of these graphic novels back when I was a late teenager. Fair to say, I preferred those novels.

This surprisingly toothless third "book" in the continuing story of Ripley, Newt and Hicks (or Ripley, Billie and Wilks if you read the otherwise equivalent Female War) finds the three survivors of the U.S.S. Sulaco trying to rid Earth of the menace of the Aliens once and for all via a plan that most generously could be described as audacious, but more honestly, is quite ludicrous - even for a set of comics of this nature.

The plot is driven by odd psychic links between the two female protagonists and others - friend and foe - who have yet to cross their path. And to further undermine matters, there's less of the usual carnage than one would expect for what was originally shaped as the final in the trilogy of follow-up novels/comics.

It's still worth a read, though, when the alternative fates of these characters is what transpired in Alien 3 *shudder*.

2.5 Hair-Brained Schemes for Earth War.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Re-read the 4-issue mini series.
The covers merit 5 stars all to themselves!

The story, though in keeping with the previous 2 stories in this series, suffers from of good artwork and gets 3 stars. I realize that Dark Horse did not have the rights to make Ripley look like Sigourney Weaver, but the "alternative" presented is just plain... wrong.

The art, the inking, the colors are a major dissapointment. Although I'm sure there is a market for this sort of cartoony look, it just doesn't jibe well with an ALIENS story. I remember this series for originally turning me off the whole graphic novel Aliens adaptations.

I am currently re-immersing myself into the series, hopefully, it'll be "better" the second time around.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was okay but could have been better. The art by Sam Keith is not horrible, as some claim, but it is odd. That's Sam Keith for you! The story reintroduces Ripley after 15 years of disappearance amid the decimation of Earth by the aliens. Worth a read, but make sure you read volumes 1 and 2 first for full context.

[Beau N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in the original 4 part series version.

Not fond of the comic style of this one, but the covers are fantastic - just like something Giger would have drawn. Lovely :)

Overall the series gets a 3.5 out of 5. This is the story I would have liked to see done as the third movie.

[Rizki Fachriansyah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Atrocious writing; mediocre to straight-up abominable art reduces every female character to spandex-clad dominatrices. H R Giger's impeccably symmetrical design for the titular aliens is perverted here; the alien queen's Mother (really, the entire alien life cycle is now worthy of the "-ception" meme) looks horribly out of place by Giger's standards. Borderline repulsive.