Aliens Omnibus, Vol. 1

Alien Omnibus #1

by Mark Verheiden, Mark A. Nelson (Artist), Den Beauvais (Artist)

Dark Horse Comics took the industry by storm with its release of Aliens, a comics series that for the first time captured the power of film source material and expanded its universe in a way that fans applauded worldwide. Now, the first three Dark Horse Aliens series — Outbreak, Nightmare Asylum and Female War — are collected in a value-priced, quality-format omnibus, featuring nearly 400 story pages in full color. Written by screen and television scribe Mark Verheiden (The Mask, Battlestar Gallactica) and illustrated with consummate skill by Mark A. Nelson, Den Beauvais and Sam Kieth, Aliens Omnibus Volume 1 is an essential piece of the Aliens mythos and a great entry point into the storied Dark Horse Aliens library.

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

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 2007

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]

The first 3 Aliens miniseries made by Dark Horse. These were made before Alien 3 was a thing so Newt and Hicks are still alive. Later editions renamed them Billie and Wilks. Editorially, this collection is a bit of a mess because the names shift back and forth, but as long as you know that it's not really that much of an issue. Because of latter Aliens movies, there would be considered Legends stories to use a Star Wars term.

Aliens: Outbreak - ★★
For all that eventually happens in this, it's really boring. The first 2/3rds is just monotonous prologue about how evil corporations are. James Cameron already covered that in Aliens.
There are some bold moves at the end but instead of focusing on that, it's mostly off-page which is disappointing. Due to Alien 3 coming out after this was published, Hicks and Newt's names were changed to Wilks and Billie in later printings.

Aliens: Nightmare Asylum - ★★★★★
So much better than the first volume. Hicks and Newt (or Wilks and Billie, if you prefer) come across an insane general who thinks he can breed Xenomorphs to fight for him. Parts of this story are really messed up but fit in perfectly with the larger Aliens universe. Denis Beauvais's painted art is both gorgeous and horrific.

Aliens: Earth War - ★★★★
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.

Aliens: Theory of Propagation - ★★
Just a recap of how Xenomorphs behave. It's not much more than filler.

Aliens: The Alien - ★★★
The Alien is a proper conclusion to Earth War where the President of Earth negotiates with the Engineer for the Earth.

[Sud666 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aliens Omnibus was good. It collects the first three Dark Horse series based on the Aliens movies.

Volume One of the Omnibus collects "Outbreak", "Nightmare Asylum" and Female War. Essentially taking place after the 2nd movie (Aliens). It tells the tale of how the aliens spread throughout the galaxy and even infect Earth. A series of people from the movie from newt, Ripley and Wilks make appearances as they try to convince random idiot humans to not try to clone/create/experiment with the xenomorphs.

An interesting addition to the Aliens universe. While none of the stories are all that great by themselves, as a collection it's better as you see all the pieces fall into place. The artwork is so-so. So overall? Aliens fans will appreciate this volume. Everyone else? I really can't say.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a big fan of the original Alien, Aliens, Alien3 & Alien ressurection I was pleasantly surprised when I found two Aliens omnibus books with the comics inside that went further were the movies left me with a taste for more adventures.
The first two stories are about Newt & Hicks on earth, and of course after the release of Alien3 that storyline was out of the question. But instead as taking it as an alternative timeline the publishers decided to rename the characters and fit them into the Alien-verse. Too bad they were kinda sloppy when referring to some space marines out of James Cameron Aliens movie. Anybody who saw the movies knew anyhow that they were still Newt and Hicks, and those are probably among the readers of these comics as well, so I think they should not have bothered with changing. People would not have minded anyhow with a decent foreword.
The first stories are once again about the stupidity and shortsightness of mankind through industry and military. So what else is new in these stories and movies. This time the Aliens visit Earth and anybody can guess what the end result will be.
In that sense Alien3 the movie came up with a better idea, even Alien4 the movie has a better basis story-idea.

Anyhow Alien mayhem galore and with story 3 Ripley returns, scifi coolest and worst treated heroine ever.

And it explains why she was not aboard when the spaceship retuned to Earth. And the mission Ripley went on was again the idiocy of man in thinking that they could master the Alien. Which leads to the story that happens after her return from that mission and a new one concerning an Alien and a way to end it all. Which leads to the ultimate solution of why it all happened and Earth did fall and shows us the Ultimate Puppetmaster.

The whole omnibus is essential a different timeline based upon the story of Aliens and was visualised before Alien3.
The whole omnibus should have been treated by Darkhorse as a alternative timeline instead of making it matter with changing names, which is in essence stupid towards the fans that would read this, as they recognise it all for what it is. Namely a great set of Alien stories that all together make for great reading.

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really solid writing and art direction across the board here.

[Stephen Theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories follow on from the second film, Aliens. The first two stories, Outbreak and Nightmare Asylum, tell the ongoing adventures of Newt and Hicks, while Ripley turns up for the third main story, Female War. Unfortunately, once Alien3 was released further adventures for Newt and Hicks were obviously out of the question. So Dark Horse decided to "fix" the problem by rereleasing the books and changing the names of the protagonists to Billie and Wilks, who just happened to have had all the same adventures as Newt and Hicks - this volume collects those edited versions. It's a very clumsy solution, and it creates a feeling of unreality throughout the book, because it's always at the back of your mind that the characters are not really who they say they are - not least when they meet up with Ripley and she talks about their special bond! I realise that Dark Horse have to go with the wishes of the licensors, but as a reader I can't help thinking it wasn't really worth all that trouble just to keep Alien3 in continuity.

The stories themselves are good, giving us what we always expected from the Aliens sequels and only just about got at the end of the fourth - the aliens arriving on Earth. The results are as devastating as might be expected.

One strange thing about the aliens in the comics is that they are demonstrated to commmunicate telepathically, even across interstellar distances. I don't think that's something you can see in the movies, but it does give the writers the opportunity to develop plotlines more complex than "man finds bug, bug stomps man".

Lastly, one caption in the book may be of interest to some critics of AVP2: "We didn't see the underlying pattern behind their evolutionary process - the way every facet of their existence was geared toward propagation. The queens matured at whatever rate their survival dictated." That's why the aliens in AVP2 don't hang about inside their hosts - there isn't time!

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Aliens Omnibus #1 contains:

-Outbreak
-Nightmare Asylum
-Female War

The storyline in these Dark Horse comics is different from the one established in the Ridley Scott movies. It ignores the movies Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. The action mostly takes place on Earth and on the aliens’ home planet, with some flashbacks to another alien/human bloodbath on a planet called Rim. There is sort of alt-plot pseudo-mother/daughter plotline involving a woman called Billie and another little girl called Amy instead of Scott’s original plotline which involved the characters of Newt and Ridley. Newt is briefly introduced and then fades after Ridley and Newt are rescued alive from their pod in the beginning of ‘Female War’. It all is a tad confusing if, gentle reader, you have seen at least the original four Scott movies.

Also, in this comic book Ridley is a sexy curvaceous (D-cup minimum) black-ops babe prepared to do battle in her see-through underwear or with military garb hanging off strategically from various girl parts. If I remember correctly, Sigourney Weaver, the actress who played Ripley, is more of a slender greyhound than like someone with lots of built-in handholds.

In book one, ‘Outbreak’, a Coast Guard patrol ship circling Earth finds an abandoned derelict. Usually, the crew is supposed to secure the abandoned ship and then blast it away from Earth. Instead they find an alien on board.

Mayhem and spraying blood ensues.

The Earth government decides to send a military squad to the aliens’ home planet to get an alien for study and for a weapons program. Bionational, a private weapons company, hires an ex-military psychopath to follow the government ship and kill the government crew. Bionational is trying to get an exclusive patent on the alien for its own life form technology program. The military squad on the government ship are completely clueless about aliens and about the evil Bionational ship following them.

If that wasn’t enough, an Earth cable television preacher has an alien statue he worships. He hears ‘her’, the queen, whispering to him. Apparently the Queen is telepathic, or something. But this preacher is definitely on the wrong side whether he hears the Queen or not.

Book one and two introduce characters and the several battle lines which open up between alien and human forces. As usual, the military leaders and the government seriously underestimate the aliens.

Ripley eventually shows up in book three, ‘Female War’. She is enlisted to fight aliens and to help what is left of Earth.

There are a bunch of new characters introduced in each collection, but most are brutally killed by the aliens. My advice is do not get attached.

The artwork is good, but the story is a little too complex with plot threads and it is entirely boilerplate. For some reason, I could not stop looking at the drawings of the aliens’ heads, either. I keep thinking, “What do those alien skulls remind me of? It will come to me....”

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has been sitting on my bookshelf for awhile. I was a little afraid to revisit Dark Horse Comics' original Aliens series. When I was growing up, I was a complete freak for the movie Aliens. The way some kids are with Star Wars? That's the way I was with Aliens, ever since my parents let me stay up late and watch an "edited for television" version of the movie on CBS when I was a kid. Something about the tone of the movies, the gory/scary factor, the relationships... I was completely sold on the universe. If I remember correctly, I had a solid two years of enjoying Aliens and the DH comics before Alien 3 came out and completely mucked with these books.

See, the original Dark Horse series starred Hicks and Newt, two of the supporting characters from Aliens... and it was, in my memory, pretty fantastic. Mark Verheiden expanded on the second Alien movie in a realistic, interesting way, using what we already knew about the mythos and sprinkling in new ideas that treated the property with a lot of respect. In all honesty, I could never actually find these books in my local comic book store- I would longbox dive for 'em when my father would take me to comic stores in New York City. I've never read the series all the way though before I picked up this collection and I was worried that it wouldn't hold up to the comic stories I have in my memory.

This is tough to review because the stories are still good. This volume has three terrific stories that are WAY better than any Alien movie made after Jim Cameron. However... these are not the same stories I remember. I guess in an attempt to bring these old stories into continuity with the current franchise, the names of all the main characters have been changed. Hicks is now Wilks. Newt is now Billie.

It sucks that 20th Century Fox couldn't just leave these stories as is, even if they contradict Alien 3... but what REALLY sucks is what a horrible job this collection does MAKING those corrections.

On Page 10, you have Wilks/Hicks referencing his friends Drake, Frost, and Vasquez. Drake, Frost, and Vasquez are from Aliens. If they had changed THOSE names as well as the main characters name... well then OK. It would make sense. As it stands right now, that mistake makes the collection neither fish nor foul: they expect readers to forget about exactly what happens in Aliens, but they're still referencing Aliens! There are little mistakes like this throughout, but probably the worst on is on page 295, where they've got the Wilks character talking about the spaceship Sulaco... while a projection says that the ship he served on was called Kent. It's like someone was trying to make corrections, but didn't do it all the way.

It sucks that I can't recommend this. I can recommend that, if you're a fan of Aliens, that you do a bit of back issue bin diving yourself and find the original floppy copies of this story. It's worth the search. Can't say that you should pick this up though.

[Jason Ray Carney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This omnibus contains several related but independent storylines (published in chronological order), so generalizing about it is oversimplifying. Still, I read this cover to cover and enjoyed it. Generally speaking, the 1980s horror comic art is atmospheric and macabre. This isn't a cheerful sci-fi read, but the panels that include spaceship interiors and aliens are interesting for a genre fan. Overall, diversity of writers and art style considered, this captures the dark and paranoid tone of the original *Alien* film and the sequel. It is more ambitious in its story scope. Whereas the first film focuses on a single ship, the second film a human colony, this omnibus relates global and interplanetary developments. There are some cool worldbuilding elements as well. The alien pilot found on LV-426 (what later films retconned as the "Engineer"), is explored. The xenomorphs are given some psychic powers. It's a little confusing but some older characters are brought in but are given different names. I'm glad I read this but I'm currently thinking the "official" lore/canon (after *Alien 3* and incorporating the *Prometheus* films) is more coherent. Is this still part of the official lore?

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably not the best thing to read during my lunch break considering the Aliens story line but it made my lunch enjoyable :)

As a fan of the Alien franchise, I was always thinking that the story line of Hicks and and Newt was worthy of more than what Alien 3 did and so I was thrilled to know that there was a comic regarding them but this Omnibus version has them under new names of Wilkes and Blue, which I don't wan to know why they did it when this is clearly Hicks and Newt as the story line provides names and places from the Aliens film so some panels I felt were a bit sloppy because of this alternative to the names.

A good forward at the beginning probably would have helped this but overall a good read.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strong work here, most produced before Alien 3 and then altered after its release (Newt and Hicks became Billie and Wilks) to fit in with established film continuity. As a sequel to Alien 3, this material is confusing, since Ripley is still alive and the book never explains how she knows Billie and Wilks, and there are several instances where they forgot to change the names in "Female War," so that Ripley calls Billie "Newt." Honestly it would have been less confusing if they'd just left the names in place and considered this an alternate path than the one taken by Alien 3. If I didn't already know the history of these stories, I would have been at sea. I think the novelization of this story by Steve Perry made all of this make a little more sense, if I remember it correctly.

[Emmett · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hefty tome, indeed. This brings together 3 different comic runs: Outbreak, Nightmare Asylum, & Female War. Being a fan of the Alien films, I was excited to read these, but it's a bit of a mixed bag.

Outbreak: story 3/art 1
Nightmare Asylum story 4/art 4.5
Female War: story 3/art 3

[xochi c · Rating 2 out of 5]

an alien movie where everyone gets hit with a curnty bimbofication beam

[Brian Switek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many Halloweens ago, my cousin Mike gave me the four issue run of ALIENS: Earth War. Since X-Men and Spider-Man were about as intense as my comic reading got, I was shocked. But in a good way. The gift opened my interest in both Dark Horse and stories darker than those of the mainstream heroes.

So I admit part of my rating is from nostalgia. The stories themselves are uneven both in art and narrative - from the almost confusingly-chaotic "Outbreak" to the gorgeously-illustrated and surprisingly-compelling "Nightmare Asylum". I imagine Ripley, "Wilks", and "Billie" wouldn't feel the same, but it was good to revisit with these early incarnations of the Alien again.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If all you have ever know about the Alien storyline is the movies then read this. There is so much more to discover about the killer alien species. Fantastic storyline and characters. Highly recommended

[Lynn Dubinsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

The first two books were ok and the last one was bloody awful.

[Joseph Syverson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Successfully imports the deep cynicism of the Alien franchise into comic form. The storily is complex and clever, perhaps at a certain time too complex for me. The end of the middle of the book got a little hazy, but my understand was mostly affirmed as the latter part regashed it. And the epilogue did not disappoint. Maybe the best part of the collection!

Four artists (plus one colorist and the Darkhorse coloring team) contribute and each bring something to the table: Nelson's rigorous detail and command of mechanical drawing and perspective; Beauvais's capacity for distinction, coloring, and BEAUTY; Kieth's dynamic paneling, and realistic figuration and portraiture; and the Atkins-Guinan-Menashe trifecta for what is nothing less than the paradigm of high quality, silver age comic book art. I was really impressed by the skill the artists brought to bear for what must be one of the toughest sci-fi franchises to illustrate because it combines the need for both complex mechanical AND biological invention.

I am really looking forward to checking out some of the related collections from Darkhorse, like Predator and Prometheus, and feel profoundly optimistic about the value of comic books over temporal media (movies).

[Tomáš · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ke knížce jsem se dostal pátráním. Po přečtení Velké knihy komiksů ABC #1 jsem zkoumal, jaktože bylo možné v 90.letech v českém časopise otisknout tak věrně něco z Vetřelců. Samozřejmě šlo o převzatý komiks a teď už vím, že značně zjednodušený a zkrácený. Nadruhé straně postavy měly původní jména - Hicks a Newt, takže příběh pokračoval, jak bylo zamýšleno, po druhém filmovém ztvárnění, a nabízelo úplně jinou "alternativu", než třetí filmové zastavení ve Vetřelčím světě (které změnilo postavy v reedicích na Wilkse a Billie). Knižní omnibus pak doplňuje další navazující příběhy této linie a nabízí docela hutnou depresivní scifárnu. Jako fanouška Vetřelce i Vetřelců jsem se pobavil, všechny části se mi líbily. Mám teda výtky, že příběhy jsou jednodušší a kopírují ty samé vzory, jaké byly vidět v druhém filmovém díle (vetřelčí matka, vojáci, ...), ale to k tomu podle mě patří. Takže tady budu trochu nadržovat a dávám nadprůměrné 4 hvězdy.

[Cienna · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Gore"geous artwork and very interesting story. It really delves into the selfishness of mankind in a way that hasn't necessarily been done before. The idea of Xenomorphs reaching earth is fascinating. My only complaint is that between books 2 and 3 in this edition it was kind of difficult to understand who was who and what exactly was specifically happening with each character. I think it ret-conned the 3rd movie but because characters were having their names and nicknames swapped around so much it was honestly kind of a disaster. Still giving it 4 stars because the artwork was great and the story line was still fascinating.

[TheCultureVulture · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've never dipped your toe into the Alien franchise I'd highly recommend the first two films Alien and Aliens, this three story series with Wilks and Billie as semi replacements for Hicks and Newt and the Alien Isolation video game for a hell of a good time multimedia experience.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great atmosphere, interesting reading more of the wider canon. Some characters are great, others less so, but the world created in the films carries through well to these comics.

[Keith Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

That’s it, man. Game over, man. Game over!
They mostly come at night… mostly.

[J.M. Giovine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collecting the first three stories written by Mark Verheiden, with artists Mark. A. Nelson, Den Beauvais, Sam Kieth, and Tony Akins, this omnibus might as well work as the alternative for “Alien 3”. Taking place four years after the events in “Aliens”, these stories- titled “Outbreak”, “Nightmare Asylum”, and “Female War”-, present us the new protagonists in the Alien franchise: Newt- now called Billie-, and Dwayne Hicks, referred to as “David Wilks” for reasons not that well explained. Ripley is out of the picture, although, for the first two stories we’re not given that much info on her whereabouts, however, time has passed, and now Billie is a grown teenager, and Wilks works as a sort of guardian to her. But things will become complicated once people start having nightmares related to the Xenomorphs, at random places, and regarding individuals who’d never had an encounter with those things before. It all seems to be connected to a religious cult that has gained possession of a Queen from the fallout of planet Rim- a retcon reference to LV-426-, but it appears that important and influential figures are involved with the cult. Worst of all, it appears that the Xenomorphs have developed an unknown psychic ability that allows them to infect people at a subconscious level, creating a chaotic wave of mass hysteria that’ll become the new opportunity for the psychotic General Thomas Spears to unravel his plan of controlling the creatures in order to weaponize them, as well as controlling them through conditioning. In the end, it all collides with the aliens arriving on Earth, causing a global infestation of a near-extinction event, and humanity’s final hope will fall on Billie, Wilks, and Ripley’s shoulders.
Published initially in 1988, a few years after the release of James Cameron’s masterful sequel, and ending with “Female War” in 1996, four years after the release of Alien 3, and three after the release of the original novel written by Steve Perry, this comic-book trilogy works as an alternative world from the movie-universe, if that makes any sense. It all seems to be directly connected with Perry and Verheiden’s main ideas for the franchise’s continuity, obviously thrown away with the release of David Fincher’s third entry in the film collection. It goes as simple as to compare directly these three mini-series with the 1992 film, and while I do like certain aspects of it, I can’t say I love it, especially after my devotion to both Ridley Scott, and Cameron’s films. My likeness for “Alien 3” is more nostalgic and devoted to my enjoyment of the franchise in general, but having this alternative being presented in such a proper format (comic book), I can easily say this would’ve been a worthy successor of “Aliens”. For starters, the plot culminates from the very first title on the Xenomorph invasion on Earth. That has been always my personal grip with the franchise after “Aliens”, and Verheiden seems to understand this is the rightful approach to the story years prior to the production of the third film. The premise is simple: the aliens are back, since the nuke at LV-426 in the second film didn’t work, this “political-cult” is convinced these creatures are our gods, and potential saviors. It all unravels in such creepy and intriguing way, to the point in which we see these crazy groups of people doing horrible things to third parties to protect the secret of the Xenomorph. In the end, earth is compromised, but Wilks and Billie are both heading to the supposed home-world of the aliens with the objective of eradicating their species once and for all. After their escape, alongside an android that didn’t know he was one, and who fell for Billie, they’re captured by the responsible of the alien outbreak on earth, General Spears, who’s a straight up asshole, and quite the familiar “evil military” stereotype from the 90s. Not the best villain to ever exist with these traits, and with the Alien franchise in mind, I’d say it might be the first one of its kind, however, regardless of his lack of development, he is an enjoyable kind of antagonist, mostly due to the things he ends up doing, crossing a clear “over-the-top” line. Nevertheless, the Xenomorphs are still the “bad guys” in each title, but Verheiden’s objective is to depict the notion of humans as the main responsible for the alien’s destruction, reaching annihilation towards humanity, which fair enough has always been the core idea of the franchise.
Ripley’s return to the story was exciting and a great climatic bridge between “Nightmare Asylum”, and “Female War”, the last one more of a final showdown between our favorite female lead against the Xenomorph forces. Apparently, the infestation on earth has reached global proportions, but our heroes discovered that the Xenomorphs obey the call of their queen, so all Ripley and the rest of the gang need, is to fly back to LV-426, search in the “Space Jockey” crashed spaceship for any sign of the aliens, capture, and bring a queen back to earth so they can gather the Xenomorphs in one single spot, nuking them all at once. A straight-forward, basic premise that works perfectly as the conclusion of this alternative trilogy.
The art in all three mini-series was great, as great as I could’ve expected out of a “Dark Horse” publication. “Outbreak” was drawn by Mark. A. Nelson, who also collaborated alongside Verheiden in a One-Shot issue that illustrates the history of the Xenomorphs, also written by Verheiden. His alien design is superb, and the human characters, while not resembling the actors from the movies that much, are serviceable and well-depicted. Beauvais illustrates both, the covers, and the interiors for “Nightmare Asylum”, and he might as well be the more concise regarding the art department; he is more focused on the airbrush colors, and the wider scale of his frames, it is still not a realistic style, but surely is the one that better resembles the film’s aesthetics. Meanwhile, Kieth brings the nightmarish, gloomy and darker approach with his shadows, his exaggerated proportions, and the distinctive thin-refined lines in his feminine and main characters. The Xenomorphs never looked creepier- and they looked pretty scary underneath Nelson’s pencils-, since Kieth specializes in the sinister and monstruous, and these creatures are no exception; they’re simply ideal for his art style, and it might be the most enjoyable of the titles on a visual level.
I do have some issues with the story, though. I couldn’t help but notice certain similitudes between this and the plot of “Aliens”. I do appreciate the effort to interconnect this with the very first Alien film, and the incursion of the “Space Jockey”- prior to its retcon depiction in 2012 “Prometheus”-, felt as a nice addition to the expansion of the franchise’s lore, but at times I couldn’t help but to feel Verheiden tried to turn Billie into a newer-younger version of Ripley, but without reaching a recycling level of narrative, however, it didn’t feel as a “full circle” kind of development. It was more of a throwaway nod to the previous film. Also, I don’t know why, but the conclusion in “Female War” lost certain weight, and the final fight between Ripley and the Queen felt anti-climactic. I know they could’ve pretty well copied the whole final battle from “Aliens”, but there was something lackluster about the way Ripley won, I was certain at one point she might die in a sort of sacrificial way- a thing that “Alien 3” respectfully accomplished in its finale-, but no, it simply left the door open for a continuation, which, okay, I get it, this is a comic book series, and it eventually has to move forward, but at least a closure for the main character of the first films would’ve been great, or at least, right.
Finally, this is an ideal item for all of those who’d like to find an alternative to “Alien 3” as a more solid, and interesting continuation for “Aliens”. It’s far from perfect, and some of its narrative elements feel way too exaggerated, random, and excessive, even for the franchise’s standards, nevertheless, it still fashionably on-point with the spirit of it, with tons of great Alien-action, creepy and disturbing moments, enjoyable art, and a story that, while weird, is engaging and in the same lines as it’s cinematic predecessors. A great addition to any Alien fan, and a great compilation of stories related to this property.

[Letande D'Argon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high expectations for this. If you've read my reviews of the original Aliens comic series, you know how unfortunate those were. The original comics were black and white, but when Dark Horse decided to re-release them in color, they've changed the names of Newt and Hicks to make their comic co-exist with the latest movie in the series. Which was Alien 3 at the moment. It doesn't sound like a big change and American companies did it a lot with Japanese media back in the days, but since the story of the comics included in this collection was heavily based on Newt and Hicks, the change killed the whole meaning and turned the comics (which weren't that good to begin with) into a ridiculous mess.

So, when they've announced that there'll be an omnibus, I expected them to finally make the things right. I mean, the times when movie canon thing was important were long gone. There was already some thoughts about what will become Prometheus, there was already that awful Alien vs. Predator movie... Nobody cared about proper canon anymore. It was a mess. And, obviously, the original Alien 3 problem was in past. So, it was a perfect moment for a proper re-release. In color, but with the original names.

But guess what? Dark Horse decided to play lazy. This omnibus is a compilation of those awful re-releases with changed names. Is it nice to have on your shelf? Sure, it looks awesome. But when you begin to actually read it... it's the same exact screwed up thing. So, honestly, if you want the real deal in your collection, go for the original intact issues. Those don't look as cool as this omnibus, but at least you'll get the real story, not this butchered mess.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the joys of these first three Aliens series, back in the day, is that they continued the story of the Aliens (1986) movie. To be specific, they were the story of Newt and Hicks and what happened next, and they're rather marvelous for the tragic arc that they imagined for these heroes. Unfortunately, more Aliens movies were produced. Even more unfortunately, they invalidated these stories. But just read this as if Aliens^3 and Aliens Resurrection and the rest didn't occur. Billie is Newt. Wilks is Hicks. Enjoy.

Outbreak (Aliens 1). As you'd expect, this story has some fun military action, as Hicks goes after the Aliens with a vengeance. It's a well-told military story. However what makes this story truly great is what's going on back on Earth. Verheiden balances corporate evil with xenomorphic evil, producing something deeper than the on-screen alien stories. Even better, Verheiden isn't afraid to make really big plot moves. My only complaint is that at times the multi-threaded story gets just a bit muddy. Still, this is fundamentally the start of a great storyline that was never matched by the later big-screen replacements, and that's why Dark Horse's Aliens were so popular for a time [5/5].

Nightmare Asylum (Aliens 2). This is a much smaller story than the first Aliens, but in many ways that's too its advantage. Verheiden puts Wilks (Hicks) and Billie (Newt) into a horrible environment and lets us see if they're able to survive. One of the joys of this particular story is that the idea of controlling the aliens to fight aliens is a very believable extension of the main premise of the line. We also get the story of an Earth overrun in the background and absolutely gorgeous painted art by Dennis Beauvais, making this all around an excellent volume [5/5].

Female War (Aliens: Warth War). This is an unfortunately disappointing end to the Aliens trilogy of comics from Dark Horse.

It's biggest problem is its reintroduction of Ripley. Yes, she's an important character from the Aliens movies, but her appearance forces the retreading of a lot of ground, and Verheiden unfortunately decides to complicate things even more by filling in the gaps in her history between Aliens and now. This gets even more problematic with the decision of these comics to rename Newt and Hicks in the reprints, so now suddenly we get her history with the real characters and her present-day with the renamed characters, which wouldn't make a lot of sense if you didn't know what was up.

As for the rest of the story? We get a bunch of nameless marines who have none of the character of the Aliens crew or even the marines from the first volume of this series. Then we get what should be a dramatic visit to the the Aliens home planet that has none of its grandeur, and finally an ending which is pretty much a deus ex machina that's hard to care about.

Basically, Verheiden jammed the plot to the deficit of everything else.

And the art feels really inappropriate. It's sketchy and unrealistic. [2/5]

Of the shorts that finish out the volume, "A Theory of Alien Propagation" is OK, while "The Alien" is a brilliant coda to the series.

[Jessie Velasco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, gory, and a great collection for someone like me to get back into the world of Aliens. After watching Romulus, I had a hankering for more, and this is where I landed.

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aliens Omnibus, vol.1 is, obviously the comic/graphic novel equivalent of the collected novels series put out by Titan books. Because of that, I found the 3 main comics to be readable, and somewhat enjoyable as a rainy day afternoon read (which, coincidentally, it just happened to be such an afternoon this particular day). However, Had I not read the actual novels by Steve Perry, I’m pretty sure my enjoyment would not have been as high.

You see, the comics are disjointed and don’t make a lot of sense. Scenes jump around with reckless abandon. Panel placement is bizarre at times. The illustrations are ridiculously inconsistent, and really suffer during the “Female War” story arc. Even the lettering is a mess.

The good thing about reading the comic version of these stories, though, is that it adds a lot more depth. Verheiven adds more backstory to both Billie and Wilks, and, thankfully, cuts down on a lot of the sappy, 1980s action tropes that we’re so prevalent in Perry’s stories. And, even with the varying consistency of the art, actually seeing the xenos chew into people made for some low brown fun.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been quite a while since I've read these comics last, and for as much as I do like them, they're really not that much to write home about. The most refreshing thing for me is going back to a time in Alien canon, when the Alien was just a ravaging beast trying to survive, instead of a artificially created monster. The Theory of Alien Propagation is probably my favourite Alien comic, just because it explores the idea of how an Alien homeworld would work, which is something I've thought about since first seeing these movies. I also think the Space Jockey is at his most interesting in the Earth Hive series, I just wish we actually got more of a look at them.

The art leaves a little bit to be desired, personally I can't stand when a series art direction is changed mid story. People's faces are samey, after they introduce Ripley back into the story they also introduce a new character who is drawn almost 95% similarly to her and that's a little annoying. All in all my complaints are pretty nit-picky, like, just name them Newt and Hicks, but whatever. This is a fun collection that Alien fans would love. Good luck finding these in 2023 though.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Alien movies and was really interested to see how things would be handled in this form. It is done very well and makes for a good read. The art work is nicely done and brings the people as well as the aliens to life in a vivid way. The characters were all new but based on those from the second movie except Ripley who they could not do without. Each story is a self contained book but still feeds into the next. You must read it to appreciate it and if you are an Aliens fan or simply a fan space creatures or science fiction, then it is a must read. No need to even give a little breakdown, its aliens, you know what is going to happen.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading these a long time back. Loved the continuation of the story from Aliens. Obviously the movies threw all this out so they changed names and made it a way confusing mess. And the third installment of this series had some of the most terrible artwork, I remember thinking that twenty plus years ago and it is still just terrible. I will read more because it is fun to go down memory lane.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing and occasionally tedious. It's a book, not a movie, so there are far fewer constraints on the writer imagination, however, this feels like the writers and artists are trying to color inside the lines throughout. It would have been a much better book with a bit more creativity.

The art goes downhill as the story progresses. By the end it is of disturbingly low quality.