Aliens: Dust to Dust

by Gabriel Hardman

A terrifying coming-of-age story by master storyteller Gabriel Hardman.A mother and son bound by a shared terror--separated by an implacable alien force! A spaceship that should carry them away from the fear becomes a deathtrap from which escape seems impossible!The Trono colony on LV-871 is under attack. Emergency evacuations are ordered. Twelve-year-old Maxon and his mom face the most terrifying creatures in the galaxy . . . Aliens!

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

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 14, 2019

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even without mentioning it in his introduction it’s pretty clear Gabriel Hardman is a massive fan of James Cameron’s Aliens as Dust to Dust is basically a crappy retelling of it!

It’s like Hardman’s going down a checklist of things to include: colonists, facehuggers, chest bursters, xenomorphs, Weyland-Yutani, synthetics. It’s the same story as Aliens too - xenomorphs have overrun a colony, colonists gotta escape. There’s even a kid character like Newt (with an even stupider name - “Maxon”!) but the female character isn’t nearly as compelling or cool as Ripley.

Gabriel Hardman’s not the best writer but he usually produces half-decent comics - this book though is a total waste of time, particularly for anyone familiar with the Aliens movie. Boring, predictable, rote, unexciting - Aliens: Dust to Dust is a completely uninspired and dull flatline read.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid, brutal, action-packed, very cinematic (before writing/drawing comic-books author/artist/director Gabriel Hardman was the storyboard artist of lots of blockbusters like Logan (2017), Interstellar (2014), The Dark Knight Rises (2012 Imception (2010) and much more) and sometimes too painful to read if you are a parent like me, coming of age Aliens tale introducing for the first time a xenomorph inheriting much more than just physical characteristics of its host...



Just best Dark Horse Aliens Universe comic ever for me, after still peerless Mark Verheiden's first run.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

You're not going to find much here that you haven't already seen in other Aliens comics. In fact, the plot could have been set on the world of the James Cameron's Aliens movie for all the similarities with the world. It's set on a terraforming colony that has been overrun by Aliens. What Hardman gets right is to tell the story fro the point of a 12 year old boy who has just woken up and doesn't know what's going on. He tells a tense, scary, action-packed tale of a boy on the run with a group of survivors to get off this planet. Hardman's gritty, dark art works perfectly in the world of Aliens.

Received a review copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is there any evil Weyland Yutani won't stoop to? This one reminded me a lot of the James Cameron Aliens film as it's set on a planet with a hostile environment which colonists are attempting to terraform. Of course, when Weyland Yutani is involved nothing is ever what it seems. It felt a little like we'd been here before, but the gritty art and visceral writing did take this to level we don't see in Aliens comics much anymore. It's a coming of age story for a boy whose mother doesn't survive the ordeal, and it's not exactly a heart warming tale. Good sci fi horror, sort of a nod to the early days of the Aliens series.

[Sohan Surag · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pleasant surprise and something that really felt like a fresh take in the Alien mythos. There was one plot point which was a little hard to digest but hey, when the rest of the story is this good, it is indeed forgivable. Gabriel Hardman's gritty style is usually not my cup of tea but there were some truly awe-inspiring panels that made me go 'whoa'.

Read this if you're an Aliens fan and especially if you're craving for a good Alien story.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

Have you ever fell in love with a story to the point where you could go day in day out looking for similar stories written by other creators but set in the same world? There are countless works of fiction that are seen as an homage to the original piece and essentially recreate, reimagine or expand the universe that took the world by storm the first time they graced our lives. Many see this as one of the greatest forms of respect similar to forgers in the world of artists as it shows that a person’s work is considered so good that everyone else can only look to reproduce it if they want to even reach that same quality or level of creativity. The Alien and Predator franchises saw a similar phenomenon over the years with the movies having blown out of the water the sci-fi horror genre. With over 40 years having passed since the first movie’s release, considered a cult-classic by most, if not all geeks around the world, it is only logical to see so many new stories being told with countless references to the movies.

What is Aliens: Dust to Dust about? This four-issue limited graphic novel follows the adventures of twelve-year-old Maxon and his mother as they attempt to escape an Alien infestation, clinging on to themselves in hopes of finding refuge somewhere far from the hot zone. As the story progresses, it quickly explores the intense and uncontrollable environment that affects the psychology of each individual but also the interaction between them within a group of survivors. Before they know it, the spaceship on which they find themselves becomes a death trap and only the wise can survive. Fusing together the suspense, intrigue, and action often attributed to the franchise, this latest graphic novel looks to offer fans the opportunity to watch the Xenomorph chaos unfold through the eyes of a child.

There is plenty to appreciate in Aliens: Dust to Dust but it all depends on how you want to see things. This self-contained story, written and drawn by Gabriel Hardman, heavily draws its inspiration on both Alien by director Ridley Scott and Aliens by director James Cameron. While it is accessible to any reader, it brings forth an episode focused around a child’s perspective, yet surrounded by an adult cast. Where it is much more difficult to unanimously love this short graphic novel is in the fact that a lot of the plot-related gimmicks are rehashed elements of the movies. Although they are molded within a different narrative, they struggle to be as captivating as they were in the movies because of a good old déjà-vu effect taking over the reader. Does that mean that they don’t hold up to scrutiny? Not at all. The story weaved together here still manages to deliver the franchise’s signature horror story without ever losing its grip on the reader.

There is often a tinge of skepticism when an artist is also the writer of the story they want to tell. The number of individuals who can juggle both jobs at the same time is so small that you just can’t afford to have high expectations with those stories. Fortunately, Gabriel Hardman’s talents allow him to efficiently construct his story by focusing on his strengths. In fact, the story is very light on dialogues and allows the artwork to take a life of its own to convey the themes of loss, despair, and hope. This director proved to be an excellent artistic decision for a story that dwells in the realm of horror. With the excellent colour scheme and the organized panel structure, it’s a lot easier to let the visuals do its work and set the dark, grim and ugly atmosphere that is so often associated to the Alien franchise.

Aliens: Dust to Dust is a sharp, somber and action-packed story that pays homage to the cult-classic movies that allowed the franchise to grow into the horrifying creature it is known as today.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
____________________________

While the story and the artwork are decent, it heavily relies on plot elements from the Alien and Aliens movies to deliver this child's perspective of the Xenomorph infestation.

P.S. Full review to come.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather generic entry in the ongoing series of Alien-related comics and graphic novels. This one is all about another terraforming colony overrun by aliens seen through the eyes of a young boy who is among the survivors. The artwork is all right, but it isn't any great shakes.

[Octavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una pena. Pensaba que con este dibujante tan bueno harían algo potente. Y no. No hay una historia interesante ni unos personajes que cautiven, sólo acción. Y el dibujo va a ratos, a veces es muy bueno y a veces da la sensación de que quiere hacerlo rápido y/o sin ganas. En fin…

[Johan Thilander]

För det mesta en habil, om än inte särdeles originell, Alien-berättelse i väldigt snygg dräkt - MEN - så kommer där en twist som förstör mycket av boken för mig.

[Anja von "books and phobia" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als großer Fan des „Alien“-Franchise war ich auf diesen Comic mehr als gespannt. Immerhin ging es hier um eine Geschichte, welche im Szenario des 2. Filmes spielte. Da dieser deutlich Action-geladener war, ging ich auch mit diesen Gedanken in das Abenteuer. Eine gute Entscheidung.

Denn der Comic hatte ein enormes Tempo. Und genau dies machte ihn für mich auch etwas schwer zu verdauen. Klar sind Xenomorphe eiskalte Killer, aber ihre Fähigkeit, sich fast schon lautlos an uns heranzuschleichen blieb hier fast gänzlich auf der Strecke. Getötet wurde dafür reichlich. Trotzdem hätte ich mir ein paar ruhigere Abschnitte gewünscht, in denen man mal Luft holen konnte. Doch die gab es nicht. Ich durchlebte somit die gleiche Hast wie die Protagonisten, was sich zwar realistisch anfühlte, aber dadurch eben auch die Details vernachlässigte.

Als schlecht würde ich Story trotzdem nicht abtun, denn dafür hatte man einfach zu viele interessante Aspekte des Filmes mit hineingepackt. Der 12-jährige Maxon erinnerte mich z.B. ein wenig an Newt und die Einbindung von Androiden, gehört bei Alien schon fast dazu. Zumindest geschichtlich packte mich die Story also, auch wenn es nur wenig Neues zu entdecken gab.

Weniger gut gefiel mir dafür die Optik des Bandes. Durch die hastige Abfolge der Handlung, konnten die Bildern meist nicht die gesamte Story offenbaren. Besonders schlimm fand ich dies in Situationen, wo entweder gerade etwas sehr schnell geschah oder man in die Ferne blickte. Da der Comic sehr düster war und somit viel schwarz enthielt, sahen diese Szenen dann einfach nur sehr krakelig oder verschwommen aus. Hier hätte ich mir einfach mehr Liebe zum Detail gewünscht.

Dieser Comic bot eine wirklich interessante Story, die auch zu Aliens passte. Allerdings war er aus meiner Sicht viel zu hastig, mit zu vielen schwarzen Schatten versehen und an vielen Punkten optisch einfach unglaublich krakelig. Dies war für mich ein enormer Dämpfer, der mir wirklich den Spaß an der Handlung nahm. Schade eigentlich.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was trying to decide if I wanted to give this a 3 or a 4.

It's a pretty adrenaline rush story of a boy trying to escape the wrath of the Xenomorphs with a group of people after witnessing his mother die because one busted out of her chest. It's fast paced, sketchy art actually adds to the overall isolated feel and rough nature of these monsters. I really enjoyed the main character, a little boy, actually reacting like a kid. Scared, angry, frustrated, but not backing down. Some excellent looking shots of xenomorphs and a shot of the queen I absolutely loved.

Overall, it's a fasted paced story but fits the mold of Alien stories well and one of the better ones I read. It's more like a 3.5 but I'll bump it to a 4.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stream of Consciousness review:

This comic seems like it was meant to be a clean start for both alien fans and newcomers to the series and it doesn't end up working for either group.

The amount of times that the kid is saved from Aliens where in other movies and comics people would have died hard is ridiculous.

It seems like it's mostly just this kid dealing with his mom being dead now, and blegh.

Xenomorphs now live by T-Rex 'don't move, they can't see you', rules

Characters appear out of nowhere so that they can distract the Xenomorphs to not kill the dumb kid

Also the alien that came out of the kids Mom apparently isn't going to attack him because the alien has mom's DNA and that will make the kids safe?

I like that the kid had to cut off the token Androids head to get to the safety shuttle to leave.

As a general concept, the idea was fine. However if they wanted to use this idea for a story, they probably should have made it more than one volume so that the kid could grow up and deal with his trauma by the end of the story, and then maybe go on to be a badass alien hunter. The way it is now, he was just a dumb lucky kid really didn't deserve to make it out over all of the other characters in the novel aside from the fact that that's how it was written and had to be done. I'm glad I finished it in one sitting. If there were a second volume to follow this I wouldn't read it. There were no stakes because you know that the gay girl who saved the small kid is going to make it out safe. The Android is going to make it out too obviously, because it's an Alien property. I don't know, generally there are better Aliens comics, novels and movies that you can watch instead of this. Also at the end the kid runs into a Queen alien and then is saved by his basically half-sibling I suppose. That was duuuuumb.

[RG · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fanboy take on James Camerons film. Pretty average to say the least.

[nooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly brutal. hard to read as a parent, but well done.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The average Aliens story...get infected, flee, and blow shit up...

[Alasondro Alegré · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★½

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a pleasant surprise. I've come to expect the same tired nonsense from most ALIENS books (not the least of which is the bizarre dedication to the sexual natural of the monsters, which, while true to the original intent, tends to go off the rails as creators attempt to shoehorn it in), this was a really good people. It moves at a great clip, it's full of horror and action and it, somehow, works in a way that few of the books do anymore. Not sure I remember Hardman from anything else, but some great writing means I'm for sure going to look for more of his work.

[Stephan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, not bad at all. I do like the gritty art and the characters are both interesting and fit well into the story. There’s quite a lot of the horror element, and there’s a very awesome twist near the end I sure wasn’t prepared for.

[Joshua Pruett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was not prepared for the ride between these two covers. Visceral and thrilling, like all the best parts of an Aliens movie you’ve never seen, condensed into a breathless comic. More like this please.

[Frank Lang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein Kennzeichen der Alien-Filme ist die unheimliche und dunkle Atmosphäre. Diese Atmosphäre wollte Gabriel Hardman in seiner Graphic Novel Umsetzung einfangen und war sich voll und ganz der Beschränkungen des Mediums bewusst mit der Folge, dass ein Werk ganz im Sinne der Filmvorlagen entstanden ist.

Wie im Film

Wenn man es genau nimmt, so erinnert das Buch sogar so stark an den Film, dass dem Filmkenner nicht sonderlich viel Neues geboten wird. Die Macher haben sich stark an den ersten beiden Alien-Teilen orientiert, so dass bei vielen Leser vermutlich nostalgische Erinnerungen wach werden und bei vielen der Gedanke entsteht, dass es vielleicht mal wieder Zeit für einen Filmabend ist.

So gut die Graphic Novel die Atmosphäre der Filme eingefangen hat, so sehr ist dies gleichzeitig der größte Kritikpunkt, denn wie schon erwähnt, wird dem Leser nicht viel Neues geboten. Bei der erzählten Story wäre sicherlich sehr viel mehr drinnen gewesen.

Optisch kann sich die Graphic Novel sicherlich sehen lassen, denn das Unkenntliche der Filme, mit dem der Horror erzeugt wird, wurde auch hier sehr gut angewandt. Es gibt eine Mischung aus realistischen Zeichnungen mit vielen verschwommenen Darstellungen. Ich denke, dass es klar ist, dass die Darstellungen oftmals sehr deutliche Gewaltdarstellungen zeigen. Aliens eben.

Fazit

Die Graphic Novel Umsetzung ist optisch sehr gut gelungen. Die Atmosphäre der Filme wurde vortrefflich eingefangen. Hier schlägt das Herz eines jeden Alien-Film-Liebhabers höher. Einzig bei der Story hätte sich der Autor gerne etwas von den Vorlagen entfernen dürfen.

[stefanb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horror trifft auf Action
Das personifizierte Grauen ist zurück. Diesmal als Comic von Gabriel Hardman. „Aliens: Staub zu Staub“ entführt die Leser*innen zu der Trono-Kolonie von LV-871 und nimmt diese auf eine temporeiche Flucht vor den Aliens mit. Im Vordergrund steht der zwölfjährige Maxon. Aus dessen Perspektive wird die Geschichte geschildert.
Düster und durchaus blutig geht es in diesem Werk zu Gange. Die Farben passen perfekt zu der stetigen Bedrohung. Lediglich Explosionen erhellen die Szenerie etwas. Gestalterisch weiß der Comic zu begeistern. Die Atmosphäre wird auf eine beeindruckende Weise zu den Lesern*innen transportiert. Die Charaktere sind sehr gelungen. Ihre Mimiken sind facettenreich dargestellt und zeigen die jeweiligen Emotionen, von Hoffnungslosigkeit bis entschlossen und kampfbereit, richtig gut.
Besonders gefällt mir die Wandlung des Protagonisten Maxon. Zu Beginn spürt man förmlich seine Hilflosigkeit, seine Unfähigkeit zu aktivem Handeln. Mit der Zeit wandelt er sich, wird mutiger und willensstärker. Das spiegelt sich auch zeichnerisch in seiner Figur wieder.
Auch ohne visuelle Effekte und effektbringende Musik konnte mich „Aliens: Staub zu Staub“ sehr gut unterhalten.

[Mykhailo Gasyuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Набір сюжетних тропів всесвіту Чужих, перемішаних, спрощених, але гарно скомпонованих.

Хлопчик з мамою тікають від чужих у колонії тераформерів. Рятуються на шатлі, який звичайно ж падає. До падіння мама “народжує” чужого прямо на очах свого первістка. Вони за сюжетом ще кілька разів стрінуться.

Хлопчик з групою інших колонізаторів тікає до найближчого кліматичного реактора, по дорозі розкидаючи трупи. Коли трупів стає забагато, а колонізаторів замало, всі звертають увагу на те, що монстряка, який їх переслідує, не дуже хоче ласувати хлопчиком. Типу відчуває рідну душу, бо сам з мамки того хлопчика прогриз собі шлях. Вбити хлопчика не встигають, бо якраз навалило чужих.

Нарешті стає зрозуміло, хто таємний синтетик-андроїд. Хлопчик рятується у рятівній капсулі разом з залишками андроїда та якоюсь тянкою. Завіса.

Історія нічого нового в лор не несе, влаштовує демонстрацію навал чужих та їх королеви в умовах, коли ніхто по них стрілять не може, повторює сюжет другої частини франшизи, але без бабахів і фінальних протистоянь.

Крепка, заслужена трі… А хай буде штири! Бо більше цікаво, аніж ні.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good Aliens story, as far as these things go. It found a way to balance the different tropes of these stories but employ them in a manner that resulted in a narrative that was still fairly fresh and interesting.

Our POV character is a boy who does his best to keep up with his mother as they try to find a way off of a planet in the middle of a full-blown xenomorph infestation. And of course, things had to start with the boy seeing his mother with a facehugger on her. He doesn't know what this means but we as readers do and it gives the story a bit of a timer before events progress to where it needs to go.

The resulting journey has some pretty good narrative beats and raises some interesting questions about the connection between the xenomorph and the host organism that is used to gestate it. We've seen this more obviously done in the Alien 3 movie, but the way this comic approached that idea was pretty clever in its own right.

Good story. Pretty good art as well. Totally worth the read.

[Pedro Plasencia Martínez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un cómic que tiene muchas semejanzas con la historia de supervivencia de Newt. Se desata el caos en una colonia espacial compuesta de civiles y como lectores acompañamos a un niño aterrorizado que trata de escapar del planeta. Hay pocas sorpresas, pero las escenas mantienen bastante la atención, porque los supervivientes van de disgusto en disgusto, ya que no paran de encontrarse con dificultades y siempren tienen a los aliens siguiéndoles muy de cerca. Curioso el vínculo entre madre e hijo que se desarrolla aquí.

ENGLISH
A comic that has many similarities to Newt's survival story. Chaos breaks out in a space colony made up of civilians and as readers we accompany a terrified child who tries to escape the planet. There are few surprises, but the scenes maintain a lot of our attention, because the survivors go from disappointment to disappointment, since they never stop encountering difficulties and always have the aliens following them very closely. The bond between mother and child that develops here is very curious too.

[Orsoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fast, but immensely satisfying read. Hardman is a peerless illustrator, and once again proves himself equally adept as plotter / scripter. He deftly weaves together all the classical elements of an Aliens tale to create something timeless and gripping. The innocent colonialists, the unscrupulous "company", the body horror, the synthezoid, it's all here - but with an entirely original story element and some of the most effective visual storytelling around to make it memorable.

Aliens: Dust to Dust may actually qualify as the very best Aliens story in print, and the very best bit of Xenomorph media bar the first two movies (and some of the video games, if the reviews of Aliens: Isolation are to be believed). Outstanding work!

[Jocelyn Beane · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fairly rote, if you've read a lot of Aliens books, nothing new happens here. The art is interesting, though. A good style for this sort of story.

Just nothing all that interesting happens. There's not that much to the characters. It's not going to hold up to classics like Aliens: Labyrinth. But the characters are pretty realistically panicking and things like that, so if you just want to read a short graphic novel with people trying to escape a sudden massive alien outbreak, this will do. There's not much in the way of twists. There's one pretty good one but it didn't hit me so hard. Yeah, it was ok.

[Neurocomp · Rating 4 out of 5]

not my type of graphics, but the story i thought was good. I can see the comments on rehashing
the same storyline over (even some guy following off a collapsing structure/nature & the alien nest)...but can't see much else u can do with the world in <200pg unless its a video game (or expanding teh AVP-engineer universe). Even Alien Isolation went back to the original movies style.

I do like
1) the unique twist of having the main character as a child, watching his mom chestburst.
But was a chestbursters affinity towards family members in teh universe??

2) Another unique aspect was teh storaging, maybe one can explore the science of that.

can't wait to read Resistance

[Centauri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Artwork was great. There were moments that the child saw things but didn't say anything, and it created worse conditions for the entire group. Also, it was odd that the alien spawned from the mother protected the child, as well as attacked them. Like, when the child was in danger the alien defended them, but tried to kill them when they were safe. Actually, that was a cool aspect (some of the instinctual habits of the host lingered in the alien).
It was a fun story with some "twists" that didn't really carry, help, or hinder the tale, which made it less fun.

[Jacob Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cool fun alien story that has some great artwork, a dark atmosphere, follows a child protagonist which is unique, and lots of aliens. While it doesn’t do particular anything new, it does still remain a fun alien story to scratch the Alien itch.

Only reason it’s a 3, is because this app doesn’t allow half stars. I would give it a 3.5/5. I would read this again, and think it’s a fun story.

How I read: aliens the original years vol 4 omnibus
Best way to read as of 10/5/24: aliens original years omnibus Vol 4

[Clifford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dust to Dust manages to combine Alien and Aliens in a good story with a twelve-year-old as the protagonist. A colony comes under attack by the titular aliens, and it's not entirely sure where they've come from. The bigger question is: who will survive? And at what cost?
Some of the twists might seem a little outlandish, and it was hard to figure out what was going on in a few panels, but overall Dust to Dust is a good addition to the Alien universe.