Alien: The Original Screenplay #1 #1

by Cristiano Seixas

An all new Alien with an all new Alien! En route to back to Earth, the crew of the starship Snark intercepts an alien transmission. Their investigation leads them to a desolate planetoid, a crashed alien spacecraft, and a pyramidic structure of unknown origin. Then the terror begins . . . • Adapted from the original 1976 screenplay by Dan O'Bannon (author of Moebius's The Long Tomorrow, cowriter of Total Recall, writer/director of The Return of the Living Dead).

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

24 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 5, 2020

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Alien, and it's been disappointing to see Dark Horse basically run the franchise into the ground (those last couple of Brian Wood series were astonishingly bad).. so I'm cautiously optimistic about this comic based on Dan O'Bannon's original screenplay, to basically see a reimagining of what Alien could have been



The artwork is very nice, and it's fun to see where this version now and then suddenly coalesces with the film we know.



I'm happy to report everyone's favourite little shithead is here, too.



A very cautious 4 stars..

[Matthew Clanahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this and can’t wait for more!

[Christopher Durham · Rating 5 out of 5]

The original script of Alien

I have read Dan's script numerous times and now to see it in comic form, definitely looking forward to it.
Dan once said " If I can't make you laugh (Dark Star), I'll just scare the hell out of you (Alien-Ridley Scott). That he did.
Enjoy.

[Zac · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a review of the entire series:

I haven’t read the screenplay so not sure what creative liberties were taken throughout this comic to make it match more closely with the Alien film that eventuated. For example - you definitely feel Giger’s absence throughout this. The eventual facehugger Giger designed is incredible but this one is not. Also, here the xenomorph eats using teeth rather than the complex jaw mechanism it has in the film. But otherwise, the xenomorph is the same general shape of Giger’s version, which makes me a bit suspicious of whether this is what Dan O’Bannon originally had in mind. It is even missing eyes, which I would have assumed was a Giger idea. Admittedly, the comic would have been less interesting to read if the alien looked like a beach ball or something.

The comic follows the same general plot as the movie, even down to the presence of a cat (Jonesy in the movies, but here unnamed). A notable omission is Ian Holm’s android character and the whole sideplot involving The Company. The one interesting diversion is that the eggs are found, not onboard the alien ship, but within a pyramid elsewhere on the planet - an idea that eventually appeared in the Prometheus film.

The art here is good but not very noteworthy. I liked the backgrounds and space scenes. The foreground characters looked a bit too digital for me - maybe it was the colouring.

So, in the end this was mildly interesting as a mega fan, but pretty unnecessary. The best element of the comic was the overall structure of the story, which didn’t really deviate from the film, so the comic could be enjoyed on one level as a fairly straightforward movie adaptation. The comic suffers from the absence of Giger’s designs, and from the missing android. The only interesting addition is some minor development of the Space Jockey’s alien race. Dark Horse's Alien 3 screenplay adaptation was pretty messy but it least it offered something quite different than the final film.

[Victor Vasquez]

Busted out my comic backlog and I’ve been hanging onto this one for… 5 years?? God that doesn’t seem right. But I bought it when it fresh on the shelf so it has to be right. I usually pick up single issues and see if I want to continue the story.

This was intriguing and the art was fantastic. However I feel like it is much more generic than the Alien story we got from Ridley Scott. I like the design of the space jockey though. Ultimately I am not too beat up that it’s been 5 years and the rest of the issues will be hard to find outside of ordering online. But if I ever spot them somewhere I’ll definitely pick them up.

[Quinton Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new beginning

There is an original screenplay for Alien, and this is the comic rendition. I wasn't quite sure what to think of this when I heard about it, but I generally peruse Alien universe material.

The story starts out much like the movie, but with all new characters - we don't learn much about these characters in this first volume. I do like some of the updated technology, and the artwork is quite good.

I was hoping for more characterization, but I am intrigued so far.

[Andrew Dittmar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading history:
Normally I keep this in my private notes section, but I'm moving it. Yay!

Reading history was not added on Goodreads, but was instead kept on a post-it note with the book.


Started August 31st, 2025.
Finished August 31st, 2025.


August 31st, 2025: read issue #1 in the physical compilation of all 5 issues.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting first issue will see what will happen in the next issues.

[nooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to see what they were originally thinking.

[Alri Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una gran lectura para visitar el mundo de este clásico cinematografico pero desde una perspectiva completamente diferente.

[Xavier Marturet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Same movie but different designs, different characters and little changes.
Great artwork.
Well done again, Dark Horse.

[Kenneth Mercado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, moody atmosphere

Sets the stage for a fresh take on a familiar story. Beautiful art; conveys mood. Good, even pacing. Can hardly wait to read the next one.