Aliens: Aftermath #1

by Benjamin Percy, Phil Noto (Cover Art), Dave Wachter (Artist)

FOR ALIENS’ 35TH ANNIVERSARY, A RETURN TO HADLEY’S HOPE! It’s been 35 years since the tragedy of the Hadley’s Hope colony, but what happened to that ill-fated venture has been shrouded in mystery. A renegade crew of investigative journalists are heading towards the moon that Weyland-Yutani has wiped from all records, and they’ll bring back the truth even if it kills them…and what remains in that bombed out site will try to do just that. Benjamin Percy and Dave Wachter imagine a terrifying possible future for LV-426 in this celebration of the 35th Anniversary of one of the most influential science fiction films of all time!

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Horror, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Aliens, Comic Book

33 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2021

About the author

Benjamin Percy is the author of seven novels -- most recently The Sky Vault (William Morrow) -- three short fiction collections, and a book of essays, Thrill Me, that is widely taught in creative writing classrooms. He writes Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider for Marvel Comics. His fiction and nonfiction have been published in Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Tin House, and the Paris Review. His honors include an NEA fellowship, the Whiting Writer's Award, the Plimpton Prize, two Pushcart Prizes, the iHeart Radio Award for Best Scripted Podcast, and inclusion in Best American Short Stories and Best American Comics.

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull stuff. A new variation of the xenomorph that doesn't make much sense, and doesn't add anything.

[Valentin Derevlean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nu e chiar genul meu. Un alien aproape invizibil, o întoarcere pe o planetă celebră din filme, dar fără vreun rezultat clar. Un număr pe care îl uiți ușor. Nu cred că e neapărat vina lui Percy, cât faptul că nu a avut suficient spațiu pentru a se desfășura. Nu știu însă ce e cu obsesia asta de a crea xenomorfi noi la tot pasul.

[Ian Sharman · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Aliens: Aftermath, writer Benjamin Percy and artist Dave Watcher offer up a sequel to Aliens in which a renegade terrorist group track down the site of Haldey’s Hope where their leaders aunt, Private Vasquez, was sent on a mission by the Weyland-Yutani corporation and never returned.

Vasquez’s nephew is supposedly hunting for answer to what happened to his aunt, but in truth his working for a rival corporation, tasked to bring back the cryogenically frozen body of the first colonist to be implanted with an alien embryo by a facehugger and then frozen on company orders. Because, as I have said before, the real monsters in this franchise are the people. After all, you don’t see the aliens screwing each other over for a percentage…

Of course, things go horribly wrong, because of course they do.

This one-shot starts really well, but the ending feels really rushed. It’s over before you know it and has the feel of a mini series that’s been cut down heavily so that it could be released as a one shot. There’s not enough time to get to know the characters, and the slow build that’s a necessary part of any Alien story results in there being no real time for action and not nearly enough of the actual alien. The Cryo-Alien is a really good concept, but Percy doesn’t have the time or space to do anything interesting with it.

This certainly isn’t a bad comic by any stretch of the imagination, and is definitely recommended for fans of Aliens, but it could have been so much more.

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[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not nearly as fun as the main series this was a pretty cool story. Basically it continues after Aliens the film and has a character related to someone from there. That part and the art are great. But it wraps up so far and it feels so quickly done can't connect to too many character. A 4 issue mini would have made a better story.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice fill-in story that bridges the movies and the comic revival. It strains for an unnecessary personal connection but that's it's only flaw.

[Rakib Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one shot celebrates and explores upon the 35th anniversary of the beloved second movie of the franchise, 'Aliens'. And we get to travel once again to the ruins of 'Hadley's Hope' with a new cast of doomed characters.

The story is set 35 years in fictional time of the Aliens universe, as we see a group of renegade terrorists trying to explore what's left of LV-426, with some hidden agendas thrown into the mix. Things don't go according to plan as always and we get to meet a new kind of Xenomorph, as the crew tries to survive the experience.

There is a lot of story packed here for only a one-shot, even some backstories for characters and a surprise ending that leaves ground for exploration in the near future. The fast paced ride was a quick reading and left me wondering if it could have worked better as a mini-series with the addition of a bit more materials.

Usually I don't talk about characters in a single issue of any comics, but here we get to meet the nephew of the one and only 'Vasquez' from the movie; and we also meet a mysterious employee of Weyland-Yutani. Aside from the other unexplored and expendable side characters, these two seemed quite interesting.

There is nothing unique or extraordinary going on in the art department, but Dave Wachter did a fine job of detailing the atmosphere of the locations and the coloring by Sotomayor added to the overall feel of horror. The design for the new Xenomorph was quite eye catching as well.

Overall, I will give this 4 out of 5 stars (.5 added due to my love for the movie and potential for the future).

For more reviews and stuff check out my blog -
http://ihate00critics.blogspot.com/

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

[Eli Poteet · Rating 3 out of 5]

i want to rate this higher but the neat glowing icey alien art isnt enough to bump this entry up a notch. i like that an Aliens character has family in this title but damn, the artists nearly white washed him... good thing they slapped him with an interview so you could get a direct line of connections into the family relation.

the 1st death was pretty well designed, but as a space horror fan, i want all the deaths to be memorable and stylistically pleasing. shouldnt be asking too much but the creators of this story almost seem tl be holding back which is short changing the storyline immidately. alien content is so hot right now thus the creators need to make sure their story sits above the average mean.

[Rafael · Rating 2 out of 5]

For something that's supposed to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Aliens, this one-shot sure doesn't add anything to the table besides a non-sensical bioluminescent Xeno drone with nitrogen blood. Just because... It's a Marvel comic and they needed to add something different, instead of actually having a good plot. I'd say it was just a ruse to sell more toys but I doubt there's any toys of this thing.

It's a half-hour read and the art is good enough, so it's not exactly terrible. But it's definitely not good either.

[Carlos Olate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gustan los contextos, o que se entreguen luego de un poco de emoción y especulación... eso no pasa mucho con los One Shot. Me quede con ganas de saber porque el cambio en el xenomorfo y otras cositas mas, aunque la historia se ve bien, siento que queda un poco corta para un aniversario tan importante como el nº35 de Aliens.

[BookieWookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great art and a few interesting concepts, but the script and characters are simply too half-baked. Perhaps if it was longer and had more space to explore things it would have been better, but as it is, there simply isn't enough here to recommend reading it.

[Sam Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the new Xenomorph and wish we had more time with it. The art is perfect for the world of Aliens and making this a follow up to Aliens was really cool but wish it wasn’t a one-shot so it could be better explored.

[Octavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ideas decentes, pero la historia acaba de pronto y te deja totalmente a medias. El dibujo está bien, sin flipar.

[Dennis Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good, & interesting concept with the Xenomorph...but I have zero idea whats going on lol...😆 3.5/5

[connor connor connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish it had been a small miniseries instead of a one shot. Tried to do way too many things at once, but I enjoyed it! The new xenomorph was really cool

[Tommy Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sequel

Really enjoyed this edition of aliens aftermath. He brought in some new ideas close out the story and true sci-fi fashion

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love what they are doing with these books.

[Frank Tesch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lack luster

I was super confused about this story. And for a one shot. It was not good in the face of there was no mother computer on the planet in the movie.

[Edward Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

35 years after Hadley's Hope went up in a cloud of vapor the size of Nebraska, someone comes to the ruins to find answers about the loss of a family member and discovers what W-Y has been covering up and why radiation is the lesser of evils on LV-426