| Aliens | |
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Cover of Aliens Book One: Outbreak |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Dark Horse Comics |
| Format | Comic book limited series and one-shots |
| Publication date | 1988 |
| Main character(s) | Rebecca 'Newt' Jorden Corporal Dwayne Hicks Ellen Ripley Weyland-Yutani |
The Aliens comic books were first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1988 and set in the Alien fictional universe. Some stories often feature the company Weyland-Yutani and the United States Colonial Marines. Originally intended as a sequel to James Cameron's Aliens, the first mini-series features the characters of Rebecca 'Newt' Jorden and Corporal Dwayne Hicks. Later series also included the further adventures of Ellen Ripley. Other stories are completely unique to the Alien universe, and are often used to explore other aspects of the species, such as their sociology and biology.
Note: The first three stories formed a continuation of the two Alien films that had been released when they were published. However, they are no longer considered canonical after the Alien 3 film featured the deaths of Newt and Corporal Hicks. In order to keep the stories relevant to the Alien films, Dark Horse Comics changed the names of the characters for future printings of the stories. Newt became Billie while Hicks was now known as Wilks. The only other major difference between the original publications is that as well as being renamed the trade paperbacks were also recoloured.
Contents |
Outbreak starts 10 years after Aliens and Alien 3, and 190 years before Alien Resurrection. Both Wilks and Billie have been struggling with the aftermath of their encounter with the Xenomorphs. Billie is in a mental institution, and, after nothing seems to help her, the doctors decide to wipe her memory. Wilks has never gotten over the Aliens and the decimation of his squad, so he agrees to go on a mission to the alien homeworld to recover some eggs and to destroy one of the hives (the hive-destroying serves no purpose other than to satisfy Wilks's hatred). Wilks goes to visit Billie before he goes, only to find out that her memory is about to be wiped. Wilks believes Billie to be the only thing that marks his existence and the only thing that marks his squad's sacrifice, so he rescues her and takes her to the homeworld. Their spaceship is followed by another, though...
Meanwhile, strange things are happening on Earth. A scientific corporation has acquired an alien Queen, and begins harvesting eggs. A weird cult that believes the Aliens to be God's spiritual rebirth breaks in and they all give themselves up for facehugging. Earth is overrun.
On the homeworld, the team lands (Billie has fallen in love with a soldier named Bueller), and are attacked by a band of soldiers, who want the eggs for themselves, after tracking them to the planet. They give up their weapons and stand down, but the attackers are forced into the hive by the various other hostile species on the planet. The team gathers weapons, and foolishly go into the hive to rescue their attackers. They rescue a few, and most of them get out, but not before the reason they so stupidly went in is revealed: they are all synthetic humans.
Billie is distraught; Bueller makes it back, but is ripped in half (revealing he is actually a synthetic), and Wilks almost kills them all by waiting until he has set the charges to take off, but they make it and go back to Earth. As soon as they get there, they have to leave, and are told by a general that they are following a standard military procedure against the Aliens: they are retreating. There is a mass exodus from Earth, most of the survivors being military. Bueller, Wilks, and Billie get on a ship and flee Earth.
Script by Mark Verheiden, art and title illustration by Den Beauvais and lettering by Willie Schubert.
The story continues where Aliens: Outbreak left off with Billie, the synthetic Bueller, and Wilks a short time after having escaped the alien-infested Earth on a cargo ship. The crew discovers the ship is ferrying aliens to an unknown destination. After killing the aliens, the ship autopilots to a military post commanded by General Spears, who is breeding and attempting to train aliens to fight against their own kind on Earth. He is depicted as ruthless, and is called insane by several characters. Throughout the story it is revealed that Spears is extremely paranoid about his own safety and the safety of his aliens, and is willing to sacrifice his own troops without hesitation. As the story progresses, the aliens inevitably escape captivity and begin taking over the military base. Wilks and Billie manage to hide on the same ship General Spears uses to escape. Once aboard the ship Wilks and Billie realize it is full of "trained" aliens that Spears intends on using to take back the infested Earth. The synthetic Bueller also manages to send a transmission saying goodbye to Billie as they were separated in the middle of the story. Since Bueller is a synthetic and torn in two the aliens do not engage him in any way. Bueller is left alone and abandoned in the military base. Before Spears lands on Earth Wilks and Billie jettison out in a small escape pod towards a different space station called Gateway, which becomes a haven for the few people capable of reaching, aware that their chances of survival on Earth are slim. Once Spears lands on Earth he releases his "trained" aliens and expects them to attack the Earth-bred aliens. The "trained" aliens end up turning on Spears. In the end Spears realizes that the aliens were never actually trained, but simply remaining patient throughout their supposed training. The Queen and the other aliens had every intention of getting to Earth and killing Spears. Spears is brutally killed at the end of this realization.
On the final page, Ripley appears, heavily armed, saying the time had come to take the battle to the xenomorphs.
There have been other comic crossovers:
Dark Horse has produced a number of Aliens comic books and collected volumes:
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