Alien #1 (2021)

Phillip Kennedy Johnson is the out of nowhere man of the hour. At DC he's taken over the reigns of the Man of Steel. At Marvel, he's grabbing control of a storied Dark Horse Comics license with a 35 year history of excellence, one that proved licensed comics don't have to just repeat the same lines and events seen in a film. How does he do?


OK, maybe. There's a story that would fit in the 'this feels familiar, but different' mold often used at Dark Horse. There's one element that may completely derail this whole thing into 'Species' territory. It doesn't happen in this issue, so we'll let it sit.

For now.


On cut and paste we have Salvador Larroca. Known for his clean lines and accurate artwork, its become a poorly hidden secret that he's not really drawing. A two page spread features NECA's Warrior Alien, Big Chap Alien, Covenant Alien Warrior, and Prometheus tentacle creature, static, with straight fingers, locked arms, and single curved tails set against a stolen image of a great hanging miniature from James Cameron's 'Aliens'. Larroca's willingness to boldly put in his reference in place of actual artwork is a sign of laziness and should not be ignored. Will it be serviceable for people who aren't asking for too much? It probably will, especially if the story is interesting. For those people, I'd just say that it would have looked better if it was drawn by Mark Nelson, Den Beauvis, Sam Keith, Kelley Jones, Doug Mahnke, Eduardo Risso, Killian Plunkett, Will Simpson, Mike Mignola, James Stokoe, Tristan Jones, Richard Corben, Daniel Warren Johnson, Nic Klein, Paul Mendoza, John Byrne, Patric Reynolds, David Lloyd, John Bolton, Jason Green, Gabriel Hardmann, Moritat, Liam Sharp, Tim Hamilton, Flint Henry, Phil Hester, Kieran McKeown, Robert Carey, David Wenzel, Tony Harris, Guy Davis, me, you, your kids, that guy you knew in school- you know the one, and probably anyone across the globe named Betty.

Rick Berg, Senator-Wheaton asked us to let you know that this book has the worst coloring of any Aliens book to date, and yields the rest of his time.