Aliens #1 – Review

By John Arcudi (Script), Zach Howard (Pencils & Inks), Mark Irwin (Inks), and Wes Dzioba (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: It’s been a long time since I picked up an Aliens comic. Maybe a new number one is just the thing to get me back on board…

The Story: A crew of scholars heads to a mining planet to investigate a special site. Things don’t go as expected…

What’s Good and What’s Not So Good: I never thought I’d say this, but the highlight of Aliens #1 is the character work done by John Arcudi. The academic crew quickly comes across as likable and it makes the ending of the comic far more effective than it has any right to be… Especially considering that everything plays out in a rather predictable fashion. What’s unfortunate is that all the good character work is completely overwhelmed by the fact that there are distressingly few Aliens in Alien #1.

They appear on the cover and in the first few pages, but, after that, you might as well forget about them. I appreciate a slow burn as much as the next guy, but I’m fairly certain that many people are going to be very disappointed by the lack of Alien action. And if they aren’t disappointed by the lack of Aliens, I have a feeling they might be disappointed by the way a storyline is constructed and then quickly demolished in favor of something that seems to belong in another book.

The artwork faces a similar type of problem. The few Aliens that do show up look quite awesome, the characters are all expressive, the bits of action are well done, and the settings are impressively detailed….BUT…the visuals don’t really fit the Aliens style all that well. Cartoony, vibrant, and colorful are not words I would ever use to describe any of the Alien movies (or even the old comics), but those words are quite fitting for Aliens #1. Sure the artwork looks pleasing and at times, quite good, but that doesn’t mean it’s right for the material.

Conclusion: Aliens #1 is a strange, frustrating book. On a technical level it’s enjoyable and quite solid, but as a fan I have to say that it is lacking in a few (very) key areas.  That said, I’ll definitely be sticking around for at least another issue.

Grade: C-

-Kyle Posluszny

Dead Space #1 (Special Convention Edition) – Review

By Anthony Johnston (writer) & Ben Templesmith (art)

Dead Space is an Electronic Arts game that’s going to be released in Fall 2008 for video game consoles and the PC platform. This comic is the prequel to that game, and since I’m going to buy the game, I don’t mind reading the comic book to get more of the background story.

The story seems to borrow elements of 2001, Doom 3 and Aliens. It has a creepy atmosphere, a greedy government, a strange alien monolith, and religion thrown in for good measure. You’d think this would be a recipe for disaster, but this issue is a great introduction to the series and it’s ripe with lot of tension.

The story begins with a distress transmission from a planet that humans intented to colonize. We’re then transported to a series of flashbacks that slowly unravel the story. People start to act strangely, the crap hits the fan, and well, you get my drift.

Please check this video trailer of Dead Space’s trailer. It features Ben Templesmith’s art made into quasi-animated sequence. It kicks ass! The footage you’ll see is not from this issue, however. It seems it’s from a preview or #0 never published (his partner doesn’t get attacked from a monster in #1, that’s the reason of my assumption). Anyway, if you see this issue floating around, give it a go. You’ll enjoy yourself. Oh, and a closing note: I believe that the only difference between the convention edition and the regular edition is the variant cover. (Grade: B)

-Daniel Yanez

P. S. – We are giving away stuff from WonderCon, including a signed copy of Dead Space #1 by Templesmith, himself! Check it out what do you need to do to get that for FREE.