Documented Aliens, part 2

As I mentioned in my previous "Aliens" post, virtually every comics tale about the evil insectoids involves some clandestine, sinister attempt to control and/or make use of the creatures. Which, I suppose, is understandable since the original movie ("Alien") alluded to the "Company" somehow knowing about the dastardly species (recall the android Ash telling the survivors before he was terminated how they were to "bring back a specimen ... all other orders rescinded ... crew expendable"). This doesn't seem to jibe with what we saw in the sequel "Aliens" as the slimy Burke sends the colonists who've settled on the planet (that Ripley and the Nostromo crew landed on) to the derelict "Space Jockey" starship once the rescued Ripley tells all about 'em. The fact that he did so indicates that the Company had no previous knowledge of the Aliens, else it would have sent a ship there long before allowing any colonists to settle.

In "Alien 3" we see at film's end a team from the Company arrive at the prison compound. It's here we get a clue to the Company's moniker: Weyland-Yutani. It's there to collect the Alien queen with which Ripley has been impregnated. Lastly, in "Alien Resurrection," the entire premise of the flick is scientists working to harvest Alien specimens from a cloned Ripley.

The comics keep this up. One of the first limited series after Mark Verheiden's original trilogy is Aliens: Genocide. Earth has been cleared of the Alien scourge, but good 'ol human greed just doesn't ever seem to die! A new drug made from the Aliens' royal jelly is all the rage, and the wealthy entrepreneur behind it finances a trip back to the Alien homeworld to gather more so he can perfect the composition! Of course there is some clandestine shenanigans afoot, leading to numerous deaths. But perhaps "best" of all, the Aliens are going through a "civil war" -- a mutant offshoot of the race has developed and challenges the standard bearer. The entrepreneur's sojourn arrives right smack-dab in the middle of this all-out donneybrook! Genocide makes neat use of Verheiden's invention of an Alien queen, her "elite guard," and the Alien royal jelly.

Speaking of royal jelly, Aliens: Hive follows up on the quest for the magical substance. Here, a scientist who developed a cybernetic ant to study [Earth] ant culture is persuaded by a beautiful thief to build a similar robotic Alien in order to infiltrate an Alien hive. Why? To get that royal jelly, of course! Hive is rather ho-hum as far as "Aliens" stories go; however, it features some of the creepiest Alien-on-human attack panels ever seen in "Aliens" comics. One panel has an Alien thrusting its secondary jaw through the back of a guy's head -- and coming out the other side through his open mouth. In another, an Alien just jams his his whole head into a dude's abdomen -- his internal munchers protruding through the poor soul's back! In a word: Ouch.

Be warned that the artwork in both Genocide and Hive is below par. Damon Willis' pencils in the former seem way out of place for an "Aliens" story -- too clean with well rounded lines, they're better suited for a superhero yarn. Kelley Jones' art in Hive are grittier and heavier, more suited to the genre. However, he's very inconsistent with portraying the characters. The female lead, Gill, vascillates from beautiful to butch tomboyish, which makes the reader wonder why in the world main character Dr. Mayakovsky has a thing for her.