REVIEW: Aliens: Life and Death #1

So let me just start off by saying that I am a gigantic H.R.Giger fan, and therefore, adore Aliens. Getting to read Aliens: Life and Death #1 was something I was supremely excited about. But…Oh no, here comes the but, and not in Tina Belcher“s “I love butts”“ kind of way.

This story had a whole lot of nothing going on in it. It was basically a whole bunch of dude bro action and “oh no, they“re dead! Ah, everyone“s dead! Oh em gee, what are we gonna do, bro?!”“ Obviously there can be great action scenes in comics, but this book just didn“t have anything even remotely intelligent going on in their panels. I mean, there“s fucking Xenomorphs everywhere, convey the panic and fear that these humans are feeling! It really just felt like it could be pulled from any action movie and stuck in the middle of a comic book with a few lackluster illustrations of what are actually very amazingly designed creatures done wrong.

The whole first issue does not set a very good tone for the rest of the series. I get it, people are missing, people are dead. Oh no, what shall we do? Not exactly original. H.R.Giger was a masterful painter, and his work lives on as one of the most genius pieces of science fiction, and that“s not even getting me started on the sheer talent it takes to create his other pieces of art. I know this is a comic book, but the illustrations were all wrong for anything having to do with Aliens. Moritat“s work seemed extremely lazy, made even worse by Rain Beredo“s colors. Were you two late for something? Did you just not care? Did you only have 6 colors to work with, and you hated all of them?

I know a lot of artists and creators that would completely soil their underoos at a chance to work on something regarded as highly as the Aliens franchise, especially the comic book form of it. But it just seemed like everyone on this project didn“t care, and I take it as disrespect. Do something justice, or don“t do it at all.

I will say that David Palumbo“s cover art is pretty nice, and the creatures actually look like Xenomorphs, though perhaps not as wet and slimy as they“re known to be. Nevertheless, it conveys the emotion that is lacking in the rest of the book. For that alone, he gets a star. But for the rest of the book, I am superbly disappointed.

Story: No stars
Artwork: 1 star thanks to the cover
Colors: No stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer:Â Dan Abnett
Artist:Â Moritat
Colorist: Rain Beredo
Cover Artist:Â David Palumbo