Aliens 30th Anniversary: The Original Comics Series

This is a perfect example of the power of comic book storytelling. I fondly remember buying the original Dark Horse issues in the late eighties and loved the masterful black-and-white artwork which is beautifully reproduced here. The hardback tome is gorgeous in and of itself, with the black page edging really added to the sense that this book has been put together with some love and attention to detail. Two bonus specials are included along with the first 6-issue run (I think from Dark Horse present anthology) which gave me a smile. I still think this series, together with the follow-up painted 4-issue series are the benchmark for all other Aliens stories.

I've got the full original set of these and is safely kept in the loft with all my other comics. I bought this hardback so I can read them again! I must say this hardback is beautiful presented with a shiny black edge to the pages. The story continues from the Aliens movie and is very enjoyable!! An excellent buy!

This is a work of art I already own a copy but had to get this special version. The black page edges are very nice, the artwork is in a style that isn't used any more. This also has the characters names from aliens as they were changed in the releases after aliens 3 was released. A nice touch to have hicks and newt and not wilks and Billie. Oh and keep an eye out for Ripley!

I own both the individual Volume 1 comics and the TPB coloured 'Outbreak'. This was the first story outside of the 'Dark Horse Presents' short stories and it was a great start to the Aliens comic series. It was originally published before Alien3 was made so it continues the story on from Aliens, in later editions Newt and Hicks were renamed Billie and Wilks and this never felt right to me, there were a lot of inconsistencies such as these renamed characters being present at LV426 during the outbreak. Thankfully this edition restores the original names to the story. It includes a lot of elements that were less developed at the time, it proposes that the Aliens were a natural evolution on a very hostile planet which is visited in the story. The book itself includes a really interesting introduction by the original author and is presented on glossy pages enclosed inside a hardback. A must for any Aliens fan and easily recommended for anyone with an interest in comics.

The artwork for this graphic novel is superb... atmospheric...edgy...and beautifully drawn. The story is nothing too special though and is a basic 'escape story', The book also has a confusing way of using flashbacks and you need to read it at least twice or else you might wonder why some characters seem to still be alive having died a few pages before. Overall though the fantastic artwork makes the book a worthwhile buy.

The book is a lovely size...very well made and the artwok is lovely too...my son loves it ...love the black around the edge of the pages...

Beautifully illustrated book that provides a better sequel story to the Aliens movie than what the actual sequel movie (Alien3) managed.

An amazing addition to any Alien fan's collection 👽

It is exactly what I was wanting. Loved that it had the original comics and that it's a very nice hard cover edition. My fiancé was over the moon about it!

If you're like me at all, you love the first two 'Alien' movies, the 2nd one especially, and you especially hate 'Alien 3' for how it renders the story of 'Aliens' completely pointless and just flat-out rapes hard everything that was exciting and great about it. You might be understanding of the cult fanbase that defends the 3rd movie, but you personally can hardly watch 'Aliens' and enjoy it again because you can't not think of where everthing goes in the next movie, and you wish more than anything there was an alternate 'Alien 3' to help negate it. You found that hope in Neil Bloomkamp's planned 'Alien' movie, then had that hope squashed by Ridley Scott putting it on hold for his next Prometheus movie and due to both the director's and Sigourney Weaver's scheduling, but you still dearly want that alternate continuation to 'Aliens'. Look no further, for it is found in this very book! While Ripley is strangely absent, Hicks and a fully grown Newt are still alive, where they are later in life is fairly realistically depicted, and they undergo a brand new journey through space that involves Earth getting invaded by Xenomorphs, and said aliens have a new intriguing origin revealed contrary to what was in 'Prometheus'! Where it ends one can't help but get the sense there must be more to the story, and thankfully it was recently announced that Dark Horse would release a further continuation of these original comics, and I believe I heard with Ripley re-entering the picture! What are my nitpicks? The artwork is good for its time, don't get me wrong, but is still a sign of the time in that not all the characters are always distinguishable from each other. It probably would've been easier if it was in color, which I realize would've taken away the point of how it was originally presented. And different characters take over the narration every other page, it was a little hard to keep track of. All in all, I felt I had to read it a 2nd time in order to be clear on absolutely everything. But even with those minor complaints, it's still better than the alternative. People say that 'Alien 3' had rendered this comic non-cannonical, but I choose to see it the other way around. Dark Horse releasing this comic, this original 3rd Alien story, back to existence has successfully pushed that movie from my mind and I'm able to appreciate the great 'Aliens' once again. Until when/if Bloomkamp's movie ever happens (please still let it happen), I couldn't be more relieved and satisfied with this and thankful to Dark Horse!

En 1986 sort "Aliens" de James Cameron,la suite du "Alien" de Ridley Scott. Ce second film a pour sous-titre "cette fois c'est la guerre". Plus qu'une simple suite, il redéfinit ce qui devient une franchise. Il ne s'agit plus de technitiens qui affrontent un seul alien mais plutôt de marines puissamment armés qui font face à une myriade de créatures. Pour James Cameron il s’agit du Vietnam dans l'espace. Et comme pour ce qui est du conflit dans le sud est asiatique, ou plus exactement, de la façon dont il a été vécu aux USA, les marines sont sévèrement battus, voir humiliés. A la fin d'Aliens, restent Ripley, bien sûr, Newt, une petite fille survivante du massacre des colons par les aliens et Hicks, le dernier survivant des marines. Le film a eu un tel succès que sans attendre Alien 3, Dark Horse, en 1988, a acheté les droits d'Aliens pour produire sa propre série de comics dans l'univers du film. L'attente avait été telle que la question de la suite des aventures de Ripley, Hicks et Newt ne se posait pas, c'est donc la suite "d'Aliens" que raconte ce livre. Une histoire en trois "story arcs"(arcs narratifs) scénarisés par Mark Verheiden avec talent et un grand respect pour le film de Cameron. Le livre dont il est question ici, nous propose la première mini-série, dessinée par Mark A. Nelson un artiste qui a un style très réaliste servant le scénario ainsi que l'esprit de la série "Aliens" (il ne s'agit pas ici de super héros ou d'un space opéra mais plutôt d'une histoire d'horreur sur des soldats dans l'espace). Il faut signaler que ce livre propose la version noire et blanc des comics, à savoir, la version d'origine. Il est a noter qu'a la suite de la sortie "d'Alien 3" en 1992, il n'était plus question des aventures de Ripley, Newt et Hicks qui décèdent tous les trois dans ce troisième opus. Les noms des personnages des comics ont donc été changés,(Newt devient Billie, Hicks devient Wilks) dans les éditions postérieures à la sortie d'Alien 3. Et ce, pour respecter la nouvelle histoire officielle. Ripley reste présente sans modification de son nom dans la version corrigée des comics, mais elle devient un synthétique de la vraie Ripley. C'est seulement.avec cette édition, aussi plus grande, et plus luxueuse que les précédentes, reliée et non brochée, que les noms d'origine sont restaurés.

Esta primera historias de Aliens de Dark Horse se ha recopilado ya en multitud de ocasiones, pero estamos sin duda ante la edición definitiva de esta historia creada por el dibujante Mark A. Nelson y el guionista Mark Verheiden. Esta par de artistas colaboraron también en otras dos historias cortas ("Theory of Alien propagation" y "Lucky") que fueron en su día editadas en diferentes publicaciones de la editorial Dark Horse. Pues bien, esas dos historias también están incluidas en esta recopilación. Además hay textos escritos por los autores donde nos hablan de la creación del cómic y una estupenda galería con las reproducciones de los dibujos originales creados para las portadas de cada número. ¡Y todo en glorioso blanco y negro!

Zunächst muss ich sagen, dass ich ein sehr großer Fan der Alien-Reihe bin. Natürlich tendiert der erste Film von Ridley Scott ganz oben auf der Beliebtheitsskala, aber auch die Fortsetzung von James Cameron konnte mich überzeugen, wenn auch auf eine andere Art und Weise. Genau an die Geschehnisse knüpfen die Comics hier ein paar Jahre später an - mehr möchte ich auch nicht verraten. Ich finde es unheimlich spannend, was für Ideen hier weitergesponnen werden. Die Autoren haben den Plot hier wirklich sehr interessant weitergedacht. Dazu kommen immer wieder kleine Details und Wissenswertes bekannter Charaktere wie Ellen Ripley oder der Space Marines. Aber auch andere Kleinigkeiten, wie weitere Infos von der Weyland-Yutani Coorporation zur Erforschung der Aliens - für Fans ein echter Leckerbissen. Das Buch an sich ist sehr hochwertig verarbeitet, hat einen schönen und stabilen Einband und macht auch optisch einiges her. Die Zeichnungen gefallen mir sehr, obwohl sie durchweg "nur" schwarz-weiss sind. Die Geschichten sind sehr atmosphärisch gehalten, es gibt viele Rückblicke und "Off-Topics". Meine Empfehlung - die ersten beiden Filme schauen, bevor man sich an die Comics heranwagt, man ist dann einfach besser über die Hintergrund-Story im Bilde. Für Fans ist das Ding eine echte Empfehlung!