Written by: Brian Wood
Art by: Eduardo Francisco & Dan Jackson
Publisher: Dark Horse
Aliens: Defiance as a series will go down as one of the great Alien comics. I’ve been rereading the old stuff from the 90’s—thank you Dark Horse and your big ol’ hard covers!—and this is comparable. It’s not as good Verheiden’s work, but it’s up there. Plus, Mr. Wood doesn’t have Hicks, Newt, or Ripley to play with. The deck is stacked against him in terms of this comparison.
Hell, Mr. Wood has a few decades of work going against him, because at this point, the Alien mythos is feeling really recycled. Covenant was an absolute mess of old and bad ideas, and while I enjoyed the Fire and Stone and Life and Death runs to a point, they also had ideas I had seen before in other movies, comic books, and novels.
Aliens: Defiance is new. That absolutely counts for something. From issue one, I’ve been saying this comic plays with tropes and expectations. That’s held true to the end.
#12 opens up with what I associate Brian Wood with: moody scenery that’s pure story without text. The first three or four pages are a wordless nightmare, a sea of facehuggers and empty space, and when the text does start up around page six, the words are somehow more terrifying. The first eight pages of this book are perfect.
The rest of the book, sadly, isn’t, but the misses aren’t really all that big. The pacing here feels a bit too rollercoasterish, going between expressive pages without text and very wordy panels that cover up more than I’d like. The words are well written though, and no one ever vomits exposition.
The book also feels too much like a closing issue, an epilogue. That’s not entirely a bad thing given Aliens: Defiance #12 is very much the last book in this arc (and perhaps series?), but I dislike that it’s so obvious. Plot threads are almost tied up too cleanly given the Alien franchise thrives on messes.
It does end well. I won’t spoil any of it, but I am satisfied. That’s more than I can say about Dan Abnett’s Life and Death run. Clean or not, when Zula’s, “The End” lands, I was happy. And sad. I’ve really, really enjoyed this book, so there’s that bittersweetness to it ending.
My other minor gripe is with some of the artwork. I’d say 98% of it looks great, but there are panels that close-up on Zula that are a bit awkward. It might be how she’s wearing her hair, but her forehead looks a bit too big and her face a little elongated. Once again, it’s nothing major, but given how great everyone else looks, she kind of sticks out.
I’ll end this review with reiterating the first sentence: Aliens: Defiance as a series will go down as one of the great Alien comics. Brian Wood has given us a great show of terror, tough choices, great characters, and enough subversion to keep me on my toes. It’s been a joy to read and review.
