Written by: Dan Abnett
Art by: Moritat
Publisher: Dark Horse
It’s that time of the month, you know, where things start to bleed. There are stomach cramps too. Granted, the blood is green and highly acidic, and the stomach cramps are fatal and not a nuisance, but…Okay, so I just compared Aliens: Life and Death to having a period, which is a really, really stupid thing to do. Introductions are hard, okay? At least this one is done.
Issue #2 of A:LaD is a bit of a misstep. It hits a lot of plot points I’ve seen this universe tackle before, and it doesn’t really tackle them with any grace. The opening pages are a quick rundown of soldiers discussing the Xenomorph life cycle, which everyone should know by now so it’s all wasted time. Paget decides to put together a rescue operation, but it’s volunteer only because it’s stupid and against their best interest.
All our living soldiers volunteer for the obvious reasons.
None of what happens in this issue is strictly bad, but it does tread boring. Yeah I was happy to see all of these soldiers rise up to go save Jill—please someone save Jill I really like Jill—but I also knew it would happen the moment Paget started the conversation.
There are a few moments here and there that do play with Alien tropes and expectations, and they’re where the comic really shines. They’re also what I can’t talk about because spoilers. Just know that Lorimer ain’t out of the picture yet. Neither are Galgo or Ahab, for that matter.
On the art front, I’m still not a huge fan of the shift. It’s less that it doesn’t fit and more that I don’t know who is who at first glance. I see characters I think I recognize, but I can’t be 100% certain until they start talking and addressing each other by name. Sandman has this issue as well when you jump from story arc to story arc.
Swapping artists is good in theory, but it comes with a learning curve. I’m still adjusting.
Listen: Dan Abnett’s Life and Death series has thus far been nothing short of awesome. He’s taking some of my favorite properties and kicking all kinds of ass, and I’ll sing the praises from here to LV223 if I have to. However, Aliens: Life and Death #2 is looking to be our first miss. It’s not a large miss, more of a stubbed toe instead of a fall or a sprain or something equally bad that befits this metaphor, but it isn’t great like the previous…what, nine issues?
Still, it’s a bridge, and I think #3 will be where asses start getting kicked again.
