Review

"Do you think there will be any problems reaching us Captain Potter? I mean, the creatures are very fierce" - Stan Mayakovsky

Aliens Omnibus Volume 2 draws together the complete story arcs of Genocide, Harvest, and the never before collected epic arc of Colonial Marines in a 454 page extravaganza. The book explores the Alien universe from the viewpoint of three completely separate stories, while delivering more alien carnage than James Cameron could make in a fistful of movies. The alien invasion of earth is over and the corporate world have suddenly found a financial benefit from the exploitation of the menace from beyond the stars. However the aliens aren't going into that black night without making sure the casualty figures are unexpectedly high. Where's Ellen Ripley when you need her?

The first story arc the reader is presented with is Genocide, which I can't help but think has been Readers Digest-ed from the original graphic novel and comics. Have this vague idea a few panels and story points have been removed. I'm not crying over spilt acid blood here, the story still rocks along like a night out in the Cross. Daniel Grant is one of the new breed of corporate warriors making huge profits as Earth seeks to rebuild following a war with the Aliens on home turf. He has put the house, or in this case his company Neo-Pharm, on Xeno-Zip being hugely successful commercially. The pharmaceutical is derive from Alien "royal jelly" and has some notable benefits to those able to handle the drug. Athletes have vastly improved performances, soldiers go super and berserk mode, and Li-Lo is even more dangerous behind the wheel. Unfortunately due to some introduced xeno-zip extender there are some nasty side effects. Answer is to go out and raid a hive on what might be the Alien home world. Naturally the military see the immediate benefits of the drug and agree to finance and staff the expedition. Unfortunately for the human raiders there's been something of a schism in the hive with a new breed of alien having set up camp and expanded operations. When the humans arrive a full scale civil war is underway between the new breed and the traditional elements. Added curry to this banquet is a danger from within as someone seeks to sabotage the mission.

I was certainly grooving to the first story in the book and for sure had my Alien on as things heated up for a force of Colonial Marines and civilian advisors invading an Alien home world. The story is certainly inspired and I have to say fairly high on the epic scale of the equation. The artwork is somewhat retro and gets the job done but fails to have the wow factor other dark genre works can muster. That's not to say you won't enjoy your time in Country, but don't expect the awesome panels of say The Dark Detective series. The script however is strong enough to drive the reader along to a sort of moral message at the end.

While the first story arc certainly has the Reader entranced with the book it's the second story that has to hold attention. Harvest for mine proved to be something of a disappointment after the all-out go for broke attitude of Genocide. The story starts well enough with some Chick trying to flee a xenomorph down darken corridors and naturally failing to win through at the end. Naturally we then learn this is all a training run rather than a rock solid opening to the tale. Stan Mayakovsky is a genius when it comes to creating artificial life, witnessed by a robotic ant he has created for no apparent reason and a life sized alien drone that he believes can infiltrate an alien hive for I guess reconnaissance. In something of a confused script Julian is a female thief after the big score. Stan and Jules concoct a plan to raid an alien hive for "royal jelly", are we starting to witness a recurrent theme here, for both fun and profit. Stan needs the jelly as he is being consumed by cancer and it's one of his few methods to escape his situation. Arriving at their Alien destination Stan and team discover someone else has been there before them and has worked out an effective method of harvesting jelly. With the work already done for them it should be plain sailing from here, however naturally since there are xenomorphs involved things start to go wrong very quickly!

Harvest is one of those stories you run across from time to time that have a strong central narrative but waste it by cluttering up the page with incidental details that really don't propel things along. Mac the dog for example really only works as a device for exactly one panel of the story, and that panel wasn't all that interesting. I was perhaps expecting a metaphor, or an example of character motivations and ruthlessness, or in fact anything rather than the inept conclusion we're left to deal with. Similar there are perhaps two synthetic life forms too many in the story. The idea of having to cross through an Alien hive in order to reach safety was solid, and the tension is layered on, but I ended up being side-tracked by various plot melodramatics that had no place in an Alien story. Likewise the dark almost didactic overtures at start and ending didn't work for me, they tend only to work if the story is a dark nightmare throughout with a heavy metaphysical approach. Rounding out my general distain of this story was the reproduction of the artwork, something went seriously wrong as some panels are poorly rendered on the page. Overall I wasn't rocking to this story and would have to say it should have hit the editing floor lock, stock, and barrel.

Which of course brings us to the final story arc, the rather epic Colonial Marines. As advertising Omnibus 2 brings together for the first time the ten individual comics that made up the story arc, and if I had to be brutally honest I would have to say there's a very good reason why this hasn't happened before. The script is way convoluted, jumps between various plot developments with no actual central focus, and at times makes you wonder if anyone bothered to plot things out across the course of the instalments. We jump from a satellite outpost that has been overrun by xenomorphs, not a bad story focus, to unexplained humanoid/alien hybrids that control the xenomorphs hordes - was that due to scientific experimentation? To a World that relies on harvesting kelp for its economy that has a major incursion of humanoid/alien hybrids and aquatically evolved giant xenomorphs. Where exactly the enigmatic alien hunter fits into this fusion of conflicting ideas remains undisclosed, hey we're here to read the comics not interpret what went down in various story development meetings. Sorry this one just isn't working on the script level, though the central character Lieutenant Henry gets the normal half arsed development to being a better person as the plot unfolds

I'm not even going to start on the artwork for this one. Let's just say the it wouldn't be out of place in a 1950s Sci-Fi comic, there's no catch to the panels, they are there simply to tell a story in a very cartoonish way. Poor effort from all involved would be my call, this really is conveyor belt stuff from the art factory.

Since we're hitting the Aliens universe is an attempt to cover our very favourite franchise I've got six of these books to get through - assuming I can find a copy of the first book which is apparently out of print. On the evidence of Volume 2 I would have to say I'm going to find this far from a labour of love. The stories are derivative, have exactly the same themes of corporate greed, and "come the hour come the man", and are surprisingly light on artwork that will wow the average punter. On the bright side of the acid splash, Genocide was pretty solid and the book is worth dialling into for this tale alone. Strictly for the Aliens fans out there, I don't believe your average comic book Joe or Joelette is going to be rocking to this way.

Guess the book will be available from specialist stores if you get your Predator on and go hunting. I got my copy from the friendly folk at amazon.com, we really should get paid for this free advertising, though I do note ebay.com.au also has a bunch of copies for sale. If after the book then don't dawdle however, the first one is already out of print.