this alien Recently, the franchise has gotten a shot in the arm in the public consciousness with the release of new movies, Alien: Romulus. I haven’t seen it myself yet, I think I’ve seen both positive and negative reactions to it. first issue Aliens vs. Avengers Published last week (August 28, 2024) by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic. I thoroughly enjoyed and look forward to the rest of the series. A prequel TV series is about to be produced by LegionIt’s Noah Hawley.
All of this makes me want to go back and look at some of the older entries in the comic series. Both were made in the heady days when movies were scarce. In another period, canon changed and comics filled in the gaps. Interestingly, the different, alternate timelines were essentially created by the various creative teams who worked with Dark Horse over the course of nearly three decades.
I particularly want to highlight some of these horror masters. Because as they said long ago, “In space, no one can hear you scream.”
“I guess there’s an egg. I think it all starts with eggs.
Originally published in dark horse gift #101-102, “Hatch” Ron Maz, Bernie Wrightson, Matt Hollingsworthand Sean Connaught is a twelve-page short story that focuses on the confrontation between another alien race and the Xenomorph. And how this disaster led to the arrival of the aliens on Earth.
To some extent, this story may be speculation, which makes it more interesting. What we see in the panels is not necessarily what happened, but what the narrator thinks happened on the ship. It’s a recording of a man who found a wrecked vehicle on Earth, juxtaposing what he thought happened to them with what might have happened to him himself in his last will and testament. Sean Konot chose an interesting italic font here for Ron Marz’s rich narration.
The art by Bernie Wrightson is fantastic. He captures the traditional design of the alien’s different life stages, but still gives the full-blown drone his own unique style. As does the arrangement of hosts of different species. His shading is excellent and perfectly suited to the horror aspects of the story. Interestingly, the book was originally published in black and white. I believe Matt Hollingsworth’s coloring came about when this story was first collected, adding a moody blue tint to much of the story.
“I wonder, was he the last person to pray?
Now, the sad thing about Madz, Wrightson, Hollingsworth and Konot’s “Hatch” is that it’s just a prologue. A preface to a story that may never be published again. that existence Batman/Alien. I mean, Marvel and DC might work out a deal to re-release it, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. If you can find the original series, collection (which has a prologue story), or the newer DC/Dark Horse crossover collection (which doesn’t have a prologue, but does have a lot of other great crossover stories) that came out shortly before the license came back, definitely To get them.
Still, “Hatch” is an intense short film imbued with the horror master’s artistic flair. As a reminder, you don’t need a ton of pages to tell an effective, memorable story.
Classic Comics Compendium: Aliens – Hatching
Aliens – Hatch
writer: Ron Maz
artist: Bernie Wrightson
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Writer: Sean Connaught
Publisher: Marvel Comics (Reprinted and collected) |Dark horse (Original publisher)
release date: November 23, 2022 (Reprinted and collected) | September 28 to October 12, 1995 (original issue)
available for collection Aliens: The Primeval Years Omnibus – Volume 3
Read past entries in the Classic Comics Compendium!
