Aliens Epic Collection: The Original Years

This is a review of Aliens Epic Collection: The Original Years, the meat of which consists of three miniseries published after the release of James Cameron’s Aliens movie in 1986. The main characters are Newt and Hicks, two characters from Aliens. These miniseries were published before the release of the third Alien movie, in which it’s revealed that Newt and Hicks are dead. They had to change their names in reprints of these series.

The plot: Newt and Hicks are back on earth. Fifteen years have passed since Aliens, with no sign of Ripley. Both Newt and Hicks have wounds, physical and psychological. Hicks’ face has been half burnt off by the aliens, and he now spends most of his free time drinking and brawling. Newt is in a mental hospital for shock. When Hicks has a chance to go back to Acheron (where the first two Alien movies took place), he jumps at the chance because reasons. He breaks Newt out of the mental hospital and takes her with him because they’re going to lobotomize her.

Turns out that everyone wants to get them some alien – corporations, the military, scientists, wacky religious cults. They get their wish when earth is overrun with xenomorphs. In the second miniseries, Newt and Hicks meet a military man who thinks he can train the aliens like dogs and use them to retake earth. That goes about as well as expected. In the final miniseries of the volume, Ripley returns with a plan to end the alien menace once and for all. Will it work, or is it just another crackpot scheme?

I read a few of these issues back when they were published. I might even have collected them, although I can’t say I remember. To be truthful, I recalled very little about these comics. If I did, it’s likely I wouldn’t have bought this collection. I do not write these reviews to be negative. Unfortunately, these comics just aren’t very good. The pacing of the individual issues feels off, and many of the characters are clichés and/or caricatures. Sam Keith does the art for Aliens: Earth War, and his pencils look great, but his character designs are very different from the first two miniseries. In some cases, his characters look like different people.

If you loved the Alien movies, you could read this. Or you could just rewatch the movies.