Aliens Omnibus Volume 1. Dark Horse Books (2007)

A very well produced and thoroughly dispiriting read. The stories in this collection spin off from the film Aliens and follow the further adventures of Newt, Wilks and Ripley as they continue to find themselves involved with Alien infestations and corrupt humans. There is a cynical pessimism at large in these stories that is as corrosive an the Alien's acid blood. The actions of the human cast are consistently undermined by either human greed or external manipulation. they are futile actors in the drama and this seriously weakens the dynamics of the drama as well as being dispiriting in itself. Happy endings are not a requirement for an effective story, if the reader is to be drawn into the narrative and share in the story there has to be some sense that the main actors are actually achieving something by their efforts. It is a very poor pay off to find that as a reader you have been investing in deluded puppets. Worse when you find that the strings are being pulled by two different sets of puppet masters, in some cases three. The suspense drains from the story if the actions are all futile or just another piece of manipulation.

The most aggravating aspect to the stories is the continued assertion that the unfolding Alien Armageddon that is described is our own fault, it has been caused by short sighted human greed or straightforward delusion. This would be fine if it were followed up on to a logical conclusion, if the story was in fact a human story, this is consistently undercut by a second thread of external, non-human manipulation. This double thread simply removes reader involvement and investment.

The book suffers from neck-snapping changes in art styles that were not as noticeable when the stories were produced as separate mini-series with time between story arcs and within individual issues. In a single issue the overall narrative does gain momentum of sorts, the very different art styles dissipate it to some extent. Individually the art work is excellent on each story, collectively they squabble a bit and undermine the cohesion of the book. Ultimately very creative and talented teams of writers and artists, letterers and colourists are defeated by flaws in the dramatic superstructure of the on-going story concept.