ethancf's review
3.0
Solid collection of Alien shorts. I love the universe and its partially the design of the alien itself that makes me attracted to the franchise so having a book full of its art is a good draw. I picked up volume 3 of the Omnibus series only because it features Mignola's Alien story which I'd had a tough time finding.
The first story, Rogue, has very late 80s/early90s comic book art which, despite its horribleness, I love. It's a pretty stock Alien story - evil corporation exploiting the blue collar/military workforce. It does introduce a male alien though, which is very interesting and the short has a lot to say about masculinity. It isn't quite explored enough but it's a good enough story.
Sacrifice is the second story and has really amazing ethereal art. It's also one of the better explorations of the religious themes explored in the franchise. It's quick but is really interesting and maybe the highlight of this volume.
Labyrinth came next and has a pretty fitting title; while the narrative eventually became fairly stock for an Alien story (mad scientist/evil corp, etc) there's a lot of layers to the narrative and some complicated structure here. All it really ends up doing is making the pacing a mess but it's definitely a satisfying read for any gorehound Alien fans.
Salvation was the story I came for - it's Mignola's take on the universe, and really I just came for the art. His rendering of the Alien is truly magnificent. As for the story, it's alright, a little too quick, but he does do a great job of actually combining the corporate and religious themes of the franchise into one - which only makes its short length all the more disappointing. If you follow my movie reviews you might recall that Fincher's inability to actually merge the two themes was my biggest gripe (outside of CGI) about Alien 3, so Mignola's success here is a little bittersweet. Mostly sweet though, because damn that art. His style isn't for everyone but there's nothing else like it.
The last three stories - Advent/Terminus, Reaper, and Horror Show were very quick. Horror Show was very interesting but ultimately too short to explore anything meaningfully. Reaper was bizarre. Advent/Terminus felt...redundant and kinda stale.
Overall worth browsing through for Sacrifice and Salvation - especially if you're interested in all the religious iconography this franchise has featured.
The first story, Rogue, has very late 80s/early90s comic book art which, despite its horribleness, I love. It's a pretty stock Alien story - evil corporation exploiting the blue collar/military workforce. It does introduce a male alien though, which is very interesting and the short has a lot to say about masculinity. It isn't quite explored enough but it's a good enough story.
Sacrifice is the second story and has really amazing ethereal art. It's also one of the better explorations of the religious themes explored in the franchise. It's quick but is really interesting and maybe the highlight of this volume.
Labyrinth came next and has a pretty fitting title; while the narrative eventually became fairly stock for an Alien story (mad scientist/evil corp, etc) there's a lot of layers to the narrative and some complicated structure here. All it really ends up doing is making the pacing a mess but it's definitely a satisfying read for any gorehound Alien fans.
Salvation was the story I came for - it's Mignola's take on the universe, and really I just came for the art. His rendering of the Alien is truly magnificent. As for the story, it's alright, a little too quick, but he does do a great job of actually combining the corporate and religious themes of the franchise into one - which only makes its short length all the more disappointing. If you follow my movie reviews you might recall that Fincher's inability to actually merge the two themes was my biggest gripe (outside of CGI) about Alien 3, so Mignola's success here is a little bittersweet. Mostly sweet though, because damn that art. His style isn't for everyone but there's nothing else like it.
The last three stories - Advent/Terminus, Reaper, and Horror Show were very quick. Horror Show was very interesting but ultimately too short to explore anything meaningfully. Reaper was bizarre. Advent/Terminus felt...redundant and kinda stale.
Overall worth browsing through for Sacrifice and Salvation - especially if you're interested in all the religious iconography this franchise has featured.
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