Free Comic Inside> The Rest Of Aliens: Space Marines part 1

Everytime I consider ending the site, usually after a readership drop, something comes up that reminds me why I keep going. I have learned the most interesting things since starting the Sing Me A Story article series for example. Sometimes I even learn interesting things about stuff I’m not normally interested. Take the sci-horror Alien series. You know what I just learned?

The character of Colonel Hicks also survived the second movie in the Alien franchise, Aliens only to die offscreen in the next movie, Alien ³, in a text report about his stasis pod failing and getting impaled. Possibly because the actor, Michael Bien didn’t want to die to a chestburster and they said “screw you, die in a lame manner”, but that’s a guess on my part. Also, Bien wasn’t the first actor chosen to play Hicks, and was a last-minute replacement when the chosen actor was found on drugs two weeks into filming. Bien is also Reese from The Terminator so this dude has a habit of playing heroes who die. Poor guy.

Meanwhile, Hicks being dead messed with various Dark Horse stories that expected one of the survivors of the second film to not suddenly die out of some strange insistence that Ripley be the only not-dead person at the start the next movie in the series except for the time she died and was cloned. So in reprints of adventures that Hicks appeared in very much alive the character was renamed “David Wilks”. What does that have to do with minicomics?

For those of you who haven’t figure it out, we’re back to the minicomics connected to the Aliens: Space Marines toyline, or as I like to call it during today’s research “not @#$%$#% COLONIAL Marines, SPACE Marines! That’s a different comic you stupid search engine!” This one came with the Colonel Hicks action figure, so no love for you Wilks fans. Apparently the minicomics exist in some alternate timeline given how many other characters aren’t dead despite being so at the time the toyline came out. After all, you need more than one human, especially a girl in a boys line, to fight the various types of xenomorph. So let’s check out another installment of Ripley And Her Not Dead Friends.

This is actually a multi-part story, and do you know how many times I’ve had to rewrite this? Get the Marine, and then get the xenomorph introduced, rinse and repeat. Every time I think we’ve reached the final issue, the story gets continued. Considering how short they are, that’s hardly the bargain it sounds. I finally got to #8 before I stopped. I guess the comic story isn’t the only thing that’s going to be a multi-parter.

“Everytime I go to clean this thing…”

Aliens: Space Marines #6

Dark Horse Comics/Kenner (1993)

PACKAGED WITH: Corporal Hicks

“Showdown”

ARTISTS: Brandon McKinney & Karl Kesel

COVER ART: Joe Phillips

EDITOR: Michael Thorsland

No writer  or letterer credit given in the scanned page, but the Aliens Vs Predator fandom wiki credits Dan Jolley as the writer and Dan Nakrosis as the letterer.

We start at the boringly named Earth colony Terraform 3. Sounds properly corporate. Our heroes are taking some R&R. While walking down the street, (name not given and I’m not familiar enough with the movie or toys) notices that each time they’ve come up against a xenomorph lately they’ve gotten more powerful and deadly. It might have something to do with all the form changes. I don’t know the franchise well, like not knowing if xenomorphs really are called “bugs” as a term or if someone watched Starship Troopers recently and got confused, but at least in this series, when a xenomorph form in the victim of the facehugger it takes on characteristics of that species. This makes human-formed xenomorphs bipedal while coming out of a dog would make them a quadruped and I guess with a stronger sense of smell. This does allow them to be a more serious or at least far different threat each time as well as sell more alien action figures.

Of course, if they had a restful R&R there wouldn’t be a story, at least in this series. A farmer comes into town talking about some strange creature in with his cows, and its chasing him. Bishop, the robot, also makes a joke. Apparently he’s just learning humor. The new xenomorph is formed from a bull, and Hicks tries shooting in the head with a missile. It doesn’t work but another shot sets the truck on fire by blowing it up, and our heroes learn the bull alien doesn’t like heat. That means Ripley’s supposed favorite toy, the flamethrower, is the key to victory.

He’s looking for a good china shop to run around in.

Aliens: Space Marines #7

Dark Horse Comics/Kenner (1996)

“Stampede”

PACKAGED WITH: Bull Alien

ARTISTS: William Knapp & Robert Campanella

COVER ART: Mark Nelson

EDITOR: Michael Thorsland

Again, no writer and letterer listed, but the AVP wiki gives Jolley and Nakrosis the same credits.

Ripley takes over the narration from Hicks, possibly because this is no longer his comic and the bull alien can’t talk. Since the previous comic, the Marines sent out a warning to all the other farms, and visit the one that doesn’t answer. Drake isn’t as convinced as Bishop that it’s a problem, that the farmers could have just left for some reason. I’m guessing he’s not the brains of the operation because Bishop, the android who is now a warrior android, is proven right. There are a bunch of bull aliens here. The team breaks out the flamethrower and Drake breaks out the ego. Guess which works better. The bulls are in retreat and the team goes after them. Ripley finds the nest hidden in a stable, and our fivesome prepares to head in, but not before posting for the end of the comic.

It only took eight minicomics to put the movie’s human star at the front of the story.

Aliens: Space Marines #8

Dark Horse Comics/Kenner (1996)

“Fireball”

PACKAGED WITH: Ripley, now a lieutenant instead of “victim”

ARTIST: David Johnson

COVER ART: Joe Philips

EDITOR: Michael Thorsland

Jolley and Narkosis still aren’t getting any credit for being in this comic. I’m just assuming the wiki as of this writing is correct.

Ripley’s still narrating and Drake is singing a bull alien parody of “Buffalo Women”, a song every kid in the 1990s was well aware of so of course the guy who grew up in a prison colony totally heard that song in the 20whatevers. Ripley, Hicks, white guy I don’t know, and black guy who somehow survives the horror story go in, possibly to escape Drake’s singing as he covers them. Bishop doesn’t get to be so lucky.

Inside, Ripley finds a power loader because of course she does. That’s her big scene from the second movie after all. We have to homage it to death somehow, and since this came with her action figure now’s as good a time as any. The xenomorphs move in, but the stable’s fire suppression system, and that’s one big stable by the way, puts out the fire before they can do anything. Everyone except Ripley gets out of there, because of course she had to fight the queen with the power loader. It’s all she’s known for, after all.

The bottom of the page says “continued…in your dreams”, but that’s because they didn’t know a second series was coming out. When it did, issue #9 would continue the story…and guess what the host I’ve been using is lacking. Finding this comic is near to impossible as scans seem to either be rare or buried thanks to the similarly named Dark Horse series Aliens: Colonial Marines.

It seems like this story doesn’t want to end and there’s still a few more issues to go. So I’ll save the rest for next week. Join me in a Free Comic Inside rarity–a two-part article. Hopefully by then I can somehow find a scan for some of the issue the guy I’ve been using is missing. If not, this is going to be a challenge.