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Classic Comic Compendium: ALIENS – DEAD ORBIT

James Stokoe's take on Aliens is damn entertaining.

09/23/2024 11:00 am

Towards the tail end of Dark Horse holding the Aliens license, they released a number of limited series that played loose with continuity. A pair of them were expressly outside of the comics or movie canon, adapting the original Alien screenplay and then William Gibson’s take on Alien 3.

Another pair were visions of largely singular creators, telling stories that weren’t necessarily outside of continuity, but stood on their own without relying on what had been built up. Both in some ways doing a spin on the established formula of the films. Gabriel Hardman’s Aliens: Dust to Dust with Rain Beredo and Michael Heisler, for instance, plays out in a way that almost feels like a bridge between Alien and Aliens. A story reminiscent of what I’d imagine what the colonists of Hadley’s Hope went through.

And the other felt like a new riff on the original Alien narrative.

“Everyone’s ass in on the line now. Crack those logs and find out where they’ve been. Now.”

Aliens – Dead Orbit by James Stokoe takes us to a Weyland-Yutani way station as an unresponsive freighter crosses their path. Investigating the ship, they find three people in cryostasis. Bringing them back to the station, wacky Xenomorph hijinks ensue.

In some ways, Stokoe’s tale grounds the story even more that the original Alien. The crew of the way station are still blue collar workers operating a fuel depot, but the derelict vessel here is from the fringes of human colonization. Despite being set in space, it normalizes the terror of the unknown more by making humanity the vector for infection. It’s a slight mental shift that gives the familiar story a different twist. And it plays out in different ways as the station is overrun by two Xenomorphs.

Stokoe’s artwork is incredible. It goes a long way into making this story so compelling. His style is ridiculously detailed, reminiscent of the work of Geof Darrow and Katsuhiro Otomo. You can just sit and stare at the gorgeous imagery of the station and the aliens, before getting thrust into some great action sequences. His hand lettering and effects enhance that action manga feel to the story.

“Never shoulda’ gone on that ship…”

I think a lot of space horror tends to fall along the lines of retelling the Alien story, whether intentionally setting out to do so or not. Coming across a thing that should not be while you’re all alone in the dark feels like one of those innate fears in humanity, regardless of whether you’re familiar with Ridley Scott and Dan O’Bannon’s tale. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to retell and revisit the story in any permutation. It only matters whether the execution is entertaining.

Aliens – Dead Orbit from Stokoe is damned entertaining. It captures the claustrophobic terror of being trapped in space with a perfect killing machine and adds a ticking time bomb of explosive decompression. No small obstacle.