Since Disney acquired Fox and all its holdings, Marvel has been teasing Alien comics, and now it’s here — or will be in March. Alien #1 will be written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Empyre: Captain America) with art by Salvador Larroca (Doctor Doom), and Guru eFX. The stories will feature both new and classic characters and concepts from the franchise.
Marvel will be busy exploiting that sweet, sweet Fox IP: according to the PR, Predator comics are also on their way.
The new series spotlights a Weyland-Yutani mercenary named Gabriel Cruz who tries to save his child from a new breed of xenomorphs.
Both Johnson and Larroca are fans of the franchise, it seems, especially Larroca.
“Just as a reader and fan, I was as excited as anyone when I heard the franchise was coming to Marvel, and when they asked me to WRITE THE LAUNCH, I was floored. I’ve been training my whole life for this gig without knowing it,” Johnson said in a statement. “Ever since seeing Ridley Scott’s ALIEN at way too young an age, I’ve been OBSESSED with the xenomorph, the single most iconic representation of terror on film.”
“Drawing this has been like a dream come true, and I am so grateful to be a part of this series!” gushed Larroca. “Ever since I was young, ALIEN has been of my favorite sci-fi horror references, and I never could have expected to have the chance to draw this. ALIEN is a creative reference to a whole generation of artists, and I’m so proud to now be illustrating this series. I hope readers enjoy it as much as I do drawing it! Phillip’s story is going to be a delight for fans of this awesome franchise!”
“I’ve devoured every ALIEN story I could in every medium available and spent a lot of hours in the back of a classroom sketching out ideas for what happened before, after, and in-between the chapters we got to see. Now I have the opportunity to bring my favorite nightmares to life. And with my insanely talented friends at Marvel and some of the greatest artists in comics telling these stories with me, I can promise you: our nightmares will be yours.”
Marvel released a cover by artist InHyuk Lee, above.
Alien, the franchise, began with the 1979 chilling horror thriller in space film directed by Ridley Scott, and continued with the bracing war story Aliens, from James Cameron, before foundering with the studio-meddled Alien 3, directed in soul-crushing fashion by David Fincher, and since then has rampaged on with various Predator team-ups, hard SF tales, and a return to the franchise by Scott, who is said to be working on a new movie even as we speak.
Dark Horse formerly had the license for both Alien and Predator and turned out reliably readable comics for them for decades.
