CREDIT: Dark Horse
Rating: 3.5/5 – A Weaker Chapter in a Great Series.
By ComicSpectrum senior reviewer Shawn Hoklas.
Aliens: Defiance is a series that keeps getting better as the series goes on. While Dark Horse continues to publish the larger and intertwined saga that combines the Aliens, Predator and Prometheus properties that started in 2014 with “Fire and Stone” and continued with last year’s “Life and Death”, Defiance is completely stand alone. If you’re a fan of any of the Aliens movies, then Defiance is a wonderful series that can be enjoyed all on it’s own with the most limited knowledge of the science fiction franchise. Although the eighth issue of Aliens: Defiance may be one of the weaker issues in the series, it’s still entertaining and moves the overall story forward.
This issue opens up with a dream sequence that although frightening, goes on a bit too long since it’s not “real” and takes away from the main storyline. While it provides a great action scene, it slows down the breakneck pace the book has been on since issue number one. Writer Brian Wood also continues to show how the characters are dealing with the baby xenomorph that was captured and frozen in this series’ previous and arguably best issues. It’s this part of the story that’s most interesting for me and once again shows just how tense Wood can make this story feel with just three main characters all alone, against overwhelming odds as they’re isolated in space. Tony Brescini handles the art in this issue and while I definitely missed the stunning pencils of main artist Tristan Jones, Brescini does a nice job filling in and is especially strong in main character Zula’s flashback sequence.
Despite my not loving this particular issue it’s still a solid installment in what has been a great series, and one that I hope will run for quite some time. If you like the Aliens franchise haven’t read this series yet, I’d encourage you to do so as you can now find the first collected trade. Although this may not be the best single issue, this series has become one of my favorite Aliens stories and that’s saying a lot.
Reviewed by: Shawn Hoklas
(shawn@comicspectrum.com)
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