This year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of James Cameron's Aliens and it's an exciting time for the sci-fi movie franchise that begin with Ridley Scott's original Alien. Scott's already at work on another series installment tiled Alien: Covenant for 2017 release but there's much more than that to look forward to.

Alien and Aliens are returning to select theaters in major cities across the nation on April 26th which is now known as ALIEN DAY, and for comics readers like ourselves, a brand new ongoing series from Dark Horse Comics tiled Aliens: Defiance launches at the end of the month as well. And we have a first exclusive look at one of the beautiful variant covers for issue #1!

On April 27, 2016, Dark Horse Comics is launching a riveting new ALIENS ongoing comic book series, just in time to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Aliens film. The two issues of ALIENS: DEFIANCE will be written by NEW YORK TIMES bestselling writer Brian Wood (THE MASSIVE; REBELS), illustrated by rising star Tristan Jones (MAD MAX: FURY ROAD; TMNT) and colored by Dan Jackson (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) with bestselling artist Riccardo Burchielli (DMZ) illustrating issues three and four. Acclaimed cover artist Massimo Carnevale (Y THE LAST MAN) will provide stunning covers for the series’ first storyline.

ALIENS: DEFIANCE charts the dangerous journey of Colonial Marine Private First Class Zula Hendricks, who goes AWOL to protect Earth from an unknown alien species that’s been discovered on on a derelict hauler. Accompanied by Weyland-Yutani synthetics, HENDRICKS must battle demons from her past while fighting for her life.

And here's our exclusive look at the Fried Pie variant cover of Aliens: Defiance #1 which can be pre-ordered here.

And for a look at the comic's interior art and panels, here are four pages from Aliens: Defiance issue #1.

Battling demons from her past while fighting for her life, Colonial Marine Private First Class Zula Hendricks, in the company of Weyland-Yutani synthetics, is forced to question her strength and loyalty when the discovery of an insidious alien species on a derelict hauler sends her on a dangerous journey across the stars.

And comic readers, there's more. Dark Horse comics also previously announced that they're re-releasing the original Aliens sequel comic series that launched in 1988 with art by Mark A. Nelson and a script by Mark Verheiden (The Mask, Timecop, Battlestar Galactica, Daredevil). It's getting an oversized hardcover collector’s edition featuring 184 pages of original black-and-white art. Aliens 30th Anniversary: The Original Comics Series releases April 26, 2016.

Aliens: Defiance launches April 27, 2016. For more info, and pre-order details, go here.