While Xenomorphs have only been shown to be the ultimate threat to humanity throughout the Alien saga, an all-new series from Marvel Comics suggests that they will soon become the only hope for humankind’s survival.
Marvel is kicking off a new chapter in its ongoing Alien series with Alien #1. The series is helmed by the writer behind the first volume of Marvel’s Alien book, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, and illustrated by Julius Ohta with cover art by Björn Barends.
In a release from Marvel announcing this redefining new volume of the Alien saga, writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson spoke of his excitement to not only continue his work on the series, but also to take Alien in a new direction that is unlike anything fans have seen before:
“Writing Season 1 of Marvel’s Alien was a horror fanboy’s dream come true... And as much as I loved our Season 1, we’re outdoing it in every way in this new series... The series kicks off a chapter called Alien: Icarus, which heightens the action in a similar way to how James Cameron’s 1986’s Aliens did after the original film.”
Alien #1 explores the lives of a colony of Synthetics who have made a life for themselves on a moon settlement far from humanity’s control. However, a company of United System soldiers come to them for help as they are trying to retrieve biotechnology that has the potential to save the dying human race. The only thing standing in the way? A hostile planet, and a horde of Xenomorphs. Given the dangers surrounding it, the humans have little hope of coming out of it alive–so they need the Synthetics to go in and retrieve it for them, a task the Synthetics are seemingly reluctant to undertake, though it sounds like the humans aren’t going to give them much choice in the matter.
This new chapter has the potential to further explore the Synthetics’ own sense of identity and self-worth, an exciting prospect as their perspective has been muddled by their usefulness so much in past stories despite the fact that they are self-aware. Plus, since Xenomorphs don’t register the Synthetics as a threat unless they are being actively attacked by them, the potential plan being carried out by the United Systems is genius while perhaps being morally ambiguous. Their plan doesn’t seem to consider the Alien universe's Synthetics’ safety, indicating that humans still don’t think of Synthetics as anything more than tools they can use–calling into question whether or not humans are worth saving to begin with.
At the moment, it is unclear what the Xenomorphs have that the humans need, or why the humans need it in the first place. What is known, however, is that humanity is hoping to team up with an army of Synthetics–including an original Synthetic character named Freyja who is teased as being unstoppable–to dive head-first into what seems to be a Xenomorph hive and retrieve life-saving biotechnology. This new chapter will be the perfect starting point for new readers and a brutally awesome addition to the established canon for those who have been following this epic Alien saga from the start.
Marvel Comics' Alien #1 will be available in comic shops and digital platforms including the Marvel Comics app on August 10, 2022.
Source: Marvel