Template:AlienResurrection Alien Resurrection is a two-issue comic book adaptation of the film of the same name that was published by Dark Horse Comics from October-November 1997. It was written by Jim Vance, based on the original screenplay by Joss Whedon, and was illustrated and inked by Eduardo Risso, colored by Dave Sterwart, lettered by Gary Fields and edited by Philip Amara and David Land, with cover art by Dave McKean.
In the Aliens comics line, Alien Resurrection was preceded by Aliens: Purge, was published concurrently with Aliens: Alchemy, and was followed Aliens: Kidnapped.
Publisher's Summary
#1: Two hundred years ago, Ellen Ripley died in a blazing inferno. But the government has need of her again. So they've rebuilt her. And now she's going to be tested against a hive of Aliens.
#2: As horrific as the Aliens are, nothing will prepare you for the newest Alien hybrid...and the truth about the reappearance of Ripley! Adapting the multimillion-dollar film.
Differences from the Film
The comic presents a much-compressed version of the story — several dialogue scenes are removed, shortened or combined to fit the story into a two-issue comic book. Despite this, a handful (but not all) of the scenes added to the extended Special Edition of the movie are added.
- The USM Auriga is labelled the USS Auriga in the comic.
- Dr. Wren wears prominent bug-eyed glasses/goggles throughout the comic.
- After the Chestburster is removed from Ripley 8, she awakes and breaks Dr. Sprague's arm as he attempts to close her incision. This scene is in the Special Edition of the film.
- The picture test scene with Dr. Williamson is absent. In fact, Williamson does not appear in the comic at all. Due to this scene being removed, General Perez now discusses terminating Ripley 8 if she causes trouble while observing her resting in her cell.
- Immediately after Ripley 8 is shocked by Calabrese for attacking Wren, the doctor mentions that Weyland-Yutani were bought out by Walmart. This dialogue is included in the Special Edition, but occurs later, while Wren and Ripley 8 are talking in the mess hall (a scene that does not happen in the comic).
- The scenes introducing us to the crew of the Betty are all absent for the comic — the ship simply arrives, and we first meet the crew as they disembark aboard the Auriga.
- Ripley 8's acidic blood is green in color, like the Xenomorphs.
- Wren and the other scientists appear to be aware ahead of time that the Queen will adopt a secondary reproductive cycle, with Dr. Gediman claiming this cycle is due "right on schedule". In the film, the cycle is an unexpected mutation.
- Following the Cloned Xenomorphs' escape, the Betty crew find bodies all over the ship, whereas it is eerily deserted in the film.
- A humorous addition has Ripley 8 ask why Father continues to address the ship when he supposedly thinks it has been evacuated. In the film, Father, instead mentions that the ship's evacuation is incomplete (evidently aware of the small band of survivors still on board).
- Ripley 7 has a swollen, fleshy, Xenomorph-like head in the comic, as opposed to looking like Ripley herself.
- Ripley 8 shoots up the clone lab with a Shockrifle instead of incinerating it with a flamethrower.
- The underwater ambush scene is a lot shorter in the comic — Johner does not kill one of the Xenomorphs with his grenade launcher, and the creatures have not set the trap with the membrane and the cluster of Eggs. Instead, the survivors simply flee as soon as they see the creatures coming and start climbing the lift shaft. Hillard is not taken underwater as in the film, but actually makes it out and onto the ladder before one of the creatures grabs her ankle and pulls her back under the surface.
- When Ripley 8 is captured and taken to the Hive, she is cocooned to the wall alongside Gediman instead of simply being left lying on the floor to one side.
- The Queen's live pregnancy is located in her midriff in the comic, giving her the appearance of a pregnant human woman; in the film, she instead has a distended, insect-like abdomen.
- After killing the Queen, the Newborn begins to eat her. This also happens in the film's novelization.
- At the end of the comic, the Betty lands in the snow near a city on Earth. The Betty also touches down on Earth in the Special Edition, but it lands in a desert and the nearby city is a destroyed Paris.
Reprint History
Alien Resurrection has never been collected or reissued.
Behind the Scenes
United Kingdom-based artist and comics creator Dave McKean is well known for his years of work as cover artist on the much-acclaimed Sandman series for DC/Vertigo Comics.
Fan-favorite Argentinian artist Eduardo Risso would also go on to illustrate the one-shot story Aliens: Wraith the following year. Risso also came to fame working on a DC/Vertigo book, in his case as artist of the critically and commercially successful crime/political noir series 100 Bullets for its entire 100-issue run.
The Big Deletion
- Main article: The Big Deletion
The only other comics set in the 24th century-era of Alien Resurrection have been Alien vs. Predator: Thrill of the Hunt and its sequel Alien vs. Predator: Civilized Beasts (not counting the non-canon crossover comic Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator). Among other things, Thrill of the Hunt and Civilized Beasts attempt, in part, to explain away certain inconsistencies between Alien Resurrection and the rest of the Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator comics lines from Dark Horse Comics — specifically, why the characters in Resurrection apparently have no recollection of previous encounters with the Xenomorph species after the events of Alien3, in particular their wholesale invasion of Earth as seen in Aliens: Book One.
The reason presented for this huge gap in knowledge is a massive computer virus event occurred known as "The Big Deletion", which lead to a loss of most human space colonies and much of the recorded information about human history in the intervening years. It also lead to a species-wide distrust and outlawing of synthetics, who were the carriers of the virus, tying into the outlawing of androids as mentioned in Alien Resurrection.
Gallery
Issue covers
See Also
- Aliens (comics line) — The long-running line of Aliens comics by Dark Horse Comics.
- Alien Resurrection — The 1997 film.
- Alien Resurrection (novel) — The novelization of the film by A. C. Crispin.
External Links
Profile on Dark Horse Comics' website, including a preview of the first few pages of issue #1.