Aliens: Advent/Terminus is a two-part comic book short story (the first part entitled "Advent" and the second part entitled "Terminus") that was first published by Dark Horse Comics in the anthology series Dark Horse Presents, Vol. 1 #42-43, from July-August 1990. Originally published in black and white, the story was written by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett, illustrated by Guinan, lettered by Willie Schubert, and edited by Randy Stradley. The issues of Dark Horse Presents also featured Aliens cover art by Guinan.
In Dark Horse's Aliens comics line, Aliens: Advent/Terminus was preceded by Aliens: Nightmare Asylum, published concurrently with Aliens: Female War, and was followed by Aliens: Countdown. The non-Dark Horse comic Do Aliens Dream? was also released concurrently, although it is not considered a part of the line.
Publisher's Summary[]
#42: Dark Horse comics premiere anthology presents in this issue the beginning of a two-part Aliens saga, by Heartbreakers co-creator Paul Guinan!
#43: Paul Guinan's all-new Aliens tale of an extraterrestrial treasure hunting expedition concludes as a vengeance-crazed cyborg leads them in a fight for survival.
Plot[]
Advent[]
The group arrive at the Pyramid's treasure chamber.
On an unknown planet, bankrupt playboy and neophyte explorer, Wellington Frick arrives at the site of an Egyptian-style pyramid, intent on uncovering its treasures. Accompanying him is his Synthetic "secretary" Belle, his cyborg bodyguard Emil Zorn and story-hungry freelance reporter Posada.
Exploring deep into the structure's interior, the team are eventually met with a treasure chamber housing three corpses and several eggs. They are suddenly attacked by Xenomorphs, and Belle is destroyed.
Terminus[]
Emil Zorn guns down a Xeno.
Though the group fend off the two remaining attackers, with Frick desiring to claim his fortune and Posada needing her scoop, they reluctantly re-enter the chamber. Frick makes a dash for the treasure whilst Zorn is killed battling a Xeno. Realizing Frick's duplicitous intentions, Posada knocks him unconscious and steals his find, the latter waking up shortly afterwards and being attacked by a Facehugger.
After returning to the ship, Posada is killed by a third Xenomorph that had snuck aboard prior. Meanwhile, a second ship of unfortunates arrives at the foreground of the pyramid.
Characters[]
- Wellington Frick
- Posada
- Emil Zorn
- Belle
Reprint History[]
Dark Horse Comics[]
Advent/Terminus was first reprinted in Germany in the anthology series Predator #5, in September 1991.
The comic was later collected alongside a number of other Aliens stories published in Dark Horse Presents up to that point in the Dark Horse Presents: Aliens trade paperback, released in April 1992. For this release the story was colored by Rachelle Menashe.
In the United Kingdom, both parts of the comic were later reprinted in Aliens magazine, Vol. 1 #17, in June 1992.
The story was was eventually collected again as part of Aliens Omnibus: Volume 3 in March 2008.
The complete comic was released digitally through Dark Horse Digital on April 3, 2013, reusing Kilian Plunkett's cover art from Aliens: Labyrinth #3.
Marvel Comics[]
Following Marvel Comics' acquisition of the rights to Alien comic books, the comic was collected as part of Marvel's Aliens: The Original Years Volume 1 collection, alongside many other early Dark Horse stories. The collection was released in May 2021.
The series was later collected as part of Aliens Epic Collection: The Original Years Vol. 1 in March 2023 alongside other early Dark Horse stories.
Behind the Scenes[]
Aliens: Advent/Terminus was the first Aliens comic from Dark Horse Comics not to be written by Mark Verheiden (not counting Alien: The Illustrated Story, which is an adaptation of the film Alien and is not considered a part of Dark Horse's Aliens line). The influential author had penned all of the preceding original stories published under the Aliens banner, thereby laying the foundations for the long-running comics line that continues to this day.
The basic story of Advent/Terminus would, decades later, end up being somewhat similar to the plot of the 2004 film Alien vs. Predator.
Comics creators Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett were husband and wife. Guinan had also worked as an actor and Bennett would eventually become an editor at Dark Horse Comics, for a time on their Star Wars line. Guinan would go on to become one of the main artists/creators on the sprawling, year-long Aliens: Colonial Marines series that ran from 1993-1994. In fact, amidst almost constant creative-team shake-ups on that faltering series, Guinan was probably the most consistent creator on the book, serving variously as artist, plotter, writer, inker and concept designer.
Trivia[]
- The two part Advent/Terminus story is noteworthy for being the first Aliens comic to shift the focus away from existing movie characters. Thus, in some ways, it can be considered the first true expansion of the Alien franchise beyond the films. It set the tone for using original protagonists unconnected to the movie series, a trend that has been followed by virtually every Alien comic book and novel since.
- The idea of incorporating a pyramid, as described in the two-art comic book short story is remarkably similar to Dan O'Bannon's original concept for Alien, in which Eggs were discovered inside a similar style pyramid, later dubbed the Egg Silo. Similar pyramidic structures that contained an alien threat were also featured in the 2004 feature film Alien vs. Predator, the 2012 feature film Prometheus, the 2020 comic book adaptation Alien: The Original Screenplay, and the 2022 novel Aliens: Vasquez.
Gallery[]
Issue covers[]
Other[]
External Links[]
Profile pages for all versions released on the Dark Horse Comics website: