Marvel’s initial run of Alien comics (following Disney’s acquisition of Fox) has been met with mixed reactions. Rampant fans of the Dark Horse era of Alien comics cite several qualms with Marvel’s approach, such as a curious art style courtesy of Salvador Larroca (X-Men, Iron Man, Star Wars: Darth Vader) which seems to utilizes a digital form of tracing that makes each and every xenomorph look like a stiff, awkwardly posed NECA figure. Still, others praise the introduction of world-expanding concepts such as the “goddess in the dark,” an anthropomorphized alien female who seems to function as a jungian embodiment of the xenomorph collective unconscious. A mysterious entity experienced by Gabriel Cruz and his colonial marine comrades when they succumb to facehugger implantation.
In Marvel’s second six issue story arc, little is done to alter the art style on the aliens themselves (which, while criticized by fans, was quite likely a decision based on polling data that suggests the preferred xeno design type is that of the “Big Chap” from the original Ridley Scott film). Aforementioned art concerns aside, how does return writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s plot hold up? Jane Callan and co. are sure to find out.
To U.A.S. Extrasolar, the moon settlement of Euridice may be little more than their latest terraforming investment, but to the religiously devout colonists who live there, it’s paradise. That’ll swiftly change when an Extrasolar envoy vessel harboring the deadly xenomorph crash-lands on the planet. As Alpha Station is overrun with alien carnage, Callan and her congregation of “Spinners” must make their way to Beta Station and later Gamma Station in their desperate bid for survival. Will they find salvation or will the dogs of perdition descend upon them?
The aptly titled Alien: Revival takes obvious inspirational cues from Vincent Ward’s original Alien 3 script. Ward’s initial plot involved a group of devout monks manning a spherical space station. Similar to Ward’s unfilmed script, there’s a major set piece in a wheat field. Also similar to Ward’s unfilmed script, the cast of zealots view the alien through the lens of their orthodox upbringing, demons sent to punish the wavering believers among them. But the fundamentalist cast that populates Revival are less akin to the Dark Age monks of Ward’s initial draft and more akin to a modern-day Mormon offshoot sect (donning contemporary clothes yet maintaining a limited dependency on technology and keeping little contact with the outside world).
While Jane isn’t as interesting a spiritual leader as, say, Dillan from the theatrical Alien 3, she’s certainly a step above blank slate Oram from Alien: Covenant or Charles “don’t be a skeptic” Holloway from Prometheus. The reveal that the very disease that’s crippling her also happens to give her a unique advantage over the aliens around her staves off what otherwise could have been considered yet another run-of-the-mill Ripley clone (something this franchise is fond of introducing, both figuratively and literally). We the reader get the requisite secret synths sent by the company as well as a new xenomorph variant (in this case an arthropod/facehugger hybrid).
While Johnson’s plot mostly meanders in mediocrity, there’s enough there there to keep continued fan interest with regard to what Marvel may come up with next.
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