Alien: Isolation (comic)

Template:AlienIsolation

Alien: Isolation
Written by	Dan Abnett Dion Lay
Inked by	Henry Flint
Colored by	Carlos Badilla
Lettered by	Nate Piekos
Cover(s) by	Henry Flint
Edited by	Daniel Chabon
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Release date(s)	July 2014
Pages	22
Chronology
Preceded by	Aliens: Inhuman Condition
Followed by	Aliens: Field Report Aliens: Fire and Stone

Alien: Isolation is a one-shot comic book published by Dark Horse Comics in July 2014 that serves as a tie-in to the video game of the same name. Created as a collaboration between Dark Horse, SEGA and Creative Assembly, it was written by Dan Abnett and Dion Lay (both of whom worked on the game), illustrated and inked by Henry Flint, colored by Carlos Badilla, lettered by Nate Piekos and edited by Daniel Chabon, with cover art by Flint. It acts as a prequel to the game and chronicles several intertwining stories that occur aboard Sevastopol Station before Amanda Ripley's arrival.

Much like the 2012 comic Aliens: Colonial Marines - No Man Left Behind, Alien: Isolation was initially given away for free exclusively at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, from Alien: Isolation's booth (Future US booth; #241), PAX Prime 2014 and London EGX 2014. A digital copy was also offered with certain pre-order editions of the game.

In the Aliens comics line, Alien: Isolation was preceded by Aliens: Inhuman Condition, and was followed by Aliens: Field Report and Aliens: Fire and Stone.

Plot

Prologue

The story begins aboard Sevastopol Station, in orbit above KG-348, which is now completely deserted and under lockdown due to civil unrest and the Alien's presence. Apollo, the station's mainframe, requests a status report from the Seegson synthetics. Seegson Working Joe 937, designation "Chuck", reports in via a wall-mounted interface, saying he is en route to a task in habitation. Apollo asks Chuck to elaborate, and Chuck explains that he has "received multiple notifications of civilian trespass and vandalism on Seegson property. Since the incident, there has been a marked increase in civil disobedience." Apollo also asks for an assessment of the Colonial Marshals' capability to contain the unrest. Chuck responds by stating that it's poor and "Marshal Waits has a drastically reduced force under his command."

"Pins"

The second story focuses on Waits, leader of Sevastopol's Colonial Marshal Bureau looking at his map and placing pins on locations where the Alien claimed its victims, including most of his own men. Six hours ago, Waits and his team were hunting the Alien in the station's engineering section, coming across two dead bodies and a locked door. One of Waits' men, Turner, begins to question their mission, thinking that it is a "fool's errand" as they don't known anything about the Alien or know if their weapons will be effective against it. Waits responds by asking Turner if he wants to just run off like Ross. As one of Waits' men, Garcia, unlocks the door, the Alien suddenly appears from the doorway and kills him. One of Waits' men, Harris, tries to kill it, but is instantly killed when he is impaled by the Alien's tail. Using their firearms, Waits and Turner are able to force back the Alien and lock the door. However, the Alien climbs through the vents and kills Turner, leaving Waits as the sole survivor. Back in the present time, Waits arms himself and leaves his office.

"A Decent Man"

The third story focuses on Clark, a frightened civilian who describes himself to be a "good and decent man". While roaming through Sevastopol's empty halls, he recalls how the large megacorporations have caused several businesses, including his own, to close down, resulting in his wife and kids leaving him behind. Regardless, he is glad that they left the station. As Clark hears incoming footsteps from the halls, he panics and backs himself against the wall. Fearing death at the hands of the Alien, Clark considers taking his own life with his two remaining bullets, but changes his mind at the last minute and instead to shoot whatever is coming. He fires and realizes that he has shot Ross, a human. Clark regrets what he did, stating that he didn't mean to kill anyone and that it was an accident. Assuming Ross is dead, Clark decides to take the Ross's weapons and move forward. As Clark is about to leave, he hears Ross crying for help. However, the Alien suddenly appears from behind Ross. Clark leaves Ross behind and escapes via elevator, leaving Ross to be killed by the Alien. Meanwhile, Chuck has located the civilian trespasser who is revealed to be Clark and prepares to confront him.

"A Warm Place"

The fourth story focuses on Meeks, who finds himself in the Sevastopol's hospital, now abandoned and turned into a Hive, having no idea how he got there. Experiencing memory loss and headache, Meeks became nauseated, causing him to vomit. He then sees in front of him an egg-like object followed by a creature that emerges out of it. Meeks runs off, encountering the Alien, Working Joes, and numerous apparitions while hearing a familiar sound along the way. Meeks keeps on running, only to see a silhouette of the derelict ship. Awakened by an alarm clock, Meeks suddenly awakens and finds himself in a bedroom. A female figure appears and asks Meeks if he had a bad dream; Meeks tells her that he had a nightmare that felt so real. Seeking comfort, Meeks hugs the female figure who is revealed to be another apparition, the alarm clock then shows the word "ANESIDORA". It is revealed that the events that just occurred are just a nightmare, while in reality he is currently in a hospital bed with a Facehugger latched onto his face.

Epilogue

As the elevator opens, Clark is confronted by Chuck, who tells him that he shouldn't be here and then proceeds to strangle him to death. After dealing with Clark, Chuck reports back to Apollo, only to encounter Waits. Chuck tells Waits that he shouldn't be here, only for Waits to shoot Chuck, destroying the synthetic. Waits then walks away, saying to himself, "Damn androids."

Characters

• Chuck
• Apollo
• Waits
• Drone (Sevastopol)
• Turner
• Garcia
• Harris
• Clark
• Ross
• Meeks

Reprint History

Alien: Isolation has never been collected, although it was made available for download at no cost from Alien: Isolation's official website as part of Creative Assembly's "Alien: Isolation Advent Calendar" promotion that ran across December 2014. However, the download was taken down a few days after the promotion ended.

Behind the Scenes

Writers Dan Abnett and Dion Lay shot to fame among Alien franchise fans for their work on the highly-praised video game on which the comic is based, which they co-wrote with Will Porter and Rob Yescombe. Abnett would subsequently be chosen by Dark Horse Comics to serve as lead writer on the Life and Death comic book crossover event, writing series for each of the Aliens, Predator, Aliens vs. Predator and Prometheus lines.

Artist Henry Flint is a seasoned Judge Dredd artist, and worked on the crossover series Judge Dredd versus Aliens: Incubus. He also co-created the popular series Zombo.

Trivia

• Like the 2012 comic Aliens: Colonial Marines - No Man Left Behind, Alien Isolation was given away at San Diego Comic-Con to promote an upcoming game of the same name.

Goofs

• The Working Joes depicted in the comic have visible pupils in their eyes instead of LED lights. Their mouths are also shut instead of slightly open as in the game.

• Marshal Waits has close-cropped black hair in the comic, contrary to his appearance in the game, where his hair is longer and snowy white in color.

Gallery

3 copies of the comic.

Artist Henry Flint signing comics at Comic-Con.

See also

• Aliens: Colonial Marines - No Man Left Behind