Aliens: Border Lines is a comic book short story that was first published by Dark Horse Comics in the anthology series Dark Horse Presents, Vol. 1 #121, in May 1997. Originally published in black and white, the story was written by Darko Macan, illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards, lettered by John Workman, and edited by Bob Schreck and Jamie S. Rich.
In Dark Horse's Aliens comics line, Aliens: Border Lines was preceded by Aliens: Pig, and was followed by Aliens: Special and Aliens: Havoc.
Publisher's Summary[]
Meanwhile, writer Darko Macan (Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron, Grendel Tales: Devils and Deaths) and artist Tommy Lee Edwards (Helix's Gemini Blood, Batman Chronicles) craft an eerie short story of Aliens, where the only things that are clearly black-and-white are the ink and the paper. In "Aliens: Border Lines," a soldier on a far outpost learns what it's like to live in the sort of fear armies inspire. He's come face to face with an Alien, and he's not sure how literal a face-to-face meeting it was.
Reprint History[]
Dark Horse Comics[]
Aliens: Border Lines was eventually collected as part of Aliens Omnibus: Volume 6 in December 2008.
The comic was released digitally through Dark Horse Digital on August 14, 2013, collected with Aliens: 45 Seconds, Aliens: Elder Gods and Aliens: Once in a Lifetime and reusing John Bolton's cover art for the novel Aliens: Labyrinth.
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 3 collection, alongside many other later Dark Horse stories. The collection was released on November 22, 2022.
Behind the Scenes[]
Border Lines is notably one of seven black and white Aliens comics from Dark Horse that have never been reprinted in color, the others being Aliens: Countdown, Aliens: Headhunters, Aliens: 45 Seconds, Aliens: Elder Gods, Aliens: Tourist Season and Aliens: Once in a Lifetime.
Writer Darko Macan also wrote the short Aliens: 45 Seconds for the immediately following Aliens: Special.