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Aliens: Salvation is a one-shot comic book that was first published by Dark Horse Comics in November 1993. It was written by Dave Gibbons, pencilled by Mike Mignola, inked by Kevin Nowlan, colored by Matt Hollingsworth, lettered by Clem Robins, and edited by Anina Bennett and Ryder Windham, with cover art by Mignola.

In Dark Horse's Aliens comics line, Aliens: Salvation was preceded by Aliens: Backsplash, published concurrently with Aliens: Colonial Marines, Aliens: Earth Angel, Aliens: Crusade, Aliens: Labyrinth and Aliens: Cargo, and was followed by Aliens: Alien and Aliens: Music of the Spears.

Publisher's Summary[]

Selkirk, a God-fearing crewman aboard the space freighter Nova Maru, is forced at gunpoint to abandon ship with his captain. They crash-land on a small planet, but it is soon apparent that they have not entirely escaped the Nova Maru's dreadful cargo. Dave Gibbons' tale is fully realized by artists Mike Mignola and Kevin Nowlan.

Plot[]

After a sudden Xenomorph outbreak aboard the freighter, the Nova Maru, captain Foss holds the crew at gunpoint and forces the religious chef Selkirk to join him. The two enter an escape pod and abandon the ship, leaving the others for dead. The pod subsequently crashes on the desolate planet PCW9512, leaving Selkirk and the increasingly delirious Foss as castaways on a small island.

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Selkirk is forced to kill Foss in self-defence.

At some point Selkirk encountered Foss firing his rifle at a washed up corpse of an Alien. Selkirk excitedly deduced that if the Nova Maru's cargo had reached the beaches, then the Nova Maru must have crashed on the planet too, managing to contact the ships deep-space distress beacon from the escape pod. Foss suddenly opens the hatch and, in a mad state, begins opening fire at Selkirk. After his gun jams, Selkirk tackles him, and kills him by stabbing him in the eye with a screwdriver. With little options for food left, Selkirk regretfully cannibalizes Foss, using pieces of his corpse to cook under a fire.

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Selkirk gears up.

Gathering all remaining supplies and donning Foss' rifle, Selkirk sets out into the jungle wilderness to search for the Nova Maru. Several days pass, with Selkirk slowly losing his sanity. After an indeterminate amount of time, he finally manages to encounter across the ruins of the Maru, and, after passing out and suffering a fever dream, he wakes up to see First Officer Dean, who was sole-survivor of the crash. The two suddenly notices a family of ape-like natives of the planet fleeing from a Xenomorph, who pounces on one and kills it. Though Dean wishes to be discreet, Selkirk suffers from a panic-attack, diverting the creature's attention towards the two. Suddenly, the jungle comes alive and the two are surrounded by Xenos. Forced to retreat whilst firing their weapons at all angles, Dean and Selkirk jump off a waterfall and manage to successfully sway the creatures.

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Selkirk encounters a Xenomorph.

They return to the ruins, where Dean details that the Marus' shuttle was still functionable, and in order for the two to get there, she detonates one of the ships liquid oxygen tanks as a diversion. The two make for the shuttle, but in the chaos, Selkirk loses Dean and begins to panic, before suddenly plummeting into the depths of the ship, encountering a hive and a Queen in the process.

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Dean is revealed to be a synthetic.

Selkirk scoured the wreck of the Maru before finally reaching the shuttle, hoping that Dean had made it inside. To his horror, it is revealed that Dean had survived, but that she was in fact a Synthetic sleeper agent, her mangled torso being what was left of her. Selkirk forces Dean to reveal that she and Foss were assigned by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation to transport Xenomorph cargo to PCW9512 so they could use the indigenous species there as reserve subjects - she only saved Selkirk to nullify the chance of the Maru being claimed as salvage.

Enraged, Selkirk kills Dean and delves into the ship interior, all the while single-handedly holding off the Alien creatures. He accesses and activates the ship's emergency destruct system, which begins counting down. Just before a Xenomorph kills him whilst he prays, the ship explodes, killing him and wiping out all life within the vicinity, denying the company their asset.

Characters[]

Reprint History[]

Dark Horse Comics[]

Aliens: Salvation was first serialized and reprinted in the United Kingdom in 3 parts in Aliens magazine, Vol. 2 #19-21, from January-March 1994.

The comic was later collected along with the story Aliens: Sacrifice in the trade paperback Aliens: Salvation and Sacrifice in March 2001, edited by Chris Warner and with new cover art by Mike Mignola.

Aliens: Salvation was collected again as part of Aliens Omnibus: Volume 3 in March 2008.

The comic was released digitally through Dark Horse Digital on March 27, 2013, reusing Mignola's cover art from the Aliens: Salvation and Sacrifice trade paperback.

Salvation was re-released as a deluxe hardcover edition on September 2, 2015, with new cover art by Mignola.

The comic was to be collected and released again as part of Aliens: The Essential Comics Volume 2, scheduled for release in August 2020, but the collection was cancelled.

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 2 collection, alongside many other early Dark Horse stories. The collection was released in January 2022.

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