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Aliens: Survival is a three-issue limited comic book series that was first published by Dark Horse Comics from February-April 1998. It was written by James Vance, illustrated by Guy Davis, colored by Perry McNamee, lettered by Gary Fields, and edited by Ian Stude and Philip Amara, with cover art by Tony Harris.
In the Aliens comics line, Aliens: Survival was preceded by Aliens: Alchemy, was published concurrently with Aliens: Kidnapped and Aliens: Tourist Season, and was followed Aliens: Glass Corridor.
Publisher's Summary[]
#1: Thompson, a geological surveyor on a remote planet, has the perfect life. A loving wife, a son in little league, even a pesky neighbor. The only problem is, Thompson's life may be all a dream. The reality may be that he's trapped underground in an escape pod with hours to live. And, creatures with claws and acid blood are pounding on the door...
#2: While trying to cope with a mysterious epidemic, the scientific expedition is nearly wiped out by a series of horrific encounters with the Aliens — and Thompson tries to keep a grip on his sanity in an underground sanctuary.
#3: Surveyor Thompson was sure he had destroyed the Aliens. But when the vile creatures start sprouting human chestbursters, he gets the distinct feeling that he's hallucinating... again. Trapped in an underground escape pod, he recollects his crew's fatal meeting with the Aliens, and finally deduces the Company's plot against them. But just because Thompson's trapped, doesn't mean he's helpless. He's devised a plan to avenge his colleagues and implicate the Company, even if it costs him his life.
Plot[]
Trapped inside of an Escape Survival Unit buried deep beneath the surface of Sargon IV, a sick and hallucinating Victor Thompson recounts the disastrous chain of events that led to his ultimate demise.
When geologists Regina and Victor Thompson were given the opportunity to survey Sargon IV, a remote planet they believed would yield new xenoarchaeological discoveries, they followed all Company procedures to ensure a healthy introduction to the distant world. This included receiving a number of vaccines, administered by Dr. Makala, to make sure they, and their son Charlie, were be able to combat foreign diseases like Rigelian fever, while acclimating to each new world they visited.
Upon their arrival, a geological survey immediately uncovered an artificial cavern on the planet's surface. Meanwhile, many of the crew started to fall ill with symptoms that were initially written off as common reactions to planetfall. When the scientific expedition returned to study the mysterious cavern, they were ambushed by a hoard of deadly Xenomorphs. Victor and Charlie made their escape in a Daihotai Tractor along with Sergeant Tory, Frank Forrest, and Mal Lumumba, who drove them back to the shuttle where Dr. Makala had set up a triage center as the minor onset of illness quickly progressed into a full-blown epidemic.
Aboard the shuttle, Tory pulled Victor aside to tell him she believed the Company knew what their team was being sent into, but before she could finish her thought, Victor stormed off and made his way back to the colony where he found his wife, Regina, experiencing stomach aches while Charlie had come down with a fever. Not a moment sooner, Lumumba barged into their cabin to recruit Victor for a rescue operation. It turned out a number of their crew had been taken by the Aliens into a hive and Lumumba wanted their bodies recovered before they left Sargon IV. Before Victor had a chance to think it over, a horde of Xenomorphs overran their colony and carried Regina away to their hive, leaving Victor no choice but to volunteer for Lumumba's rescue operation.
While the rescue team was preparing for their mission, Lumumba forced Dr. Makala to divulge everything he knew about their current situation. Makala then went on to reveal that the Company had already known about the hive on Sargon IV, which is what made it the perfect location to test a new and experimental chemical vaccine that promised to save humans by making them seem like non-viable subjects for Xenomorph reproduction. Armed with high powered weapons, the rescue team stormed the Alien hive by force, shooting and killing a number of Xenomorphs, where a number of men were killed in the process. There, Victor found Regina cocooned alive next to a number of eggs. When Victor finally cut her free, a chestburster broke through her sternum, killing her instantly, and left Victor running for his life back to the shuttle where he watched one of the creatures kill Charlie with a vicious headbite.
In a fit of rage, Victor confronted Dr. Makala, and shot him in the shoulder before an Alien finished him off. Panicked and afraid, Victor sealed himself into an escape pod before he ejected it from the main shuttle, only to come crashing back down toward the surface and into the cavern. Buried and alone, Victor, who was sick and hallucinating, started to wonder if everything he remembered about his time on Sargon IV was real or just a side-effect of the experimental vaccine he was given, and while he may not be able to take control his own mind for too much longer, he decided to take control of his fate and forced the escape pods propulsion unit into meltdown until he and it were vaporized in a nuclear explosion.
Back in a lab somewhere unknown, two scientists for the Company prepared to test a new combination of chemicals for their vaccine while they got ready to incinerate jars with the Thompson's names written on them.
Reprint History[]
Dark Horse Comics[]
Aliens: Survival was eventually collected as part of Aliens Omnibus: Volume 5 in October 2008.
The complete comic was released digitally through Dark Horse Digital on June 5, 2013, reusing Tony Harris' cover art from issue 2.
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[]
Cover artist Tony Harris came to critical acclaim and commercial success as artist of the popular 1990s DC Comics series Starman, which updated and continued the story of one of the company's original super heroes from the 1940s. It was heralded as a trendsetting series that helped bring more serious, adult themes to the world of mainstream super hero comics.
Trivia[]
- The cover artwork from the three issues of Aliens: Survival form one complete image when placed side by side. A similar feature is present with the covers for Predator: Cold War and Aliens vs. Predator: Duel.
- When placed side by side, the cover artwork for issues 2 and 3 show a squad of Marines pulling Victor from an Alien infested vessel, which does not occur anywhere throughout the original story within.
- While no companies or corporations are specifically named throughout the comic, characters repeatedly mention "the Company," a common moniker used when speaking about Weyland-Yutani.
Gallery[]
Issue covers[]
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