Aliens: Space Marines review

I've been wanting to do some reviews of material in the franchise for a while and with how much research I've been doing into this series of comics, I thought I'd start with these. Obviously, SPOILER ALERT.

Aliens: Space Marines is a fun little adventure story that follows alternate versions of the characters from the timeless 1986 classic, Aliens. Known as the Space Marines (flashy 90s era Colonial Marines), the characters travel across several planets (and a moon) combating a potential Xenomorph invasion of Earth. These comics came packaged with the Kenner Products Aliens figures and usually told a story relating to the character or Xeno figure that it was packaged with. The comics were written by Dan Jolley, lettered by Dan Nakrosis and edited by Dan Thorsland, with cover art by Joe Phillips (Marine figure comics) and Mark A. Nelson (Alien figure comics). A number of artists provided interior art for the series. Twelve individual comics were created with a further 13th included in Kenner's first Aliens vs. Predator two-figure set.

This is just a placeholder blog at the moment but I will be adding an overall review and a review of each individual comics in the near future (among other reasons, delaying it also saves me having to correct links if the Space Marine Ripley page actually gets made).

Overall Review[]

TBA

Aliens: Desert Storm review[]

Included with the Bishop figure, Desert Storm opens off this series on the desert planet of Tanaka 5 during a routine survey mission by the eponymous Space Marines. We are immediately introduced to this series' gimmick of the DNA reflex when Bishop discovers a deceased scorpion-like creature with a giant hole in its body, we are also immediately exposed to the pure 90s that the character designs are with the Robocop Bishop holding a giant rotary gun as he stands in front of a vehicle reminiscent of those hunter vehicles from The Lost World toy-line, also produced by Kenner several years later.

The very next panel introduces the first Xeno, the Scorpion Alien, looking much redder than its toy counterpart. Apone, looking straight out of some sort of hip-hop video, is captured by the Aliens and taken to the hive with the implication of impregnation. The cast starts to grow as Hicks rolls into the scene to prepare for a rescue mission with Bishop, Hicks probably possess the most logical design of the Marines, though his giant bazooka lets you know that things aren't about to calm down.

In terms of story, Desert Storm doesn't particularly have much to offer, serving more as an introduction to this new universe and to set up the plot for the next mini-comic. As such, on its own, it isn't all that interesting or special. But when combined in unison with the other comics, it serves its purpose as an introductory prologue quite well. It focuses on action rather than the story, which is something you should expect from a series aimed at kids. It is, however, neat to see the swarm of Scorpion Aliens in action alongside the big guns and trucks. As a children's story, I definitely think it is a great start to catch their attention and set the tone.

Aliens: Operation: Rescue review[]

Packaged with the Scorpion Alien figure, Operation: Rescue opens where Desert Storm left off with Bishop and Hicks descending into the hive to rescue Apone. The Scorpion Aliens themselves have notably received a more toy-accurate brown coloration, after the Marines fight the Xenos, they find Apone and save him from a Facehugger. Apone rips himself out of the wall with his cyborg arm and we get our first confusing reference to Acheron, later cleared up by the Operation: Aliens Combat Game and Hicks' Bio-Data card as an entirely different planet. After some more bug-fighting, our heroes stumble upon a nasty surprise, a Scorpion Queen. Cue the next cliff-hanger that this series loves so much, makes you want to buy their next product to see the rest of the story, which is after all the entire point of these comics, to sell toys.

This mini-comic is where the story starts to kick into gear as a complement to the action and not an afterthought. The story this time 'round is much more engaging and interesting, plus it has some stakes with the rescue of Apone, though you'd be a fool to think he has any chance of dying. As a kid's story, there's a 0% chance of ill-fate for any of the characters. Despite this, the comics do manage to incorporate some of the franchise's dark themes with the implications of the Facehugger. The characters themselves are given much more personality and development, which definitely helps the comic in being more enjoyable.

Overall, I'd say that this was a fine follow up and a step in the right direction for the series. I'm sure a child would also be able to get more excited about this story, and it should especially get them hooked with that Queen reveal. Though I'm personally not a fan of the Scorpion Queen concept, even if the design is cool...

Aliens: Hive War review[]

And apparently, the illustrators weren't either as in this issue, the Queen is drawn as a normal Xenomorph Queen. Packaged with Apone's figure, Hive War immediately grabs your attention with the ominous cover art of a giant Queen standing behind the hip-hop Apone who's holding a giant golden grenade that looks like a spiked club out of something like Warhammer.

In this issue, Ripley joins the crew in a rather badass introduction and we get some more Acheron talk. Apone chases after the retreating Queen on his own and blows up the hive with a "mega-grenade". The Marines then have to claw their way to the surface through the rubble, where they namedrop Drake and prepare for the next mission believing Tanaka 5 to be clear of Aliens. That's when we see a single Xenomorph hand raise up out of the rubble and... This plot point goes nowhere in the entire series.

Overall, the story is pretty good, though it is mostly through sheer dialogue and exposition as the Marines chase the fleeing Queen for the majority of the pages. The action that we do see is pretty cool, with Ripley torching Aliens mid-air and the other Marines causing explosions galore. You can see the dialogue and art improving as we progress deeper into the story, though the Scorpion Aliens seem to swap colours quite a bit appearing as both red and grey/black in this issue. The final panel was cool but as I said before, it went nowhere and just got forgotten about. The Zeevan arc also has this same problem.