Dark Horse has just finished its recent run of Aliens, Predator, Prometheus and Aliens vs Predator Fire and Stone comics. Largely it seems to have sold quite well and been received well by comic critics – with fans it’s been a little bit more mixed.
Randy Stradley, as we should all know as the man responsible for the very first Aliens vs Predator comic, was asked about what was next for Dark Horse now that Fire and Stone had finished its run. He responded with: “We’re working on the next wave. The newly announced Neill Blomkamp film caused a restart.”
Curiously, Tim Lebbon, the author of the upcoming Rage War novel trilogy also commented on the need to go and change some aspects of the first novel of the series, Predator: Incursion, due to Neill Blomkamp’s upcoming Alien 5.
Considering the will-he-wont-he of whether or not Alien 5 will acknowledge of Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection, the implication that these post Alien 3 (post Resurrection in the case of Rage Wars) could be that Alien 5 will not be a straight retcon as has been theorized. Thanks to Ultramorph for the news.
Keep in mind that Elden didn't just touch a drop of the accelerant...Francis injected a large quantity of it into Elden's system.
Perhaps synthetics are more resistant to the accelerant albeit not immune. David would be the most resistant to any sort of change. A human would be highly vulnerable and Elden would be somewhere in between.
Perhaps the accelerant started converting Elden's synthetic mass into organic mass or something like that. I agree that the writers could've done a much better job of explaining things. Mentioning "meat robot" isn't really an adequate explanation.
Aliens starts a week after Aliens and then continues for about 6 months. The other series take place nearly a century or so after Aliens.
Besides River Of Pain the only other thing I've got left to experience between now & P2/A5 is Alien: Isolation. I could get it on PS3 but to space things out I'm waiting until I have a PS4. Also, I want the best possible experience.
I wish Dark Horse would step up it's game to the speed of the 90's releases. I could go for a new book every month.
I don't remember that. What were those things being release to coincide with Prometheus' release again?
I seem to remember feeling like things were being pushed back to arrive closer to Prometheus a few years ago.
Well, that statement could mean anything. I mean... Fire and Stone still takes place in 2179, right? Like.. DURING the events of ALIENS, am I correct in this? If that is the case.. that could remain "safe" and Blomkamp's movie doesn't affect it, assuming that movie is a retcon. And statements make it appear as such..
But Rage War? Lebbon said that little was changed. So we don't know what that could mean but methinks that Rage War is going to be released before Blomkamp's movie, and within that time Alien 3 and Resurrection would still be considered "canon" along with Rage War until Blomkamp's movie is released.. Which would negate that stuff.
And what was even so special about him that his internal fluids would somehow filter the black ooze? It's the primary focus of what the entire series revolves around and they just kind of hand-wave it without any explanation.
Also really strange to see him drawing "hello" on various random posters in the corridors... I remember thinking it was a hint of something which would make sense later. Seems it was just... There. No rhyme or reason.
There are elements I liked about the series, but Elden is a walking schizophrenic WTF.
Also, it's mentioned there are both constructs and synthetics aboard ship. The Working Joe-alikes are termed 'constructs' and the only other machine is Elden. Therefore... Elden = synthetic?
Oh, I completely agree. It should have been more clearly for us.
Besides, I knew as soon as I saw Kelly Sue Deconnick's name attached it was going to be less than stellar. Omega was the most disappointingly written of all. Oh, the Queen is too fat to be a threat & just gets her head lopped off? Talk about anti-climactic & then there's the mountain & signal throwaway.
Therein lies the problem. If you are going to introduce something different, yet similar to existing things, into an "established" universe, you need to do so in a way that allows the reader to learn what that different thing is and how those difference affect the story.
The way it was handled left more questions than answers and, for me at least, gave the feel of them wanting this thing to exist for the purpose of the story, but not knowing how to explain its existence beyond ambiguous references.
There doesn't seem to be any indication of what Elden is, sadly. There's an off-hand "meat robot" reference (which sounds a bit nonsensical), but it seems to be comtradicted by other quotes. Especially with the mechanical crash dummy-like droids also being called 'constructs'.
As for nanotechnology, that should have meant it affected David 8 when he touched it, too. Also still wouldn't explain how Elden's programming was altered. Malfunctoning would have meant he just shut down or became mostly inoperable. It wouldn't make him suddenly develop emotions and a personality.
Also, even if he were a cyborg, like I said, what makes his flesh so superior that his mutation became so sleek and uniform, when it just turns everything else into a chaotic mess?
Elden is part synthetic, part organic
We really don't know how to it operated. It could be some sort of advanced nanotech capable of affecting both organics and non-organics
I don't recall any rain being involved. Wasn't it like a big ole' cloud of sand/dust? I got the impression the crew triggered a primitive trap designed to stop anyone interfering with stuff.
Heh, yes, there was.
Elden is the biggest flaw, though. As I say, they even call those mechanised crash dummy things 'constructs'. There's literally no definition for if there's even meant to be a difference between those and synthetics, much less what it is. Plus, the whole thing of Elden referring to himself as previously being a "dumb robot".
And if he's meant to be 50% organic, why is he still standing up when his spine is vaporised?
There's an off-hand reference to him being termed a "meat robot", but what would even be the point of that? Breeding cloned humans in giant vats with a really basic IQ level? Elden is literally wandering the corridors writing 'hello' on posters on the walls... He's like a child with an adult vocabulary. He's acting like a synthetic (albeit, a slightly demented one). Why create an organic being like that - for incredibly important missions - if you already have access to more conventional - and reprogrammable - androids?
Possibilities:
Elden is organic: Why were the mutations so symmetrical? What made his genetics so superior that the stuff made him a new, streamlined creature, when it just seems to turn everything else into a mess?
Elden is a synthetic: How did the black ooze affect his programming? It's not like it can interface with his CPU and communicate in binary. How did it create flesh where none existed?
Either they should have thought through Elden's character a lot more or given him much less of an impact on the story.
Also just remembered there's an example of the ooze somehow turning an Alien's acid into red blood... Much strangeness!
Could it have been the storm?
The Prometheus crew seemed to trigger a storm on the planet when they changed the Atmosphere in the Ampule room, is it possible that- that actually did terraform the planet?
I gotta admit I did like that big dumb oaf-ish Predator with all the mouth fingers though. He's kinda cute really.
Of course, this is the same logic which appears to think cancer = super-muscles.
I'm just gonna guess it seeped into the ground deep enough to find some dormant seeds or mixed with Earth-born bacteria from the Prometheus crash.
Was it ever confirmed that those earthworms on 223 where indigenous? I'd have to assume there are plenty of organics for them to feed off of if so.
The story is pretty silly when you take Elden into account. I did like his character but it doesn't seem like a synth should be affected & there's a whole lot of movie monster mash up hooey going on. I enjoyed F&S but would have preferred them keep all of the franchises separate.
Still don't understand how Elden got changed, either. There are contradictory references to exactly what a 'construct' is and it's not at all clear they aren't one and the same as synthetics. They even call those crash dummy-like things 'constructs', which were clearly machines and Elden says, "I'm not the dumb robot anymore."
As for the mountain, that was severely anti-climactic. They just hand-waved a big mystery in front of the reader and never bothered to explain it. Even the signal, of apparent human origin, just seemed to be put in there for the heck of it.
Aliens was the most enjoyable read, while I found Prometheus & AvP to have the best art. Prometheus in particular had an interesting way of handling the goo-born wildlife on 223. I especially liked the 'sharks', which looked pretty terrifying.
Predator wasn't bad, but felt very 90's & Galgo's personality caused a shift in tone to something more comical & action oriented.
Prometheus F&S Omega had some great art too but I felt kinda disappointed with the outcome of the story. So the living mountain was supposed to be what had become of the squid-burster? It clearly showed that thing die in the Prometheus film after implanting the Engineer.
This series didn't really play it safe with canon. The next movie is likely to contradict everything they established. Speaking of which, I think I'll be giving Aliens Apocalypse: The Destroying Angels another read soon now that I have all of the Omnibus volumes.
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I'll drink to that!
Personally, I'd take the AVP films over Prometheus any day of the week; at least they tried to be Alien and Predator-related, I have a strong feeling that Prometheus is only using Alien as a launching platform before discarding it entirely comparable to the boosters a space shuttle uses to leave Earth and then discards upon entering the atmosphere.
I agree here. Aliens was definitely separate but Prometheus, AvP and Predator all felt like one long title.
But in general, an over-arching continuity makes a franchise feel more legitimate to me. That's my own opinion though. It doesn't help if its all tripe though. But done and managed right, a big continuity is fun.
I'm with EarthAngel on this. I don't like the idea that everything must be connected in some way.
At some point, a connected world becomes too "populated" and starts leaving more questions than answers.
I'm fine with it if it makes sense for the narrative, but I don't think the writers should have to tie it all together at the expense of a better story.
I really disliked Fire and Stone. It didn't feel like several connected stories. It was one long Prometheus story cut up into parts, guest staring Aliens and Predators, and a couple of those parts didn't fit the title they appeared in. They should have titled the books Prometheus: Aliens and Prometheus: Predator, etc...
It was one of the aspects of Fire and Stone I liked and something I would like to see going forward. Not that I'd be adverse to stand-alones, I just want them properly managed and to have an impact somewhere in the grand scheme of things.
Wasn't it the Prometheus stuff that essentially created the poor walking plot device, which by extension made the AvP action take a back seat in its own title and which reduced the Aliens to little more than a minor threat in their own title?
I couldn't agree more. I'm so hungry for new information on any of the upcoming projects. I'm hoping that Titan at least officially announces Rage War soon. I want to know the broad strokes of what they have planned. Hopefully it involves the Arcturians, or maybe even going back to LV-223.
I get why people are upset about the changes being made, but for me at least, this is looking like a pretty good time to be a fan.
On the Blomkamp side of things, these recent developments at Titan and Dark Horse make me wonder if we will indeed be getting an "interquel" set between the second and third films.
I wouldn't use horrendous to describe it. I don't feel it packed the punch it wanted to, but I wouldn't call it horrendous at all.
Tell me about it! I can't wait to get some actual synopsis. xD