Dark Horse have today announced a new Aliens comic series at the New York Comic-Con due for release in April 2016. Titled Aliens: Defiance, the action/survivor/horror comic is set between the first two Alien movies and follows an injured Colonial Marine called Zula Hendricks who fights the xenomorphs. It will be written by Brian Wood with art by Tristan Jones and the story will involve Weyland-Yutani dispatching a team of Synthetics to investigate a floating derelict freighter. Zula is the main representative of the Colonial Marines and the team soon discovers xenomorphs on the spacecraft. You can read an interview with the writer and artist over on Newsarama.com where they reveal lots of details about the series. Here’s the cover art from artist Massimo Carnivale:
Wood goes on to say there will be a cameo appearance from Amanda Ripley from Alien Isolation: “Pretty early on… I would say more or less concurrent with the Alien: Isolation story. We even have a cameo with Amanda Ripley at the start of our story. She and Zula are known to each other. If you want to talk dates, the events of Alien occurred during the in-story year of 2122, with Aliens being 2179. We’re at around 2136 or 37.” Aliens: Defiance is its own story so it won’t be tied to other franchises like the recent Fire & Stone series. Look out for the Aliens comic in April 2016.
Looks pretty great, got me drooling a bit lol. The aliens look really great, very nice art.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/aliens-defiance-1-dark-horse-comics-2016
They actually did that on an episode of MythBusters recently.
Dynamic Forces has an interview with Brian Wood about Defiance.
http://www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/interviews.html?showinterview=IN02221686345
I love the caption Tristan posted with this one: "Remember those old games where your character could somehow carry an inordinate inventory?"
Also, that guy on the right looks like he's holding the Weyland-Yutani assault rifle from ACM, with a Pulse Rifle grenade launcher strapped to it.
Some more artwork -
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/12733603_1677483952494093_7329605703042263475_n.jpg?oh=e58d27d6e48fa5bfda5e0ba46aab7326&oe=572E2F1A
It's set in the future...
Super cool. Your art continues to amaze, Mr. Jones. I really hope the story will match its quality.
"Would you like to know about Weyland combat protocols?"
I'm glad he's still working, I like his art alot.
Think it got a mention on here somewhere.
Also, just a heads up that issue #2 has been listed for pre-order on TFAW.
http://www.tfaw.com/Comics/Profile/Aliens-Defiance-2___499708?utm_source=darkhorse&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=darkhorse_buy&utm_term=preorder+Aliens%3A+Defiance+%232
Can't say too much, but here's something else to consider about Davis and why he looks the way he does and the purpose he serves... and maybe the name.
That cover art is amazing.
Fair point.
Maybe that's where the spaceship with the xenos on it came from? Probably another group of poor souls that set down on LV-426 for some reason. Maybe that will be the flashback thing in issues 3 and 4? Either way, I'm glad this is coming out so soon!
The solicit for Defiance #2 is up!
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dark-horse-may-2016-solicitations-feature-lobster-johnsons-return-gene-has-mae
Spoiler
The plot they're setting up sounds cool, and has me wondering if this is going to tie into Isolation even more than we thought.
That looks gorgeous. I really can't wait to see more of this! Is it April yet?!
I wonder what they're doing back at Zeta Reticuli?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ca8ZEe7XIAEk1aK.jpg:large
Crew expendable, eh?
Does kinda look like Calpamos et al.
GI Joes...
Im def digging the art and color.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ca8S9TZWIAMc6DE.png
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ca8TRfaW4AAPzGa.png
This looks even more amazing with color! Also, is that Zeta II Reticuli?
I don't think we need to panic about the colouring.
Yeah I was particularly fond of this awesome panel:
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F40.media.tumblr.com%2F40ef660f6b36194965349ea8a3947b5f%2Ftumblr_o1a4w3jCU61qkz6nso10_1280.jpg&hash=eca5ac0c9b0f3b9f49112144ba30a6338948234d
I definitely feel you on the art side, as well. As a mostly traditional artist, I'm sadly just catching up to this decade's technology lol. It's amazing how much time and material you can save, though. No inking and scanning process alone cuts off hours of work.
Thanks for the kind and timely answers, too. It's really cool you're on here talking to us gibbering fans, and I can't wait to pick up this book. I live in the middle of nowhere so a lot of my comics are digital these days, but with art like that, I must have ye' olde paper archive format to hold lovingly in my Dorito-encrusted fingers.
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/12654420_1675111696064652_1238443555058107856_n.jpg?oh=fd568bc2d7332aed97de9d4c769a8c85&oe=572A49BD
You hit the nail on the head. The way I see it, is they'll attack anything that poses a threat, and anything they can harvest. There's some pretty great synth gore in the first issue actually... rather proud of that whole sequence!!
As for the art -- yeah, I'm slow and not quite used to all the tech yet. So it's digital all the way. I rough it out sometimes on a print out of the script in scribbles the size of my thumb, then blow that up and go over it again to flesh out shapes properly then basically "pencil" my art in digital "ink", so the pencilling and inking are the same thing.
Very glad you're excited, and thanks so much for the kind words!
Should be around 2:10 when the alien attacks. There's a slow mo replay after it happens. It's an incredible little animation.
I have never seen that.
One thing I do find very cool is that the alien will take some of the human characters up into the vents instead of just killing them outright.
Except you see some in the game that have been shredded by something. It could only be the Alien. So clearly under some circumstances it will attack them.
Unfortunately not in A:I. The alien doesn't seem to even acknowledge their existence at all in gameplay terms. (Might have been a nice nod if the alien maybe gave them a "Head tilt" ala Jonesy, or knocked them over, or something.)
Lol, indeed, the queen was f**king pissed. Plus in terms of the film, that scene stood out as a play on the chestburster to trick the audience into thinking that Bishop had gotten facehugged for a second.
Was pretty effective, too, until the milk.
https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicsandmemes.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fstraight-outta-memes-003-milk.jpg&hash=5ddac74f8f02e9ebd27661704fd65ec9b0eb1549
You come across a few androids in Isolation that have seemingly been ripped apart by something, if I remember right. Maybe Aliens will attack them if they're in their way.
As for Bishop, I figure the Queen's raging at that point.
Just curious as I'm an artist myself. Hope the comic is going well and I can't wait to check it out.
Oh yeah ps - after browsing your Tumblr blog for a bit, I was reminded that this story features a bunch of USCM combat synthetics. This is interesting, but I wanted to ask how you guys were doing with it from a lore standpoint?
What's interesting is that a lot of the EU has androids not being targeted by the Alien due to their artificial nature. Alien: Isolation also does this, which makes for some very tense gameplay moments. However the only film reference we have to this shows Bishop, a very artificial person, get torn in half by the Queen, implying that Aliens will, in fact, attack synthetics just as they would anything else.
Some of the EU also contradicts this, like in Earth Hive (Book One) where Wilks' team all end up being combat synths. Plenty of them get killed.
I can see this easily being explained by just saying that synths may not be attacked unless they act aggressively or attack the Aliens. Anyway just wanted to know your thoughts on it, if you had any.