Dark Horse Announces Aliens: Defiance

[Perfect-Organism]

Lol, you guys just made me facepalm..

[XenoZipper]

Lol, you guys just made me facepalm..

Haha yea I feel like a bit of a dick now. I should have stated I was referring to issue 2 so that's on me. Lost in translation a little That why I was all confused when talk of her suit/helmet came up & I started thinking, wait are we reading the same thing or what? Sorry 420, didn't mean to be a dick about it.

[426Buddy]

lol oops, miscommunication is my superpower I think 

[XenoZipper]

lol it's one of mine too as well as I'm too quick to anger about things. I really need to work on not getting so worked up over silly things.

[Perfect-Organism]

That's it.  Hug it out guys.  I'm getting misty eyed.  No more fighting over comic books.   

[426Buddy]

lol I wasn't even upset, if i came off that way its probably because its hard to convey my emotion or intent sometimes on a touch screen. 

[Perfect-Organism]

Ok, so I reserved my judgments and commentary until the second issue came out.  Straight off the top, I have to say I loved these two books so far.  I read each one 3 times and that virtually never happens these days anymore.  Before i get into some more in depth comments, I would like to qualify my statements.  I've been reading Aliens comics since the first Mark A. Nelson / Mark Verheiden series so I have a very good sense of the progression that happened as the series grew and morphed and ultimately went sideways.  I feel that some of the Fire and Stone comics recaptured a bit of the former glory, but overall they did not have me reading them over and over.  Aliens: Defiance is a series that I can honestly say I will treasure.  I didn't say it after the first issue because I thought maybe that was just a happy accident, but issue two only got better.  So here I go with my comments:

Spoiler

The art is tremendous.  It is all about the details.  Tristan captures every detail in a painstaking way.  I get the feeling that there is probably a map of the locations that are presented in the book, it is that detailed.  The line weight of each illustration is incredibly thin and very consistent.  This makes me think that the images were drawn at a much higher scale and then shrunk down for printing.  It is a common practice.  But in this case, the intricacy carried is quite extraordinary which makes me think these images were drawn extra large originally.  It makes me hope that there will be an oversized volume at some point.  I feel like zooming in will only reveal more amazing detail.  There is an almost Moebius-like quality to the imagery, but it is also very cinematic.

I notice that in the first issue, we have an exploration of a derelict ship.  This has a similar vibe to the very first issue of Aliens by Mark A. Nelson / Mark Verheiden from 30 years ago as that comic basically focused around the same basic premise.  It was handled amazingly well, with that sense of fear and dread as the ship exploration is undertaken.  Issue two echoes this vibe as now we are exploring an empty space station, but the fear and dread are amped up, because it is not a full squad but just 2 characters going in.  You can sense the quietness of the station.  You are literally saying to yourself, Zula, don't go alone.  And then the Alien attack is a really tense moment.  The surprise / frightening element of the series has been brought back with a vengeance.  You feel the danger when you see an Alien again.  I haven't felt that vibe in years from a comic book.

Some people may feel that the pacing is a bit slow, but it literally should be this drawn out and methodical.  The book managed to make a moment last an extra long time.  This will really be appreciated when everything is combined into one volume.

If I could make any constructive criticisms, it would be that perhaps the font used for the word bubbles is a bit large.  If this is ever collected in an oversize volume, those letters will be huge.  Also, I notice that each book lists the creative team in-story.  We even see the ALIENS logo in-story.  How would this be handled in a compiled volume such as a TPB?  Will it be strange to have the credits reappear chapter after chapter in the TPB?  But it would be worse to change the format for the compiled volume I think.  It seems to me that the way this sort of thing is done these days, is to give the credits on the inside cover, which is done here, but then it is repeated in-story.

Another observation is that since the drawings are so super detailed, we literally have the gaps between people's teeth drawn in.  I appreciate the detail but it is unusual to do that in comics.  The net result is that some people look like they are wearing braces or have dirty teeth.  It is common to just leave the teeth as a white area.  Anyway, that's really nitpicking I know.

In terms of format, I question if perhaps it might have made sense to use black frames around the panels instead of the white.  I mean, I love the way things look right now, and it would make no sense to change the look of the series half-way through, but I tried this out on a couple of pages and I think the black framing looks stunning, giving an even darker and more cinematic quality to the pages.  Check out the black page images for yourself.

[close]

[SM]

Brian Wood deliberately wrote the credits to be presented 'filmicly' in the body of the comic.  As each one reveals the title of the issue 'Derelict', 'Kinetic' etc. it wouldn't surprise me if they were maintained in the trade.  Deadliest Of The Species had chapter titles in the comic body too, so however that was done as a trade might give an indication how it would be done here.

[Perfect-Organism]

Brian Wood deliberately wrote the credits to be presented 'filmicly' in the body of the comic.  As each one reveals the title of the issue 'Derelict', 'Kinetic' etc. it wouldn't surprise me if they were maintained in the trade.  Deadliest Of The Species had chapter titles in the comic body too, so however that was done as a trade might give an indication how it would be done here.

I'd be totally fine with it in that case.  It was more of an observation on my part actually.  I just hope they include all of the covers, especially from the variant issues.  Marvel takes care of the fans by doing that religiously, while experience tells me that Dark Horse has has not done this.  I say this as a completist, but I have to say that the cover art pales in comparison to the interior art.  By a long mile.  The cover art is not bad, but it is just so incompatible with the amazing things that are happening inside the book that I find it regrettable that Tristan's art doesn't grace the covers.  I sincerely hope that the TPB will feature Tristan's art on the front, but I have my doubts considering that the cover of Aliens Defiance #1 already appears on Amazon.

[SM]

Tristan isn't doing the whole run.  Riccardo Burchielli is doing issues 3 and 4 with Tristan coming back for issue 5.

[Perfect-Organism]

I was aware that there would be a different artist coming up shortly, but not who it would be specifically.  Any idea what he's known for?

[SM]

DMZ for Vertigo with Brian Wood.

Not familiar with it, but it ran for 72 issues between 2005 and 2012.

[Corporal Hicks]

Brian Wood deliberately wrote the credits to be presented 'filmicly' in the body of the comic.  As each one reveals the title of the issue 'Derelict', 'Kinetic' etc. it wouldn't surprise me if they were maintained in the trade.  Deadliest Of The Species had chapter titles in the comic body too, so however that was done as a trade might give an indication how it would be done here.

I really enjoyed that approach. I think it worked pretty well. I wouldn't expect to see them remove it for the trades either. I seems to me like they're going for a somewhat episodic kind of feel and I think the "title sequel" works well for that feeling so I'd think it'd remain.

Tristan isn't doing the whole run.  Riccardo Burchielli is doing issues 3 and 4 with Tristan coming back for issue 5.

If I remember rightly, I think Tristan said Riccardo's issues were flashbacks to something?

lol I wasn't even upset, if i came off that way its probably because its hard to convey my emotion or intent sometimes on a touch screen. 

The internet. Bringing everyone together and making it hard to read emotions without the use of smileys.   

[SM]

AFAIK they won't be flashbacks.  Be difficult to have two whole issues of Aliens comics sans Aliens.

[Corporal Hicks]

AFAIK they won't be flashbacks.  Be difficult to have two whole issues of Aliens comics sans Aliens.

Thanks guys! Another great artist will be filling in for a flashback story on #3 and #4, but then I'll be back on for the rest, so it's going to be a pretty awesome little package!

There we go! Found it. Perhaps it's not necessarily flashbacks with Zula but related to the Aliens? I've not picked up #2 yet - going after work - but doesn't that introduce us to a new character? Perhaps its to do with her.