Marvel Announces New Anthology Series, Alien: Black, White and Blood

[Still Collating...]

https://twitter.com/ridgetop21/status/1762171432854032522

Have you PSed them to match? They don't look traced to me, just too overtly referenced.

The first one seems to have slightly different arm positions and maybe the body angle is different by a few degrees. The second one seems completely traced, just from the back of the 3D model. That's disappointing But at least good looking, dynamically posed statues are being traced, not clumsily posed, wrongly proportioned figures. If you're gonna trace, trace the best looking, most dynamic stuff out there, so not bad actually...

[SM]

How hard would it be to move an arm or something though?

[RidgeTop]

https://twitter.com/ridgetop21/status/1762171432854032522

Have you PSed them to match? They don't look traced to me, just too overtly referenced.

Just did. See GIF below:

[SM]

Okay, they did move an arm. I stand corrected.

[Still Collating...]

Yeah, it's traced, but it's kinda amusing to me seeing how this is evolving. We now at least have traced good looking statues with some reposing! What a breakthrough.... Maybe in a few years we'll upgrade to no traced Aliens? But maybe that's too hard, it's not like anyone has ever successfully drawn stunning original Aliens...

It'd be funny if we one day see an Alien traced from a still in the films, or from promotional stills of the film Aliens. Why don't they just download the good looking models of Stompy and the Aliens from Fireteam Elite? Do some basic reposing in the software and there you go. Beautiful, consistent Aliens...

[Kradan]

Why don't they just download the good looking models of Stompy and the Aliens from Fireteam Elite? Do some basic reposing in the software and there you go. Beautiful, consistent Aliens...

Too much work

[TilotnyWorshiper28]

Yeah, it's traced, but it's kinda amusing to me seeing how this is evolving. We now at least have traced good looking statues with some reposing! What a breakthrough.... Maybe in a few years we'll upgrade to no traced Aliens? But maybe that's too hard, it's not like anyone has ever successfully drawn stunning original Aliens...

It'd be funny if we one day see an Alien traced from a still in the films, or from promotional stills of the film Aliens. Why don't they just download the good looking models of Stompy and the Aliens from Fireteam Elite? Do some basic reposing in the software and there you go. Beautiful, consistent Aliens...

DEADLINES think of the DEADLINES

[Corporal Hicks]

https://twitter.com/ridgetop21/status/1762171432854032522

Have you PSed them to match? They don't look traced to me, just too overtly referenced.

Just did. See GIF below:

https://i.imgur.com/JkcxdJt.gif

Fair, those outlines are obviously traced. Your GIFs too small for me to tell if the detailing has been too. But honestly, I'm not offended by these. Maybe it's because they actually look decent and fit within the perspective and feel of the panel. Maybe because they're not poses I instantly recognize, but these aren't winding me up like the figure tracing.

[Corporal Hicks]

Just read #2. I'm continuing to enjoy the UPP story and very much enjoying the artwork in this one and eager to see the next part. My only gripe is they used Pulse Rifle looking rifles, and I wish they'd have tried to make something look different for the UPP.


Wasn't a huge fan of the second story, Morsel. I'm not sure I really understood what it was trying to do. As I was going through it it seemed quite standard fare, and then

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the woman gets left along. The dialogue starts talking about her dying, and I wonder if she's already got an illness or something which could have been interesting.

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But then it just ends with no conclusion. We got M4/16 looking weapon too which I was disappointed by.

First Day left me with a smile at the end of it but wasn't too keen on it. I wasn't a big fan of the style of the Aliens to start with, but I loved

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that host tree thing going on.

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Nothing really much to it, or to say about it.

I think the first issue was much stronger over all.

[Mr.Turok]

I was reminded that Alien Black, White, and Blood was a thing and rushed to read both issues to it's current point. I'm super glad that we got a look into the UPP side of things and I hope that means we can touch on other areas too like the Three World Empire, The Independent Core Star Systems, and The Frontier. Feels like that is a mine of untapped potential that has been neglected for decades. It's why I appreciate Fireteam Elite so much, it expanded the entire universe as a real fleshed out universe that had historic events, inventions, conflicts between powers and people.

As for the tracing, at this point expect this to be the norm until the higher ups start paying their artists more and lessen the deadline timing. There is a saying "work smarter, not harder" so if there is an Alien figure that they can use to convey the action and thought of the being without spending so much time, they will do it. 

[SM]

It's very hit and miss.

Inserting the Gibson version of the UPP into the universe continues to be a mistake. The story they're in, is okay so far however.

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The Hunt could've gone with being longer.  Despite the force fields... ugh...

Maternal Instinct was meh.  Not bad, not good. Gave a Mother computer WAY too much personality.

Zen donut story was entirely disposable. Ditto the story with the two marines.  Employed by the Company apparently?  What mars the writing a lot in these stories in how it strays from the source material rather than building on it.

[close]

All that said, the art is all pretty great in every story.

[jacobo1122]

I'm after issue 2 and I'm enjoying it. As it is with anthologies, stories can be hit or miss, but some of them felt like older DH shorts, nice little miniatures, without much depth. But I'm enjoying the one with UPP. It's first time I see continuing story withing Black White Blood format from Marvel and it's nice. Having one story to absorb You to the series and two additional ones in each issue works nicely. But title should be "Black, White, Blood & Green" because there are suprising amounts of that Last one 😅 

And actually using green colour is the best variant cover. I always imagined how it would look like if dome was partialy peeled off the head.

[SM]

The ongoing UPP story is cool.  The others aren't really much of anything.  Artwork continues to be pretty decent.

[bulletproof2k]

It's a pretty good series, I'm somewhat glad that several issues are already in my collection.

[Xiggz456]

Okay so I just read all 4 issues in one go so I'll go story by story starting with the 4 parter "Utopia" by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Absolutely loved this one, probably my favorite story since Marvel took over!

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First of all it was great to see a UPP centric story that wasn't strictly focused on UPP vs Wey-Yu and USCMC. Also cool to see a ship dedicated to true socialist ideals and how slippery that slope can be when dealing with humanity's ego and desperation. I love how the aliens were portrayed as a perfect organism and how the Siostra eventually began to recognize that perfection (as all synths do lol) over the course of centuries.

[close]

Overall Utopia was a wonderfully grim tale that I'd highly recommend and gorgeous artwork by Michael Dowling further enriched the experience 9/10!

Next up is "The Hunt" by Stephanie Phillips - Fun short tale of revenge, aliens and rich assholes

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where everyone dies! What's not to love lol.

[close]

Also artist Marcelo Ferreira did a great job with many dynamic panels that illustrated the lethality of the Aliens.

Final story in issue 1 is "Maternal Instinct" by Ryan Cady with Devmalya Pramanik on art duties. Another beautifully drawn short story using MU-TH-R as the main protaganist.

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Really enjoyed the kid's journey through the ship which gave me kind of an "Isolation/Blackout" vibe with MU-TH-R guiding the kid along the "safest" route to the escape pod. Also loved the panel of the queen standing over the kid.

[close]

The next story is the first short from Issue 2 "Morsel" by Paul Jenkins with art by Luigi Teruel.

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Another dark tale of Aliens decimating a ranching settlement a la Ryushi from the first AVP comic.

[close]

Not my favorite but fun nonetheless.

The final short in issue 2 is "First Day" by Stephanie Williams and drawn by artist Jethro Morales. Some wildly stylized alien art in this one but a quick story of

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aliens overtaking a space station and a company loyal marine getting their comeuppance.

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Next is the first short from issue 3 "Gear In The Machine" by Cody Ziglar and Claire Roe on art duties. Very enjoyable short with

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Wey-Yu scientists talking shop and shit about impregnated hosts that have been shipped to them for research when one Alien breaks free and corporate decides it's not worth it to save them.

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Great use of the black white and red color schemes on this one.

Last short from issue 3 is "Lucky" by Steve Foxe with artist Tommaso Bianchi. Considering I'm a husky owner (father lol) I have a soft spot for this story and it's

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one of the few times I'm glad that an Alien story had a reasonably happy ending!

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Onto issue 4 we have "Hide & Seek" by Bryan Hill and Chriscross on art. A grim tale showcasing Wey-Yu's propensity to ensnare desperate people into dangerous contracts.

The final short of the series is "Mother" by Pornsak Pichetshote and art by Partha Pratim. Which is actually a sequel to the Issue 1's short "Maternal Instinct"

Spoiler

follows the daughter of the saved boy from "Maternal Instinct" and her quest to "preserve" humanity's beauty by killing off any aspect's of humanity's ugly nature (war and those who take part of it)

[close]

Overall this was a really fun anthology series and potentially my favorite Marvel release thus far. The range of shorts explored multiple themes from the franchise in new ways which I really enjoyed.