Alien: The Cold Forge - Titan Books

Started by felix, Sep 14, 2017, 01:45:44 AM

Author
Alien: The Cold Forge - Titan Books (Read 116,387 times)

SM

SM

#270
Yeah shortly after.

HuDaFuK

Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jun 01, 2018, 08:30:15 AMWhich was published after Alien 3, I believe?

More or less simultaneous, according to Dark Horse's website.

Xiggz456

Ya I thought they were released concurrently. I always kind of thought that the last line in "Newts Tale" about adventures that never will be was a total reference to the original trilogy. And that the original trilogy is probably a hypersleep dream lol.

Perfect-Organism

Perfect-Organism

#273
Yes, of course that's what that reference was...


Quote from: SM on Jun 01, 2018, 03:36:51 AM
Not even remotely like Sam Keith.

Um, it's I before E.  He was always really insistent about that.  I believe there was even an article about him once entitled I before E.


Quote from: SM on Jun 01, 2018, 02:47:15 AM
Doubt it.

Not sure why they haven't re-issued them already to be honest.  I'm guessing it's a license thing.

:'(  That's sad-ish.  I really liked those and a TPB format that ties everything together would really improve the experience I think.  They should have done it as an anniversary thing...

SM

SM

#274
I'll spell his name properly when he can draw properly.

Corporal Hicks



I do think he totally works for Inhuman Condition, though.

Local Trouble


Perfect-Organism

Quote from: SM on Jun 01, 2018, 11:40:02 AM
I'll spell his name properly when he can draw properly.

Forgot to add the tongue in cheek icon there SM.

:P

I propose going forward we only write EI here until the drawing improves...   :laugh:  Earth War did not work at all!  On any level!

But do take a look at how Verheiden treated thoughts of characters in his Aliens novels.  That would be perfect for Cold Forge.  Come to think of it, this was one of the things that really worked well in the books.  I didn't even realize how much it upped the maturity level...

SM

SM

#278
Nah, just keep comics as comics and novels as novels.  There's been decent adaptations in the past, but ultimately it's better to tell stories that suit a particular medium.

Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jun 01, 2018, 11:43:47 AM
https://media.giphy.com/media/26AHvF2p5pridaSf6/giphy.gif

I do think he totally works for Inhuman Condition, though.

Marginally better than Earth War - but that was a low base.

Corporal Hicks

I just think his style completely suited the story - once you'd finished reading it and gone "oooohhh."

Local Trouble

I want to see a comic book adaptation of SM's biography with art by Sam Kieth.

SM

SM

#281
I want to see a Han Solo avatar by Sam Keith.

Local Trouble

Hasn't Han been abused enough lately?

Hudson

Hudson

#283
Finally finished The Cold Forge. Not caught up with this thread, but my thoughts in general:


I'm kind of surprised to see such rave reviews for this book. Not because I don't like it, but it seemed to be in a similar vein as Criminal Enterprise in that the Aliens were somewhat incidental. That makes the science-fiction aspect of the story feel interchangeable with other licensed properties, or just original ideas. The strong points for me were the entertaining characters. They were all essentially unlikable, but there was nothing boring that accompanied any of their interactions or personalities. For instance, I remember that there were a lot of characters in Steel Egg, but I don't remember any other than the ridiculous mad scientist and the captain. I think I'd even remember the character names in The Cold Forge for some time after reading it, if not indefinitely. The interjecting short chapters which brought in some walk-on narrators were also fun, and overall I did enjoy the dual viewpoint character setup of the book.

I thought most of the canonical tying-in came from the paratext on the back of the book, while mere name-drops within the novel of characters who appeared in Aliens were not satisfying. There was plenty of interesting stuff set up in the 2014 novel trilogy, ALL OF IT (or correct me if I'm wrong) going untapped in The Cold Forge, which felt like a weak copout.
Spoiler
Seemed like an appropriate origin point for the XX121 thing which I've now seen referenced in...Sea of Sorrows and The Weyland Yutani Report? So I guess they're not committing to it?
[close]
I guess I just felt the placement of this book within the film series to be mostly in name only, and not very substantial. References to Seegson were pretty superficial, and will only resonate with people who played Isolation. I still have questions about this as well (in spoilers below).

My other big complaint is that while the dialogue in certain situations was fine, any time there was a contentious interaction or someone got mad, the spoken dialogue from most characters came through as if an angry teenager was speaking.

Overall I'd place The Cold Forge in between Berserker and Sea of Sorrows. Out of the Shadows is still my favorite of the Alien novels/novelizations. Despite the fact that The Cold Forge is the longest of them all, I did find that it moved pretty quick and was never 'boring.' I would have had plenty more to say, but it took me a bit longer to read this than it should have considering I got burnt out with reading and took an extended break, so I don't have all my thoughts collected as I did when I first started it in April. For me, it was a fun read, but wasn't "as Alien" for me as I hope for as a fan, such as how I took Out of the Shadows. So yeah, I thought it was decent, but I wasn't enthralled.

Some other nitpicks:
Spoiler
- egregious reference to "USMC" instead of "USCM" at one point, don't have the page #
- characters sneaking past Aliens which were asleep? great way to cheapen the title property
- did Seegson get bought out by Weyland-Yutani in Isolation, or did they just buy Sevastapol?
[close]

The Old One

The Old One

#284
Quote from: Hudson on Jun 10, 2018, 05:14:15 PM
Main post;

Agreed on remembering the cast of the book, they're some of the best characters in the Alien series, in spite of Dorian Sulder veering off into insanity a little too much for my tastes, reminds me of the effect the Markers have on people in Dead Space on Aegis if I'm honest. I also believe that part of the strength of the book is from integrating a minority character and having it be part of her character, rather than what a lot of writers do which is "character is also gay" etc;
as surface detail rather than genuine representation of a person that's a minority.

I do honestly agree too that the connection to LV-426 feels unnecessary, as it could really be set after Alien Resurrection and it wouldn't have made a difference- this would have been a great place to re-establish W-Y after the events of AR. In this case Seegson would absolutely feel tacked on however, so I'm content with it's placement after the Alien Trilogy.
The question is now, what can be done with the Pathogen now that they have it.


Quote from: Hudson on Jun 10, 2018, 05:14:15 PM
There was plenty of interesting stuff set up in the 2014 novel trilogy.
Those books are garbage and I'm glad they were tossed under the bus.

I'll be waiting on a sequel to this- hopefully they don't ruin it by turning Blue Marsalis into a Ellen Ripley clone, figuratively.
I think it's a great little book that's ripe for adaptation and has opened up interesting avenues for the future of the series.

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