Just got through Inferno's fall (urgh, poor) and I thought I'd read through Defiance again to get the Zulu / Davis backstory... What a mess!
The story completely nosedives after fishing the Alien out of Hollis's body. A real shame as the majority of the first 6 were excellent, particularly the ones with Tristan's artwork.
The last few issues literally make no sense, i had to check the numbers to see i hadn't skipped an issue
Spoiler
Numerous issues that stick out - Hendricks returns to earth (total pivot) and as a result Hollis dies, sort of as an afterthought, and when Zulu finds out she shows no remorse! Also, as mentioned, how did the Alien queen die after they comment she barely had a scratch on her? Why did the ship fall apart all of sudden.. etc
Seems like it was just rewritten on the fly past a certain point, and then cancelled with a weak extremely fragmented conclusion. Reminded me of the Colonial Marines comic, which, after a spellbinding start veered off course drastically and suffered from the same art, pacing and plot inconsistencies...
Oh, i just realised two points...
1. The series is split into volumes 1 & 2 (6 issues each). Volume 1 is generally very good, particularly the the ones with Tristan's sublimely atmospheric art. Volume 2 is pretty much nonsense.
2. There is an intermediary comic 'Defiance: Extravehicular' which explains what happens to the queen... I read these on kindle, which doesn't help!