We’re told that “in space, no one can hear you scream.”
Here on planet earth, it’s a different story! Screams of fright, horror and joy abound when we’re talking about the Alien film franchise. You know, the one made famous by directors Ridley Scott and James Cameron: Alien in 1979 and Aliens in 1986. They were the first R-rated films that an under-age me needed to see. Well, those two and Canadian classic, Porky’s.
Those two highlight films have spun-off a flurry of pop culture gold that includes five other Alien-centered films of varying quality (two of which enthusiastically co-star the sci-fi classic Predator creature) with a new and eagerly-anticipated film in the horror franchise only a month away from release.
There’s even a day of the year dedicated to the Alien franchise, an unofficial holiday for fans around this planet: #AlienDay is today, April 26! Tweet out those chest-busters!
With pop culture supremacy, of course, come loads of comic books. Appropriately, then, today sees the release of the first issue of a new mini-series…Aliens: Dead Orbit #1, the perfect accompaniment to a day dedicated to everyone’s favourite xenomorph!
Aliens: Dead Orbit #1
Written & Illustrated By: James Stokoe
Published By: Dark Horse Comics
First and foremost: how the heck did today, #AlienDay, happen?
Well, you might remember that the location of the first two films of the Alien franchise was on a moon known as LV-426. With the help of social media, 426 became April 26, and a powerful new marketing tool of Hollywood was born!
Hey! Who’s complaining?
Aliens: Dead Orbit is an Alien-centric far-future science fiction story that details the ramifications and fall out of a horrific accident on a space station. and how one engineering officer must use all of his wits and all of the tools at his disposal to save himself from the greatest threat known to man!
Oh yeah. Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Aliens: Dead Orbit looks to have all the claustrophobic suspense of the original Alien film along with the balls-to-the-walls action of its sequel, Aliens. There’s horror here, of course, but it’s a deep-space thrill ride, too. Canadian fan favourite writer and artist James Stokoe (Orc Stain, Godzilla: The Half-Century War, Moon Knight) is at the helm of this beleaguered starship and you can catch a sneak preview of some of the super-detailed and atmospheric interior pages of the first issue right here.
It’s #AlienDay: so run to your local comic book shop and make like a facehugger! Get your hungry mug in front of Aliens: Dead Orbit #1!
Let everyone hear you scream with horror and delight!
Dark Horse Comics has even produced a freaky, spacey, trailer of the series which you can watch right now:
Reblogged this on JP Fallavollita.