Despite plenty of good reasons to kill it, Davis was able to convince Hollis and Hendricks that they need to keep the baby xenomorph alive to study its weaknesses. Also, Hollis continues to recover from the most horrific C-section procedure in medical history.
Aliens: Defiance #8 (Dark Horse Comics)
Observations
- Hollis really needs a sleep mix on her iPod.
- In space, no one can hear you fly.
- If Davis had full human emotions right now, he’d also have very full pants.
- Maybe not the best time for a flashback, but I’m digging it.
- Oh you have got to be kidding me…
The Verdict
I’ve struggled with how to write this review without giving away a huge spoiler from it. Unfortunately, the aforementioned “twist” is one of my least favorite narrative devices ever. So after SLEEPING on it a little (because I wouldn’t DREAM of spoiling the issue’s plot), I’ll just say that when you set up a great action sequence for that long, it’s got to count.
That being said, we do get a very cool flashback to Hendricks’ time before she was in the marines. Every dive we take into her history reveals something else that helps make her one of the best characters in the Aliens franchise.
Art-wise, Tony Brescini does a serviceable job with the humans, but completely knocks it out of the park with the xenomorphs…especially the part where we get to see them doing something very different than what we’re used to…which later gets completely ruined by a cheap narrative trick.
…but I digress. Aliens: Defiance #8 isn’t a bad issue by any means. But a series this good shouldn’t need to waste most of its pages on something that won’t even matter by the last one. Heck, I would have rather gotten a full issue of Hendricks’ backstory, especially since what we did see was so good. As it stands, however, the issue ends up being a comparatively weak chapter in an otherwise superb series.
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