Aliens Comics are a number of comic book lines that included a number of limited series, one-shots and short stories published by Dark Horse Comics set in the Alien universe, starting with the first comic series in 1988.
According to the company's editors, Dark Horse decided early on to compose the line as a series of miniseries, one-shots and short stories rather than as a continuing unlimited series in order to continually allow for new creative blood and the freedom to change creative direction; to avoid the need for filler issues or creative staleness; and to accommodate for possible/inevitable scheduling delays between series.
Originally serving as an immediate continuation of the story after James Cameron's Aliens for the first three miniseries, the first two comics series (originally titled simply Aliens, and then Aliens: Book One and Aliens: Book Two, in collected form) featured the characters Rebecca "Newt" Jorden and Corporal Dwayne Hicks as the main protagonists, while the third (Aliens: Earth War) reintroduced Alien-film-franchise heroine Lt. Ellen Ripley, as well. These series dealt with an Alien infestation that had spread to the Earth, one of the central developments of the Aliens comics series.
After the release of the film Alien³, though, which featured the deaths of Newt, Hicks and Ripley, in order to keep the events in the stories relevant to the Alien universe, Dark Horse Comics changed the names--and therefore identities--of these lead characters in all reprints and collected editions of the first three miniseries, as well as in their accompanying novelizations. Newt became Billie, Hicks became Wilks and Ripley became a synthetic version of the heroine. The stories were also retitled in reprint editions to their current names: Aliens: Outbreak, Aliens: Nightmare Asylum and Aliens: Female War. The effects of the Alien infestation on Earth would continue to play prominent or background roles in all subsequent Aliens comics, but starting with the fourth miniseries (Aliens: Genocide) the stories would come to focus on new characters and events in the Aliens universe. Dozens of Aliens stories would follow featuring work from top names in the comic book industry and incorporating a wide variety of artistic styles, from black and white, to painted airbrush, to typical comic book style illustration. This lasted until 1999's Aliens: Xenogenesis.
In 2009, after a ten year hiatus, Dark Horse Comics relaunched its Aliens line with a new limited series.
Chronological releases[]
- Alien: The Illustrated Story (1979) not part of Dark Horse's Aliens series
- Aliens (Series 1) (July 1988-July 1989) aka Aliens: Book I, aka Aliens: Outbreak
- Aliens: Theory of Alien Propagation (Nov. 1988)
- Aliens (Series 2) (Aug. 1989-May 1990) aka Aliens: Book II, aka Aliens: Nightmare Asylum
- Aliens: Earth War (June-Oct. 1990) aka Aliens: Female War
- Aliens: Advent/Terminus (July-Aug. 1990)
- Aliens: Countdown (Sept. 1990-Dec. 1991)
- Aliens: Reapers (April 1991)
- Aliens: The Alien (Nov. 1991)
- Aliens: Genocide (Nov. 1991-February 1992)
- Aliens: Hive (February-May 1992)
- Aliens: Tribes (April 1992)
- Dark Horse Presents: Aliens Platinum Edition (April 1992)
- Aliens: Newt's Tale (June-July 1992)
- Alien³ (June-July 1992)
- Aliens: Renegade (Aug.-Sept. 1992) aka "Renegade"
- Aliens: Horror Show (Oct.-Dec. 1992)
- Aliens: Colonial Marines (Jan. 1993-July 1994)
- Aliens: Countdown (March-April 1993) UK mini-comic reprint
- Aliens: Rogue (April-July 1993)
- Aliens: Sacrifice (May 1993)
- Aliens: Taste (July 1993)
- Aliens: Crusade (July 1993-March 1994) incomplete
- Aliens: Backsplash (Aug.-Sept. 1993)
- Aliens: Labyrinth (Sept. 1993-Jan. 1994)
- Aliens: Salvation (Nov. 1993)
- Aliens: Cargo (Nov.-Dec. 1993)
- Aliens: Alien (Jan.-Feb. 1994)
- Aliens: Music of the Spears (Jan.-April 1994)
- Aliens: Matrix (May 1994) never released
- Aliens: Stronghold (May-Sept. 1994)
- Aliens: Mondo Pest (June-Aug. 1994) original serialization
- Aliens: Earth Angel (Aug. 1994)
- Aliens: Berserker (Jan.-April 1995) aka Aliens: Frenzy
- Aliens: Mondo Pest (April 1995) collected version
- Aliens: Incubation (Sept.-Oct. 1995)
- Aliens: Mondo Heat (Feb. 1996)
- Aliens: Lucky (Sept. 1996)
- Aliens: Lovesick (Dec. 1996)
- Aliens: Headhunters (Jan. 1997)
- Aliens: Pig (March 1997)
- Aliens: Border Lines (May 1997)
- Aliens: Special (June 1997)
- Aliens: Havoc (June-July 1997)
- Aliens: Purge (Aug. 1997)
- Aliens: Alchemy (Sept.-Dec. 1997)
- Alien Resurrection (Oct.-Nov. 1997)
- Aliens: Kidnapped (Dec. 1997-Feb. 1998)
- Aliens: Tourist Season (Feb. 1998)
- Aliens: Survival (Feb.-April 1998)
- Aliens: Glass Corridor (June 1998)
- Aliens: Stalker (June 1998)
- Aliens: Wraith (July 1998)
- Aliens: Apocalypse - The Destroying Angels (Jan.-May 1999)
- Aliens: Once in a Lifetime (Feb. 1999)
- Aliens: Xenogenesis (Aug.-Nov. 1999)
- Aliens: (Series 3) - More Than Human (May-Dec. 2009)
- Aliens: Fast Track to Heaven (Aug. 2010)
- Aliens: Inhuman Condition (Apr. 2013)
All items (70)
- Alien 3 Movie Special
- Alien Resurrection (comic)
- Alien Vol. 1: Bloodlines
- Alien: Isolation (comic)
- Alien: The Illustrated Story
- Aliens (1989 comic)
- Aliens (2009 comic)
- Aliens (comic)
- Aliens (UK magazine)
- Aliens Omnibus
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- Aliens: Advent/Terminus
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- Aliens: Alien
- Aliens: Apocalypse - The Destroying Angels
- Aliens: Backsplash
- Aliens: Berserker
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- Aliens: Colonial Marines (2012 comic)
- Aliens: Colonial Marines (comic)
- Aliens: Countdown
- Aliens: Crusade
- Aliens: Dead Orbit
- Aliens: Earth Angel
- Aliens: Earth War
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- Aliens: Fast Track to Heaven
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- Aliens: Genocide
- Aliens: Glass Corridor
- Aliens: Havoc
- Aliens: Headhunters
- Aliens: Hive
- Aliens: Horror Show
- Aliens: Incubation
- Aliens: Inhuman Condition
- Aliens: Kidnapped
- Aliens: Labyrinth
- Aliens: Lovesick
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- Aliens: Mondo Heat
- Aliens: Mondo Pest
- Aliens: Music of the Spears
- Aliens: Newt's Tale
- Aliens: Once in a Lifetime
- Aliens: Pig
- Aliens: Purge
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- Aliens: Rogue
- Aliens: Sacrifice
- Aliens: Salvation
- Aliens: Special
- Aliens: Stalker
- Aliens: Stronghold
- Aliens: Survival
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- Aliens: Theory of Alien Propagation
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- Aliens: Tribes
- Aliens: Wraith
- Alien³ (comic)
- Alien³: Terminal Addiction