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Aliens: Hive (aka Aliens: Harvest in reprints) is a 4-issue comic book limited series published by Dark Horse Comics from February-May 1992. The series was written by Jerry Prosser and illustrated by Kelley Jones. Cover art was provided by Jones. The series was lettered by Clem Robins, colored by Les Dorscheid, and edited by Barbara Kesel.
The release of Hive was also preceded by the release by Dark Horse Books of Cyberantics (March 1992), an in-universe book "written by" Hive's lead character Stanislaw Mayakovsky (actually Prosser), which is referenced in the story.
Hive was later published in trade paperback form with a new cover by fan favorite painter Dave Dorman, edited by Kij Johnson in February 1993. The series was again collected and republished under the new title Alien: Harvest in February 1998, as Volume 5 of the company's series of "remastered" Aliens Library Editions, featuring an introduction and cover art gallery by Jones. Harvest featured a new cover by painter John Bolton and was edited by Lynn Adair. The series was finally republished, again as Aliens: Harvest, as part of Aliens Omnibus: Volume 2 in December 2007.
Hive takes place after the Alien infestation of Earth and the Grant Corporation's first mission to the Alien homeworld. It features the first appearance of a synthetic Alien, Mayakovsky's creation Norbert.
In the Aliens comics series, Aliens: Hive was published concurrently with the special reprint issue Dark Horse Presents: Aliens Platinum Edition and the graphic novella Aliens: Tribes (both in April 1992), and was followed by the adaptations of the second and third Alien films: Aliens: Newt's Tale (adapting the film Aliens) and Alien3 (both in June-July 1992).
In terms of the in-universe storyline, Aliens: Hive was followed by Renegade (Aug.-Sept. 1992), Aliens: Horror Show (Oct.-Dec. 1992) and the miniseries Aliens: Colonial Marines (January 1993).
Plot[]
Stanislaw Mayakovsky once wrote a book about the cybernetic ant he designed to infiltrate a hive in order to gain precious knowledge about the species. Now, a beautiful young thief named Gill has approached Mayakovsky to recreate his experiment to infiltrate an Alien hive to gain something else precious...She wants to use his experience and expertise -- not in the pursuit of scientific knowledge, but in the pursuit of the Alien Queen Mother's royal jelly, the galaxy's most valuable commodity. The mission is a perilous one, but the motives are compelling . . .
Stanislaw Mayakovsky and his new "partner" have designed a cyberantic Alien to steal the Alien Queen Mother's royal jelly, the galaxy's most valuable commodity. But a powerful corporation wants what they have, and Stan and Gill find their options pared away until there seems to be only one way out. This issue the cyberantic Alien's big test comes as "Norbert" is sent deep into the heart of an Alien hive.
Surrounded by Aliens and a hostile Grant Corporation ship, Stan, Julie and Gill are running low on options. When there seems to be no possible means of escape, Stan discovers that there's always one more way out.
Behind the Scenes[]
Series writer Jerry Prosser, who has also written other Aliens comics, actually worked mostly as an editor of various Aliens comics for Dark Horse.
Artist Kelley Jones is known for his gothic horror-style artwork, most notably on DC Comics' Batman, with such Batman stories as Batman and Dracula: Red Rain and others. He also illustrated a number of storylines for Neil Gaiman's award-winning Sandman series also by DC/Vertigo.
Gallery[]
