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Aliens: Music of the Spears is a four-part limited comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics from January-April 1994. It was written by Chet Williamson, penciled by Tim Hamilton and inked by Timothy Bradstreet. Lettering by Clem Robins, coloring by Matt Webb and the series was edited by Jerry Prosser & Bob Cooper. Cover art was provided by Bradstreet & Guy Burwell.
Music of the Spears was eventually collected in Aliens Omnibus: Volume 4 released in July 2008, edited by Chris Warner. The series was also adapted into an eponymous novel by Yvonne Navarro in 1996.
The story takes place after the Alien infestation of Earth.
In the Aliens comics line, Aliens: Music of the Spears was published concurrently with Aliens: Colonial Marines (January 1993-July 1994) and Aliens: Alien (January-February 1994). It was meant to be followed by the unreleased Aliens: Matrix (May 1994) and by Aliens: Stronghold (May-Sept. 1994).
Plot[]
Official description of individual issues:
Little-known and under-appreciated composer Damon Eddington wants to hatch an Alien egg so he can nurture the Alien in captivity and capture its sounds of hatred and pain for the ultimate concert -- sounds of rage made from "a mouthful of spears." In this first of a four-issue series, Damon's corporate patron, Synsound, has taken on the responsibility of procuring the egg for him, a task that will lead to more excitement than the team of ninjas assigned to it were planning on.
Composer Damon Eddington's plan is to breed an Alien in captivity so he can stimulate and entice it into a rage -- just for "the pure sound of it." He starts by feeding terrified and utterly defenseless dogs and cats to the beast, but it hardly makes a sound while dispatching them in an instant. Maybe some larger and more voracious predatory animals would put up a better struggle... ? But as Damon daydreams about other more nefarious uses for his pet, he finally realizes that in order to achieve the sounds he wants, he's going to need the ultimate predators to face off against the Alien -- humans!
Normal faceless human guinea pigs aren't proving to be any more adept at drawing the necessary screams out of Damon Eddington's pet alien, Mozart, than any of the other animals were. Damon, increasingly dependent on the addictive and mind-muddling alien jelly, schemes to trap his cohort, Darcy Vance, as fodder for Mozart's murderous desires. Darcy's parry with Mozart provides minimal satisfaction for Damon, who's seeking nothing but the ultimate love and death cry of anguish from the alien to record for his symphony. But the jelly is affecting Damon's reasoning, and he may be ready to overstep the bounds of reason in his pursuit of the apocalyptic scream...
Mozart, Damon Eddington's "pet" alien, has yet to produce the sounds he desires for his ultimate symphony. Even the humans he tried using to stimulate Mozart didn't satisfy Damon's needs. Now it appears Damon himself may be the guinea pig that finally gets Mozart to scream his ultimate "music of the spears." Suffice it to say, Mozart puts on the impromptu performance of a lifetime -- and the Presley Hall audience eats it up -- in this concluding chapter to Dark Horse's latest Aliens gore-fest.
Behind the Scenes[]
Music of the Spears inker/cover artist Tim Bradstreet would go on to become one of the comics industries most acclaimed cover artists most known for his work on Marvel's The Punisher. He would come to be known for incporporating photography and photographic reference into his striking cover images. For Dark Horse Comics, he also illustrated the iconic cover images of Imperial Fighter pilot Baron Soontir Fel for issues of the popular Star Wars: X-Wing - Rogue Squadron series.
Series editor Jerry Prosser was already an Aliens comics veteran, having earlier written the story Aliens: Hive.
The novelization of Music of the Spears by Yvonne Navarro added a number of details to the story, including a set date for the events therein.
Gallery[]
