Xenomorphs Hunt Down Survivors In Aliens: Dust To Dust #3

A young boy faces threats and decisions that would reduce a grown man to tears. A terrifying coming of age story featuring the most frightening creatures in the galaxy!

It’s been a minute since the first two chapters, so let’s recap, yeah? Young Maxon Cregar and his ma, Anne, were woken in the middle of the night by blaring klaxon horns. They had to dodge xenomorphs, fire, flying debris, and fallen bodies in a desperate attempt to reach one of the remaining few escape vessels to get off planet and evade the ravaging horde.
They made it by the skin of their teeth, but that’s as far as Anne would go. She got her boy to the relative safety of the transport, but succumbed almost immediately to violent death by chestburster. The resulting mayhem grounded the shuttle.
Now in Aliens: Dust to Dust #3, the survivors are on foot, fighting their way through a sandstorm while trying to locate one of the settlement’s outbuildings. There’s a slim chance its emergency escape pod will be intact and operable.

One of the important things about taking on a well-loved franchise like Aliens is staying true to canon while bringing something new and fresh to the mythos. Gabriel Hardman uses this chapter to ask what would happen if xenomorphs took on some of the characteristics of the host that incubated them as chestbursters. It fits so well, it begs the question why this has never come up before.
The artwork by Hardman and Rain Beredo is frenetic and filthy. The sand storm cuts visibility to almost nil. Xenomorphs seem to almost materialize out of nowhere, which actually feels more claustrophobic than fighting these things in dark, tight quarters. There’s a dirty, banged up quality that plays brilliantly to both the horror and science fiction elements.

Aliens: Dust to Dust has been a non-stop, frenetic, action-packed sci-fi thriller. This series is only scheduled for four installments, so it’s pretty safe to say the pace will only pick up from here. There are a lot of folks that still need to die before the blowoff.

Aliens: Dust to Dust #3, Dark Horse Comics, released 24 October 2018. Script and art by Gabriel Hardman, color by Rain Beredo, letters by Michael Heisler.