Ripley & Hendricks Attempt To Take Down Weyland-Yutani In Aliens: Resistance #1
by Brendan M. Allen
Following the events of Alien: Isolation, Amanda Ripley is kept silent by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation about the xenomorph threat. Enter Zula Hendricks, an Ex-Colonial Marine, in need of Ripley’s help to expose a sinister bio-weapons program. The duo teams up against an upgraded arsenal designed to keep the darkest atrocities secret!
Aliens: Resistance #1 takes the deeply scarred leads from Dark Horse’s limited series Aliens: Defiance and Sega’s first person survival horror game Alien: Isolation and throws them into a plot to bring down Weyland-Yutani’s secret bio-weapons program. Ellen Ripley’s daughter Amanda teams up with former Colonial Marine Zula Hendricks to break into a secure Wey-Yu facility to steal data that may lead to a black site where the evil corporation is conducting its illegal research.
Brian Wood’s script doesn’t require a whole lot of set-up. After forty years observing Weyland-Yutani’s obsession with weaponizing xenos, it’s fair to say even casual readers should have a pretty good idea where this thing is headed. That leaves a lot of space for Wood to develop Amanda and Zula’s relationship. These are damaged characters, sure, but they come by their idiosyncrasies honestly, and they play well together.
Art by Robert Carey and Dan Jackson is fantastic. As the reader ventures further into this book, the walls literally close in, tightening the screws and playing up the hallmark claustrophobia and restlessness of the Xeno-verse.
Aliens: Resistance does a tremendous job tying together Defiance and Isolation, but doesn’t really require having experienced either. Knowledge of the previous series and the games are helpful, but there’s plenty here to bring new or casual readers up to speed fairly quickly. Resistance stands alone just as well as part of a larger set.
Aliens: Resistance #1, Dark Horse Comics, released 23 January 2019. Story by Brian Wood, art by Robert Carey, color by Dan Jackson, letters by Nate Piekos of Blambot, cover by Roberto De La Torre.