I'm not claiming precognizance, but my life does contain a fair amount of serendipity. And by that I mean, sometimes I'll wait months to post a blog, only minutes later to find out more information that would have been useful in that blog. Like back in 2009 when I posted a blog about the Metroid series, and later that same day learned that another game was in the works. I'm like a psychic that can only predict the wrong time to write something.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about sequels, and one of my examples was the Alien series. Among other things, I mentioned that Alien 3 was not only a bad movie, but it screwed up the canon so that further sequels would be worse off as well. Shortly after posting that blog, I learned of a new comic book adaptation of Alien 3. Well, it came out in 2019, but I just now learned of it.
A little history: To say Alien 3 had a troubled production is an understatement. Cyberpunk legend William Gibson was originally tasked with writing the script, but his version wasn't quite what the executives wanted. So it was edited and rewritten, again and again, until it no longer resembled Gibson's version (or anything interesting, really).
Back in college, about six months after Alien 3 hit theaters, I remember an "early Alien 3 script" floating around. I only read the first few pages, but I believe it was Gibson's version of the script. I even signed a friend's petition to remake the movie with the original script.
The story establishes that the xenomorphs were created as a weapon, which is sort of alluded to in Alien, but not really confirmed until Prometheus. But it directly contradicts some of the canon in the theatrical version of Alien 3. The comic explains that under the right circumstances, any drone can become a queen, which I much prefer to the movie's idea that a queen's characteristics are already evident during gestation.
What didn't sit well with me is that the comic has humans transforming into xenomorphs. These aren't true xenos, but the result of an infection after some scientists try playing around with xeno genes in the story. So it doesn't really change the alien canon. It's a neat bit of body horror a la "The Thing", but the transformations themselves are hard to swallow. Like how a six foot scientist can just rip their skin off to reveal a seven foot xenomorph, complete with elongated head.
Okay, I'm exaggerating, but it still would have looked better on screen, where they could really show the transformation process. One problem with comics as a medium is that since you only see still panels, you can miss the actual nuances of movement. There were several action scenes in the story where I couldn't quite figure out what was supposed to be going on, because the artist had chosen the wrong part of the movement to draw.
I also had a bit of trouble following the story, which takes place across several space stations and ships. Maybe it's just my aging brain, but I had trouble keeping track of the rival factions and who was in which location. I also felt there was too much exposition, bogging the story down in places, but again I blame that on the comic format. A lot of the conversations that took multiple pages would have only taken two minutes of screen time.
Overall I think it's a worthwhile read. Unfortunately I still can't say I love it, but it's definitely better than what we got in theaters.
Dark Horse has also started working on an adaptation of an early version of the original "Alien" script, back when it was still under the working title "Star Beast". This script predates the involvement of HR Giger, so the monster is probably totally different. I haven't read this one yet. Only one issue (of five) has been released, and I'd rather wait and read it in one sitting.
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