Alien #8 Review

Written By: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art By: Salvador Larroca
Colors By: GURU-eFX
Letters By: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Art By: Marc Aspinall
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: November 10, 2021

Alien #8 finds the colonist on Euridice coping with a crashed supply ship that may (or may not) have had something unnatural onboard. When night falls, their worst fears are realized.

Was It Good?

After a brief delay due to supply chain issues, we continue the second arc in Phillip Kennedy johnson’s series about a remote colony hungry for autonomy from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Just when the last ship carrying lawyers and a contract are about to arrive, everything goes to squat. I was a little down on the first issue due to the implausibility of a new religion cropping up and establishing itself so quickly in the far reaches of space. religions take time, and while it may make for an interesting plot device, the speed with which the religion is established and a whole colony buys into its scriptures and verses doesn’t quite ring true.

That said, this issue moves past the setting to dig right into the conflict at hand. One or more Xenomorphs are loose on Euridice, and the colonists, save one, don’t believe it at first. Overall, it’s a solid story but it leans too fr on the predictable side as it unfolds.

Their leader, Jane, asks them to stay indoors until daybreak. The colonists don’t listen, and some pay a heavy price.

The leader asks the search party to bring weapons. The colonists don’t listen, and some pay a heavy price.

The development of the story is almost a near-perfect clíche of every monster movie trope you could imagine. So, if there’s a down point in this issue, it’s an utter lack of originality. That’s not to say it’s mildly amusing to see folks running around as Xenomorphs chomp their brains out, but the story contains no surprises to make it stand out or memorable.

When you pull back to look at the bigger [picture, there was some mystery in issue #8 about the crash and the inexplicable presence on board the ship. Without any concrete confirmation from Marvel, you could make a likely guess that Weylan-Yutani planted the Xenomorph on the ship to intentionally wipe out the colony by turning it into a breeding ground for Xenomorphs without risk to Earth’s population. If true, you could see the ending from a mile away, again, taking out any element of surprise or unpredictability. It’s remarkable for being so completely unremarkable.

That said, the art from Larroca is fairly good. The Xenomorph attacks are gruesome and the backgrounds in each panel are gorgeous. I have no complaints about the art.

Final Thoughts

Alien #8 takes readers on a very predictable ride where the colonists, at first, don’t believe the witness but then start running for their lives when Xenomorphs start tearing through the colony. As far as Alien stories go, it gets the job done but never rises above vanilla boilerplate plot.