The Alien franchise has been a hot commodity in the comic book scene for decades at this point. Best known for being represented by a long-running series of Dark Horse Comics in the 1990s and beyond, it recently came under the control of Marvel, who has been pursuing more congruent storylines as the property moves forward.
Over the years, Aliens comic book storylines have either stuck close to the source material or deviated into other genres in an attempt to shake up the status quo. Some stories, however, mysteriously received a green light despite their overtly weird synopsis. Sometimes this was done on purpose, while, other times, it felt unintended.
Aliens Vs. Predator Vs. The Terminator
The creators behind Aliens comics decided to team up with two other massively hot sci-fi properties for a major showdown that takes place after the events of Alien Resurrection. Though the rather mysterious character of Ellen Ripley had been fleshed out by that time through a series of complementary content, this was an attempt to push her tale even further.
In this out-there story arc, the cloned Ellen Ripley hatches a scheme to use xenomorph acid blood to combat a new line of deadly SkyNET Terminators in the near future. The Predators join in for a little fun, creating a three-way slaughter-fest that gives the Ripley character one weird rabbit hole to jump into.
Aliens Vs. Superman
Krypton’s favorite son went fist to fang against experimental xenomorphs in this outlandish crossover event. The plot involved Darkseid creating a strain of super xenos that could hold their own against the Man of Steel in a fight. It wasn’t the worst thing Darkseid ever did in the comics, but it is one of the more inventive.
The advantage here is numbers, with thousands of xenos piling on the hurt. Though it’s hard to swallow from the continuity perspective of either the DC universe, or the Aliens franchise, it’s still a fun “what if” style distraction from more straightforward stories.
Aliens: Mondo Pest
Long before he started writing for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series, Henry Gilroy was writing oddball stories like this one, which was based in the Aliens universe. Mondo Pest was the first comic dedicated to Herk Mondo, a Duke Nukem-esque Colonial Marine with a penchant for killing xenomorphs.
It’s one of the weirdest Aliens comics stories ever to have been committed to paper, featuring a healthy dose of comedy and cartoony violence not unlike the recently released Harley Quinn animated series. The story was popular enough for Herk to return once more in the follow-up comic Mondo Heat.
Aliens: Genocide
The early 90s Aliens comics from Dark Horse were both notorious and commendable for their unique stories. Aliens: Genocide was the first to try and shift attention away from the film characters and diverge into new ones. It’s a great story, but also one that takes a lot of creative, and weird liberties with the source material.
This particular comic focuses on a story about a billionaire trying to get his hands on an Alien Queen in order to procure her Royal Jelly, a substance that can create an illicit drug known as “Xeno-Zip.” There’s also a civil war going on between traditional Xenos, and a rare red-tinted breed, adding to the oddities.
Alien: The Original Screenplay
Dark Horse Comics took the original screenplay for 1979’s Alien and decided to convert it to comic form as an alternate way to tell the story. It’s a fascinating attempt at visualizing what the film might have looked like had Ridley Scott and crew not made massive alterations to the subject matter.
In addition to character differences, there’s also a host of interesting plot elements that were jettisoned from the original film. These have been replaced, adding a little more mystique to a story that sci-fi films largely take for granted nowadays. Other properties like Star Wars have also received the comic book original screenplay treatment, and they’re fascinating to read.
Aliens: Music Of The Spears
One of the more infamous Aliens comics to come out of Dark Horse in the 1990s was Music of the Spears, a particularly odd attempt at blending gothic horror with a psychological thriller. It focuses on a drug-addicted composer seeking to create the ultimate symphonic masterpiece by capturing the anguished screams of a xenomorph in his captivity.
As his obsession grows, he becomes more determined to coax the sounds out of his xeno, the aptly-named Mozart. When the creature refuses, he ends up putting his own neck on the line to achieve his vision, even if it costs him everything. It’s a disturbing tale and definitely one of the more weird plot arcs in Aliens history, complete with ninja assassins for laughs.
Aliens: Stronghold
In a follow-up to a plot device first introduced in Aliens: Harvest, this comic story features Jeri, a synthetic xenomorph who just happens to speak English, cracks wise, and becomes friends with the local humans. It’s an attempt to leverage comedy and outrageous plot elements with something resembling a good story.
This kind of story would never work in a feature film, but, in the comic world, anything goes. This includes Jeri chomping on cigars while firing pulse rifles and cursing. There’s a subplot focusing on black market crooks selling xenomorph eggs through underground channels, but that takes a backseat to the weirdness going on.
Aliens: Lovesick
This story is essentially a storyboarded cheesy sitcom love triangle that never got a pilot episode. The focus is big on lighthearted comedy, but it’s no less weird and slightly disturbing, focusing on a mad scientist with boundary issues who swears revenge against the woman who repulsed his affections.
He decides to take control of a xenomorph creature to kill her, but she proves to be quite a capable fighter. The story ends with her saving the young boy from an Alien Queen by peppering it with blaster fire from an attack shuttle. It’s a paper-thin story, and one of the weirdest to date.
Aliens: Pig
It’s hard to slot this particular Aliens story into one particular category, but it’s definitely one of the weirdest ever to have been written. The plot involves a group of intellectually challenged space pirates who concoct a half-brained plot to salvage cargo from a downed freighter by wiping out a nearby nest of xenomorphs.
They decide to strap a low-yield nuclear weapon to a pig and drop it into the hot zone in the hopes that the xenos will take the bait. Things don’t go according to plan, forcing the pirates to modify their strategy, which ends up costing them their lives in one of the funniest moments in the Aliens comic lineage.
Aliens: Taste
From the pages of Dark Horse Comics #11 comes this mind-bending short story that starts out with a philosophical narration about the nature of life amidst the background of a xenomorph egg hatching. At first, it appears as if the story might take on a symbolic or even religious approach, but that’s not the case.
Flipping the page to the final two panels reveals a gigantic reptilian alien wearing an apron while grilling facehuggers and flipping them with a spatula-like burgers. It’s definitely one of the funniest bait-and-switch gags in any Alien comic story.
