Written by: Mark Verheiden

Illustrations and Cover Art by: Mark A. Nelson

Aliens #3 drops us into the nightmare realm again. Patient interviews reveal people are dreaming about the xenomorphs, and those affected are all found in a specific geographic area. Likowski, the pilot who was “rescued” from decompression by a facehugger, awakens in a company lab. The best scene in the book is when the doctors are discussing the ethics of telling him what is going to happen, and decide to do so based on their desire to observe his reactions in response to the news, and impending birth. There is not any discussion on whether to attempt to remove the creature.

Salvaje, the xeno cultist leader, discusses the miracle of carrying a child with his wife/girlfriend. He wants to know what it feels like, and in the context of this series, it makes for a very creepy moment. He then goes to his broadcasting studio, and beats his technician who is getting cold feet about the transmissions. Salvaje warns the tech, “Don’t be afraid of the government. Be afraid of me.” Meanwhile, Massey preps his team to board the Benedict, with no survivors as one of their primary objectives. We learn they have been receiving communications from their target.

Hicks gets reprimanded for stowing Newt aboard the Benedict, but Stephens backs off when the corporal threatens him over the colonel’s own violations of protocol. One of the crewman is murdered in the most spectacular sequence in the story up to this point. The crewman stumbles upon a traitor, and is stabbed through the neck with a broken piece of pipe. It doesn’t immediately kill him. The attacker stuffs him into a space suit, tosses a grenade in the zipper, and blows him out of the airlock. The man struggles to get the grenade out, but fails and is blown into a million pieces while Hicks and the other crew watch helplessly on the monitor. Now the marines have a new threat to deal with on an already suicidal mission.

Back on Earth, Likowski is about to give birth to an alien. He goes into a rage, and manages to take a gun from one of the lab technicians and shoots his way out. He steals a car, runs down a security officer, avoids a helicopter attack, and makes it back to his wife. They take off in a small aircraft, but when Likowski looks at her, she has turned into an alien. Likowski awakens from his dream. He reaches for the gun, but is restrained. Horner, one of the execs from issue 2, decides he wants to see the birth first hand, and enters the lab. Likowski appears to be resisting the chestburster. Horner’s temper gets the better of him, and he grabs Likowski by the head and dresses him down over the importance of the alien. Likowski’s adrenaline fueled terror allows him to break a restraint, and he pulls Horner down to his chest. He tells the company man he can have it, and the chestburster tears through both men. Horner stumbles out of the lab, breaking containment. In the hallway, he succumbs to his wounds. A security officer draws a bead on the chestburster, but is shot dead by one of the company execs so the specimen can be preserved.

Overall, the art is very good, but Nelson stumbles in a few panels. In one, Newt’s wrist is bent at an improbable angle so she can hold a coffee cup. It looks very odd. In another, Likowski looks like an entirely new character from previous panels. I found it jarring, and it took me out of a riveting sequence. The rest of the art stands up very well. The gore and the impression of motion in the airlock scene made me feel like I was having a cinematic experience.

Verheiden’s writing, as usual, is superb. The focus on dreams and nightmares is a shift from the suspense and action of the first two films. It helps set the stage for the later issues in the series, while keeping it fresh.The dialog is again excellent. The scenarios keep you guessing, and are progressing toward something larger. He again leaves us with questions as to what is going to happen next. Who is the traitor? What is going to happen with the Alien now that it has truly reached Earth? How is the cult going to play into this?

Final Review: Highly Recommend

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