WLG #262: Xenomorphic Xanadu!

By Michael A. Diaz

Even with an extra day this week I’m running late, and yet, I am sure no one is surprised.

So, let’s just jump right into What Looks Good…

DARK HORSE

ALIENS #1 (OF 4) $3.50 (John Arcudi / Zach Howard)

Some of you might see this selection and go "wow, really Michael, you're geeked about licensed comic to a potentially dead franchise?"

Well, in a word, yes.

I've gone on at length about my first immersion into comic books, first with G.I. Joe, and soon after The Punisher before branching into Uncanny X-Men back in the summer of 1987. It was also around this time that I saw what has become my favorite movie of all time: Aliens.

So imagine my surprise when I walked into the comic book store one day in 1988 and I saw a comic called Aliens sitting on the shelf by a new-to-me comic book company named "Dark Horse Comics."

Who was this company? I knew nothing about them, but I knew what "Aliens" was all about, so I snatched that comic book up as fast as I could. I remember being lucky, because months (years?) later I ran across the book and it was being sold for $27. Sure, that was cool, heck, at the time it was probably worth more than any other comics in my collection, but for me it was just cool to have a comic telling a story in the Aliens universe, and a not easy to find one at that.

Eventually that series lead to a colored series, and then that lead to another, and then another, and so on and so forth. I collected many of those Aliens comics, and true, many (all?) of them are not considered canon, I still loved and cherished them. I have piles of various trade paperbacks lying around my man cave as well as many of those original Dark Horse mini-series.

Like anything else, though, there can be too much of a good thing. Sometimes properties get diluted, or maybe they just not in fashion any more. Whatever the reason I know that I, like other comics collectors, over time drifted away from the various Aliens comics.

That doesn't mean that I'm no longer a fan, though. Like any good franchise I believe that there are many good, maybe even great, stories to be told, and it will only take that one to launch the franchise back into the public consciousness.

Will this comic be that?

Honestly, I'm not sure. I am still thirsty for a good Alien tale, but I have to admit that the last film, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, didn't do either franchise any favors. And though Dark Horse did release Aliens related comics when the last two movies came out (the ones costarring Predators), for the most part the license has been kind of quiet, which was probably a good thing for Dark Horse. Let people kind of forget what Alien comics are like just long enough for the license to be reborn.

Personally, I hope it's a success. I'm thinking I'll like it, but not just because I am a huge Aliens geek. It certainly doesn't hurt that the book is being written by John Arcudi, who has been writing comics for a long while now but perhaps doesn't have name recognition of a Warren Ellis or Grant Morrison for most people. For someone like me, though, I'm especially geeked because Arcudi wrote a couple of the books that I still think fondly of from time to time. One of those was his 22 issue run on a new, different take on Doom Patrol. The book was strange, wonderful, and I loved it completely.

But, if you want to talk about a book that I REALLY loved, well, look no further than Brass volume two (DC/WildStorm). Not only did the book look fantastic, but it had a great story about a man with great powers thrust upon him as he worked with some tragic heroes to help save their world. I think I'm the only person that ever read the book, let alone bought it, as evidenced by the fact that WildStorm has never collected it into a trade.

So, a property that I think needs a breath of fresh air with a writer that has written some personal favorites? Yeah, I'm geeked.

RAPTURE #1 $2.99 (Michael Avon Oeming & Taki Soma / Michael Avon Oeming)

A take on the classic tale from the Book of Revelations but instead of just angels and demons there are super heroes and super villains thrown into the mix, all co-authored and drawn my Michael Avon Oeming, a guy that's done serious superheroes (Powers) as well as gods (Hammer of the Gods) already?

Yeah, I'll definitely bite.








DC

GREEN LANTERN #41 $2.99 (Geoff Johns / Phillip Tan)

OK, by this point either you're eating this book up with a spoon or you're not. I'm not going to hammer it into your head any more than I have.

Let me just say that seeing Agent Orange yelling "mine!" at the end of the last issue was awesome and I can't wait to see how Jordan takes him on with his green and blue rings.

'Nuff said.









STARCRAFT #1 (Keith Giffen & Simon Furman / Federico Dallocchio)

What, is this licensed books week?

Well, I hadn't planned it like that, but such appears to be the case what with the inclusion of Aliens this week, and really, are the Zerg really all that different from the xenomorphs in Aliens?

Not really.

But that's not why I'm geeked about this book. Like many other people 10 years ago I was a huge fan of the game Starcraft and have wasted many an hour playing it with and against friends. Heck, just this past winter me and some friends got together to have a little LAN party, the first time I had played the game in a couple of years.

During the past, oh, nine years I have been craving a sequel game. True, we were teased with the possibility of a FPS in the form of Starcraft: Ghost, but that never actually materialized. But now it seems that Blizzard is ramping up the media blitz as they prepare to release Starcraft II someday (no release date has yet been set, at least, not since I last checked).

Normally I might pass this up, but seeing as it is written by Keith Giffen (of Hero Squared, Justice League International, etc., etc.) and Simon Furman (badass machines fighting in various incarnations of Transformers) I figure this one is at least worth the look-see.

WILDCATS #11 $2.99 (Christos Gage / Neil Googe)

I've been raving about the WildStorm books about almost as much as I have the Green Lantern books, so again, I'm going to keep it short because like I said above: either you're loving this and you know what I'm talking about or you don't and you're sick of hearing me go on about it.

So the team is in paradise (actually, Hawaii) and they're trying to rescue Savant who is being held by Majestic, who at this point is a paranoid version of Superman that is trying to force the world to do his bidding.

Lots of explosions and punching are sure to be had!

Good stuff!

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What comics did you get geeked out about this week? Just stop by the WLG message boards (see link below) and share!

See you next week!

Peace!

-Diaz

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Were Diaz's picks on the mark?
Have your say on What Looks Good at the Looking Good message board.

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