Sure, we like to read comics, or, in my case, graphic novels. But it’s usually months (often several) after they’ve already been released. I like to think it’s that I have other things to do…but really I’m just kind of lazy.
ALIENS OMNIBUS Volume 1
By various folks
It may be hard for you young folks out there to believe, but back in the late 80s, these Aliens comics hit like a neutron bomb with pre-90s boom readers. People used to movie tie-ins being lazy cash grabs were genuinely shocked by their dark and gritty quality, high production values, and eager willingness to expand the franchise’s universe and scope. The first couple mini-series were sensations. In a way, Aliens made Dark Horse.
Like everyone else, I loved these books way back when. I’ve even gone as far as saying that they’re better than the third and fourth movies, which is still true in some respects. But, you know what, these Aliens books haven’t aged very well. At all. Although Mark Verheiden came up with some legitimately great ideas — Aliens overrun Earth; Ripley pays a visit to the Alien homeworld; origins of the derelict ship where the Aliens were first discovered — and the art (by Mark Nelson, Dennis Beauvais, and Sam Keith) is often of very high quality, the books are full of 80s comic crimes like cliched faux-military dialog, bad dream sequences, clunky and confusing storytelling, jumps in logic, and taking themselves far too seriously.
Grade: C+
EXIT WOUNDS
By Rutu Modan
2007 was a weak year for comics overall, which made Rutu Modan’s exceptional debut stand out all the more. A quietly tense and involving story about an Israeli cab driver and his estranged father’s young lover, Exit Wounds, like many successful works of art, emphatically believes the unremarkable entirely remarkable. Modan’s sharp characterization, smooth pacing, and loose, inviting artistic style brilliantly captures what life is like in the world’s most contentious country without being obvious or heavy-handed. This modest and profoundly empathetic work may go down as 07’s finest comic.
Grade: A
