Scientist Batya Zahn will do just about anything to get her family off the icy moon where they’ve been conducting research on water conservation. But there’s more than glacial springs to find in this forgotten corner of the galaxy. When they discover an extraordinary organism buried in the ice, it won’t take long for tensions to heat up. What is hidden in the snow comes forth in the thaw-and no one will be welcoming this spring. Alien #1 is a slow and tense build for the chaos we know will eventually happen.

Written by Declan Shalvey, Alien #1 doesn’t attempt to break the mold at all. It’s a simple story building towards the xenomorph attack we know is coming. But, even knowing what’s to come, the issue delivers a pace that adds little on top of little to deliver a solid and tight opening.

Explorers/miners discovering some ancient horror isn’t anything new. It’s a plot that has been done over and over again. Alien #1 is basically that as a trio are on a planet looking at the ice and figuring out if there’s useful water. Below that ice is an unknown amount of xenomorphs waiting to be woken up with a thawing. It feels like there’s an underlying warning there about global warming and the dangers that wait us as the world heats up, but even without going into that, the issue paces everything out nicely adding layers to the shitshow that is to come. Corporate buyouts, family tension, corporate stooges, it’s all there in what will likely be a classic horror story with a scifi spin.

The art by Andrea Broccardo is solid. With color by Tríona Farrell and lettering by Clayton Cowles, the comic has a cold look to it. You can feel the cold air and ice just looking at the pages which plays off of the white and gray of the world. What’s presented is great in the design as it feels like a setting that’s both scientific and lived in. There’s something rather practical about what we see and it fits nicely with the aesthetic that has been set up for the world of Alien.

Alien #1 doesn’t brake any ground but does break the ice (bad joke, we know). What it does is a solid build up slowly adding to the tension for what we know is coming. It’s classic in a lot of ways and it should be interesting to see if it keeps that up or if there’s twists and turns to come.

Story: Declan Shalvey Art: Andrea Broccardo
Color: Tríona Farrell Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Story: 8.4 Art: 8.3 Overall: 8.4 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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