Concept: Paul & Leon Reiser; Adam F. Goldberg; Hans Rodionoff; Brian Volk-Weiss
Writer: Hans Rodionoff
Artist: Guiu Vilanova
Colorist: Yen Nitro
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Cover Artists: Phil Noto; Mahmud Asrar & Matthew Wilson; Stephen Mooney & Frank Martin
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 15, 2024
Hiro Yu, the Senior Director of Human Capital for Weyland-Yutani, traveled to Asteroid D350-L8 to fire Carter Burke. Instead, Burke knocked him on the noggin with Ripley's rifle. Hiro wakes strapped to an operating table. Beside him, an Xenomorph egg is opening, and a Facehugger is climbing out. Can Hiro convince Carter to release him? What if Hiro gave him a promotion and threw in a vision plan? Let’s grab our flamethrowers, leap into Aliens: What If #3, and find out!
Story
The Aliens didn't kill Carter Burke on Hadley's Hope. He escaped from a cocoon and slipped aboard Ripley's shuttle. After Ripley shoots the Queen into space and goes into Hypersleep, Carter makes a deal with Shin Yutani. He got a job for life, and Weyland-Yutani didn’t get hit with 158 wrongful death lawsuits.
Sadly, employment for life didn't prevent Carter from becoming a scapegoat for the Hadley's Hope disaster. So, he conceived a backup plan. He rebuilt Cygnus, a banned combat synthetic, and sent him to find another Xenomorph egg. Now, Cygnus is back, and he's 98% certain he can accomplish Carter’s aims without causing more wrongful deaths. Okay, maybe he’s only 90% certain Hiro will survive. Still, 90 is a good percentage, right?
In Aliens: What If #3, Carter wants to cure cancer, starting with his wife’s. It’s a noble goal. Unfortunately, it involves impregnating some poor schmuck with an alien. But everyone who works for Weyland-Yutani gets paid sick leave, right?
Hans Rodionoff’s story tackles family dysfunction and why children often pull away from their parents. It also shows how two hurting people can bond. No matter how much Carter loves his daughter and tries to please her, Brie refuses to give him the time of day. Yet, Hiro sees Carter as a better father than his own. Why else would Hiro work with Carter once he convinces the visionary to save him from the Facehugger?
Rodionoff’s investment in the characters pays dividends in Aliens: What If #3. Drama arises as Carter saves Hiro, then gets irked when Brie shows interest in this visitor to their little world. Cygnus keeps recalculating the possibility of accomplishing Carter’s plan, and as people hunt for the Facehugger, history repeats itself and allows the creepy crawly to escape. If only everyone would stop distrusting Carter and help him achieve his mostly noble plan!
Art
Strapped to the lab table, Hiro’s muscles strain as he rants and raves. The slim young executive may look like a slick company man, but he’s nothing like the uncaring executives who claimed Ripley destroyed the Nostromo without sufficient reason. Carter Burke enters with his palms clasped before his transparent face shield. The overweight, gray-haired manager may look as if walking takes effort, but he rides his bike to work, swings a mean bat, and can run through the tunnels when given sufficient reason. That reason is his daughter, who operates a mechanized drilling machine. Brie’s Komatsu Kaiju rig resembles that of an armored deep-sea diver (or a Mondoshawan from The Fifth Element). If she survives her father’s grand experiment, perhaps she can find an undersea mining gig on a nearby asteroid once her team taps out the Trimonite deposits on D350-L8.
Guiu Vilanova introduces readers to another synthetic model in Aliens: What If #3. Scientists made Cygnus a soldier, but he’s not a stone-cold killer like Maximilian in The Black Hole. (Nor, for that matter, does he resemble VINCENT or old BOB). With his beard, detached demeanor, and ear stretchers, the android better resembles Dr Reinhardt than the scientist’s robotic servants or the remaining personnel aboard the USS Cygnus. The Replicant (Or Replican) is a straight man to Carter's overweening reasonableness.
Yen Nitro shows light play over people and surfaces, whether it's the harsh overhead lighting in Carter's lab or the spotlights embedded in Brie's mechanized exoskeleton. Light gleams against face shields and gives metal and fabrics depth and texture. Carter glows as if charged by the enormity of his humanitarian dream in Aliens: What If #3. It's good that Nitro is a master of light, or we'd never see the Facehugger when it lingers in shadow.
Clayton Cowles attacks white dialogue balloons with black uppercase lettering that should please readers who saw Aliens during its original cinema run. The Facehugger screams white letters into black dialogue balloons. Sounds burst into panels to enhance movement, gunfire, and attacks. But just as letters explode across the opening scene, they accompany a cliffhanger ending.
Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
While Carter Burke makes friends with yet another test subject, and the key to his humanitarian plan escapes his control, Aliens: What If #3 builds off the set pieces of the popular franchise movie to create an exciting, humorous, and touching story.
Rating 8.8/10
To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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