Aliens: What If #4 Review

 

Concept: Paul & Leon Reiser; Adam F. Goldberg; Hans Rodionoff; Brian Volk-Weiss

Writer: Hans Rodionoff & Brian Volk-Weiss

Artist: Guiu Vilanova

Colorist: Yen Nitro

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Cover Artists: Phil Noto; Salvador Larroca & Guru eFX

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99

Release Date: June 5, 2024

 

Carter Burke is a driven man. He's got plans for everything. If only the universe would respect his plans! Instead, the Hadley's Hope situation spun out of control, and now Asteroid D350-L8 is following the same playbook. Another Queen has arrived to rock his little terraformed world. Can Carter escape another Xenomorph corporate takeover? Let’s grab our flamethrowers, leap into Aliens: What If #4, and find out!

 

Story

Carter is panicking. After the face-hugger impregnated Harold, Cygnus prepared to remove the Xenomorph from the miner and harvest the alien DNA. But the incubating alien got impatient. It burst through Harold's chest and tore the combat android apart. Carter had planned on getting a comparatively manageable Xenomorph drone. Instead, the universe gave him a Queen!

 

Carter does the first thing that comes to mind. He runs to his daughter’s quarters to whisk her away to safety. Instead, he finds Hiro Yu there. Carter bonded with Hiro over a mutual hatred for Hiro’s father, Shin Yutani. Hiro’s never won his father’s respect, but he’s promised to use his resources at Weyland-Yutani to help Carter cure his wife. But that doesn't mean Carter wants the scion of the man who exiled him to this rock as his son-in-law. Still, Brie’s only sleeping with Hiro to annoy him, isn't she?

 

In Aliens: What If #4, Cygnus, the illegal battle android Carter assembled in a scrapyard, is dead. Carter wants to protect his family. Hiro may be the son of Weyland-Yutani’s heartless CEO, but when the young man reminds Carter of all the other people who live on Asteroid D350-L8, Carter realizes he doesn’t want them to die.

 

Carter Burke never intends to hurt people. Yet he creates distance because he never has time for them. So he uses lies and manipulation to keep them close, but that doesn't win their respect or love. Carter mourns Cygnus even though Hiro points out that androids aren't alive. If Carter had spent less time making plans and profits for Weyland-Yutani, his daughter might have respected him. But he needs her and Hiro's help to protect everyone in his adoptive home. So, when his daughter and Hiro ask him to step up, Carter helps them confront the Xenomorph Queen in Aliens: What If #4.

 

Hope wasn’t enough last time. In Hans Rodionoff & Brian Volk-Weiss’ story, Carter wants to be a better man. He adopts a new plan. Along the way, Carter hopes to win his daughter’s respect. Who knows? Perhaps Carter Burke can find a way to reunite his family. If only the universe will respect his plans!

 

 

 

Art

Brie may enjoy mining Trimonite, but the dents and graffiti on her door suggest that Weyland-Yutani spends more on beautifying white-collar dormitories. His daughter's damp hair and the towel around her torso suggest she and Hiro showered together in Aliens: What If #4. While Carter struggles not to yank chunks from his full head of hair, Brie leans behind Hiro and clasps his shoulder. Her smile suggests that her father's belief about Brie’s motives may have some basis in truth. But Carter should take more note of Hiro’s stony expression. Hiro thought he’d found a partner who valued him. Instead, he found another father who disrespects him!

 

Guiu Vilanova energizes a page with small panels as Brie and Hiro suit up. Carter smiles as he straps into his chipped and sparking novice rig. He starts after the others in their Komatsu Kaiju mining rigs. But by the time they reach the lab, Carter pushes his Grokk-Primer NVC rig through the doorway before his daughter and Hiro. Any impishness fades from his face as Carter regards the torn body of his former android.

 

Carter invades the yellow miners’ dormitory in his brown suit. Carter eschews Brie and Hiro’s green coveralls and helmets for his management attire but accepts a pair of purple gloves. The lights on the yellow and gray mining suits produce glare on the visors. Installed lighting fills the mine with yellow, green, blue, and brown. Yen Nitro colors the Xenomorph webbing gray, while white dots evoke stickers proclaiming their freshness.

 

Clayton Cowles welcomes readers who saw Aliens during its original cinema run with large black uppercase lettering in white dialogue balloons. White letters in black narrative boxes with green borders locate readers in time and space. Colorful, energetic sound effects help readers hear mining rigs clank, flames erupt, and gases disperse. No one screams in Aliens: What If #4. Still, a hiss writhes through a dark cavern as Humans run through the Xenomorph Queen’s domain.

 

Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

When the universe overturns his plans, Carter struggles to keep up with the kids, his daughter Brie learns more about herself and her family, and his new partner Hiro contemplates his future in Aliens: What If #4.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.