When Alien: Romulus hit multiplex screens this summer, it raised a handful of questions. Some of the more burning queries included: “Who is the father of Kay’s baby?” (to which the answer is resoundingly grim), “Is Rain’s dream home of Yvaga all it’s cracked up to be?” and “Who, of sound body & mind, would rubber stamp that ghoulish deepfake of Ian Holm?”
What’s less likely to have kept you up at night, however, is the missing time that bridges the film’s prologue — in which Weyland-Yutani recovers the original Xenomorph from Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic — and its narrative proper. After all, we already know: A) that the corporation sent out a probe with the express purpose of tracking down the so-called “perfect organism”; B) that they proceeded to conduct experiments with its DNA; and C) that by the time the Corbelan crew arrives at Renaissance Station, all of the personnel have been torn to shreds.
With mangled bodies clogging up the hallways of both research modules, and that gunky resin having overtaken the lower levels, we can safely infer what happened here. It certainly doesn’t take Benoit Blanc to get to the bottom of it!
Yet despite the fact that it seems to be a fairly cut-and-dry case, with little worth interrogating, it is this backstory that the team behind Marvel’s new Alien: Romulus #1 comic have decided to explore. At a brisk 30 pages (inclusive of the front cover, back cover and credits section), the one-shot doesn’t have the luxury of going super in-depth with any of its ideas, nor does it have the latitude to meaningfully recontextualize anything from its companion piece movie.
Still, it is an opportunity to pave over some niggling plot holes — like why the alien’s growth is so accelerated — and to indulge in gruesome bug-hunt action. If that’s all you want, then it’s an enjoyable enough read.
Picking up from the very second that Fede Álvarez cuts away in his film, just as the cocooned Xenomorph is delivered to the Renaissance, the comic is set roughly 20 years after the Nostromo massacre, but 5 months before we meet Rain & Andy on LV-410. It primarily focuses on the opposing agendas of head scientist Mattos (who is intent on using “Specimen XX121” for Weyland-Yutani’s weapons division) and the Synthetic Officer Rook (who, instead, is interested in the genetic implications of the Xeno’s ability to withstand hostile environments).
Meanwhile, there’s a subplot about a pair of ex-marines — and apparently the only sensible people onboard either the Remus or the Romulus — who are convinced this thing ought to be launched back into the cold vacuum of space from whence it came. Ironically enough, it’s their good intentions that end up getting everyone killed, as they sneak into the lab after hours and inadvertently loose XX121 upon the station.
And that’s pretty much it to be honest. There’s vanishingly little to spoil because it all plays out as you’d expect based on the evidence presented to us in the movie months ago. In a foreword, Álvarez enthuses that this comic is: “the perfect format to fill the story gap presented in the first few minutes of [his] film.” Technically, that’s what the one-shot does, but it offers nothing that changes your perspective in any exciting way.
Aside from clarifying the exact origins of that serum Kay injects herself with — and the extent of Rook’s involvement in all of the mad experiments going on — the biggest revelations here are just about how certain MacGuffins ended up in certain places. For example, we discover the precise steps that lead to Rook being torn in half next to a gaping hole in the station, and why the cloned face huggers are locked in that one red room.
Similar to the 2011 prequel of The Thing (that existed mostly to justify why an axe was buried into the wall of a Norwegian base) there is something satisfying about these forensic, A-to-B connections and how neatly they match up with the continuity of Alien: Romulus itself. Writer Zac Thompson also helps strengthen the film’s connective tissue to Prometheus with a couple of throwaway references to Peter Weyland’s quest for eternal life, which is appreciated.
Yet, not to labour the point, that’s about all there is here. The truncated nature of the plot means that there’s no time to build suspense or form any deep attachments to the new characters. Indeed, they’re just thinly sketched cannon fodder. At least in terms of the writing.
Conversely, Daniel Picciotto’s art is rich in detail, while Yen Nitro’s colours add a lot of texture to scenes, particularly those of a gorier nature. On that note, while the one-shot might not reveal too much lore or backstory, it certainly takes joy in revealing what the alien is capable of doing to the human body; courtesy of some rather graphic panels. There’s a grizzly face-ripping, somebody’s eardrums are violently penetrated by the Xeno’s inner jaw, and it all culminates with an acidic bloodbath that’s fun to gawk at. It’s a shame then that it takes over half the comic’s page count to get to all that icky stuff.
Credit where credit is due, Alien: Romulus #1 is not a bad comic-book by any stretch. Just an inessential one. It’s always nice to dip back into this world, getting to see Rook in illustrated form helps wash away some of the bad taste left behind by his CGI counterpart, and Thompson does what he can to tee up the events of Álvarez’s movie. Just don’t go expecting anything more substantial than that.
Presented by 20th Century Studios in association with Marvel, Alien: Romulus #1 is available now in a digital and print editions.
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