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nattikay · 4 years

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So I don’t typically like making personal posts of this type, as I generally come here to escape all that and relax, but at this point I’m just not really sure where else to go with it, all things considered.

Anyways...I’ve been...stressed lately. No, coronavirus isn’t the root cause of it, but it certainly ain’t helping (as I will explain later).

So the first thing I guess...is my younger sister’s wedding tomorrow. To explain why this is a stressor I first have to reveal a bit about myself, a little deeper than I am usually comfortable doing on the internet, and I know it’s ultimately gonna make me sound like...kinda a selfish butthole.

So...I’ve always greatly valued the concept of marriage and family. It’s a value I hold very dear, I always have, and I’ve always wanted to one day get married and have kids of my own. However, I’ve also always struggled hugely with social anxiety, for pretty much as long as I can remember, and needless to say dating does not come easily to me.

For a while, that was ok because I had other goals to work towards in the meantime...getting into my college of choice...getting into their animation program...doing well in my classes...graduating...getting a job...but now I’ve done all those things, and getting married would be the natural next step in life.

...if I could actually fall in love with someone.

So I’m stuck. I feel like I’m just treading water, or running in circles. I feel like I can’t progress and it’s scary. But progressing itself, going out and meeting people, opening myself up like that--is also scary. It’s like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. A lose-lose situation.

I did have a sort-of boyfriend towards the end of college, but then I graduated and moved away and, well...things are a bit complicated. I still chat with him online now and then, but we only see each other in-person maybe once or twice a year for conventions. And even though we’re still on good terms in a friendly sorta way, given the time and distance I’m not sure whether or not he’s still interested in pursuing that type of relationship with me, nor am I sure how to bring it up without making him feel awkward.

Sometimes I wonder if maybe I should’ve stayed in Utah after I graduated, found a job there and been able to spend more time with him...but I didn’t...and now a part of me feels like...I dunno....like I missed my chance?

But...all of that’s a tangent...it’s not the only issue...

So anyways...like I said...this is my younger sister’s wedding. For those who don’t know, I’m the oldest sibling in my family. Maybe I wouldn’t feel as stressed if my sister were older than me. But as it is...this is the first time in my life that I haven’t been first to a major life event. And yes, I know, I know it’s not a race, it’s not a competition, etc. etc. etc....I know. But...it’s a reminder.

I’m stuck, and now I’m being “surpassed” and I’m constantly being reminded.

And things seemed to work out so easily for her too. She met this guy less than a year ago and they’re absolutely head-over-heels obsessed with each other.

and I don’t

understand

that?

I mean, her fiancé’s a good guy don’t get me wrong, and they’re really happy together and I’m glad of that, but at the same time...watching how they are with each other, how they interact...I don’t...know that I’ve ever felt that? And in my head, I wish I could, it seems like it’d be so nice but...

guys, sometimes I feel like I’m broken.

I feel like I don’t have that capacity to get so excited over a real person the way my sister and her fiancé are about each other.

Not romantically. Not even platonically.

Except...not quite. I do have some capacity to be all giddy. But...it only ever seems to happen with fictional characters, animals, or plushies.

Never real people. Never real relationships.

and I don’t

understand

why

And quite frankly, I’m terrified, absolutely terrified that that’ll lead me to being forever alone

And yes, I know that some people are perfectly content to live their lives single, and that’s fine and you do you and I’m not gonna judge you or say you’re invalid or whatever; I don’t believe that. But...I don’t think I’m one of those people. Marriage and family is something I hold too dear to my heart to just give up on the idea of having my own.

But...like I said...reminders.

Reminders, reminders, and reminders of one of my weaknesses, one of my struggles, of a concept that utterly frightens me and I have to be around it constantly right now. And when I’m with other people, I have to do it with a smile.

I love my sister, don’t get me wrong. And like I said, her fiancé’s a good guy. I’m glad they’re happy. I don’t want to ruin that for them with my selfish struggles. Just because I’m unhappy right now doesn’t mean I have to drag them down with me. They deserve to have a good time.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not struggling.

So...there. That’s why my sister’s wedding is a stressor for me.

On top of all that...the wedding was supposed to be in April, in Utah. But because of the coronavirus shutdowns, we’ve had to to some last-minute rearrangements, and now it’s tomorrow here in Alabama. This has been extremely stressful on my mom, who really put a lot of dedication into the wedding planning and is bummed that it didn’t work out. She’s been particularly frazzled this past week, constantly scrambling to get all the rearrangements taken care of and terrified that more shutdowns with mess it all up again.

This is why I’m making this post here. Usually I would talk to my mom, or my therapist...but I don’t have another therapy appointment for a few weeks (if it hasn’t been cancelled for the virus) and my mom, well...she has enough of her own problems to deal with right now. I don’t want to burden her with mine.

And then there’s the situation at work. With the whole social distancing thing going on they’re trying to get as many people set up to work remotely as possible. Unfortunately, because of what I do and the way our network works, this entails bringing home my entire computer setup, which is a hassle in itself on merely a physical level. I stuck it out coming into the office longer than most of my coworkers, but my mom texted me today saying that they’re now talking about shutting down all “non-essential” businesses so if I wanted to work at all over the next little bit and not eat up vacation hours I should just bite the bullet and move my setup home. So I did.

But now there’s another potential problem. I’ve got all the hardware and it should work just fine...but I also need internet connectivity in order to access our pipeline. As we were packing up my stuff, my coworker mentioned that he wasn’t actually sure if the computers had wifi capabilities and that I might have to plug it in directly...which could be a problem, because the internet connection is on the other side of the house from where I’d be working, and even if I moved my setup to that room I’m pretty sure I’d have to unplug the router in order to plug in this computer and then everyone else would lose their wifi...which would really suck with all of us being stuck at home right now, and would be especially detrimental to my dad who is also working from home right now and needs the wifi.

Granted, I haven’t actually tried to hook it up just yet, so who knows, I might just get lucky and it’ll have wifi capabilities after all...but I don’t know for sure yet.

I mentioned this issue to my mom when I got home today, mostly just to warn her that I might have to make some weird arrangements like a long extensions cord or something (if it doesn’t in fact have wifi). Alas, that turned out to be a mistake...like I said, my mom’s already really stressed with the wedding stuff and a potential work computer problem just added fuel to the fire and then she started stressing about that too even though it’s not really a thing she needs to be worrying about, it’s my problem to figure out...but nonetheless I felt pretty guilty for making her feel even more stressed that she already was.

I don’t know what I’m going to do if I can’t get my work computer connected at home. I guess just bring it back to the office...but that’s assuming people with still be allowed in the building at all come next week. I just...I dunno man. I don’t know.

All this mess has led to me starting to experience certain anxiety symptoms that I haven’t really dealt with since I first went on my medication a few years ago, which means the stress is getting bad enough to...override the meds a bit. I guess. idk, the symptoms haven’t been too severe but the fact that they’re there at all...hng.

If you made it through this whole mess, congrats, I’m impressed

tl;dr

everything’s a mess, everyone’s stressed, I have anxiety and I don’t know who to talk to

not really looking for advice so much as just somewhere to vent and maybe some comfort, idk

Thanks for your time

-NattiKay

#just a really big vent #if you actually get through the whole thing...I'm impressed #but don't feel obligated to #just trying to get some things off my chest I guess #idk #just don't really know where to turn right now #:/

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uniquesmalltreasures · 7 years

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So more on Dexter Grif (season 15 episode 6 spoilers)

Remember back in season 10 when Doc was giving his speech on the good stuff that happened to everyone thanks to Project Freelancer and all adventures of the Reds and Blues? The only two people he hadn’t addressed had been Caboose – who lost Church, and Grif. It might have been because Grif got the, well, Grifshot. Or maybe because he never got what he truly wanted and… After now I think about that a lot.

Grif is tired. And not Agent Washington tired TM. He literally thought that after all the bullshit he had to endure during his life, he was finally rewarded with peace and quiet. He even had a nice home (until Donut) and a place where he could relax – he could just be lazy all day or eat, chill at a water theme park, hell, he started a band. Apart from the same crazy things his teammates did, he seemed happy?

And then it got threatened. Again by Church, who I’m pretty sure hadn’t been even close to a friend for Grif. Caboose and Tucker – yeah, maybe even Wash, surely Carolina. Church? No, they were never even comrades and yet he went through a lot of shit just to help him out on several occasions. How fucked up is that? At almost each point of his life, Grif had been manipulated: emotionally, physically and psychologically. Half of that time, it was in some way related to Church. No wonder he was unhappy about his supposed resurrection.

So he went away to vent in silence and in solitude. To think. And he realized that he wasn’t okay with the decisions his team made: of all of them going off on yet another adventure to save Church. Almost no questions asked. They automatically trust this reporter and cameraman, they don’t stop to think what this might be, or how is it possible. And Grif is so tired of the history repeating itself.

One thing will always make me curious: if the person who went into the cave after Grif wasn’t Dylan, would he still have his outburst? Or if it was someone else, let’s say, Carolina or Tucker, who would say: hey, we need you, aren’t you coming? Maybe we would have a different reaction.

Dylan starts her monologue with stating how other see Grif – and because it's important to note: that is the exact same way his teammates, his supposed friends and family see him too – as a lazy, uncaring person. And Grif immediately agrees with her – like yeah, that is him, everyone sees him that way and he’s okay with that. That’s a safe way to himself as, even if it is self-loathing. The change in tone happens when Dylan keeps talking, giving Grif supposedly character traits that he doesn’t acknowledge or doesn’t want to: that he’s always there for others, for his friends and family, who will complain but ultimately do the right thing.

And in that scene – which I think is brilliant visually – Grif looks down. Is that him being bashful? Thoughtful? I swear I’m not the only one who was smiling at that scene thinking that yeah, that is exactly who Grif is, he will see that, maybe even be impressed that someone had seen the good in him and then he will join the others and probably complain even more and- yeah.

You know that saying, that truth hurts? Yeah, well this is Grif hurting. Anger is a natural and probably also an automatic response to pain, as long as it’s combined with a thought or event that will also trigger anger. It can be anything: a personal assumption or a self-depriving thought. Someone’s interpretation of the behavior might be hurtful, trying to manipulate them is painful as hell. And oh boy, does Dylan deliver in that aspect.

Dylan just had to say that the Reds and Blues were his friends - the very same people he had always cared about – probably one of the reasons why later he had to assert himself and them that no, he didn’t even like them. Dylan just had to bring up Kai – his baby sister – and does Grif know she’s alive? Or is he still grieving her and hearing her name had been the last push he needed?

Or maybe it was the fact that a complete stranger had seen Grif’s true colors, the fact that he can be both lazy and uncaring and go to great lengths for the people he decides to care for, but the people he had spent half his life with didn’t see that in him? How is that not heartbreaking in any way?

Or was it the fact that Dylan was trying to manipulate him into going with the rest and he had enough of that bullshit too?

Point is. He got hurt and he is tired. Whether it’s a defense mechanism or not, he had to prove to himself or to Dylan, that he’s not like the vulnerable snowflake she was talking about. So he screams about hating Simmons and Sarge. Isn’t it funny how he first mentioned Simmons and then Sarge? Dylan had been talking about Sarge and with how their whole relationship looks, nobody would doubt it if Grif denied caring for him.

But Grif mentions Simmons first. Like, that’s his thought – that’s the first friendship he has to deny and then goes for Sarge. And then goes for the final scream of ‘I hate everyone’. That is a big fat lie of a cornered person who has to deny their feelings as not to have them used against themselves.

Grif won’t let Dylan make him feel vulnerable, he won’t play the guilt game with her. So he denies that Simmons and Sarge are important to him – in a subtext way he does the exact opposite, alienating them from the rest, putting the focus on exactly those two. Because those are the two people he cares the most about.

In a way, didn’t we kind of have Grif going through 5 stages of grief? (In which he is dealing with the loss of a comfortable life and the short termed happiness he experienced after Chorus)

1. denial and isolation – him complaining about Church not staying dead and going into the cave not to talk to anyone

2. anger – his out-lash at Dylan

3. bargaining – should I stay or should I go? (basically the thinking he referred to)

4. depression – I suppose it could have had happened off camera, just after he did his thinking, but also, it overlaps with:

5. acceptance – in which Grif finally tells the others that he’s through with them and that nothing they’ll say will affect his decision

“Oh! Look who’s finally graced us with his presence.”

“Where have you been, soldier?”

“Thinking.”

“Yeah right!”

“Thinking about food.”

“No. Actually, I was thinking that I quit.”

How ironic is it, that in this scene, where Grif cuts his ties with the Reds and Blues, he’s the only one who doesn’t throw insults? That he’s the one who tries to be fair to them and explain himself, instead of just saying ‘fuck you’ and leaving them on the spot without any word of explanation. Which would be what Grif had already done once. After Epsilon had his outburst after finding the Director, Grif was the first one to call him out and tell him to fuck off. He turned around and walked away. No explanations, nothing. But not this time.

Grif is so calm. He’s like a victim finally snapping out of an abusive relationship. Knowing that anything they might throw at him at the moment won’t hurt him because he won’t let them. Because he’s done. Done following orders and following head first into battle after people who he sees as idiots on one level or another. He can’t do this anymore, not after he was reminded of an alternative of having a peaceful and happy life.

As he talks with the rest, his voice seems as surprised as they are, only they are outraged at his decision, while he is almost giddy with the realization that he truly can do this: he can stay. He can let go. It can be over for him. He doesn’t need to stick with them. He doesn’t even like them.

I truly believe that he says that line not only for them to hear it, to hurt them if they thought otherwise, but also to himself. That this relationship he had with them was never healthy. And he always gave them all of his care, despite being a lazy-ass, but they never acknowledged him. So now it’s time for them to separate. For him to heal and decide if this is really what he wants from life. Maybe he will try to track down Kai. Maybe he’ll just stay where he is happy and content. Maybe he will swoop in to save the day at the end because let’s be real.

But if this is a season of plot-twists, we’re in for one hell of a ride.

#Dexter Grif #character study #meta #rant #I just need to get that out of my system seeing all those people shitting on Grif #Red vs Blue #RvB #Red vs Blue season 15 #RvB season 15 #I am so sorry for all those posts #but #I'm in RvB hell

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aion-rsa · 7 years

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Aliens: The 15 Best Xenomorph Comics

With the release of the first trailer for “Alien: Covenant,” fans are finally getting to see Ridley Scott truly return to the classic franchise he helped create. When it was released, “Alien” launched a multimedia saga that included movies, books, toys, video games and of course, comics.

RELATED: Darth Vader Vs. Aliens

A lot of people look at licensed titles as if they’re inferior to “true” comic books. They’re often unfairly judged as cheap cash-ins, meant to be created as quickly as possible with little regard for the quality of the product. This couldn’t be further from the truth with the Xenomorph. These famous monsters have attracted some great writers and artists throughout their time in the medium, and a wide variety of content has been created under the “Alien” banner. With that pedigree in mind, here are the 15 best “Aliens” comics.

GENOCIDE

While it wasn’t the first Alien comic book series, “Genocide” is one of the most recognizable series due to the introduction of the red aliens. Written by Mike Richardson and John Arcudi, with art from Damon Willis, Karl Story and Arthur Suydam, “Genocide” is set after the events of the movies, when the aliens have become common knowledge among humans. It’s also been discovered that the queens secrete a jelly, which acts like a super steroid when ingested by humans, so a team of marines is sent to what is believed to be the Xenomorph homeworld to capture a queen and her precious jelly.

When they get there, however, they find two different warring species of aliens: the traditional aliens and a new red-skinned alien. This leads to beautifully drawn scenes of battles between thousands of monsters, with the marines caught right in the middle. Aside from the art, this series is remembered for being the first comic to really step away from the movies and start to develop the aliens as their own species, with derivatives therein. Many of the concepts introduced, such as the royal jelly, became mainstays in “Alien” comics for years to come.

OUTBREAK

Before the release of “Alien 3,” a trilogy of comic book series was written that told the further adventures of Hicks and Newt, two of the surviving characters from “Aliens.” Set several years after they encountered the Xenomorphs on Acheron (aka, LV-426), the series tells two stories. The first deals with Hicks leading a new team of marines to destroy a newly discovered alien hive on yet another distant planet. He brings along Newt, who has been left mentally scarred from her experience and living in an asylum. The second story deals with a cult that worships that Xenomorphs and reveals that the morally-bankrupt Weyland-Yutani Corporation has one of the creatures on Earth.

While Hicks and Newt have to survive another alien nightmare and Weyland-Yutani schemes, an alien infestation may be spreading across Earth. Written by Mark Verheiden with art from Mark A. Nelson and Ron Randall, the comic is very good, but perhaps more importantly to fans, it is also memorable for continuing the adventures of Hicks and Newt, who were killed off during the opening credits of “Alien 3.” After the release of that movie, the comics changed the characters to Wilks and Billie, but to fans they’ll always be Hicks and Newt.

NIGHTMARE ASYLUM

The sequel to “Outbreak” — also written by Verheiden, with art from Den Beauvais and Roger Casselman — this series shows what happens to humanity when Earth falls to the Xenomorphs. Wilks and Billie (really Hicks and Newt) end up fleeing the planet on a cargo ship that is carrying Xenomorphs to a military outpost, because these two just have the worst luck possible. When they arrive at the outpost, they discover the unhinged General Spears, who believes that he can train the aliens and use them to clear Earth of the wild aliens. Of course, Spears finds out that the aliens are much harder to domesticate than it appears.

As part of the “Earth Hive” trilogy, this is another must-read Aliens adventure. Once again, this story was written before “Alien 3,” so it shows what could have happened had the movies gone in a different direction. Just like “Outbreak,” the comics eventually had to go back and be fixed to line up with the continuity of “Alien 3.” Even in their altered forms, though, they’re still a nice look at what could have been.

FEMALE WAR

Earth has been evacuated and is controlled by the Xenomorphs. Wilks and Billie (once again, really Hicks and Newt) have survived multiple encounters with the deadly species, along with killer robots and crazed Generals, but their adventures aren’t done yet. This is especially true, now that they’ve teamed up with an old friend: Ellen Ripley. The three hatch a plan to save the Earth, but it requires going out into deep space and recovering one of the largest alien queens ever, and then bringing her back to the planet.

With art by the inimitable Sam Kieth to complement Verheiden’s writing this time, “Female War” was the last story using characters from “Aliens” to be printed before “Alien 3” killed off all of the series’ major players. Unlike Hicks and Newt, Ripley’s inclusion in this story wasn’t fixed with a simple name swap. In the novelizations, extra content was added to reveal that the Ripley who appears is actually a robot duplicate. Unfortunately, this solution was too complicated to include in the comics, so Ripley was just left in and the continuity error was ignored. For fans unhappy with the ending of “Alien 3,” this series gives them much better closure.

ALIEN VS. PREDATOR

Dark Horse Comics decided to see what would happen if they pitted two of the deadliest alien species against each other; unsurprisingly, the result was a monster hit (pun intended). Set during the timeline of the “Alien” movies, the story takes place on the planet Ryushi, home to a colony of ranchers working for The Company. Unfortunately, it’s also the site of a Predator hunt, and the Predators have seeded the planet with Xenomorph eggs. When the hunt doesn’t go as smoothly as the Predators anticipated, the human settlers find themselves caught between two of the deadliest species in the galaxy.

Written by Randy Stradley, with art from Phill Norwood, Chris Warner and a host of other talents, this crossover would inspire sequels that continue to this day in toys, video games, and two popular (if critically-dubious) movies. The match-up might seem obvious today, but at the time, it was downright revolutionary. The success of the comic led to an alien skull appearing in the predator’s trophy case in the oft-maligned “Predator 2.” Of course, it would take over a decade for a full-length movie to be released. While the quality of the movies is debatable, fans generally agree that the original comic that kicked it all off — itself beginning as a serialized tale in “Dark Horse Presents” — is an absolute classic.

GREEN LANTERN VERSUS ALIENS

Crossovers between the aliens and other superhero comic book characters are very hit or miss. Luckily, this book — written by Ron Marz, with art from Rick Leonardi and Mike Perkins — is mostly a hit, telling a fun, albeit simple story. Set during two different time periods, the story starts off with Hal Jordan encountering the aliens before becoming Parallax. Jordan decides that the aliens aren’t evil, and instead of killing them, deposits them on Mogo, the living planet, where they can’t hurt anyone. A decade later, Kyle Rayner has become the last Green Lantern and must rescue a ship that has crashed on the no-longer-conscious Mogo. Raynor must launch a rescue to the planet’s surface, where he encounters the perennially ill-tempered Xenomorphs.

This story doesn’t fit into continuity, but that actually works in its favor. It’s made abundantly clear pretty early on that characters can be killed off, and several of the Green Lanterns involved don’t survive their encounters with the titular aliens. As far as Alien appearances in the DC universe, this is one of their better showings. At least there’s no appearance by the Joker/Alien hybrid from “Batman/Aliens 2.”

MUSIC OF THE SPEARS

Written by Chet Williamson with art from Tim Hamilton and Timothy Bradstreet, “Aliens: Music of the Spears” has a bonkers premise. Struggling musician Damon Eddington has a crazy new idea for his next project: he wants to record the sounds of a Xenomorph and use it to create a symphony of hate. After getting the project approved by Synsound, the company that controls all music, a team of ninjas (we repeat: a team of ninjas) is able to obtain an egg. One of Eddington’s old musician pals volunteers to be the host for the facehugger, because he’s fallen on hard times and is addicted to a drug created by alien jelly. Eddington gets his alien, and eventually begins bringing it live humans in order to capture the sounds he needs. He eventually gets too bold, and is not surprisingly killed when he gets too close to his alien/musical instrument.

That story sounds insane, but of course that’s the point. In his quest to create the perfect art, Eddington slowly loses his humanity. He’s initially unsure about subjecting a volunteer to the facehugger, but soon finds himself sacrificing kidnapped victims to the alien. He starts off as a desperate and failing musician, but his willingness to do anything for his art ultimately destroys him.

NEWT’S TALE

One of the most surprising moments from James Cameron’s “Aliens” is when it’s revealed that the sole survivor of the infestation of Hadley’s Hope is a little girl named Newt. The movie never reveals how she survived, only showing that she’s been traveling through the vents and avoiding the main areas. This comic fills in the blanks, showing her family discovering the derelict spacecraft from the first “Alien” film, her father getting attacked by a facehugger and eventually being implanted with a chestburster.

It only takes a few days for things to fall apart, as more people keep disappearing from the colony and those pesky aliens keep showing up. Eventually, the colonists attempt a last stand, but that only leads the Xenomorphs to where the families had barricaded themselves. The series ends by recounting the events of “Aliens,” bringing everything full circle. Newt is one of the most heartbreaking characters from the franchise, and “Newt’s Tale,” brought to life on the page by Mike Richardson and Jim Somerville, really helps flesh out her character.

ALIEN VS. PREDATOR: ETERNAL

Written by Ian Edginton, “AvP: Eternal” follows Gideon Suhn Lee, who is known as one of the richest technology developers in the world, but is actually a 700-year-old villager from Japan, who once came across a crashed Predator ship. Using a combination of the technology inside and body parts from the dead Predators, Lee unnaturally prolonged his life. He built his fortune by reverse-engineering the ship’s technology, and for many hundreds of years, everything seemed to be going fine. That is, it did… until he uncovers some mysterious eggs in the ship’s cargo hold. When he accidentally unleashes Xenomorphs in Tokyo’s sewers, Lee attracts a new batch of Predators to clean up the mess.

The story is told from the perspective of a reporter, Becka McBride, who is investigating a massacre that was committed using Lee’s stolen technology. This story is definitely one of the stranger entries in the “Alien vs Predator” series, but the beautiful art by Alex Maleev gives everything an otherworldly quality that really nails the tone. It also perfectly balances the Xenomorphs against the predators, making both species feel like equal threats.

LABYRINTH

“Aliens: Labyrinth,” by writer Jim Woodring and artist Kilian Plunkett, starts off with a mystery. After a research assistant dies of a strange heart attack on the space station Innominata, the marine corps sends Dr. Crespi to investigate. Posing as a new assistant, his job is to check on the methods of the station’s head researcher, Dr. Paul Church, who is studying Xenomorphs. Also, marine lieutenant Sharon McGuinness has just arrived on the station, and seems to have her own personal agenda. When Crespi discovers how many people have disappeared on the station, he begins to uncover a horrifying secret.

As the mystery of the station unfolds, each of the main character’s backstories is revealed. Crespi is the lone survivor of a squad of marines that was testing out new weapons against the aliens. Church is also a lone survivor, only he was a colonist who escaped an alien hive. McGuinness’ backstory is at the center of the mystery, and her quest for answers leads to one of the most grotesque discoveries ever, which includes amputation, alien experimentation and of course, revenge.

ALIENS: APOCALYPSE – THE DESTROYING ANGELS

In the original “Alien” movie, the crew of the Nostromo comes across a derelict spaceship which contains a fossilized alien corpse and a cargo hold full of Xenomorph eggs. While the rest of the movie focused on the Xenomorph, nothing is revealed about the mysterious pilot of the ship (that is, until “Prometheus” was released several decades later). These mysterious space jockeys have made several appearances in the alien comics, most notably in this series, written by Mark Schultz and drawn by Doug Wheatley.

In the story, Alecto Throop is hired to find a missing scientist, who she finds on an abandoned planet. While studying the aliens, he had come across the ruins of what may be an ancient space jockey city, and even finds a living one. While not all of their secrets are revealed, fans got to find out what happens when a facehugger impregnates one of these space jockeys. It turns out, an even more horrifying alien is the result.

ROGUE

If there’s a queen alien, wouldn’t there be a king alien? Well, no, that’s not necessarily how biology works, but this series decided to introduce a king anyway because, well… why the hell not, right? In the story, it’s called The Rogue: a synthetic Alien male hybrid created by scientist Ernst Kleist to, in his words, “claim his birthright.” The result of an in-depth study on Xenomorphs, his research and his passion (not to mention the furious nature of the Aliens themselves), all drive Kleist crazy. The rest will all sound familiar: his colleagues on the base go missing and it turns out that they’re being used as hosts for facehuggers to build his better Alien.

It turns out that the mad scientist gave up on trying to domesticate a Queen and created a seemingly controllable rogue alien. Once again, the humans learn that trying to tame the aliens is impossible. To be honest, this isn’t the most creative story from the “Aliens” universe, but it is a lot of fun to watch two giant aliens rampage around a space station, trying to kill each other and anything else that stands in their way.

ALIEN: THE ILLUSTRATED STORY

Typically, comic book adaptations of movies are easily avoidable, but “Alien: The Illustrated Story” is a must-read for any fan of the films. The book was written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Walt Simonson, two uncontested industry giants. Goodwin created characters like Luke Cage and Spider-Woman, while Simonson is famous for his legendary run on “Thor” that introduced characters like Beta Ray Bill. With those two on board, it’s no surprise their “Alien” adaptation turned out as well as it did.

What’s so surprising about this is how true it stays to the original film. It doesn’t necessarily add any new scenes, but what it does do is show scenes from a different perspective. For example, the moment where Ripley comes across the aftermath of the attack on Lambert and Parker reveals grisly details that were left out of the movie. Seeing what exactly the alien did to Parker is an especially shocking addition.

ALIENS: SALVATION

Before launching “Hellboy,” Mike Mignola teamed up with Dave Gibbons to create “Aliens: Salvation,” one of the most surreal Alien comics ever. It tells the story of a devout Christian cook named Selkirk working on a space freighter. When a mysterious containment breach occurs, the captain of the freighter forces Selkirk (at gunpoint) to abandon ship with him, after which they land on a nearby jungle planet. When the freighter crashes on the planet, it comes as no surprise — given the title — that the cargo was a Xenomorph. On top of their clearly perilous situation, the captain seems to be going crazier and crazier with each passing moment, which is never a good sign, historically speaking.

The exploration of faith in the sci-fi world of “Alien” is the perfect playground for Mignola, whose introspective look at the outer space hell-scape is fascinating (and darkly beautiful). The pious Selkirk sees the world and dangers he’s facing through a religious veil, such that angels and demons appear throughout the story (at least from his point of view), making the implications and symbolism of the Xenomorphs all the more powerful. The combination of Gibbons’ writing and Mignola’s art makes this story stand out simply for the way that it’s told.

FIRE AND STONE

Taking place roughly during the same time period as “Aliens,” this series connected the concepts and settings introduced in “Prometheus” and did a better job of connecting them to the “Alien” mythos than the actual movie did. During the infestation of Hadley’s Hope (the colony from “Aliens”), a group of colonists attempts to evacuate to a nearby moon, LV-233, the setting of “Prometheus.” Since the events of the movie, however, LV-233 is no longer a barren wasteland, but is now covered with plant and animal life. Unfortunately, several Xenomorphs tagged along for the ride, and the life on LV-233 evolved from the black ooze in the Engineer’s ship.

This series connected with several other miniseries, all under the “Fire and Stone” banner. The overarching story brought the Predators to LV-233, along with more humans and even another Engineer. It explored the mutating black ooze from the “Prometheus” movie and how it would interact with the Xenomorphs. All in all, this event series actually succeeded in making “Prometheus” feel like it belonged in the “Alien” universe, which is something that was desperately needed for the franchise.

What is your favorite Aliens-based comic book, either original work or adaptation? Let us know in the comments!

“Alien: Covenant” will be released to theaters on May 19, 2017.

The post Aliens: The 15 Best Xenomorph Comics appeared first on CBR.com.

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