Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Julius Johnson
Color Artist: Yen Nitro
Cover Artist: Björn Barends
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
In the far future, humanity has expanded into the stars and found new terrors in a frightening alien life form. After years of service, a group of synthetic soldiers have been called in by the company for one last mission: To retrieve a Xenomorph egg from a ruined world that was once a crown jewel of humanity. See what dangers await Steel Team in Alien #2!
Review:
This issue turned out to be much better than I thought it would be. Despite Marvel Comics unnecessarily relaunching the series to start over with a new #1, this comic is a good second issue, far better than the first. It introduces readers to the main squad of Steel Team, a group of human synthetic soldiers who are the best of the best. And now they’re being sent on one last mission that brings them into conflict with the alien Xenomorphs.
We get to meet the team members, Freyja the leader, Eli the cynical right-hand, Astrid the team eccentric, Seth the team’s heart, and Nora the deadly one. The thing about this issue is that readers won’t have to wait forever to get to the good stuff. Also, Julius Johnson does a good job with Steel Team in terms of action, movement, facial expressions, and their team’s suit designs. Their suits are distinctive yet simple and don’t fall into the trap of having over-complicated Sci-Fi suits to look “realistic”. The story shows Steel Team land on the planet Tobler-9 and get right into action.
Readers get to see their team dynamics, their opinions on the mission and the situation they’re in, and they get to see them come face-to-face with the Xenomorphs. It’s an action-horror story in the vein of the film Aliens but with human synthetics. You see how they’re different from human soldiers, and how they’d fare against Xenomorphs. Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Julius Johnson do a good job on selling Steel Team as a skilled and formidable team without feeling overpowered compared to the Xenomorphs.
SPOILERS:
Of course, the comic isn’t perfect. There are still some flaws here and there. For example, the team note that the planet Tobler-9 has been nuked in a past war, so it’s full of radiation. So even in this setting, which has a lot of in-universe history behind it, it’s hard to believe that the Xenomorphs survived all of that. And Steel Team runs into another surprise at the end of the comic that could be either pretty cool or awful. It all hinges on how well Phillip Kennedy Johnson handles this aspect of the story in the following issues.
Final Thoughts:
Alien #2 gets right into the action with the new Steel Team prepped and ready to face the horrors of Tobler-9. The comic doesn’t take too long to show off Steel Team and have them get right into the action. Their encounter with the Xenomorphs falls more in line with the film Aliens as an action-horror story, which works in this story’s favor.