Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Julius Ohta
Colorist: Yen Nitro
Cover Artist: Björn Barends
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
Steel Team will never be the same again. After encountering the alien Xenomorphs, the military synthetics have suffered one catastrophe after another, and now Eli has turned against his team’s leader, Freyja. And while the synthetics fight, the last human child on Tobler-9 is face-to-face with a Xenomorph queen. See the fate of Steel Team revealed in Alien #6!
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Review:
Fair warning, this review will contain spoilers throughout it. For starters, this is the end for not only this Alien series, but also Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s work on the Alien franchise, for now at least. And it seems that he’s ending his run on it in a way that brings mostly everything he’s been building up in the previous Alien series and this one together in a fun, weird package.
The comic picks up where it left off with Eli holding Freyja down on the ground at knifepoint, questioning her loyalty, her desire to help the humans despite not only synthetics’ history with them but Steel Team’s own history. And while all of this is going down, the child Freyja was trying to save has been tossed into a Xenomorph pit where he faces a queen of all things. A strong part of this comic is that Phillip Kennedy Johnson doesn’t waste time on this confrontation between Eli and Freyja, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome before getting back to the thrilling story of escaping the planet Tobler-9 and fighting past all the Xenomorphs.
However, this comes at the cost of the comic seemingly rushing the resolutions for various story plots, between not only Eli and Freyja, the whole point of their mission, the storyline with the general who assigned them the mission, and the human scavenger who became an alien-human hybrid. So, it’s possible that readers will feel that the comic is just wrapping up all loose ends before the finale. Thankfully, this is still a fun action-horror comic that definitely leans into the action for a good chunk of it. This is thanks to Julius Ohta’s great dynamic comic book art and Yen Nitro’s colors. They continue to make this Alien comic fun to read as the remaining members of Steel Team face off against the alien Xenomorphs as they make their escape.
But don’t let the action fool you, there is some horror to be found here. While the comic doesn’t seem too centered on the horror, which is fair to say, the comic drops a little bit of existential horror at the very end. It even includes a direct reference to the android character David, played by Michael Fassbender, from the recent controversial Alien films. If you’re not a fan of that, then sorry to say, but it looks like the character and some of his actions are part of Marvel’s Alien canon. However, the existential horror ties back to the alien female figure on the main cover art, introduced by Phillip Kennedy Johnson in his previous Alien volume 1 series as a cosmic horror concept. Of course, after that there’s a farewell page from Johnson as he shares his love for the Alien franchise and getting to write for it, before revealing who the next creative team for the next Alien comic series from Marvel will be.
Final Thoughts:
Alien #6 concludes the story with not only Steel Team but also Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s time on the Alien series. The art from Julius Ohta and Yen Nitro’s colors continue to keep this comic visually alive and action-packed while Phillip Kennedy Johnson delivers on the writing for the most part. Admittedly, some of the story feels a little rushed as the comic tries to tie up as many loose ends as possible. However, it still manages to deliver a solid story and conclusion to this Alien series.