Alien #4 - Marvel Comics

ALIEN No. 4, August 2021

Whilst there should be no doubting the enthralling entertainment this comic’s action-packed stroyline contains, Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s script for Issue Four of “Alien” still probably had a fair few within its audience shaking their heads at some of its supposed logic. Indeed, having seemingly survived being impregnated by a Facehugger in the past himself, Gabriel Cruz’s decision to kill his son for similarly falling victim to another fast-moving Stage 1 xenomorph appears extremely cold-hearted for a father who clearly loves his offspring with all his heart and soul; “I used to go into your room, sit on the floor and watch you sleep for a few minutes before I turned in… Very soon now, pal, we’re both gonna know that peace again.”

In addition, the somewhat irrational choice becomes even less persuasive when “Weyland-Yutani’s loyal security officer” subsequently changes his stance and agrees to take his son’s unconscious body back to Earth so his employer can decide what to do with him. If the ex-marine knows from first-hand experience that the Corporation have the medical knowledge to save Danny if he can get the young man into a Hypersleep Tube before his Chestburster fatally emerges, why isn’t that Cruz’s immediate response upon realising that his boy isn’t actually safely “holed up in the Staff Rez Wing, like Mitch was”..?

Fortunately, the rest of the “Eisner-nominated” writer’s narrative is debatably spot on, with the author’s handling of the perpetually-terrified company agent Hamilton proving particularly noteworthy. The gun-toting soldier has somehow managed to survive several alien encounters by the seat of his pants simply because he’s been ‘carried along’ by Gabriel’s significant fighting savvy, and actually appears destined to survive the ordeal when he reaches a seemingly deserted Docking Bay. But, Johnson then, in one of this ongoing title's most shocking moments so far, suddenly shows just why “in space no one can hear you scream.”

Similarly as well-penned is the reintroduction of Iris Humphries to the group, who potentially seems to actually care so much for her comatose boyfriend that she is actually willing to blow his father’s brains out when the military veteran attempts to permanently put his lad ‘out of his misery’. This friction conveys the couple through a number of close calls, and results in an enthralling exchange towards the end of the comic when the woman forces Cruz to promise not to kill his insensible son after he realises that “all the Alpha [alien] wants is Danny and the embryo he’s carrying.”

The regular cover art of "ALIEN" #4 by InHyuk Lee