Alien [2022] #6 - Marvel Comics

ALIEN No. 6, April 2023

Whilst Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s storyline for Issue Six of “Alien” arguably contains more than enough adrenalin-fuelled action to satisfy even the most bloodthirsty fan of Twentieth Century Studios’ science fiction franchise, it’s hard to imagine many won’t be shaking their heads in disbelief at the Eisner-nominated writer’s handling of the synth Eli. Indeed, having increasingly depicted the android as a psychopathic killing machine who is responsible for most of the mutilation found within this mini-series, it seems utterly bizarre that the artificial soldier would suddenly change his vindictive viewpoint at the last minute in order to save Tobler-9’s young sole survivor; “What the humans did to Steel Team changed you. Everything you believe of them is true of you now.”

For starters, this comic opens with the whack-job warrior holding a large, curved blade to the throat of his squad leader so as to stop her from helping the poor child he has mercilessly thrown smack into the centre of a xenomorph nest cluster. It’s perfectly clear from Eli’s disagreeable attitude that he’s perfectly willing to brutally murder Freyja. Yet once she escapes his clutches by quite literally blindsiding him with a piece of metal piping straight through the right eye, the audience are meant to believe he supposedly changes his mind and starts firing at the aliens attacking her..?

So sudden and unconvincing a change of heart, inorganic or otherwise, arguably smacks of being contrived simply so Johnson’s script can end on a happy(ish) family’s note with the war veterans replacing their adolescent ward’s dead parents by promising to raise him – at least once Freyja has repaired all the damage she caused Eli when he was threatening to slice her head clean off. Furthermore, it’s debatably unclear as to just why the “expensive toys with delusions of grandeur” allow the alien hybrid to survive after it has just gutted Lieutenant General George March and his landing party, or why the humanoid creature would strangely rather stab itself in the chest with its deadly claws than kill the badly battered android who betrayed/created it in the first place.

Happily however, both Julius Ohta and colorist Yen Nitro’s layouts at least make some sense, most notably during the sequence showing March’s aforementioned demise when he overconfidently strides out to greet Nora from his shuttlecraft, and walks straight into the “new kind of Xenomorph”. The sheer look of terror, surprise and realisation as to his gory fate is incredibly well pencilled, as is the subsequent series of panels depicting the amazing speed at which the insectoid-like amalgam can move whilst cutting down her foes with her bare hands.

The regular cover art to "ALIEN" #6 by Bjorn Barends