Marvel's Alien Comic Connects Fireteam Elite Game to the Films
New details from Marvel Comics about an upcoming issue of Alien reveals that it will connect the game, Aliens: Fireteam Elite to the films. Alien Annual #1 is about to wrap up the comic's first main chapter. However, before it does, it has the chance to bring in some connective thematic threads.
Alien (2021) is Marvel's first comic series with the franchise since the acquisition of Twentieth Century Fox by the Walt Disney Company. In addition to moving the movie rights to a broader umbrella, this also resulted in a shift in comic licensing from Dark Horse Comics to Marvel Comics. Marvel's Alien has introduced new characters, new xenomorphs, and now it could also add to the connective lore of the franchise's wide range of properties.
In news from Marvel, Alien series writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson shared the excitement he has for this series and its placement within the broader Alien universe. Alien Annual #1 is a giant-sized issue coming this summer. It will focus on Gabriel Cruz, the protagonist of the series's first arc and his history. Specifically, "his original deadly run-in with the Xenomorph." Potential art for the issue has been shared by Marvel, as well a synopsis and quotes from Johnson.
Years before Bloodlines, Weyland-Yutani security chief, Gabriel Cruz, was a company man. His devotion to WY came first, no matter what the cost. But when the company decides to conduct a trial run experiment with a Xenomorph, will Cruz stand by and let innocent soldiers die?
Alien Annual #1 will be Salvador Larroca's last as comic artist for Alien, as Marvel will soon be announcing a new artist. Johnson says "for Salva's final chapter as the series artist, I wanted to bring it back to one of our favorite characters we created together: the protagonist of Bloodlines, Weyland-Yutani's lifelong trigger man Gabriel Cruz." It makes sense to close out Alien's first major chapter in a new era with a throwback to the man that began it. However, given his history and the current placement of the series in the franchise's timeline, another statement from Johnson is particularly interesting.
My mission statement for Marvel's Alien has always been 'make it feel like the films.' But for this chapter, we had an opportunity to tie the films into one of my favorite games in recent memory, ALIENS: FIRETEAM ELITE. Since the first moment I played that game, I wanted to see Gabe in his prime with his fellow soldiers, face-to-face with xenomorphs and combat synths. That's what readers (and gamers) will see in the annual: a chapter that belongs on the shelf alongside the films, but also alongside the beloved game that my fellow superfans have spent so many hours playing over the past year.
The universe of Alien is massive, spanning decades of comics, novels, and video games. Now, Marvel could be taking steps to begin connecting various pieces to one another, weaving itself deeper into the franchise's lore. This would make sense considering the point in the timeline the series is taking place in. Alien #1 began in 2200 and remained in that year for the majority of the arc. Alien Annual #1 will be throwing back to potentially twenty years earlier, around 2180 - a year after the overrun of Hadley's Hope by xenomorphs in Aliens (1986). However, the second arc - beginning in issue #7 - takes place in 2202. This is the same year in the timeline as the events of Aliens: Fireteam Elite. The connection could simply be thematic in nature, having an elite team taking on xenomorphs, but there's no better time than the present to start interweaving Marvel's Alien with the rest of the universe. Aliens Annual #1 goes on sale June 15.
Source: Marvel