Alien vs. X-Men #1 Fails to Be More than a Fun Mash-Up
I love X-Men, I love Alien and most of the sequels (not you Romulus), and most of all, I love Kieron Gillen. So after the incredible success of Aliens vs. Avengers, in my opinion one of the best books Marvel have released this decade, I was very excited for this book. While AvA riffed on the larger Alien mythology, especially that created in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, such as the Engineers and noted best boy, David, Gillen opts for a more classic Alien story in Alien vs. X-Men. While the X-Men search for a Phoenix egg, they find a very different clutch instead, under the care of the more underdeveloped of the Sinister clones from Gillen’s close-out of the Krakoan era. In classic Alien fashion this all goes horribly wrong, and we soon see the ship hurtling towards the X-Mansion with no signs of survivors.
Gillen seems to be telling a fairly classic mash-up story here, the main X-Men team, modelled on the Astonishing line-up, get killed and turned, and we explore the horrific ramifications of a group of aliens empowered with mutant abilities. Gillen takes some pretty fun interpretations of how that might play out right from the start. Sure, you’ve got the obvious alien with Wolverine’s claws, but also the much more horrifying ramification of a face-hugger on Wolverine, he isn’t going to die, so they can keep farming him. As the mansion comes under attack, the issue promises a fun, scary and certainly gory time, but it ultimately seems to be nothing more than smashing some toys together (albeit, by Kieron Gillen so still a lot more readable than most books). I’m not entirely sure what I wanted out of the first chapter in Gillen’s story, but it’s a little disappointing to see ground covered that was really just in the background of Aliens vs. Avengers already.
Geraldo Borges draws the Gillen portion of the issue, and does a really good job of both homaging the work of the late John Cassaday when drawing the Astonishing-focused parts of the issue while still adding his own style, but also getting a little gross with it, most notably in Wolverines opening kill homaging a chest-burster. He draws a great Xenomorph too, some artists leave them feeling very obviously traced, but Borges has a clear understanding of the movement and shape of them, blending them well with the shadows too. He draws from an odd variety of costumes for the larger supporting cast of X-Men, some in classic 80s look, some reaching all the way to their current costumes, which leaves the X-Mansion scenes feeling a bit more confused than timeless. Also, Storm is bald for some reason.
Alongside Gillen’s story is a 5 issue back-up written by Chris Claremont with art by Dave Messina that seems to be his interpretation of the same pitch, and I have no real word for it other than strange. Kitty Pryde, seemingly in her early 2000s MechaniX era, meets a Brood…angel(?), with whom she seems a little familiar, who drags her into some sort of Alien-related situation. With only 5 pages, it’s quite unclear what this back-up is even about, but I did oddly enjoy the rather weird dialogue between Kitty and her Brood Angel buddy on the nature of their respective species. It’s also nice to see that Chris Claremont has gotten the memo that women are allowed to be gay in comics now, and he doesn’t need to even try and hide behind subtext anymore.
I found myself a little underwhelmed by both stories in this issue, while both have good things to offer and the main Gillen story especially promises to be a fun time, neither story really felt like it had anything unique to offer to make this book stand out in a series of X vs. Y series inspired by Disney’s acquisition of Fox. Perhaps I was just blinded by the expectations of many of my favourite things coming together, but this issue fails to deliver on something equal to the sum of its parts. There’s still plenty to enjoy, but it definitely trends more towards schlocky horror fun like later Alien films than a bigger sci-fi adventure like AvA, making it a fun but ultimately forgettable read. Aside from the Brood Angel of course, which will stick with me forever.
View on Kindle Store
Buy from Third Eye
This post contains affiliate links. We receive a small commission if you buy through this link.
