Prometheus was a controversial movie, a hotly anticipated “sort of” prequel to Alien that gained a mix response when director Ridley Scott released it in 2012. So Dark Horse, who’ve had great success with the Aliens and Predator franchises, have their work cut out for them with their Fire & Stone event, “a universe of terror drawn to one world” encompassing Aliens, Prometheus, Predator, *and* Alien Vs. Predator. Besides the Herculean task of tying so many series’ mythologies together, not to mention releasing five different titles (Prometheus: Omega debuts in February), the label has to appease fans put off by the convoluted mythology and reams of unanswered questions featured in Scott’s movie.
Prometheus: Fire and Stone, on the surface, is pretty similar to that film. In the first issue, a team led by the driven Angela returns to LV-223, the moon encountered by the ill-fated crew of the Prometheus (like that ship, the group’s spacecraft all have names rooted in mythology). It’s ostensibly a salvage mission, though Angela knows more than she’s letting on; the cast also includes a couple, Clara and James (watch out guys—the lovebirds in Prometheus didn’t fare so well) and someone with a secret, highly personal motive for the journey. Before long, of course, the gang discovers that there’s much more to this “barren rock” then meets the eye, including freakish alien life as imaginatively designed as the denizens of the movie Prometheus. I’m looking forward to the story’s twists and turns.
("Monkey" trouble in Prometheus: Fire and Stone #1. Artwork by Juan Ferreyra.)
Aliens: Fire and Stone, meanwhile, plays like a version of Lost: colonists flee the Xenomorphs on LV-426 (the setting of the first two Alien features) and wind up on LV-223; given the title, it’s not exactly spoiling anything to reveal that some Xenomorphs have stowed away onboard the escape vessel. Aliens follows Prometheus: Fire and Stone in working to establish a range of lead characters, and both books do so adequately enough in the limited space given. But Aliens has a ferocity and edge that the slicker Prometheus lacks, starting with Patric Reynolds’ scratchy, ferocious artwork and continuing through the doom laden narration. (“As bad as things had been, they were going to get much, much worse.”) Both books look to be compelling reads, but Aliens looks like it’ll come closer to the brutal, imaginative vibe of the original Alien series.
Prometheus: Fire and Stone and Aliens: Fire and Stone are on stands now. The second issues debut October 15 and 29, respectively.
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