In 1998, Wildstorm did a crossover with Dark Horse Comics, bringing together the Xenomorph characters from the Aliens franchise with the WildC.ATs characters in a crossover. The story, written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Chris Sprouse and Kevin Nowlan, stood out from other movie crossovers (even the really good ones, like Batman vs Predator) that the events of the crossover had real weight in the continuity of the Wildstorm universe. You see, Ellis had a new, more superhero-centric Storm Watch series (after doing a slightly darker version of Stormwatch in an earlier volume), but had become disillusioned with it and so he decided to use this crossover event to bring in most of the cast of Storm Watchwhich frees up the remaining characters to create a new series called The authority.
I mention this series because it’s rare that a crossover miniseries actually carries weight (don’t get me wrong, crossover comics are often a lot of FUN, but they usually don’t go beyond what you might call a “fun adventure”), and this was a big exception. Well, Marvel has now released a crossover series that carries just as much weight, with the new Aliens vs Avengers #1 from the classic team behind Marvel’s hit crossover, Secret Wars (Jonathan Hickman, Esad Ribić and Ive Svorcina – here in collaboration with letterer Cory Petit) have a multi-layered, complex story that stands out from the crowd.
How are the events of Aliens vs. Avengers structured?
As seen in the preview pages released by Marvel prior to the release of Aliens vs. Avengers #1, the action of this story begins in the future, where T’Challa and his son lead the Wakandan Space Force against a mysterious Shi’ar group testing Xenomorphs on other alien races.
They learn that they are too late because the Xenomorphs have already been sent to Earth!
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What is Aliens vs. Avengers about?
The story is set in the future, when the Earth has been conquered by the Xenomorphs and only a small town remains undefeated, which the Avengers take on the protection of. Valeira Richard shows up with a plan to kill all the Xenomorphs on the planet, but she arrives too late to save herself from death (Valeria was part of another recent Hickman series set in a dark future, the Downfall One-shot. She did better in terms of survival there).
The battle with Spider-Man takes a shocking turn when Miles Morales’ symbiote fuses with the Xenomorph.
“Aliens vs. Avengers No. 1” is now in stores.
Source: Marvel
