Aliens: More Than Human (Comics) | Review

Space horror enthusiasts know the drill by now. You find a mysterious structure. You explore it despite obvious red flags. Things go sideways fast but write John Arcudi (Aliens: Alchemy, Aliens: Genocide) does things differently with Aliens: More Than Human.

Arcudi transforms this predictable formula into something genuinely compelling, weaving cosmic terror through human avarice in ways that linger in your mind long after closing the final page of this compelling collection entirely.

This four-issue limited series from Dark Horse Comics proves the Alien franchise still has bite when handled by creators who understand what made the original films terrifying. Instead of relying on jump scares or gore, Arcudi builds tension through character breakdown and slow realization that discoveries should stay buried.

The setup reads like a space prospector's fever dream gone wrong. Desperate fortune hunters stake their claim on an unexplored planet loaded with valuable minerals and humanity's most significant archaeological find ever discovered.

What starts as routine resource extraction turns into something far more sinister when the team discovers a massive underground city that predates all known civilization and fundamentally challenges their understanding of history.

The genius move here is how Arcudi weaves the xenomorph threat into the archaeological mystery rather than front-loading typical creature feature scares. He lets paranoia and isolation do the heavy lifting throughout the story.

Arcudi takes his time building the mystery. The first issue establishes our cast of fortune hunters and corporate types, each with their own motivations for being on this godforsaken rock. The discovery of the ancient complex should be their ticket to unimaginable wealth.

Instead, it becomes their tomb as team members slowly begin to lose their grip on reality, and growing madness gives way to primal fear as the explorers begin to disappear without any trace whatsoever from existence entirely somehow.

The genius move here is how Arcudi weaves the xenomorph threat into the archaeological mystery. Rather than having aliens burst from chests in the first act, he lets paranoia and isolation do the heavy lifting. Team members start acting erratically.

People vanish without explanation. The ancient city seems to shift and change when nobody's looking. By the time the familiar H.R. Giger nightmares show up, you're already on edge from watching these characters tear each other apart.

What makes this approach work is the way ancient technology seems to amplify human weaknesses. The city doesn't just hide monsters– it reveals the monsters that people become under extreme pressure and desperation.

What makes this work is the way Arcudi handles the human element. These aren't space marines or corporate executives we've seen a hundred times before. They're desperate people chasing one last score, and their flaws make them believable victims.

When things start going wrong, their reactions feel authentic rather than engineered for maximum body count, making each character's fate genuinely matter to readers who become emotionally invested in their ultimate survival.

Artwork by Zach Howard (The Cape, The Cape: 1969) captures the claustrophobic terror that makes Alien stories work. His character designs feel grounded and lived-in, avoiding the overly polished look that can drain tension from horror comics.

The ancient city becomes a character itself under Howard's pen– vast, incomprehensible, and deeply unsettling. When the xenomorphs finally appear, they retain their biomechanical menace without falling into the trap of making them too familiar.

The color work by Wes Dzioba deserves special mention. The palette shifts from warm, dusty tones of the planet's surface to cold, oppressive blues and blacks of the underground complex. This visual progression mirrors the story's descent from hopeful exploration to pure survival horror, while lighting effects create cinematic quality.

Arcudi's writing strikes the right balance between character development and mounting dread. He gives each team member enough personality to make their fate matter, but never gets bogged down in unnecessary back-story.

The dialogue feels natural, avoiding exposition dumps that can plague sci-fi comics. Most importantly, he trusts readers to pick up on subtle cues rather than spelling out every single plot point unnecessarily throughout the story.

Aliens: More Than Human succeeds because it remembers what made the franchise frightening in the first place. This isn't about alien invasions or space battles - it's about human hubris meeting something completely beyond our understanding. Arcudi uses established mythology to explore greed, isolation and discovery's price.

The four-issue format works perfectly here, allowing enough space for proper character development while maintaining the tight pacing that horror demands. Howard's artwork brings the cosmic terror to life without overwhelming the human drama at the story's core.

For longtime Alien fans, this series proves the franchise still has stories worth telling. For newcomers, it serves as an excellent entry point that perfectly captures the essence of what makes these creatures so enduringly terrifying.

Aliens: More Than Human (2009) is available in the collected trade paperback published by Dark Horse Comics. Physical copies can still be found on Amazon and other stores, while digital editions are offered via ComiXology and Kindle.