Customer Reviews

Aliens Omnibus Volume 2 (v. 2)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Aliens Omnibus Volumes 1 -3 have decided to bring us some of the best books the Alien universe has to offer. In Volume 2, this means we have 2 novels (Genocide and Harvest) and a 12-part series that deals with Colonial Marines. Each book brings something different to the table and, in some ways, explains to viewers what would happen if an organism the likes that no one has seen was introduced into the population.

Ahhh, the beauty.

While the two books deal with the same subject matter, they deal with it in surprisingly different ways. The first tells the tale of a chemically-produced substance that allows an Alien to become a Queen and gives an addict an addiction they will NEVER forget. While it has many nicknames, Royal Jelly is the most common and is sought after by many a capitalist. Enter the way that it is sought after and enter the way that men seek out, and die, for the fix of all fixes. The second book deals with something of the same manner, only science is god here and nanotechnology the deal of the day. In a way, it has the feeling of the first book and, in a way, it is a beast unto itself. Then there is the Colonial Marines series.

The series is perhaps the best in some ways because it shows how the species adapts to different environments. Water and the beast, air and the beast; the view sees the Alien and what happens to it when it is introduced to different hosts. It sort of reminds one of the dog burster from the third movie --- when you compare the way it carries itself to the bipedal types earlier encountered then you can see the difference in the beast.
Add in the human element and "the company" and you have an interesting little series on your hand.

Considering what you get, the Omnibus collections are beautiful things and are well worth getting. Even if you are not a big fan of the movies, they allow you to explore the Alien in a much different way. If started from the beginning (Book 1), you will even see where Aliens was going and what would have happened if Alien 3 did not occur and if the Alien made it to Earth.
If this sounds appealing, you will love it and love it gooood.

Sadly, the second Aliens Omnibus isn't as good as volume one. The first story collected here (Genocide) is really good. I give it a solid 5/5. Sure it has some campy moments with the introduction of a drug called xeno zip, but overall it's solid. Good action, good story, good fun. I enjoyed it. I even laughed out loud a couple of times at the effects xeno zip had on it's users. Too bad the other two stories are crud.

Harvest is bad. The protagonists are scumbags and you want them to die the moment you meet them. Some cool ideas here put poorly executed. 2.5/5

Colonial Marines is terrible. This is by far the worst of the Aliens stories I've read thus far. Can I give a negative rating? 1/5
The story makes no sense. I liked the way it started out, but about 20 pages in the thing just became a mess. Humanoid xenomorphs that carry guns and wear clothes? A crazy zealot named Father? You keep reading because you want answers. "What's going on?" you say to yourself. Guess what? The story sucks. Who wrote this crap? Whisky Tango Foxtrot Over....

Volume two contains stories in the same timeline as the original trilogy, and they're mostly good. There aren't any shorts this time, which is a little depressing. It means you basically have to dedicate more time to reading the volume unless you want to sit down and read little bits of each story at a time.

Genocide
Genocide is one of the best graphic novels in the Aliens series. It has an old, retro feel that doesn't detract from it like many other older comics. The story is simple and fun, and there's plenty of gore to go around. It concerns a capitalist who wants to obtain more royal jelly for a product he markets that's basically a steroid. He travels with a large team to an Alien infested planet populated by warring breeds. It's a simple tale, but it's a great read.
5/5

Harvest
Harvest I'd only looked at a couple times and never actually read before buying V.2. I really enjoyed it. It's got a really dark and forboding tone that feels a lot like the original movies. The plot is different, but engaging. I really enjoyed it.
4/5

Colonial Marines
Apparently, this is the first time all ten issues have been collected, so if you want to read it, Volume 2 is your best bet. Colonial Marines is decent. It sort of tries to be an epic version of Aliens but is sort of a mess. I've read that there were production problems, which makes sense. The style of the story changes with the art at least once and things are sort of confusing. I guess it wasn't successful either, because they end it in a really bad place. I mean it pretty much just ends when it gets interesting. I thought I'd really like it, but there are better Aliens comics out there.
3/5

Overall, again I'd say Aliens fans should go for this one. Genocide and Harvest are worth buying it for. Colonial Marines is good, but it's just a little confusing.

The "Aliens Omnibus" volume 2 collects all of the original "Aliens: Genocide", "Aliens: Harvest", and "Aliens: Colonial Marines" mini-series. Genocide deal with the Marines being called in to collect aliens' jelly for mass-produced pills. Harvest is about scientists wanting a sample of the queen aliens and testing an android-like Alien against the hive & its' queen. Colonial Marines was a ten issue mini-series dealing with a former marine lieutenant taking a group of marines to combat the aliens and finding out who or what killed the colonists on a space station and elsewhere.

The chapter I liked the most was when the black aliens went to war against the red ones. How were they able to reproduce without any victims? Kind of spooky that they would make steroids from alien DNA. It was still a good book to read, though I'm glad that those kind of aliens do not exist.

Alliens Omnibus 2 written by John Arcadi, illustrated by Damon Willis is quite seperate from omnibus 1 this is a whole new story a new breed of Alien rises. Aliens a Xenomorph a pseudo parasitic lifeform with a multi staged life cycle. They need a host to multiply to continue it's race.And in order to that In all the Alien literature of mythology these creatures have a hive similar to any other parasitic lifeform that requires a host for survival. The Queen xenomorph communicates telepathically with it's drones and the potential hosts for reproudcing more suitable hosts. Omnibus 2 there are 3 story lines and over 400 pages of graphically depicted horrific stories. A new drug called xeno-zip has been developed in that power play between predator and prey Aliens have used and continue to use hosts for survival humans have found a way to exploit this union, Aliens are an integral part in this new drug development namely the queen. Harvest Dr.Stan Myakovsky has found the illicit drug royal jelly harvested from Alien by products this drug is keeping him alive Harvest is the pursuit of Myakovsky and a money hungry thief called Julie to pursue the Alien queens precious royal jelly. Lots of gore and violence as to be expected in it which was an interesting topic in the movie becuase it was called Hive. Genocide a new cast of armoured solider warriors are sent to search for the queens precious eggs that contain the royal jelly with One planet and two Alien queens in it. Millions of hungry Aliens. The survivors of this suicide mission will of course be paid handsomely for their efforts in cash.And in this story as to be expected considering where they are going and the mission the violence gore and blood are way surpassing norm to be expected for in which nothing is comparable to this. Colonial marines is the best story of the book makes sense Lt. Joseph Henry is the son of one of the most influential politicians on Earth, a proud member of the Colonial Marines, and a poor fellow in a heap of trouble. Lt. Henry, after yet again being charged with insubordination, is put in command of a platoon of the absolute worst Marines in the sector and assigned the lowest detail in the corp -- checking up on a toxic waste dump! What Lt. Henry and company don't know is that this mission is about to go from bad to worse,for them because a strangely organized batch of Aliens has taken over the waste dump! A battle to the extreme where aliens and marines are fighting this story is sure to deliver a fine punchline in a fight. These marines are in their way of a new evolution. Aliens omnibus 2 is a mixed bag of stories the first is genocide which is a little wish washy, in a way the second story is harvest which has little more oomph and incredible art in it and in so far as the story goes makes a little more sense than genocide. It mainly dealt with who the scientist was and about his work and health towards the company finacially. The last story coloniel marines is to put it mildly a touchy confusing plot with asimplistic overview of what it has going on for the trade mark of Aliens with unfortunetly lots of gore and violence in it. If you enjoy Aliens film trilogy then this is book is not to be missed. This omnibus series is an example of how species adapt and survive to any condition in any situation at anytime.

If you loved the Aliens movies or comics, this is a must have for your collection. In many cases this is the only way to get your hands on many of the old Aliens comics. Containing multiple stories in the correct sequential order, this is a must have for your collection.

You don't need to collect the Omnibus's in sequential order to be able to enjoy the stories within but it certainly helps as many of the stories follow on or reference earlier ones. These collections are a great way to get your hands on stories no longer printed in any other form.

A cost effective, highly enjoyable way to collect some of the best Aliens stories.