Stokoe finishes up Dead Orbit with an awesome all-action issue. There’s very little in the way of story. There’s very little in the way of characters. There are characters–it’s been so long since the last issue, I only remember the lead and don’t remember how the bookends work–but there’s no characterization.
It’s about Aliens after all, and the Alien action is phenomenal. Stokoe’s pacing is wondrous. He doesn’t do all the Stokoe detail on Orbit, he’s more concentrated on movement and the threat of the aliens.
I’m going to have to read Dead Orbit in a sitting (or a trade); the experience is what Stokoe’s going for. He’s making an Aliens comic as unnerving as an Alien movie, versus making an Aliens comic expanding or exploiting the franchise.
The issue’s a short “read,” but a longer visual experience. The Stokoe art is just so good, the eyes have to linger, even when the pace is amped.
Stokoe finishes up Dead Orbit with an awesome all-action issue. There’s very little in the way of story. There’s very little in the way of characters. There are characters–it’s been so long since the last issue, I only remember the lead and don’t remember how the bookends work–but there’s no characterization.
This issue finally delivers Stokoe action violence with Aliens. There’s not a lot, he mostly goes for the terror of the crew, but it’s also terrorized crew members by Stokoe. This issue is exactly what Dead Orbit has always promised. And it’s still just an Aliens comic. Stokoe needs more room, he needs more pages. He feels too confined. He’s got his visual poetics, very much in line with the original Alien, but he can’t get their pace right. He can pace the action and gore right; there’s just not enough room for both. It’s too bad. But still awesome.
Dead Orbit continues–James Stokoe drawing chestbursters alert!–without any bumps. Stokoe’s script is solid; most of the issue is flashback explaining how the aliens got onboard, then the aliens finally show up at the end. The issue leaves the protagonist in a precarious situation but it doesn’t really matter. Stokoe, even in his reduced, licensed-title friendly level of detail, is the draw. And there’s a cute nod to Alien3.
What’s Aliens: Dead Orbit about? Too soon to tell. Aliens, most likely. And a refueling station in a dead orbit. Maybe. It’s really all about James Stokoe doing an Aliens comic. There aren’t even aliens in this issue–not really–just that wonderful Stokoe art. Great detail for the spacecrafts, great detail for the cast. It’s not all out Stokoe detail, but it’s good Stokoe detail. And he gets in plenty of cute Alien visual homages without being dependent on franchise familiarity. What happens next? Who cares so long as it’s Stokoe.