What If…? Aliens #2: The Mission

Carter Burke is alive. Once upon a time he tried to smuggle a xenomorph back to Earth. Now he has his own xenomorph egg. What If? Aliens #2 builds out Burke’s character much more than Aliens ever did and reveals why Burke wanted the xenomorph in the first place.

Burke finds and rebuilds his own synthetic person in a flashback at the beginning of What If? Aliens #2. He reactivates Cygnus and gives him a very specific mission: find a viable xenomorph egg. Cygnus cautions that with the destruction of the nest on LV-426, it may be an impossible mission to complete. And even if it is possible, it might take longer than Burke will be alive. The issue then jumps forward 35 years to the present where Burke is working on the remote asteroid mining colony. Cygnus has returned with an egg which Burke hopes will lead to a cure for his wife who is locked in stasis. His only problem: someone has to be implanted with a xenomorph embryo.

What If? Aliens #2 comes at Burke from a slightly different direction than Aliens did. The movie suggested that Burke and the company’s interest in the xenomorph was as a weapon. His character was presented as an antagonist and borderline villain in part because of that (plus the fact that he was going to kill or impregnate everyone from the Sulaco). But Burke wasn’t presented as a three dimensional character much beyond that–he was a company man for an evil company.

Rather than lean into that characterization, though, the writers choose to give Burke an understandable motivation. The character is still self-centered and morally bankrupt, but his goal is slightly more relatable. This isn’t to say that What If? Aliens #2 turns Burke into a sympathetic character. It doesn’t. But the issue adds complexity which can only serve to benefit the series.

The flashback scene flashing Burke and Cygnus’ backstory is amusing. Like the tweak to Burke’s motives, this interaction adjusts the character by giving him a quick wit. Indeed, the writers infuse the issue with a surprising amount of humor after the first issue played out in a mostly serious manner.

Vilanova’s art plays heavily into that initial meeting between Burke and Cygnus as well. The dialogue already has a slight edge to it, and Vilanova pushes that edge further by giving Cygnus a hard, almost angry countenance. And this severe look comes off as even more intense set against Burke’s wide eyed, almost smirking expression. This may prove simply to be a default look for Cygnus because he’s not human. But for now it opens the possibility of eventual friction between the characters.

The sequence depicting Cygnus’ search for a xenomorph offers a quick but fun look at different variations of the deadly species. Building on the idea introduced in Alien 3 that xenomorphs look different depending on the species implanted with an egg, this issue introduces several variants. Each new version is only in one small panel, but Vilanova does a good job depicting how different they are while still being consistent with the established look of a xenomorph.

Nitro’s coloring chiefly works as a way to differentiate locations here in the issue. The way he shades characters and other such details isn’t subtle. A major example is how the reaction to light sources or shadows is abrupt rather than degrees of shading over a surface, especially a rounder surface like a character’s body. But this tendency toward stark coloring is well suited to quickly establishing a difference in location. It works particularly well on the single panels showcasing Cygnus’ search for a viable xenomorph egg.

Cowles’ choice for sound effects maintains the style established in the first issue in that every kind of action has a specific font and color. It adds a level of “realism” within the issue as opposed to repetitive, generic choices. Cowls does make one misstep when he labels planets with a small green font set against a dark blue background. It is very difficult to read.