What If…? Aliens #3: Facehugger Chase

The Alien franchise is full of people who believe they can harness Xenomorphs for their own gain. It’s also littered with the corpses of everyone who tried. Carter Burke of all people should know this. But in What If? Aliens #3, he’s trying again.

It doesn’t look good for Hiro Yutani when What If? Aliens #3 begins. Burke’s alien egg is opening and a facehugger is climbing out. Hiro is able to trade on his dissatisfaction with his family to convince Burke to keep him alive. But Burke is still determined to have the facehugger latch on to someone because he might be able to remove the egg which could be used to save his wife’s life. Unfortunately the facehugger escapes into an air vent system that will take it straight to the mine where Burke’s daughter Brie works.

What If? Aliens’ first two issues maintained a balance between Burke being the bad guy everyone wanted to see die in the movie and someone who, while not redeemable, is at least tolerable (until the last page of issue two, that is). What If Aliens? #3 tosses that balance out the window as Burke goes full psychopath. It’s a strange transformation, arguably consistent with circumstances and the passage of time but inconsistent with the character as he’s been seen so far. It certainly makes the comic fun, but it sets Burke up to be an over-the-top black hat villain which is considerably less interesting than the more complicated character that he’s been so far.

That said, the humor in What If? Aliens #3 absolutely works. Setting aside discussions of whether it’s a good choice for the characters involved, there’s no arguing that this issue will put a smile on most people’s faces in a way that the first two didn’t necessarily. The banter between Burke and Cygnus flows very well. If subsequent issues embrace the man Burke has become in this issue, the clear upside is that the rest of the series will be a fun and funny trip.

Burke’s daughter, Brie, receives extra development in this issue. It’s not a lot compared to Burke or arguably even Cygnus. But it fleshes her out beyond merely Burke’s daughter who hates him. There is also an interesting reveal that adds extra dimension to why she remains in proximity to him on the asteroid.

The action in What If? Aliens #3 is confined entirely to one facehugger running around the asteroid offices and mines. But thanks to Vilanova’s art, that single creature provides both slow suspense and high speed fear. Vilanova perfectly captures the facehugger design. In the opening pages he maintains suspense despite the over-the-top dialogue in the scene–the facehugger creeps slowly out of the egg slowly. But after it jumps toward Hiro, Vilanova makes every panel feel high energy and urgent–the facehugger is jumping and scurrying about while the humans react furiously.

Nitro employs a color style in the final page that appears almost painted. It’s not painted in the way that is typically associated with painted comics. Rather, it is thick, as though someone took a gallon of house paint and threw it against a wall.