Story: Dan O'Bannon / Adaptation Writer: Cristiano Seixas / Penciller: Guilherme Balbi / Colour Artist: Candice Han / Letterer: Michael Heisler / Editors: Randy Stradley, Judy Khuu / Designer: Justin Couch / Digital Art Technicians: Adam Pruett, Ann Gray, Josie Christensen / Collects: Alien The Original Screenplay #1-#5 / Dark Horse Comics
Buy Dark Horse comics here and support The Comic Crush.
The Pitch: In 1976, Twentieth Century Fox bought a screenplay by Dan O'Bannon entitled 'Star Beast'. Three years later 'Alien' was unleashed on unsuspecting filmgoers. Writer Cristiano Seixas and artist Guilherme Balbi have attempted to stay true to the characters, settings, and creatures described in O'Bannon’s original screenplay. A new experience, but still terrifying!
I have a fascination with works of art that never were – or in the case of movies, were never filmed in accordance with their original form but exist in some variation. If I'm honest, I love the version of Alien that exists as it is. The film is a masterpiece. But O'Bannon's troubles with Walter Hill, David Giler and Gordon Carroll are well known. Hearing O'Bannon describe his original version of Alien has often made me wonder what his iteration would have been like. And since he would never get the chance to make the film as he saw it, this is as close we're going to get. This was the second of Dark Horse's '20th Century Fox Uncovered' brand (and as it turns out, their last since Disney purchased Fox shortly after) and their second Alien project after their adaptation of Cyberpunk author William Gibson's version of Alien 3.
there’s a philosophical, investigative tone to this
What strikes you as you read is just how similar it is. Those expecting radical changes will be disappointed. It might be interesting to read this back to back with Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson's original adaptation of the film, although I found this to be a less introspective read. Not that there's anything wrong with that. O'Bannon's version is no less direct and assertive than Walter Hill's. What is new here is the more philosophical, investigative tone and pacing the story sometimes takes. There's also more of a sense of melodrama, partly thanks to Balbi's art style. There's more of a sense of ancient cultures here than before, with the eventual beast itself taking on a Lovecraftian bent, recalling At The Mountains of Madness in particular. Seixas creates a taught, lean experience for the reader, leaving you with perfect cliffhangers at each issue's end. Even without some of the major plot turns from Hill's version, there are still plenty of nail-biting moments in this. Seixas deserves a lot of credit for writing something that has to straddle so much previously existing art and still stand on its own feet.
Balbi's art is excellent. Eschewing the film's dirty, tactile dysfunction and instead opting for a much cleaner look would, in some people's eyes, be a mistake but this feels like a forefather to Prometheus thanks to the images, successfully tying up all the versions in our minds. We also get a much more diverse cast of characters than the film had. I mean no criticism of the film by that since it was already breaking boundaries by having a woman as its lead and hero. But here, things are taken a logical step further. Han's colours are excellent, creating bursts of light and activity in dark landscapes, changing our view of the smoke-filled memories we associate with Alien. Heisler's letters convey the stress and mounting terror the crew feel, giving them all a clear voice amid the onrush of horror. Alien: The Original Screenplay is a tantalising glimpse of an alternate history of filmmaking's future. It proves that in comics, more than one scream can be heard in the depths of space.
Buy Dark Horse comics here and support The Comic Crush. Catch more of our Aliens 35th Anniversary Celebration on YouTube, or listen on Apple Podcasts, tune in on Spotify or check it out wherever you listen to Podcasts. Like the sound of the comic? The hardcover collection is available in your favourite comic shop.