In '50 to 50' I'm counting down to my 50th birthday by reading one graphic novel from every year of my life.
Alien: The Illustrated Story
By Archie Goodwin & Walter Simonson
Originally published by Heavy Metal 1979, collected edition Simon & Schuster 1979
Version reviewed: Titan Books edition, published 2012
1979 was a time of great change around the world, there were revolutions, coups, or invasions in Vietnam, Iran, Uganda, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan, and the era’s nuclear worries were brought home with the Three Mile Island accident in the US. It was easy to feel that one was, or could become, a victim of matters beyond human control, that there were forces stronger and more terrifying than people could survive. In this atmosphere of fear for the future director Ridley Scott released his second film, Alien.
As someone familiar with, and a fan of, the original movie, it’s difficult not to see this graphic novel through two lenses; a comic standing on its own merits, and as an adaptation of a story better known in another medium. Indeed, it’s hard to read Alien without thoughts and images of the film coming to mind. However, there are presumably people - particular in 1979 - who read this without, or before, seeing Ridley’s Scott’s masterful movie. So let’s first approach it in this manner.
Alien is a sci-if horror story written by Archie Goodwin (best known as an editor at Marvel Comics, with writing credits that include The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Star Wars), and drawn by Walt Simonson (who worked on dozens of titles for Marvel and DC, including a seminal run on Thor). It’s odd to see these two legends of American comics working in the French bande-dessinée album format, with its wider pages and higher panel-per-page count than American superhero comics. Originally serialised in Heavy Metal magazine, it was then released as a graphic novel by Simon & Schuster, becoming the first comic to make the New York Times bestseller list.
In deep space the crew of an intergalactic tanker spaceship, the Nostromo, are awoken to investigate an unknown radio transmission, which despite not being able to translate is assumed to be an SOS call. Upon landing on a barren inhospitable planet they come across a crashed or abandoned alien spaceship. Whilst investigating they discover what appears to be the giant skeletal remains of the ship’s pilot, and dozens of large egg-type objects. One crew member, Kane, is attacked by a creature from one of these eggs, a bony spider-like alien life form which attaches itself to his face but supplies him with oxygen to keep him alive. He is brought back on board the ship against the orders of Warrant Officer Ripley, via the actions of Science Officer Ash. Suspicious of Ash’s motives, a subtle conflict between him and Ripley plays out throughout the story as she attempts to figure our what’s really going on. Eventually the creature leaves Kane’s face as it dies, and he seems to have survived the ordeal and is recovering, when, in a dramatic scene, another creature bursts out his chest in the middle of a crew meal and escapes into the vastness of the ship. What follows is pretty straightforward but terrifying as the creature grows in size to a menacing and seemingly unstoppable form, stalking and picking off the crew one-by one. As the crew fights a losing battle, we discover that Ash is in fact an android and has been following the orders of the ship's corporate owners to investigate and retrieve any life form found from the mysterious beacon, at all costs - including the lives of the crew. It’s not long before he is killed off as well, leaving only Ripley (and the ship’s cat) to face the terrifying menace one-on-one in the gripping finale.
Goodwin’s writing has the story rattle through at an exhilarating pace with plenty of action, broken up by interactions between the crew which does well in the limited space to give them clear personalities and motivations. In a very Jaws-like way, the alien is kept mainly off the page, bar the odd explosive panel, which heightens the horror and the mystery - we only ever really know as much about this abomination as the crew do; short sharp snippets before their lives are cut cruelty short. Equally, the sub-plot of the corporations ulterior motives - enacted by Ash, and suspected by Ripley - are subtly hinted at without taking over the story with needless exposition. The main complaint with the story is one familiar to any fans of horror - characters making inexplicable decisions. While peering into the egg of an unknown alien life form, bringing an infected crew member back on board the ship, and splitting up in search of a threatening alien all contribute to the terror of the story, they objectively make very little sense. Fortunately the story is engrossing enough that these issues don’t really play on your mind at the time,
Those familiar with Simonson’s bold dynamic stylised superhero art will be surprised to see his work here, adapting to the tone of the story his art is dark and claustrophobic. The deep line work and heavy inking positions the story much more into the horror genre than the usual clean bright lines of science fiction. However, his high number of panels can often lead to an information overload - particularly in the crew conversation scenes - and it’s no coincidence that his best work is on the bigger, bolder pages of the alien attacks. The atmosphere is ably aided by the top-notch colouring (the credits list Simonson himself as a colourist, along with Louise Simonson, Deborah Pedlar, Polly Law, and Bob Lerose). Using muted yellows, browns, and reds, the pages feel dirty and gritty, giving the spaceship a sense of disrepair and darkness that echoes the haunted houses of the horror classics that this story owes so much debt to. There’s also a nice subtle touch to John Workman’s lettering where communications over radio between the crew is in blue text, as opposed to the standard black.
Overall, Alien: The Illustrated Story is an engrossing and terrifying mix of sci-fi and horror that is able to become more than the sum of its parts. The creature at the centre of the story is a malevolent force of violence, offered up without explanation or backstory. We are as confused and terrified as the doomed members of the Nostromo crew, but at least as mere observers we are able to walk away unharmed with a feeling of gratitude for having experienced Goodwin and Simonson’s fantastic story.
But, how to consider the comic as an adaptation of the film? First, to say that Alien is written by Archie Goodwin is obviously more than a bit disingenuous. Goodwin has written an adaptation of a story written by Ronald Shusett and Dan O’Bannon (the latter also writing the screenplay). Goodwin wrote his version based on the script, not this finished movie, so there are discrepancies between the two - some scenes in the graphic novel don’t appear in the film, and some key scenes in the film are omitted or minimised in the comic. Crucially the suspicions of Ash’s motives (and therefore the corporate involvement) are more apparent in the film than in the comic - though that is in large part due to Ian Holme’s wonderful performance. With a limit of 64 pages there are obviously decisions to be made of which part of the 2-hour film to show and which not. Goodwin is ultimately is able to hit all the key beats and keep the story flowing whilst also making sense, however this does lead to one significant difference between the adaptation and the film.
Alien the movie is a masterpiece in suspense, pacing, and tension. Borrowing all the tricks of the horror genre, we get slow atmospheric scenes, jump scares, and a gradual change of pace as the nightmare of the crew’s situation becomes apparent. In just 64 pages such luxury is not afforded to Goodwin. Whilst he nails the plot, the characters, and the action of the film, he and Simonson just don’t have the space to reflect the best aspects of the film. Perhaps the more modern American ‘cinematic’ approach to comics, could have given us a longer, slower, tenser, comic that more closely aligned to the films pacing and aesthetic.
Simonson’s depictions of the characters is spot on. He avoids the pitfall of many movie adaptations which try for a photorealistic approach, which often either fails to look like the people involved or looks so much like them it pulls you out of the story. Here the likeness is just enough there that you feel you’re looking at the characters in the story, and not the actors from the film. However, the art of the alien itself is quite a significant diversion from the film. Sure, all the pieces are there - the shape, the silhouette, the weird mouth within a mouth - but it comes with a muddy colour and texture, in keeping with the dirty feel of the ship. One of the genius elements of the movie design (by Swiss artist H.R. Giger), is the slick and polished oil-black creepiness of the alien. It’s phallic and sexualised nature that charges the scenes with it and Ripley in the film(s) are absent in the comic.
All that being said, Alien: The Illustrated Story is undoubtedly one of the best examples of a film adaptation done right. It takes most of the key elements of the film and adapts them to create an interpretation rather than reproduction. Adaptations have a far from stellar reputation, as they usually adopt a plot heavy storyboard style that does neither the original medium nor the comic any favours. Goodwin and Simonson were able here to bring their considerable talents to bear on a truly impressive piece of work.
I’m sure to the surprise of everyone involved at the time, Alien, would go on to spawn a huge multimedia franchise - in which comics played a major part. At the time of writing there have been six (sort of) prequels and sequels, a TV series, multiple short films, computer games, novels, and much more - including the infamous Aliens vs Predator movies. Whilst there haven’t been direct comic adaptations that have reached the heights of Alien: The Illustrated Story, there have been dozens of comics series exploring the wider Alien universe. The comics are currently being published by Marvel, but the early series by Dark Horse from the late 80s to early 90s are fantastic stories that build upon the movies in very interesting ways and are definitely worth your time.
No comments:
Post a Comment