Hey guys, I didn't want to hijack the other thread. What is the consensus on Earth Hive. I knew there were comic books, but I did not know there were novels.
Are they well written? I did not read the comics.

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No, they are not going to see this coming...

Comic book is far worse than the novels. The novels changed a bit since it had to change continuity to match the recently released Alien3.

I like em. Just finished a reread a few months back.

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Most of the novels are adaptations of the comics. They are variable in quality, but are easy to read and have the beasties in them. Some of them are excellent and some would be a perfect blueprint for the future Alien films that won't happen.

Many of the novels don't feature Ripley, and some don't have too much connection to the specific events in the movies. However, The Earth Hive comic originally had Hicks and Newt as the main characters. After their death in Alien3, the characters in the later copies of the comic (and the novel) are renamed to Wilks and Billie.

I like Earth Hive in particular because it features a religion that worship the Xenomorphs as God Sounds reasonable to me ...

Plot summary (WITH SPOILERS) HERE.

Of the Billie/Wilks trilogy 'Earth Hive' is pretty good. 'Nightmare Asylum' is by far the best of the lot (IMO), but 'Earth Hive' is a good read.

I've always been partial to Steve Perry as an author, and I think he does a good job of bringing the comic to life, as well as breathing new life into the story. If you're looking for some good military sci-fi action 'Nightmare Asylum' really sings in this area. But 'Earth Hive' is definitely a fun read. You'll probably be able to cruise through it in a day or so.

There are aspects of the 'Earth Hive' story I just don't like, but that's a result of the comic origins of the book, not how it was written. I think it is very well written, as is the second book ('Nightmare Asylum'). 'The Female War' leaves something to be desired for me. It was co-authored with Steve's daughter, and I can always tell were her material starts and his ends - which is not good for a joint project. I also find some of the story twists and thematic arcs in 'The Female War' to be distracting.

I'd say give 'Earth Hive' a read.

EDIT:


I agree. This was one of my favorite aspects of the comic as well.

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I'd give Earth Hive a "Meh" rating. After the two three comic series, the "Aliens" themed comics/novels kind of were a hit and a miss. The only Aliens novel I ever really cared for was "Tribes." It had a good strong story to it, awsome paintings, by David Dorman, and had an "where the frak did that come from" ending to it. I loved it....

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If you accept pocket lint as a currency well I'll take it all!

I'd read them in order if you're going to.

Earth Hive, Nightmare Asylum and then Female War
They go together as a set story wise.
You can read them on their own, but where one book ends the other picks up.

After that there are about 5-7 other books that just go from one story to the next. They are enjoyable but these 3 are the best.

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Of all of the Dark Horse novels the books penned by Perry are among the best. ALIENS vs. PREDATOR: PREY was also very good, and IMO is what an AVP movie should be (or should have been). The book is set to take place at a point in time parallel to the events in ALIEN - just on the other side of the galaxy. And unlike 'Female War' it is less evident where Stephani Perry's work comes in (another father-daughter joint book)

Actually, Peter Briggs' infamous unused script for AVP was an adaptation of the comic that this book is based on. ...Why Fox never picked it up is beyond me.

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