Aliens: Resistance is a comic book by Brian Wood, Robert Carey, and Dan Jackson that continues the story of horror masterpiece Alien: Isolation. Mobile game Alien: Blackout revealed how she was rescued immediately following the events of the game, but Resistance is the first time we've seen what she got up to after returning safely to Earth. Being an Isolation fan, I jumped at the chance to read the continuing adventures of this character, who I spent 25 nerve-racking hours with. But having just finished it, I shouldn't have bothered.
Your first clue that this story might be a departure from the hard sci-fi and understated horror of Alien: Isolation is the fact that it's an Aliens comic. That telltale S is a clear statement of intent—that this is a comic in the spirit of James Cameron's action-packed sequel, not Ridley Scott's slow-burning original. That tempered my expectations, but I was still disappointed to discover that the Amanda Ripley featured here has very little in common with the Amanda Ripley I helped survive the existential horrors of Sevastopol Station.
To its credit, there are a few nice callbacks to Isolation in her character. Spending days drifting alone in space after Sevastopol's destruction has, understandably, impacted Ripley mentally. "I floated for three days in a pressure suit," she says. "I have trouble with small spaces." We see her have a panic attack in a cryosleep chamber, and when she has to wear another pressure suit, the idea distresses her. The hell she endured on Sevastopol is still with her, which brings a flicker of depth to what is otherwise a fairly brainless action comic.
Three years after Isolation, Ripley is back on Earth and her attempts to expose Weyland-Yutani are proving fruitless. "They string me along, give me just enough bureaucratic red tape to wade through to keep me hoping." she says. "They want me on a leash." It's also suggested that Ripley is seeing a therapist—provided by the Company, naturally—who she suspects is trying to plant ideas in her head. Sounds about right for fiction's most evil megacorporation. If the Ripley family ever managed to sue those bastards, they'd make a fortune.
But Ripley finds a more tangible way to fight back, with a little help from an old friend named Zula Hendricks, a former Colonial Marine. Learning of the existence of a Weyland-Yutani blacksite where sinister experiments are being performed on innocent colonists involving (you guessed it) xenomorphs, the pair blast off into space to expose them. This dangerous mission is the main narrative thrust of Resistance, and it's not long before the comic erupts, somewhat predictably, with pulse rifle fire and swarms of aliens.
My issue with Aliens: Resistance is that it cheapens Alien: Isolation. It turns the deadly, relentless, terrifying xenomorph into disposable cannon fodder. Ripley's knack for stealth, improvisation, distraction, and using her engineering skills to create gadgets—which she honed so brilliantly on Sevastopol—goes completely unused. By transplanting this character into an Aliens story, she becomes just another generic action hero. Resistance ends with a lot of explosions and shooting, which is everything Isolation stood against.
It's not unreadable, it's just deeply disappointing—especially for fans of Isolation and the 1979 movie's more thoughtful, atmospheric take on this sci-fi universe. It's nice to see Ripley still out there, alive and fighting the good fight against Weyland-Yutani, but she doesn't belong in the Cameron-verse. What Amanda Ripley really deserves is a direct sequel to Isolation, but that seems increasingly unlikely. I don't know what's next for this character, but hopefully it's something more interesting than her shooting aliens with a pulse rifle.