Marvel Comics has announced that Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Salvador Larroca are set to wrap up the first era of their run on Alien by delving into the past of the series’ protagonist Gabriel Cruz, with Alien Annual #1 set to detail the hero’s original run-in with the deadly Xenomorph when it arrives in comic book shops this summer.
“By now, it’s no secret how much I LOVE the Alien universe,” said Johnson. “After more than a year on the series, I’m still as thrilled writing Marvel’s Alien as I was on the first day. Mainstay Marvel artist Salvador Larroca has been my partner every step of the way, and for Salva’s final chapter as the series artist, I wanted to bring it back to one of our favorite characters we created together: the protagonist of Bloodlines, Weyland-Yutani’s lifelong trigger man Gabriel Cruz.”
“My mission statement for the series has always been ‘make it feel like the films.’ But for this chapter, we had an opportunity to tie the films into one of my favorite games in recent memory, Aliens: Fireteam Elite,” Johnson continued. “Since the first moment I played that game, I wanted to see Gabe in his prime with his fellow soldiers, face-to-face with xenomorphs and combat synths. That’s what readers (and gamers) will see in the annual: a chapter that belongs on the shelf alongside the films, but also alongside the beloved game that my fellow superfans have spent so many hours playing over the past year.”
Years before Bloodlines, Weyland-Yutani security chief, Gabriel Cruz, was a company man. His devotion to WY came first, no matter what the cost. But when the company decides to conduct a trial run experiment with a Xenomorph, will Cruz stand by and let innocent soldiers die?
Alien Annual #1 will go on sale on June 15th.