Dark Horse Comics has announced that it is dusting off legendary sci-fi author William Gibson’s unproduced original script for Alien 3 for a comic book adaptation from writer and artist Johnnie Christmas.
“When your first contracted screenplay (or screenplay of any kind, in my case) isn’t produced, but the film is eventually made with a different screenplay, retaining nothing of yours but a barcode tattoo on the back of a character’s neck, the last thing you ever expect is to see yours beautifully adapted and realized, decades later, in a different medium, by an artist of Johnnie Christmas’ caliber,” said Gibson to CBR. “It’s a wonderful experience, and I have no doubt that Johnnie’s version, which adheres almost entirely to the script, delivers more of my material to the audience than any feature film would have been likely to do.”
“As for my screenplay, I’d like to point out that I worked from a treatment provide by the film’s three producers, so it wasn’t my idea, at all, to jettison Ripley,” Gibson added. “Unhappy with that, as a fan of the previous two films, I went for a multiple helping of Bishop, my second favorite human character in the first film.”
Check out a preview of the first issue here…
“Following the deadly events of Aliens, the Union of Progressive Peoples intercepts the spaceship carrying the hibernating bodies of Ripley, Hicks, Newt, and Bishop. But unbeknownst to them, they have also picked up another deadly passenger whose discovery will unleash a race between two governments to weaponize the xenomorph in this horrifying and poignant Cold War-themed thriller.”
William Gibson’s Alien 3 #1 will go on sale on November 7th.