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Will Aliens Vol 1 reach cult status
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284 posts in this topic

Its no TMNT, but within the next 10 years, and giving that Disney now owns rights, will the gritty R rated Aliens we've come to love become a thing of the past?

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People like 'em some xenomorphs. That said, I really don't expect a ton of movement in this franchise. Alien and Aliens are both candidates for a short list of essential science fiction. The rest of the series? Ehhh... not so much. Prometheus was so bad it defies rational description; a lesser property would have seen fan abandonment in its wake. Covenant isn't tons better.

Where do they go from here? And yeah, I know they're still planning a third prequel.

The first two films are never going away, and so interest in the early comics is never going away, but I don't expect some new tranche of franchise material to suddenly alter the landscape here.

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28 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

People like 'em some xenomorphs. That said, I really don't expect a ton of movement in this franchise. Alien and Aliens are both candidates for a short list of essential science fiction. The rest of the series? Ehhh... not so much. Prometheus was so bad it defies rational description; a lesser property would have seen fan abandonment in its wake. Covenant isn't tons better.

Where do they go from here? And yeah, I know they're still planning a third prequel.

The first two films are never going away, and so interest in the early comics is never going away, but I don't expect some new tranche of franchise material to suddenly alter the landscape here.

The same can be said for the Predator 1 (and to a lesser extent the 2nd),  and especially Terminator 1 and 2.  

It wasn't just the concepts that made those movies great, it was the actors in them.  Assembling a cast the quality of Predator or the 2nd Aliens would be impossible.  The actors simply DNE.  I won't even get into the CGI fest aspect.  The first Predator, T2, and Aliens looked phenomenal, even by today's standards (or maybe because of the lack thereof). 

Lastly, the absence of information about the origin of the Aliens was a huge part of their mystique.  In general, origin stories are never as good as what one's imagination provides for itself.  The same holds true in comics.  I can't think of a single origin reveal at this moment that seemed truly legitimate as opposed to being a more like a retcon than anything else. 

(Then again, there is a strong possibility I am just an old crank.  I don't even like anything past the theatrical release of the first three Star Wars either.)   

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I put a #1 9.6 up for sale and have been barraged by questions asking me if it would be worth a press. 

That cover is incredibly hard to get in 9.8. I havent checked the census myself, but black covers are the worst.

I've basically told people, be happy to even get a 9.6

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24 minutes ago, Dr. Dank said:

I put a #1 9.6 up for sale and have been barraged by questions asking me if it would be worth a press. 

That cover is incredibly hard to get in 9.8. I havent checked the census myself, but black covers are the worst.

I've basically told people, be happy to even get a 9.6

142 copies in 9.6 blue. 47 copies in 9.8 blue. And 85 in 9.4 blue.

High-grade copies of Aliens #1 aren't exactly rare, but the 9.8s are pretty tough to chase down. To some extent the whole series is like that, although the ratios get a little better after #2 (which has 23 in 9.6 but only 7 in 9.8). The only thing harder than putting the full series together in 9.8 would be doing the same thing for the reprints. Some of the issues went to five printings. some of which I strongly suspect would be quite a challenge to locate in grade.

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12 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

142 copies in 9.6 blue. 47 copies in 9.8 blue. And 85 in 9.4 blue.

High-grade copies of Aliens #1 aren't exactly rare, but the 9.8s are pretty tough to chase down. To some extent the whole series is like that, although the ratios get a little better after #2 (which has 23 in 9.6 but only 7 in 9.8). The only thing harder than putting the full series together in 9.8 would be doing the same thing for the reprints. Some of the issues went to five printings. some of which I strongly suspect would be quite a challenge to locate in grade.

Really only 7 #2 in 9.8?

Make me think it should be worth more than #1

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Just now, Dr. Dank said:

Really only 7 #2 in 9.8?

Make me think it should be worth more than #1

#1s are almost always going to command higher prices than #2s, even when rarity suggests otherwise. People just like that #1 on the cover. As a more modern example, Walking Dead #2 had fewer copies ordered than #1. In addition, there are 914 9.8 Universal slabs of #1 on the census (plus another 22 9.9s!), while Walking Dead #2 only has 205 copies at 9.8 Universal. Yet no one -- no one -- is going to pay more for #2 than for #1.

Value doesn't always track with rarity.

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Took me many years to find my #1, which I got here on the boards, paid the princely sum of $350, and was happy to do so. At that time I think there were 5, maybe 6 or 7 in the census.

#2 was the real bear. Took a few more years, because for the longest time, there were only 2 9.8's in the census. Finally two more popped up, and I got one as part of a huge trade deal. And again, I was happy to do so. And that was several years ago.

#2 is still a ghost in 9.8, and those who hunt for it know how hard it is to find. And now that Marvel has kickstarted the Alien hype train, and #1 is a $3k plus book, you'd think many more copies would have been slabbed. But the census is still pitifully low.

As for the OP's question, we have a few different threads here regarding Aliens, so I've stated this before, but if you pull my string, I'll talk about it: I was really dreading the Marvel takeover of the franchise, because the thing that has always separated Alien from the other major sci-fi franchises (Star Wars, Trek, whatever else) is that it has always been a hard R-rated series aimed at adults. The original film is steeped in sexuality and violence, and that has long been a hallmark of the series. That being said, they released Kenner and Bandai toys for the first film, and Aliens eventually lead to a Kenner action figure line directed at kids, so what do I know?

But regardless of how the property was pimped out, the comics from DH maintained that adult feel, and also brought visions from a who's who of great horror comic artists. I have to assume we're getting a watered down pg-13 comic from Marvel's stable of interchangeable "talent". I hope I'm wrong, because I'd love to read some great new Alien comics. But, again, expectations are low.

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15 hours ago, Von Cichlid said:

The same can be said for the Predator 1 (and to a lesser extent the 2nd),  and especially Terminator 1 and 2.  

It wasn't just the concepts that made those movies great, it was the actors in them.  Assembling a cast the quality of Predator or the 2nd Aliens would be impossible.  The actors simply DNE.  I won't even get into the CGI fest aspect.  The first Predator, T2, and Aliens looked phenomenal, even by today's standards (or maybe because of the lack thereof). 

Lastly, the absence of information about the origin of the Aliens was a huge part of their mystique.  In general, origin stories are never as good as what one's imagination provides for itself.  The same holds true in comics.  I can't think of a single origin reveal at this moment that seemed truly legitimate as opposed to being a more like a retcon than anything else. 

(Then again, there is a strong possibility I am just an old crank.  I don't even like anything past the theatrical release of the first three Star Wars either.)   

100%. Origins are always a letdown. One of the great things about Alien was that you felt like the characters had been dropped into a world much larger, and stranger, than they could have imagined. Not only did they encounter the alien itself, but they found it on a crashed derelict craft. Large parts of my childhood were spent thinking about how that ship got there, what the space jockey was, and what the hell was going on there. Of course, what they eventually showed us in Prometheus and Covenant (ugh) could never compare to those visions. The mystery is what makes it interesting.

It's the same thing with modern horror movies. Did we need origin films for Michael Myers and Leatherface? Of course not. They were terrifying because we had no idea what their deal was. Why was this happening?

Same with superheroes. Wolverine was much cooler before we found out whatever it was that "Origin" told us happened because I can't remember anymore because I already blocked it out of my memory blah blah blah

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5 hours ago, F For Fake said:

100%. Origins are always a letdown. One of the great things about Alien was that you felt like the characters had been dropped into a world much larger, and stranger, than they could have imagined. Not only did they encounter the alien itself, but they found it on a crashed derelict craft. Large parts of my childhood were spent thinking about how that ship got there, what the space jockey was, and what the hell was going on there. Of course, what they eventually showed us in Prometheus and Covenant (ugh) could never compare to those visions. The mystery is what makes it interesting.

It's the same thing with modern horror movies. Did we need origin films for Michael Myers and Leatherface? Of course not. They were terrifying because we had no idea what their deal was. Why was this happening?

Same with superheroes. Wolverine was much cooler before we found out whatever it was that "Origin" told us happened because I can't remember anymore because I already blocked it out of my memory blah blah blah

I was totally thinking of the Wolverine / Sabretooth fiasco when I said origin stories don't work in comics either.  Two characters who had years of intrigue built into their stories were wiped out over the stretch of Wolverine 48 to about that origins mini-series.  Bone claws were so stupid.  Making Silver Fox be some memory implant and negating perhaps the best issue (Wolverine 10) of the original series was awful too.  I am glad I got into the X-Men before the 90's.  Had it had ben too much later, I probably would not have cared it was just so silly. 

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1 hour ago, Von Cichlid said:

I was totally thinking of the Wolverine / Sabretooth fiasco when I said origin stories don't work in comics either.  Two characters who had years of intrigue built into their stories were wiped out over the stretch of Wolverine 48 to about that origins mini-series.  Bone claws were so stupid.  Making Silver Fox be some memory implant and negating perhaps the best issue (Wolverine 10) of the original series was awful too.  I am glad I got into the X-Men before the 90's.  Had it had ben too much later, I probably would not have cared it was just so silly. 

Cyber was my favorite wolverine villain.

Nobody, not a single entity that wolverine had ever faced, made him pee his pants like Cyber did.

What was done to that character was blasphemy. 

Ok, kill him and use his adamantium to revive the old wolverine we love. I loved the irony in that, and the fact that wolverine had nothing to do with it. But who is this Dakon BS?

Glad I never read any of that, except on Wikipedia. 

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Just now, Parabellum said:

I am one of the few that decided to collect the reprints in 9.8.  You’re 100% correct, they are extremely challenging to find, not only in high grade but at a decent price.  When I completed my 9.8 run and decided to shoot for all printings I knew it was going to be a long road and maybe not even possible.  According to the census I’ve managed to purchase all available 9.8’s with the exception of #1 fifth print (don’t know who owns it) and #2 fourth print (still working on the seller for this one).  Here’s a run down of the 1988 series with known printings per issue:

#1 five printings 

#2 four printings

#3 three printings

#4 two printings

#5 three printings

#6 two printings ?

The verdict on issue #6 second printing is still up in the air in my mind.  I have never seen a copy or heard of anyone owning one.  The only place that even mentions it is my comic shop.  I have had that issue on my want list since 2013 with zero hits.  But that isn’t definitive proof it doesn’t exist.

Huge respect for this. I'm a big believer in chasing the Nth prints of whatever stuff I collect, and a LOT of them are hard, hard pieces to find.

One of my pet series is Charles Burns' Black Hole -- someday this thing will get an tv/film adaptation and people will rue the day they mocked my taking it seriously, mwahaha! -- and a big ongoing question for me is whether a 2nd printing of #4 exists. There are quite a few places that reported it does, but I've never seen one and neither has anyone I know. If it's out there, it's a tiny print run and I want one badly. The world may never know. Aliens #6 2nd sounds exactly the same way.

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12 hours ago, Dr. Dank said:

Really only 7 #2 in 9.8?

Make me think it should be worth more than #1

When I started collecting the series (2015) #2 and #5 had extremely low census numbers.  @F For Fakecorrect me if I’m wrong but the first 9.8 #2’s where all owned by one person @Iceman399 if I’m not mistaken.  At the time he valued #2 at the same price as #1.  Unfortunately I passed on his offer at the time to purchase the whole set (he had two complete 9.8 runs).  He wasn’t asking anything crazy, I was just a bonehead and my collecting was all over the place.  A year later I still hadn’t smarted up and failed to bid on the last sale (reflected on GPA).

In 2019 Comiclink sold two copies of #2 in 9.8.  One went for over $1k and the other $800.  I purchased the latter and at the time #1 was valued at the same price.  

Again, @Qalyaris right, scarcity doesn’t always equal value.  I believe this to be true with a person who only collects “keys”.  It’s a different ball game when it comes to completists.  I know that I am willing to pay a premium especially if the book is hard to come by.  Most of you would probably cringe at what I would pay for something like the aliens mini comic in 9.8.  I don’t mind paying for rarity, I personally place value in it.  Especially when it comes to early DH books.  But in the big picture #2 shouldn’t be valued more than #1.  
 

 

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Just now, Dr. Dank said:

An aliens mini just went for 130 cdn in 9.6

I bid 40 and thought that was high lol

Guardian comics gets some rare stuff quite often. He's a great guy

I bid on that as well, 🤣.  I went $101, but I didn’t try too hard.  I’m not disappointed.  

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Just now, Parabellum said:

I bid on that as well, 🤣.  I went $101, but I didn’t try too hard.  I’m not disappointed.  

Considering you can get the whole package it comes in for that, I was happy to be outbid as well

 

I do need to get a DHP 24 in 9.8 one of these days. Only have a 9.6

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