Canadian born artist James Stokoe brings a new chapter to life in the ever expanding Alien mythology. In the first issue of Dead Orbit we are introduced to Wascylewski, one of the six crew members of way station Sphacteria, who at the start of the story seems to be the only one left alive. This stems from a silent running freighter coming communication range and the crew deciding to go and explore the ship when all attempts to contact them fails. After a mishap with the freighter\’s cryotubes leaves the ship\’s crew massively injured, they are brought over to the Sphacteria. The story then returns to Wascylewski as he tries to keep the station in one piece after running into a xenomorph.

As first issues go Aliens: Dead Orbit holds a tremendous amount of possibility and promise. While the story is pretty much straight forward, it\’s the art, the Manga-esque art also by writer James Stokoe, that sells this issue. I think we really could be looking at someone who might be able to give Geoff Darrow a run for his money given the insane technical look of the issue. Pick it up, read it and get ready for the art to steal the show… Jason Bonton