Alien vs. X-Men #1 is out today, and AIPT’s Jonathan Waugh scores the Marvel/Fox mash-up debut an 8.8, calling it one of the strongest openers in Marvel’s recent crossover wave with Alien, Predator, and Planet of the Apes properties.
Writer Kieron Gillen and artist Geraldo Borges send an X-team into deep space after a Phoenix Egg. The mission goes sideways, and Earthbound mutants — including Storm — face Xenomorphs that have absorbed mutant powers. Waugh frames that power-twist as the book’s sharpest idea and praises a debut that jumps into action and horror without a long wind-up, with stakes high from the opening pages.
On the art side, Waugh says Borges balances Alien’s grimy dread with big X-Men set pieces and draws Xenomorphs as frightening as their screen counterparts. He also flags the issue as brutal and not for the squeamish, while arguing fans of either franchise will find plenty to like if they hang on. Gillen’s script, in Waugh’s read, melds Alien’s dread and excitement into one of the more impressive debuts in the mash-up line.
The issue also opens “Belles of Hell,” a backup by legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont and artist David Messina, centered on an older Kitty Pryde with a Magik beat. Waugh reads it as a more psychological counterweight to Gillen and Borges’ horror-action main course — intriguing, if short — and notes it nods at the Brood comparison the crossover announcement invited.
Waugh’s bottom line: if the surprises and thrills hold for the remaining three issues, Alien vs. X-Men could rank among the best of Marvel’s Fox mash-ups. For now, the debut is a bloody, surprising team-up aimed at Alien and X-Men readers alike. For more mutant-desk coverage already on RCG, see Maximum X-Men #1.
