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Alien Legion Omnibus #1
Alien Legion Omnibus, Vol. 1
Footsloggers and soldiers of fortune, priests, poets, killers, and cads - they fight for a future Galarchy, for cash, for a cause, for the thrill of adventure. Culled from the forgotten and unwanted of three galaxies, they are trained to be the most elite, and expendable, of fighting forces. Sometimes peacekeepers, sometimes shock troops, the Legion is sent into the Galarchy's most desperate internal and external conflicts. Legionnaires live rough and they die hard, tough as tungsten and loyal to the dirty end. Alien Legion creator Carl Potts on the "The original concept was the 'Foreign Legion in space,' and all the legionnaires were human. The Alien Legion universe is a giant extrapolation of the American democratic melting-pot society, where different races and cultures work together for the common good while dealing with the pluses and problems that the nation's diversity creates."
352 pages, Paperback
First published September 16, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 23, 2018
Somewhere back in the late 80’s I stumbled onto one of the Alien Legion comics and was intrigued. This Omnibus collects the first several story runs, and helped me fill in the gaps from issues that I wasn’t able to locate back in my youth.
Pretty simple plots, but this was cutting edge for it’s time. Adding an extra star for the nostalgia factor.
Pretty simple plots, but this was cutting edge for it’s time. Adding an extra star for the nostalgia factor.
June 24, 2019
A fun piece of mil s/f. Very 80s with elements of body snatchers and the paranoia of the age. Odd that a nuke is still a Mcguffin to end all humanity.
The book does have an interesting take that the legion is responsible for protecting ecosystems from destruction that gets lost amid the rest of the stuff. Grimrod was dark & edgy before that was dull and boring.
The book does have an interesting take that the legion is responsible for protecting ecosystems from destruction that gets lost amid the rest of the stuff. Grimrod was dark & edgy before that was dull and boring.
October 1, 2020
Alien Legion is a military science-fiction series that follows a diverse squad of aliens attempting to prevent an intergalactic war without killing each other first. Although the book is almost forty years old, the themes and subtext still resonate. Adapting this book into a feature film has been a long-standing fantasy for me because it is a story that deserves mainstream exposure.
July 28, 2013
Books from the same era as this first Omnibus of Alien Legion often suffer of faults that were actually integral to the medium of comics as was conceived at the time. Yet this one soars above some of them, and in particular, not even the trademark pedantic exposition of the eighties can bring it down, because it doesn't redundantly enunciate the same thing that are shown by the excellent art by Cirocco and a budding Stroman, instead they add details and perspectives, contribute to show the thoughts and viewpoints of the various characters in each scene. And variety is key in this tale, for as diverse and numerous as can be are the various characters in the Legion, and each gets a spotlight sooner or later, to have his, her or its layers peeled back and show how they deal with the dirtiest of wars. Even the use of made-up slang isn't the usual, empty excuse for cussing without cussing we see in so many other efforts, for it makes a clear distinction between those who speak it and how, and the ones who don't need it, because they do not crawl in the mud and blood all day and are content of ruling the destinies of galaxies from golden palaces. It is alive and coherent, it describes as much as violence as it does science (fictitious as it must be), politics and species. That one rapidly stops noticing it when reading it, that it becomes natural, is a testament to its comprehensibility and fittingness to the narrative.
You root for the Legion, and for the Nomad squadron that opens the way in the most horrible theaters, not for any cause, since they'll often fight for the ugly ones, and not for the worlds they may save, because they won't shed a tear for the legionnaires that should fall in the process. You root for Nomad because in the heat of the battle as much as in the depths of their moments of reflection, they will only have each other to count on (assuming they don't kill each other off first!) and, in the end, they will follow their leader to hell and beyond just because that's what they do and what they are, to the last alien.
You root for the Legion, and for the Nomad squadron that opens the way in the most horrible theaters, not for any cause, since they'll often fight for the ugly ones, and not for the worlds they may save, because they won't shed a tear for the legionnaires that should fall in the process. You root for Nomad because in the heat of the battle as much as in the depths of their moments of reflection, they will only have each other to count on (assuming they don't kill each other off first!) and, in the end, they will follow their leader to hell and beyond just because that's what they do and what they are, to the last alien.
February 6, 2016
A swashbuckling tale of space soldiers called Legionaires. Artwork is standard though not exceptional. Bit like something one could find in Heavy Metal magazine. Do appreciate the diversity of characters in the ragtag bunch. Entertaining nostalgic romp when graphick novels began to address darker cultural issues.
May 11, 2017
I read these comics back many years ago and they remain a constant love of mine. I recently realized I had not read the complete stories and ordered these omnibuses. I just finished the first one and am greedily going to dig into the second omnibus tomorrow.
What Alien Legion is at its core is about a mixed alien race mercenary army that functions like our own Foreign Legion here on Earth. They go where the Galactic Council send them and do what they are told. They or course get involved in terrible plots and betrayals, from within and without.
The great threat in these books is the Harkilon Empire. These large armored insect/lizards (LOL!) are dangerous and continue to evolve as they grow older. Their most powerful ability is the power of shapechanging into anyone they see. They use this ability to stir up chaos and murder within the Galactic Planets. They also harbor vast intelligence and a desire to build planet destroying weapons to rid them of their Galactic enemies. They are a despicable and awful bad guy for these books.
The stories here a great, the characters written and drawn well and overall you can't go wrong digging into these comics, but the omnibus collects all the early stories and makes them into a novel style collection. Such a great experience and the creator, Carl Potts and authors and artists who delivered these fine stories and characters are to be commended.
Danny
P.S. The geek in me has always wanted to use this book as the basis for running a roleplaying game. Why not, right? hehehe
What Alien Legion is at its core is about a mixed alien race mercenary army that functions like our own Foreign Legion here on Earth. They go where the Galactic Council send them and do what they are told. They or course get involved in terrible plots and betrayals, from within and without.
The great threat in these books is the Harkilon Empire. These large armored insect/lizards (LOL!) are dangerous and continue to evolve as they grow older. Their most powerful ability is the power of shapechanging into anyone they see. They use this ability to stir up chaos and murder within the Galactic Planets. They also harbor vast intelligence and a desire to build planet destroying weapons to rid them of their Galactic enemies. They are a despicable and awful bad guy for these books.
The stories here a great, the characters written and drawn well and overall you can't go wrong digging into these comics, but the omnibus collects all the early stories and makes them into a novel style collection. Such a great experience and the creator, Carl Potts and authors and artists who delivered these fine stories and characters are to be commended.
Danny
P.S. The geek in me has always wanted to use this book as the basis for running a roleplaying game. Why not, right? hehehe
July 14, 2018
I have always love me some Alien Legion. This book is one of my top sci-fi stories of all time. They are basically war stories told with crazy aliens off fighting desperate battles. Jugger Grimrod will always be my favorite pirate:) Found these comics when I was a kid and was just blown away by them. Such imagination and amazing sci-fi settings. Also discovered Larry Stroman through this series and he has become a huge artistic influence on my art over the years. Couldn't recommend Alien Legion enough to sci-fi fans.
May 24, 2020
3 / 5 for Alien legion Omnibus 1
I loved this series when I was a kid. This and Dreadstar were the first comics I'd read under Marvels new Epic imprint. I loved the future sci-fi slant of the comic, a breath of fresh air from the many superhero comics I'd been reading for years. Carl Potts artwork was and is fantastic, but the story nowadays feels a little dated, but still very enjoyable.
I loved this series when I was a kid. This and Dreadstar were the first comics I'd read under Marvels new Epic imprint. I loved the future sci-fi slant of the comic, a breath of fresh air from the many superhero comics I'd been reading for years. Carl Potts artwork was and is fantastic, but the story nowadays feels a little dated, but still very enjoyable.
February 5, 2023
Excellent adventures. French Foreign Legion in space. Read them in the 80s and 90s, and now again.
August 8, 2020
There's a lot of stuff to praise about this--interesting and diverse characters, cool character design, focus on aliens as more than one-dimensional people-with-different-skin-tones. But, ultimately, I just didn't enjoy reading it all that much and had to force myself to finish it. I'm not a huge fan of war stories, so I think this series is just lost on me.
July 24, 2014
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
I haven't seen the larger edition and had never read these comics before. I did feel right off the bat that the size of the book was annoying - the artwork is very dense and the dialogue even more so. With so much talk on each page, the artwork became very small and distractingly busy. It was hard to appreciate that this was a seminal series of the 1980s.
As for the story, very straightforward 1980s fare - with all the good (down to earth, cheeky dialogue) and the bad (did I mention LOTS of dialogue everywhere??). There's hours of reading with all that talk so you definitely get value with this book.
Unlike many comics from today, it is not about style over substance. This book really represented to me what comics were about before Top Cow's soft porn era began in the 1990s.
February 15, 2013
Le prime, ottime storie della Legione Aliena.
Pura fantascienza militare, con connotati sociali accennati e approfonditi mano a mano che le avventure della Squadra Nomad proseguono. Molto buoni i disegni di Frank Cirocco, mentre Potts e Alan Zelenetz ai testi sono bravi ad imbastire delle storie non scontate.
Pura fantascienza militare, con connotati sociali accennati e approfonditi mano a mano che le avventure della Squadra Nomad proseguono. Molto buoni i disegni di Frank Cirocco, mentre Potts e Alan Zelenetz ai testi sono bravi ad imbastire delle storie non scontate.
March 7, 2016
I got a lot of bang for the buck in this one. A nice collection of pulp legionnaire adventures. Watch as a collection of rogues and freebooters do their best to fight as a unit without killing each other. I typically like my SF comic art a little slicker but it wasn't bad. It was the story that really made volume 1 great though.
September 21, 2011
Great military-sf comic. I came across this one by accident but truly loved it.
Art is constantly good - there are no drastic oscillations through the omnibus - and story and the characters are just great.
Highly recommended.
Art is constantly good - there are no drastic oscillations through the omnibus - and story and the characters are just great.
Highly recommended.
February 25, 2016
So so
What could have been a great comic is hampered by stereotypical characters, repetitive story lines and basically, a one dimensional enemy. The art is ok, but the rest could have used work.
What could have been a great comic is hampered by stereotypical characters, repetitive story lines and basically, a one dimensional enemy. The art is ok, but the rest could have used work.
May 28, 2020
Easily in my top 5 comics ever written. Alien Legion is awesome. This omnibus seems to cover some of Force Nomad's early days.
December 4, 2015
I love the art in this book. A great nostalgic trip to the past. Can't wait for volume two! (soon)
November 28, 2020
Interesting stories.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews