What do you think?
Rate this book
Aliens / Predator / Prometheus Universe
Aliens: Tribes
This exquisitely produced, Smythe-sewn, embossed hardcover volume features an Aliens tale written by today's master of horror comics, Steve Bissette, accompanied by 24 full-color paintings by the most sought-after painter in the field, Dave Dorman. An Alien has been detected on board a space station orbiting Earth, and a crack extermination team sets out to destroy it. The success of their mission depends on one man's sinister secret. The story is presented in the traditional text format accompanied by full-page color paintings by Dorman. This book also features a dust jacket illustrated by Dorman.
72 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1992
3 people are currently reading
250 people want to read
About the author
Stephen R. Bissette
264 books51 followersStephen R. Bissette is an American comics artist, editor, and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He is best known for working with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC comic Swamp Thing in the 1980s.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 26, 2013
The story is somewhat hard to follow. There are a far too many characters to keep tabs on. This wouldn't have been a problem had it been a "regular" graphic novel, but making it an illustrated novel somehow made it a little hard to follow at times. It also made it a little hard to "vizualize" the characters... even with the nice full-page artwork. Otherwise, the story is solid as far as Aliens stories are concerned, although it did seem a little too "easy" to kill them (as in the 2nd movie)... when I "picture" an Alien, I sort of picture an almost indestructible creature. I supose that by "this time" humans have grown accostumed to the Aliens and have found effective ways to deal with their infestation.
The full-page art panels are very nice but fail for the most part to convey the story. For the most part, I could hardly recognize which characters were being pictured in relation to the story. Still they are all very nice (if gorry) paintings.
The full-page art panels are very nice but fail for the most part to convey the story. For the most part, I could hardly recognize which characters were being pictured in relation to the story. Still they are all very nice (if gorry) paintings.
January 27, 2012
This is an excellent book. Full page beautiful illustrations fill it to the brim. The story is excellent, and a must read for those fans of sci-fi as well as the Alien franchise.
FYI, this is an illustrated book, and not a comic book/graphic novel.
FYI, this is an illustrated book, and not a comic book/graphic novel.
July 3, 2021
I remember this being really hard to find when I was a kid. I started getting into the Aliens comics around '93 or '94 and by then this thing was probably sold out in my area. I don't think I got a copy of this until years later when I found it for sale online. I was pretty excited to get it because if the cover was any indication of what I'd find inside I was ready for it!
All that being said Tribes was not exactly what I had expected, but it was good nonetheless. This really isn't a graphic novel, it's not a comic or anything at all like that. Instead this is more like a Light Novel, similar to what they would publish in Japan. Back when this was released, I had absolutely no idea what a Light Novel was, but Tribes definitely fits that description best. It's essentially a novel with a relevant picture every few pages. There's no dialogue or anything on the pictures it's just a scene from the story. The big difference here is that Tribes features these incredibly beautifully painted pieces. Usually the Light Novels out of Japan are in black and white, so Tribes is a bit different in that regard. David Dorman's art is simply incredible though. He has brought us some of the best art in Aliens so far. John Bolton and Denis Beauvais have brought us some great art too and this is definitely on par, if not better, than that. Every image is a cover worthy picture, which makes this a truly wonderful read in that regard.
Bissette's story is pretty good overall, there were a couple parts of it I didn't like, but the general idea was a pretty solid Aliens tale. Tribes is taking place after the Aliens: Genocide series and products like Xeno Zip are specifically referenced. Tribes is the story of a medical facility in space that has become infested with the Aliens and a military team is sent in to clear it out. What is unclear is if the infestation was intentional or not. If you remember back to the first Aliens series, Aliens: Book One you'll remember that a religious cult that worships the Aliens was instrumental in the spread on Earth. Well, Tribes tugs on that thread a bit more and brings it into the post Alien invasion of Earth.
Also, if you remember from the first issue of Genocide we learned that Xeno Zip could have particular military applications and in Tribes Bissette explores that with having a berserker named MOX 16 as part of the military clean up crew. This "person" is sealed in an iron suit and then pumped with Xeno Zip when it's time to infiltrate the hive and kill the queen. I think this concept really inspired a later comic series called Aliens: Stronghold.
Our military team arrives at the medical facility and their first task is to find the hive's location on this massive space station. It is noted that this is the teams eleventh mission and all priors have been successful, which is why they have fairly high confidence. However, what they don't plan on much and is part of their undoing is how to handle betrayal from those they are trying to save. I feel like most Aliens stories are semi-tragic tales, in the sense that often humanity wants to believe in itself to have the same goals... such as the goal of survival, but not everyone has the same goals and the implicit trust that we think they will is often our undoing. That's usually where a lot of these Aliens tales run, it's a totally taken from the first two films and sometimes I wish there would be a more straightforward tale. Every story I've picked up so far I'm always just "okay, where's the betrayal..." Sure, it comes in different and sometimes creative ways, but it's something I've started to expect at this point.
While the crack team we are introduced to in Tribes has some very good characters, I also got annoyed with a lot of the nick names. It was hard at first to keep everyone straight, because sometimes they would use a real name and then a nick name or whatever. It had that Dostoyevsky effect with Crime and Punishment, people don't need a million different names. In fact, it makes the story harder to read. I would argue that having a couple people with a nick name is fine, but all of them? It gets annoying to read and really only serves better in an actual comic book format. So, that's the one real gripe I have with this.
In the end, this story is a pretty solid Aliens adventure, albeit pretty standard fair at this point. It was kind of cool to see in what ways the military applications of Xeno Zip would be applied, but the real joy of this book is the art. This is one of those releases that would be worth owning for the art alone and we get a pretty good story to go with it.
All that being said Tribes was not exactly what I had expected, but it was good nonetheless. This really isn't a graphic novel, it's not a comic or anything at all like that. Instead this is more like a Light Novel, similar to what they would publish in Japan. Back when this was released, I had absolutely no idea what a Light Novel was, but Tribes definitely fits that description best. It's essentially a novel with a relevant picture every few pages. There's no dialogue or anything on the pictures it's just a scene from the story. The big difference here is that Tribes features these incredibly beautifully painted pieces. Usually the Light Novels out of Japan are in black and white, so Tribes is a bit different in that regard. David Dorman's art is simply incredible though. He has brought us some of the best art in Aliens so far. John Bolton and Denis Beauvais have brought us some great art too and this is definitely on par, if not better, than that. Every image is a cover worthy picture, which makes this a truly wonderful read in that regard.
Bissette's story is pretty good overall, there were a couple parts of it I didn't like, but the general idea was a pretty solid Aliens tale. Tribes is taking place after the Aliens: Genocide series and products like Xeno Zip are specifically referenced. Tribes is the story of a medical facility in space that has become infested with the Aliens and a military team is sent in to clear it out. What is unclear is if the infestation was intentional or not. If you remember back to the first Aliens series, Aliens: Book One you'll remember that a religious cult that worships the Aliens was instrumental in the spread on Earth. Well, Tribes tugs on that thread a bit more and brings it into the post Alien invasion of Earth.
Also, if you remember from the first issue of Genocide we learned that Xeno Zip could have particular military applications and in Tribes Bissette explores that with having a berserker named MOX 16 as part of the military clean up crew. This "person" is sealed in an iron suit and then pumped with Xeno Zip when it's time to infiltrate the hive and kill the queen. I think this concept really inspired a later comic series called Aliens: Stronghold.
Our military team arrives at the medical facility and their first task is to find the hive's location on this massive space station. It is noted that this is the teams eleventh mission and all priors have been successful, which is why they have fairly high confidence. However, what they don't plan on much and is part of their undoing is how to handle betrayal from those they are trying to save. I feel like most Aliens stories are semi-tragic tales, in the sense that often humanity wants to believe in itself to have the same goals... such as the goal of survival, but not everyone has the same goals and the implicit trust that we think they will is often our undoing. That's usually where a lot of these Aliens tales run, it's a totally taken from the first two films and sometimes I wish there would be a more straightforward tale. Every story I've picked up so far I'm always just "okay, where's the betrayal..." Sure, it comes in different and sometimes creative ways, but it's something I've started to expect at this point.
While the crack team we are introduced to in Tribes has some very good characters, I also got annoyed with a lot of the nick names. It was hard at first to keep everyone straight, because sometimes they would use a real name and then a nick name or whatever. It had that Dostoyevsky effect with Crime and Punishment, people don't need a million different names. In fact, it makes the story harder to read. I would argue that having a couple people with a nick name is fine, but all of them? It gets annoying to read and really only serves better in an actual comic book format. So, that's the one real gripe I have with this.
In the end, this story is a pretty solid Aliens adventure, albeit pretty standard fair at this point. It was kind of cool to see in what ways the military applications of Xeno Zip would be applied, but the real joy of this book is the art. This is one of those releases that would be worth owning for the art alone and we get a pretty good story to go with it.
May 19, 2020
About as kitsch as you can get in terms of a classic Alien experience, but well portrayed, fast-paced and overall just good fun. The illustrations are a great bonus too.
July 13, 2016
For some reason, I have this book on my shelf since 1993 and never got around to reading it. Everybody makes a big deal out of the fact that it's more than a comic book, it's got prose text in it. Dark Horse calls it a "Graphic Story Album"... let's face it, it's short story-length and is illustrated. It's not a comic book, it's a short story.
And fitting the format, it's got a limited cast, about 9 characters, 7 of which are part of a special "cleanup" team who specialize in locating and dismantling alien hives. The other two characters are a doctor and a nurse inside TodLab LXI. There are lots of bodies around as the aliens have infested the medical station by the time our protagonists arrive. There's some suspense, some scheming, and some action, and not everyone will make it out alive.
Steve Bissette is well-established horror writer, and his writing skills shine here. It's a very entertaining story, plus the 24 beautiful illustrations by Dave Dorman are worth gazing at. One of his characters is Mobile Offensive ExoWarrior "MOX" 16 nicknamed Shitkicker. This concept of a "Berserker" human pumped up on stimulants and encased in an acid-resistant, multi weapon robot armor will be used in later Aliens comics.
As far as chronological placement, there are not many clues as to when this story takes place, aside than it is in the couple of decades between "Aliens: Female War" and "Aliens: Genocide", and this quote from Lt. Tsuruku Richards: "It took the corporation two decades, three colonies, and many lives to realize the folly of nurturing these creatures."
And fitting the format, it's got a limited cast, about 9 characters, 7 of which are part of a special "cleanup" team who specialize in locating and dismantling alien hives. The other two characters are a doctor and a nurse inside TodLab LXI. There are lots of bodies around as the aliens have infested the medical station by the time our protagonists arrive. There's some suspense, some scheming, and some action, and not everyone will make it out alive.
Steve Bissette is well-established horror writer, and his writing skills shine here. It's a very entertaining story, plus the 24 beautiful illustrations by Dave Dorman are worth gazing at. One of his characters is Mobile Offensive ExoWarrior "MOX" 16 nicknamed Shitkicker. This concept of a "Berserker" human pumped up on stimulants and encased in an acid-resistant, multi weapon robot armor will be used in later Aliens comics.
As far as chronological placement, there are not many clues as to when this story takes place, aside than it is in the couple of decades between "Aliens: Female War" and "Aliens: Genocide", and this quote from Lt. Tsuruku Richards: "It took the corporation two decades, three colonies, and many lives to realize the folly of nurturing these creatures."
September 6, 2007
Ive always had a soft spot for the Aliens franchise, particularly this excellent graphic novel...a well-paced, well structured and as expected well-written piece of bookage...the illustrations by Dave Dorman are splendid, very atmospheric...
March 29, 2024
What a dark, uncomfortable, and horrifying tale worthy of the Aliens license.
Some dialogue is unnatural and character locations are fuzzy but compared to many of the aliens novels this one stands out with its gorgeous illustrations by Dave Dorman and unsettling storytelling by the author.
If you’re a fan of the franchise give it a go, if not it’s a quick read and an impactful one.
Some dialogue is unnatural and character locations are fuzzy but compared to many of the aliens novels this one stands out with its gorgeous illustrations by Dave Dorman and unsettling storytelling by the author.
If you’re a fan of the franchise give it a go, if not it’s a quick read and an impactful one.
April 10, 2024
This is a really dark and intense story. It straddles the line between being meaningful extreme horror and the more modern adolescent manchild variety.
I think Bissette nails it and falls way more into capturing a meaningful extreme horror story but the line is there.
Artwork is beautiful and the story whilst nothing new, is told in a very unique way.
I think Bissette nails it and falls way more into capturing a meaningful extreme horror story but the line is there.
Artwork is beautiful and the story whilst nothing new, is told in a very unique way.
February 2, 2019
fantastic.
February 19, 2023
Although fairly good, not the best aliens story I have read, but had some gorgeous illustrations. Was reading out of the Marvel/ Aliens: The early years omnibus volume 1.
February 28, 2024
Too many daddy issues, very distracting
July 25, 2024
decent but weird the motivations of characters is not really believable, but the action and alien pov scenes were interesting
August 26, 2024
Story 3 stars. Dave Dorman's art 5 stars.
October 4, 2024
Very cool Aliens-adjacent story with cool art.
August 3, 2015
Didn't realise this was actually an illustrated novel. Thought it was another comic. Was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was very well written.
4 out of 5 stars.
4 out of 5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews