The great thing about the New York Comic Con (NYCC) is the announcements: there are so many. This next one is a real treat for all the sci-fi fans: We know that Dark Horse comics have announced that it will bring to print “Prometheus”, what has been added is that the others of the same universe: Aliens, Predators & AVP will be rebooted. The mix is going to be perfect: a few Aliens, add some Predators & hint of Engineers. Ha ha. Only downside to this is there is no confirmation of Ridley Scott’s attachment to this. It will be great to have him on as a consultant. Then again, depends on how you see it. Not having him involved could also lead to creativity with original work. The writers have confirmed that while they bring in new material / characters, they will not changing the foundation work or contradicting any of the previously created. Guess that’s a win-win situation for the fans. With four different writers on this, it will be great to see how the universe will all fit in together. I guess that’s why Dark Horse has them working together in a “Writer’s Room”, which is also a great way of getting the fans to be engaged with all of the franchises.
Meet the Writers
Prometheus: Paul Tobin
Aliens: Chris Roberson
Aliens vs. Predators: Chris Sebela
Predators: Joshua Williamson
Excerpts from the interview io9 had with writers:
io9: What opportunity is the reboot providing that you’re most excited about?
Roberson: There isn’t any aspect of this that I’m NOT excited about! I’ve wanted to work with Dark Horse since the company launched back in the ‘80s, I’ve been a fan of the Alien films since I first saw the original movie when I was in middle school a few years before that, and I’ve been hoping to collaborate with Patric Reynolds on something since I first saw his work. Factor in the fact that I’m also collaborating with some of my favorite writers, who are all pals of mine, this is nothing but win for me!
io9: Aliens, Predators and AvP are reboots, but the Prometheus comic is all new. Are you jealous that the other writers are getting to reboot their series but you have to start from scratch?
Tobin: I’m both not-at-all jealous, and completely-totally jealous. Starting from scratch is actually easier than rebooting, because you get to decide not only where the puzzle pieces go, but what they are in the first place. And the project is intertwined enough that no one writer is standing alone… we’re writing this in tandem with each other, which means we’re all up in each others’ sandboxes. That’s fine with me, because each of us LOVES playing with character, and when characters are solid, solid stories take shape. These guys are doing some of the best comics out there right now, with Chris Sebela on High Crimes, and Josh Williamson on Ghosted, and Chris Roberson on Edison Rex… all projects that rely on strong characters. So… jealousy deleted, because it’s too much fun to work with these guys to think otherwise. On the other hand, having helped to build their stories (as they helped build mine) means I know what they get to play with, and damn… that would be some fun stuff to take further. I’m also jealous of Roberson for getting to work with Patric Reynolds, one of my favorite artists, but even there I can say, “But… I get to work with Juan Ferreyra. So take THAT, suckahs!”
io9: What was making this new universe with your fellow writers like?
Williamson: We’ve been meeting at Scott Allie’s house and breaking the story together. At first I wasn’t even writing Predator. That came out of the meetings. There has been some arguing, some yelling, some fist fights, but in the end we all came together with the best ideas to move forward with. A little bit of blood spilled never hurt anyone, and it only helped out story take shape. We wanted to make sure that it all flowed and worked together like a well oiled machine and that took a lot of putting egos aside and finding what worked and what didn’t. It’s easily been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had in working in comics. A highlight of my career.
io9: Any chance of an Alien versus Predator versus Engineer brawl?
Sebela: I think the best analogy I can use here instead of actually answering this question is that each of these books is like throwing a deck of playing cards up in the air. When the dust settles, some cards will be touching others just on the corners, some will be laying right on top of others, some will be stranded all by themselves on the other side of the room, some are inexplicably wedged in the blinds. We have a lot of cards we’re playing with in these books and some of them fall like you’d expect and some end up on the other side of the room, we’re not discarding any possibilities.
Click here for the complete exclusive interview io9.
On a related note, I finally got around to seeing Prometheus (quite recently actually) and partly the reason why I am very curious to read this new reboot series. Not having read any of the previous ones, I wouldn’t worry about having to set the bar at all 🙂
With all this news of the Alien universe, I just can’t help but think of the 2003 short film Batman: Dead End & all the other crossovers that this will further inspire. Savage making an appearance in Prometheus? Ok that maybe stretched a little too far.
