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Aliens: Theory of Alien Propagation (originally titled simply "Aliens") is an eight-page illustrated story published by Dark Horse Comics in the anthology Dark Horse Presents #24, November 1988. The story, which is written in the form of an in-universe article by Aliens: Book One character Waidslaw Orona with accompanying imagery of alien life and development, was actually created by the Aliens: Book One creative team of writer Mark Verheiden and artist Mark A. Nelson. The issue also featured an Aliens cover by Nelson and was edited by Randy Stradley.
Plot[]
Official description of original issue:
Writer Mark Verheiden and artist Mark A. Nelson present an all-new "side bar" story to Dark Horse's ongoing Aliens miniseries as they take us inside the mind of an Alien Queen!
Behind the Scenes[]
"Theory of Alien Propagation" was first collected alongside a number of other DHP Aliens stories published up until that point in the special single-issue release Dark Horse Presents: Aliens Platinum Edition in April 1992. Here, the story was colored by Chris Chalenor and the issue featured a new cover by Simon Bisley. The colored version of the story was again collected alongside Aliens: Book One and other Aliens comics in Aliens Omnibus: Volume 1, published in July 2007.
In the Aliens comics line, Theory of Alien Propagation was published in the midst of the the release of Aliens: Book One (July 1988-July 1989) and was followed by Aliens: Book Two (June-Oct. 1990).
Trivia[]
- Theory of Alien Propagation is recreated in the form of a presentation described in the novel Aliens: Earth Hive, an adaptation of the first Aliens comic book series (in which Orona is a major character).
- The comic is one of the few Aliens stories to depict another sentient Alien species in the form of a lizard-like space travelling race shown using energy weapons and being infested by Aliens. The others being the Space Jockeys of the film Alien, shown in various stories, the alien pilot shown in Aliens: Earth Angel, the Reapers from Aliens: Reapers, the hunting race from Aliens: Alien.
- The fictitious "Theory of Alien Propagation" by Waidslaw Orona is one of a number of in-universe books or articles that have been mentioned in various Aliens media, including "The Evolution of Television" by Emmet Webster (from Aliens: Book One), Cyberantics by Stanislaw Mayakovsky (from Aliens: Hive) and Space Beast by Robert Morse (from Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report).