When James Cameron's Aliens was released in 1986, it was a sequel nobody knew that its better than the first. It was different, it was action-oriented and science-fiction has become a whole other level of entertainment. Fans wanted more and before 20th Century Fox release Alien 3 in 1992, there was the comics. At the height of it all, the 1980s and the 1990s comics has found a new kind of voice and with this new voice, they found a different kind of audience. So when Dark Horse Comics acquire the rights to release the sequel to Aliens in comic format, fans were thrilled and the released of Aliens issue 1 of 6 in July 1st, 1988, it became an instant bestseller! The rest, is history.

 

I have been waiting for a collection that I wanted to get my hands on as I am an Aliens fan (shamefully, not the biggest) and I love most of what Aliens are. The comic books, on the other hand, another matter. After I missed out my chance to collect the omnibus editions (which I had heard the binding was bad), the re-released of Aliens for this edition was something I look forward to. Aliens: The Essential Comics Vol.1 collects the first three books (Outbreak, Nightmare Asylum & Earth War) that became the trilogy of the sequel that follows up from Aliens. Sadly, I was disappointed by its execution. The story is mediocre. It wasn't any thing mind-blowing nor explore much of the universe that started from Ripley Scotts vision based on a story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett. It was... boring. The first, which was Outbreak, had more words that can drive any comic book readers to become in a confuse state manner. There are too many things going around - a cult form over the alien sentient, a military corporation wanting the xenomorphs as a weapon, Newt (all grown up) felt abandoned and betrayed and lost and declared insane, Hicks, fueled with hatred against the aliens that killed his friends and a whole other supporting characters, which later made a mess of the whole arch. Then, the philosophy involvement of what truly happen that relates to the first movie, became a downfall to the first book.

 

The sequel, which was called then Book II (Nightmare Asylum) is no different. The approach is a little less whining but the content is no different with the exception of the return of Ripley. Remember, this was still before Alien 3. Then came the final arch story with Earth War, and every thing else, falls apart. It wasn't a good closure but it was a closure that marks Mark Verheiden ending his trilogy. Art wise, only Denis Beauvais is worth mentioning here. I didn't like Mark A. Nelson and Sam Keith art work at all.

 

The Essential Comics Volume 1 edition collects the first three books. The binding of the book is firm but its also easily creates a line at the bind. Paper quality wise is smooth. Its a book that's has its quality to savor for. Overall, I do like the cover and the universe of Aliens, even though the writing is terrible. This is truly a comic book trade paperback dedicated to fans who want more of Aliens.

... but I should have. Instead I have watched the movie Life. If you don´t know that movie, it´s the one were Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhall and others are acting like complete morons, even though they are supposed to be scientist. These idiots picked up an ancient life form from Mars, whose main objective is to kill them all (and to get to earth). Due to the stupidity of the astronauts / scientist and the survival instict of the alien, all hell breaks loose on the ISS.

Honestly, I cheered for the alien, which is so wrong because it was so boring and non-threatening. The people in this movie were just so dumb, I was on the verge of throwing stuff at my tv and don´t get me started on the ending. I hated the ending.

 

Coming back to the one and only Alien, the real deal, threatening in all it´s glory. I´m reading the graphic novel for the halloween bingo. The story takes place after the event of the James Cameron movie Aliens, Newt and Hicks have survived and are forced to go after the Alien again. I´m about halfway through and I´m enjoying the story and the artwork with its drawings in black and white.

 

   

I read this book for work and now I'm trying to find out how to tell my husband that I want a wastewater system that is also a garden in our yard....

 

The Wastewater Gardener is Mark Nelson's journey into the world of sewage treatment or shit management, whichever floats your boat.  As part of the Biosphere 2 team, he helped to develop a water treatment and recycling system using plants that are normally part of a wetland.  Wetlands are already efficient treatment systems that are capable of filtering out everything up to heavy metals.  Some plants from the wastewater garden can even be harvested for food.  Using and building upon this idea, Mark has brought wastewater garden systems to areas throughout the world.

A highly important ecological issue that no one wants to talk about is human waste management, but it is increasingly important today since it directly ties into water quality and water usage as well as habitat destruction and food availability.  Using down to earth methods and humor, The Wastewater Gardener offers a much better solution to our human waste issues.  I was really interested in Mark's time spent in the Biosphere as well as his practical applications of the wastewater garden and the plants he used within them.  I live in a cooler climate and most of the examples were in warmer climates; however there were examples of wastewater gardens placed in Poland and France that would be more similar to my climate.  Hopefully we will use Mark's insights to be more mindful of our human waste issue.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

So every time I feel like I am making progress with my TBR pile, more books show up in the mail.  This week two of the books are for work, so it's not that bad...

 

Help for the Haunted by John Searles: a thriller about a family who helps haunted souls find peace.

 

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell: I haven't seen the movie yet, after I read this I'll see if I want to.

 

The Wastewater Gardener: Preserving the Planet one Flush at a Time by Mark Nelson: This is for work, and yes it is about gardening with your toilet water.

 

Woodland Litter Critters ABS by Patience and Robert Mason: Also for work, an ABC book with nature made critters.  Perfect for anyone with kids learning the alphabet, I've already read and reviewed on my blog:

Now don't get me wrong I did enjoy this book, it's brutal in its delivery and the evil prevalent through the eyes of two characters is stomach churning and not for the faint hearted but necessary as the author draws a picture of innocence and evil....evil that comes calling one day into the lives of Hank Small, his wife Bev and two lovely kids...not forgetting the dog Wylie..ah the good old American homestead :) Hanks nephew Bill (who himself has some serious sexual/psycho problems!) calls on good old uncle Hank to help him out of a spot of bother..namely two very unsavoury characters Fatboy and Snake are trying to kill him. FB and Snake are the lowest forms of evil and depravity and the scenes depicting them are brutal and at times difficult to read but they are there to show the reader that real evil exists and someday it may come calling on you...as it did on Hank and his family. The story follows a predictable line with Hank and his family barely surviving a sadistic attack by FB and Snake...and up to that point I was enjoying this page turner of a story..but then..in true John Wayne fashion Hank and his mates get all tooled up, saddle up...and go lookin for those baddies!! Baddies are blown away..Hank saves the day...end of story...good but no cigar :(