Hello there, Alien fans.
I’ve played my cards very close to the vest regarding this story. With the release of the first issue approaching fast, I thought maybe it’s time to let you in on what has been happening behind the scenes.
The universe of the original film has always fascinated me. When I was 5, I remember asking endlessly about the world and the plot of the film. Unfortunately for everyone around me, I was asking during the movie. I still love the film, and there’s still so much mystery to it. Alien Isolation and the following content reignited a mass interest in the first film, showing ultimately there’s still much to explore. Fascination never left me, and I couldn’t be happier to see the masses coming around to it again.
The characters and setting alluded to an entire future which remains unexplored. I wanted to work with those characters in that world and go exploring. The thing is, there didn’t seem to be much to tell about them without inventing some misadventure story (which I may well still do) that didn’t include Ash or the evil corprate struggle to obtain the Alien. But the kernel for what would become ASH: A Fan Fiction Comic came to me right away:
”They replaced our science officer 2 days before we shipped out with Ash.’
I hunted online. I looked high and low. Nobody had told the story of how Ash arrived on the Nostromo. Probably because it is self explanatory: the company planted a sleeper agent onboard the Nostromo when a signal was triangulated and sent them out to explore it. Simple story, right?
I let my imagination run wild, and an entire narrative unfolded. It addressed questions like who was the original science officer and what happened to them, what is Ash’s history, why was there only one lifeboat on Nostromo, what is Dallas and Ripley’s history (No. Don’t worry. Dallas is not Amanda’s Father), what was Thedus like, how did the company know about LV-426, and what exactly is the bonus situation?
I can already hear some fans saying that some of these questions have soft answers that conanically align with the films, albeit in varying degrees. To those folks I’ll just say your homework will not go entirely unrewarded. But I want to assure everyone there’s much more to this story than just the whimsical plugging in of loose cabling from the film into my own story to simply answer questions. While perhaps compelling, that’s not what makes a story worth telling. ASH aims to be less what The Thing 2011 was to The Thing 1982, and more what Rogue One was to A New Hope. It is it’s own story and has its own statements to make. And let me also promise you: It is a ride. 
Most important, aside from spinning a tale worth telling, is faithfully realizing the world Ridley Scott and company invented 40 years ago, and the characters within it. I’m working to the absolute best of my abilities to bring us all back to that world - further than ever before - and hang with the Nostromo crew again.
That is not to say ASH isn’t ripe with Easter eggs of every sort, from the subtle and barely noticeable to deploying unused designs and even sequences famously cut from the film. If you’re a mild mannered fan, you’ll be tickled by this story’s prequelescence, but if you’re a super fan there’s waaaay more to enjoy. I know a number of you have been waiting patiently for this comic, and perhaps wisely bridling your expectations, so I don’t intend to fluff up this project unnecessarily. I’ll just say you’re in for many more miles of bad road...
Speaking of roads leading places, let’s get back to where we are right now. I’m tailoring the script and have recently massaged a few major things into (and out of) the narrative and all is looking particularly well. I’m finally returning to the Illustration stage and not looking back. There is some seriously juicy promotional content coming that I suspect will ramp up a wee bit of excitement, so watch this space...
Until then, cheers ~
Mike Scudieri, writer/illustrator for Ash: A Fan Fiction Comic
