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Aliens / Predator / Prometheus Universe
Aliens - Music of the Spears
Damon will shock the world with his newest composition, Symphony of Hate. Wrapped within its bizarre music can be found the most tortured of human sounds, combined with the razor-steel screams of a Homeworld alien. Yet the supreme cry continues to elude him.
97 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1994
1 person is currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Chet Williamson
188 books118 followersChet Williamson has written horror, science fiction, and suspense since 1981. Among his novels are Second Chance, Hunters, Defenders of the Faith, Ash Wednesday, Reign, Dreamthorp, and the forthcoming Psycho Sanitarium, an authorized sequel to Robert Bloch's classic Psycho. Over a hundred of his short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Playboy, Esquire, The Magazine of F&SF, and many other magazines and anthologies.
He has won the International Horror Guild Award, and has been shortlisted twice for the World Fantasy Award, six times for the HWA Stoker, and once for the MWA's Edgar. Nearly all of his works are available in ebook format.
A stage and film actor, he has recorded over 40 unabridged audiobooks, both of his own work and that of many other writers, available at www.audible.com. Follow him on Twitter (@chetwill) or at www.chetwilliamson.com.
He has won the International Horror Guild Award, and has been shortlisted twice for the World Fantasy Award, six times for the HWA Stoker, and once for the MWA's Edgar. Nearly all of his works are available in ebook format.
A stage and film actor, he has recorded over 40 unabridged audiobooks, both of his own work and that of many other writers, available at www.audible.com. Follow him on Twitter (@chetwill) or at www.chetwilliamson.com.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 11, 2024
One of my favorite story arcs in the Aliens comics. Sadly it is what I think people would act like faced with a new species. Very recommended
January 9, 2021
This started off so strong with ninjas fighting aliens. Then it dissolves into this weird 90's brand of horror where a composer wants to record the screams of an alien. The corporation he works for is cool with it and obtains an egg for him and then proceeds to keep bringing him people to feed to said alien. It's so dumb. It's not even scary, just boring as this composer rambles on, searching for the perfect crescendo of murderous sounds.
July 29, 2019
I avoided reading this book mainly because the art is quite bad. Turns out the writing isn't much better.
I actually quite like the premise of this story - an avant garde composer wants to compose a piece consisting of noises made by a xenomorph. It's an insane, off kilter idea, that seems an interesting angle to tell an Alien story.
But then the execution.. the composer's work is almost universally disliked, yet the corporation he works for decides it's a FABULOUS idea, why not use this secret lab and we'll throw more money at you than seems possible.
And so the weirdness keeps piling up. I always feel it's a mistake to have the aliens be a thing that the general populace knows about, as happens in this story. So you'll have a different corporation walking the streets with a muzzled xenomorph, using it as a sniffer dog. That's just.. nope.
The composer quickly turns into Yet Another Psycho - granted, his choice of project already indicates an unstable mind, but at least make him interesting!
There are plenty of better Alien stories, better skip this one.
I actually quite like the premise of this story - an avant garde composer wants to compose a piece consisting of noises made by a xenomorph. It's an insane, off kilter idea, that seems an interesting angle to tell an Alien story.
But then the execution.. the composer's work is almost universally disliked, yet the corporation he works for decides it's a FABULOUS idea, why not use this secret lab and we'll throw more money at you than seems possible.
And so the weirdness keeps piling up. I always feel it's a mistake to have the aliens be a thing that the general populace knows about, as happens in this story. So you'll have a different corporation walking the streets with a muzzled xenomorph, using it as a sniffer dog. That's just.. nope.
The composer quickly turns into Yet Another Psycho - granted, his choice of project already indicates an unstable mind, but at least make him interesting!
There are plenty of better Alien stories, better skip this one.
July 27, 2023
More in the 3.5 range
I remember when this comic first came out, I really enjoyed this story quite a bit, but re-reading this many years later and being an Aliens fan for most of my life, I guess I can see some of the flaws and how generally ridiculous the overall concept is. It's still not a bad story though and there are features of this that I really like a lot. One of the major differences for this story is that it really high lights the fact that Aliens is technically in a bit of a cyberpunk styled setting. It's got that high tech dystopia that's laid out in many of the concepts in William Gibson novels and Chet Williamson does a very good job of paying homage to that in the story design.
Williamson also brought back a few key elements that we haven't really seen in a while, namely the cults that worship the Alien creatures and the use of the Royal Jelly drug that was popular in earlier issues. Part of the reason I probably liked this so much was that it was a breath of fresh air after a string of mad scientist story arcs. Albeit, "Labyrinth" was excellent. Still, it was good to have something really different in the Aliens setting.
The first issue cover is extremely eye catching with ninjas on the cover and Aliens coming for them. It's a bit of a misleading cover as the ninjas don't play a massive role in this story, but I'll never forget seeing that cover for the first time and wanting to get this comic just to see where that whole concept leads! Instead this story is more focused on musicians and making music, hence the title "Music of the Spears". The tale centers on avantgarde composer Damon, and he wants an Alien in his next composition. He's not a popular musician really, but his record label still decides to help him in the acquisition of the Alien. This is where things take a bit of a cyberpunk narrative. The record label obviously doesn't have Aliens on hand, but the executives know a medical company that has eggs and they are in a major rivalry with that company... for reasons. Anyway, the record label decides to help this unpopular musician in their project, just to stick it to a corporate rival. Williamson and his team do an excellent job portraying how run down and poor the average city goer is compared with the lavish money the record label spends on making this project a reality.
So, Damon gets his Alien and given who the Aliens are, Damon needs to make some tough decisions, because he just gets an egg. That means he'll have to agree to sacrificing a human so that the Alien can be born. Obviously he agrees, or else the story wouldn't go anywhere, but it starts Damon down a path of Alien obsession which leads to serious drug abuse during the project. If you are squeamish of animals being killed, this comic won't be for you. It's very sad and I had completely forgotten they even did this in the comic. But to get the Alien to scream they start trying to figure out what things it should kill, so they start with animals. Eventually they figure out humans with non-lethal weapons are best, but that seems kind of obvious, so I don't know why they didn't just start there? I think it was just to make the whole scenario as disturbing as possible.
In the end, the medical company goes looking for it's missing inventory and this ends on a pretty predictable note. Ends kind of the same way most of the Aliens comics end. I did like this story in the sense that it fleshed out Earth society a bit more and it was interesting to see people living with the reality of the Alien and how generally irresponsible corporations are with the organism. I thought all of that world building was excellent and on par with how things would probably go down.
I remember when this comic first came out, I really enjoyed this story quite a bit, but re-reading this many years later and being an Aliens fan for most of my life, I guess I can see some of the flaws and how generally ridiculous the overall concept is. It's still not a bad story though and there are features of this that I really like a lot. One of the major differences for this story is that it really high lights the fact that Aliens is technically in a bit of a cyberpunk styled setting. It's got that high tech dystopia that's laid out in many of the concepts in William Gibson novels and Chet Williamson does a very good job of paying homage to that in the story design.
Williamson also brought back a few key elements that we haven't really seen in a while, namely the cults that worship the Alien creatures and the use of the Royal Jelly drug that was popular in earlier issues. Part of the reason I probably liked this so much was that it was a breath of fresh air after a string of mad scientist story arcs. Albeit, "Labyrinth" was excellent. Still, it was good to have something really different in the Aliens setting.
The first issue cover is extremely eye catching with ninjas on the cover and Aliens coming for them. It's a bit of a misleading cover as the ninjas don't play a massive role in this story, but I'll never forget seeing that cover for the first time and wanting to get this comic just to see where that whole concept leads! Instead this story is more focused on musicians and making music, hence the title "Music of the Spears". The tale centers on avantgarde composer Damon, and he wants an Alien in his next composition. He's not a popular musician really, but his record label still decides to help him in the acquisition of the Alien. This is where things take a bit of a cyberpunk narrative. The record label obviously doesn't have Aliens on hand, but the executives know a medical company that has eggs and they are in a major rivalry with that company... for reasons. Anyway, the record label decides to help this unpopular musician in their project, just to stick it to a corporate rival. Williamson and his team do an excellent job portraying how run down and poor the average city goer is compared with the lavish money the record label spends on making this project a reality.
So, Damon gets his Alien and given who the Aliens are, Damon needs to make some tough decisions, because he just gets an egg. That means he'll have to agree to sacrificing a human so that the Alien can be born. Obviously he agrees, or else the story wouldn't go anywhere, but it starts Damon down a path of Alien obsession which leads to serious drug abuse during the project. If you are squeamish of animals being killed, this comic won't be for you. It's very sad and I had completely forgotten they even did this in the comic. But to get the Alien to scream they start trying to figure out what things it should kill, so they start with animals. Eventually they figure out humans with non-lethal weapons are best, but that seems kind of obvious, so I don't know why they didn't just start there? I think it was just to make the whole scenario as disturbing as possible.
In the end, the medical company goes looking for it's missing inventory and this ends on a pretty predictable note. Ends kind of the same way most of the Aliens comics end. I did like this story in the sense that it fleshed out Earth society a bit more and it was interesting to see people living with the reality of the Alien and how generally irresponsible corporations are with the organism. I thought all of that world building was excellent and on par with how things would probably go down.
February 21, 2022
I have a love/hate relationship with this one. Insane guy wanting to create music from the kills of a alien? Just insane enough to get me excited. Ninjas fighting aliens? Uh yes! But the way things come together, rushed pace, and ending leave a lot to be desired.
June 8, 2025
You know, I certainly didn't have "xenomorph attacking a rock concert" on my bingo card, but I will take it anyway, as it looks so fucking cool. Kinda stupid though that all the people at this rock concert think that this xenomorph is all part of the show except for the guy that actually worked with the creature. Like, come on, you're telling me there isn't one guy there who isn't stupid? Give me a break. Either way though, the story is over, so what have we learned today? Well, we have learned that no price is too big to get what you desire most, so don't be afraid to throw anyone and anything under the bus to get it. Sure, your friends may die, but you now finally have that Nintendo Switch 2 all to yourself!
Issue #4
Issue #4
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2018
As far as I can remember, there is a novel of this story. I don't know if the novel was before or after this limited serie, but I'm sure it's better to read it than to read this comic.
The artwork is horrible. I can't understand how Dark Horse can allow things like this.
And I've read a lot of Aliens stories.
The writer tries to be play with the concept of the androids and the jalea. He has not bad ideas about it, but the story itself is absurd.
The artwork is horrible. I can't understand how Dark Horse can allow things like this.
And I've read a lot of Aliens stories.
The writer tries to be play with the concept of the androids and the jalea. He has not bad ideas about it, but the story itself is absurd.
December 1, 2019
Cool premise, I liked the art and the story.
September 1, 2025
This is the kind of unhinged “what if” I’ve been hoping to get by reading these Alien mini-series. Composer does too much cocaine (Xeno royal jelly) and tries to sample a Xenomorph.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews