Alien Legion: Footsloggers and Piecemaker

I have to admit that I am not a fan of science fiction that involves aliens. Perhaps it is years of old-school science fiction where the aliens were the invaders. Even Star Trek, which broke a lot of sci-fi/mainstream barriers by having an alien be a good guy, always showed us aliens that were always really weird. However, since they knew nothing about special effects, the aliens were always people in makeup and funny outfits.

Like Star Trek, aliens in most science-fiction are usually too human. Most alien races can be generalized by human adjectives, and have little diversity among their own culture. There were some shows like Farscape which introduced us to aliens that did not look human, and had a very odd and diverse culture. The only problem with Farscape was it was far too weird at times, and often didn't care about the alien customs. Perhaps it is just me, but giving too much detail to alien races can, for lack of a better word, alienate some readers.

Therefore, I was a little skeptical about reading a comic book whose title was Alien Legion. I was grateful to check out two graphic novel collections from Checker Book Publishing: Piecemaker and Footsloggers. I will have to say that Alien Legion, a comic created in the mid-eighties, was ahead of its time. Alien Legion focused on a group of aliens who were the military force of the Tophan Galactic Union. The TGU is like the Federation of Star Trek, but it is not as established. The TGU holds a fragile peace in this hostile galaxy, and at times the TGU feels like both the Rebels and the Empire in Star Wars.

The Alien Legion is often brought in to defuse dangerous situations, but their simple missions tend to become all-out conflicts. Their adventures follow the format of Star Trek, as the characters encounter a new alien culture every time, but these adventures always have a darker slant.