Alien: Comparison to Manhunter 'Stone of Vengeance" by Jack Kirby

 Alien : Jewel associations  

and 

Jack Kirby

 

 

 

 

 

a) Page one of the story. 

a.i) Manhunter 'Stone of Vengeance" by Jack Kirby

Originally printed in Adventure comics #77 (1938))

Later reprinted in The New Gods #8 p37 (1971) 

This page becomes the idea of a temple where the obsession starts and also an inspiration for the famous Alien poster 

See: Alien: Mystery of the poster in relation to Jack Kirby's Manhunter "The Stone of Vengeance"

 

 

 

 

 

 

a.ii) The Ridleygram of the Space Jockey seen from behind looks to me as if it's partly draws from Kirby's illustraton of the lower half of the form of the idol with the gemstone becoming the square space in the bac of the seat

 

 

 

b) Page two. 

 

The killer obsession starts to get out of control when the man with the green turban kills everyone, gets hold of the jewel and takes it to America on a boat. He becomes the Broussard /Kane figure.

 

 

 

 

 

c) Page three

 

c.i) As the man with the green turban hands over the jewel to dealers, they shoot him. Here is falling off the boat and this might as well be in a chestbursting pose at the top of the page. It is the Rajah character who wants the jewel who in this story becomes our Alien beast

 

 

 

 

 

c.ii) Man shot falling off the side of the road

 

 

 

 

c.iii) Ridleygram of Kane killed form chestbursting looking somewhat similar to the victim above
 

 

 

 

d) Page four. 

 

The shoe shine boy gets caught up in the trail of death when the jewel is accidently dropped in his shoe shine box.

 

 

 

e) Page five. 

 

The superhero Manhunter also gets caught up in this trail of death

 

 

f) Page six. 

 

Here the boy encounters Rajah and is knocked out. In the way that the alien beast takes its victims to its nest for cocooning, Rajah takes the boy to his hideout.

 

 

g) Page seven. 

Rajah also knocks Manhunter out and takes him away to the hideout. 

This becomes the idea of the alien beast taking a victim to its nest

 

 

 

 

 

g.i)  The character Rajah abducting the shoeshine boy and hitting Manhunter in the face

 

 

 

 

g.ii) Ridleygram of the character Brett being killed and taken by the Alien beast in the claw room looking similar to Kirby's illustration of Rajah abducting the shoeshine boy

 

 

 

 

g.iii) Alien beast running down the Nostromo corridor looking similar to Kirby's illustration of Rajah abducting the shoeshine boy

 

 

h) Page eight. 

 

The two prisoners are trying to escape as the hideout burns away but they escape.. 

 

This would become perhaps the scene where the Robey/Ripley character set fire to the cocooned victims putting the living one out of his misery

 

 

 

i) Page nine. 

 

The end fight. 

 

So here again, the alien beast would become a reflection of the extremes of humanity's greed and obsession over jewels.