raul grau
Mar 21, 2006, 03:00 am
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/comixfanpresents.gif" align=left border=0 hspace=10 alt="Comixfan Presents logo">The Top Ten Alien Races
By: Nick Costanzo, Raul Grau, Jon Hancock, Jordan T. Maxwell, Gary Miller
Editors: Raul Grau, Jordan T. Maxwell
For more than a century, alien life forms have been a regular ingredient in our literary diet, and nowhere is that more apparent than the weekly doses of sequential fiction that comic book fans ingest. Of course, Comixfan has already examined The Top 10 Extraterrestrials (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=36789) in all their otherworldly glory, but behind every noteworthy alien are a few billion relatives who happen to share the same basic appearance. Of course, alien races in the funny papers were not always the stars of the show… the Jovian metal men and the Stone Men of Saturn gave no indication of the empire building to come.
From Daxamites to Dakkamites, from Saturnians to Saurians, and even from green shapeshifting aliens to red shapeshifting aliens, there are more races in the cosmos than there are stars that have been Sun-Eaten… but if every pair of neighboring worlds with a petty squabble feel worthy of a multi-part War, how can you determine which alien races are truly the best? The staff of Comixfan were willing to rocket through decades of extraterrestrial entities, just to crash land with their selections for the top spots. Here are the ten races who never managed to force all beings under their sway, but force readers to follow their every adventure.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/Uatutn.jpg" align=left hspace=10 alt="Uatu"></a>#10 Watchers
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #13 (Marvel)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Intergalactic Voyeurs. The Watchers are an ancient race whose very existence has become intertwined with the act of... well, watching. Individual Watchers are assigned individual worlds to observe (individually, of course), tasked with learning all there is to know about the inhabitants they spy upon, but with the stipulation that they may never interfere. Imagine spending your nearly immortal lifespan staring across the emptiness of space at an infant race, recording their every triumph and tragedy, yet morally bound to never be a good neighbor and introduce yourself, or even politely ask them to not destroy themselves. Humanity is obsessed with interfering, with sharing our point of view with anyone who will listen, but the Watchers are a race obsessed with the purity of knowledge, a universe proceeding at its own pace, uncorrupted by their direct actions. Bald heads and oversized eyes aside, the Watchers could not be more alien.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/guardiansoftheuniverse.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Oans">#9 Oans
First Appearance: Green Lantern v.2 #1 (DC)
Created by: Gil Kane and John Broome
When you consider aliens in modern culture, they're usually green or reptilian, and almost always have some sort of deadly intention. Rarely was there a pulp novel or B-movie about an alien race that tried to look after everything. And yet, that's precisely what the Oans set out to do. Based on the planet Oa in the centre of the known universe (most of the time), these blue-skinned, red-robed midgets (What? I forgot to mention the midget factor? Now you see another reason for their addition) took upon themselves the responsibility of protecting every single being in the universe. A tall task some would say. But these little guys not only had giant ambitions and huge egos, they also had a penchant for green jewelry. Forming the Green Lantern Corps and proving longer lasting than any other intergalactic police force, the Oans' contribution to comics can be seen in the continued popularity of Green Lantern. The Oans aren't warriors, yet they're consistently arrogant and grandiose. But, most importantly, they're the most altruistic aliens that the comics world will probably ever see… and they're midgets.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/LadyZannah.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Zealot">#8 Kherubim
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.S #1 (Image)
Created by: Jim Lee and Brandon Choi
For centuries and across galaxies, the Kherubim were defined by their ongoing war with the sinister Daemonites. It was a rather simple conflict. No real clashing ideologies or interests. The Kherubim were good and noble, while the Daemonites were evil and menacing. That's pretty much it, a primal struggle between good and evil that has gone on for so long that no one could accurately tell you what either side was really fighting for anymore. Just "they're evil and we're good and that's all the justification we need." Which given the current global landscape is rather prescient for a ‘90s comic book. So naturally when members of both races crash landed here on Earth millennia ago, they carried on their battles...influencing the history and mythology of mankind...because that's all they knew how to do. To this end, Lord Emp formed a team mostly consisting of human/Kherubim hybrids to combat the Daemonite menace. On one mission, they were sent "home" to Khera itself, only to find that the war had long since ended. Their reason for being had been negated before the team itself had even been formed. And the simplistic dynamic that they had been led to believe was disproven as well, as the Kherubim proved far less angelic than their pseudo-namesakes. The culture the CATS had been fighting alongside was one of conquest, corruption, enslavement, and disenfranchisement. So what do you fight for when your ideals have been crushed? When your cause has vanished? The Kherubim journey from escapist simplicity into deeper ambiguity is one that lends great depth to an otherwise standard superhero convention, and one that reflects on our own world more and more each day.
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<img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/headshots/dc/martianmanhunter.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="J'onn J'onzz">#7 Martians
First Appearance: Detective Comics #225 (DC)
Created by: Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa
What it means, exactly, to be a Martian these days is a tricky question. If you are anything like the JLA’s beloved J’onn J’onzz (a.k.a. the Martian Manhunter), then you were a green, peace-loving, artist type, who was probably wiped out by a plague a couple millennia ago. Unless, of course, you are like a member of the Hyperclan, in which case you’re a White Martian who is ALMOST as tough as the Martian Manhunter, your race isn’t dead, and you’d absolutely love to take over Earth. Then again, if you were an ancient Martian, then you’re a flaming mass of destruction who reproduces asexually and wants to kill everything that moves. Regardless, you represent a frighteningly powerful species, with full control over your atomic structure, cosmic-level telepathy, Superman-level strength and heat vision, and the ability to laugh in the face of matter conservation as you alter your body’s density. In a way, it’s a good thing that most of the species died before humanity was out of the Stone Age. After all, with Martians around, who needs the Justice League…or humanity, for that matter? Still, though the race has a confusing history at best, it has also produced the most loyal and steadfast member that the Justice League has ever known. For that reason alone, they deserve a place on this list.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/wildcats_covert_action_23.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Voodoo">#6 Daemonites
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.S #1 (Image)
Created by: Jim Lee and Brandon Choi
Take two parts Alien, sprinkle liberally with John Carpenter's Thing, add just a dash of Doctor Doom, and you have the G'aold of Stargate fame... erase the Egyptian motif, and you have the Daemonites. A race of shape-shifting, body-snatching lizard people, with technology far beyond humanity and a penchant for galactic domination, the Daemonites were the perfect foil for the equally one-dimensional WildC.A.T.s... battling pure, unrepentant evil makes the heroes seem all the more heroic, and killing is not murder as long as the victims are not human, so the C.A.T.s land on their feet morally as well. The status quo kept quoing, and the two sides kept clashing, until the C.A.T.s took a day trip to Khera, seat of the Kherubim empire and internment camp for the scions of Daemon. The Daemonites had long since lost their war, and were left a beaten, disgraced people, relegated to squalor, existing only under the boot heel of their ancient enemies. It seems that evil is only in the eye of the beholder, and you can feel sympathy for the devil... which sadly makes it much less fun to watch them get squished.
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<img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/headshots/brood.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Brood">#5 Brood
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #155 (Marvel)
Created by: Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum
A few short years after nobody could hear Sigourney Weaver scream in space (not to mention John Hurt's really bad case of indigestion), we were introduced to a rather similar extraterrestrial race in the pages of Uncanny X-Men. The Brood were the best kind of space villain. Totally parasitic, malevolent to the core with no redeeming features, utterly inhuman and cruel, and completely lacking in individual personality. Which, of course, means that it's totally okay to kill them. And yet, some of the X-Men still found a moral quagmire in having to take them out (except for Wolverine, but that's because he's the best there is at...something, I forget what exactly), even though these sleazoids had already tried to kill them, assisted in an intergalactic coup, killed countless worlds, enslaved a race of gentle space whales (I guess they'd never seen Star Trek IV), and impregnated the entire team with their hatchlings. Therein lies the greatest appeal of the Brood. Much like the original Alien movie, the danger they present is not of an oncoming invasion, but a psychological menace. Only instead of hiding in air ducts or popping out of your chest, they grow inside of you. They take you over. They BECOME you. Watching the X-Men (or other mutants, evangelicals, Ghost Rider, etc.) cope with the evil growing within, the notion of (and in some cases, desire for) their own demise made for incredibly compelling storytelling. And then watching them overcome that and kick some alien butt was equally gratifying. If you'll pardon the pun, it really is the best of both worlds.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/supermantn.jpg" hspace=10 align=left hspace=10 alt="Superman">#4 Kryptonians
First Appearance: Action Comics #1 (DC)
Created by: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Reimagined by: John Byrne
Every time Superman makes a list, I struggle to explain why. Well, this time it's not Superman. Krypton and its populace were thriving, up until about a year before Superman's birth. The culture that gave Earth its greatest and most iconic hero were emotionless scientists who procreated through cloning. Distrustful of anything different, their arrogance led to their destruction. The Kryptonians are also guilty of killing their finest son. Doomsday, the ultimate killing machine, would come from this race, devoid of morals or emotion. Kryptonian society is like an abusive upbringing. The ones that fly the nest rebel and become great heroes. Even the dogs (and horses). Kryptonians are the most well known of comic book races, and, short of Star Wars and Star Trek, most other forms of fiction as well. They parallel the cold logic of the Vulcans, and yet the members who achieve fame do nothing to reflect their race's history and culture. Kryptonians may be famous, but they're certainly not easy to understand.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/ANNSKRL001004.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Super Skrull">#3 Skrulls
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #2 (Marvel)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
The very first extraterrestrials in the Marvel Age of Comics, the Skrulls owe their roots to John W. Campbell Jr.'s 1938 short story Who Goes There? and Robert Heinlein's oft-copied 1951 novel about alien invaders, The Puppet Masters. Having created the Blue Area of the Moon in their early spacefaring careers, the Skrulls staged games between the alien Cotati and the Kree which ultimately backfired, the latter stealing their technology, and beginning millennia of war. Many Skrulls have made their way to Earth in recent years, first encountering the Fantastic Four, which led to the creation of Kl'rt, the "Super-Skrull" who possesses the powers of all four members. They've been members of the Squadron Supreme, and posed as Alicia Masters and Wolverine. Stranger still, Reed Richards once hypnotized some Skrulls into shapeshifting into ordinary cows, which then produced milk, and people drank it, and....egad, I can't go on! The Skrull race is not totally malevolent--Skrull General Zedrao awarded the Kree Captain Mar-Vell with the Royal Skrull Medal of Valor in the hour of his death. And lest ye forget, the Skrulls are known in the Ultimate universe as the Chitauri, and in Marvel classic lore, they're also the race that spawned Rom's enemies, the deadly Dire Wraiths! If nothing else, forty-plus years in comics proves that you can take their shapeshifting powers away, but you can't keep the Skrulls down for long.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/cm3.jpg" align=left hspace=10 alt="Captain Marvel">#2 Kree
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #65 (Marvel)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
For an evolutionary dead-end, the militaristic humanoid race known as the Kree (available in both pink and blue-skinned varieties!) sure shows a lot of staying power. These aliens have had a formidable presence throughout history. Since stealing technology from the then-peaceful Skrulls several millennia ago, and unwittingly turning them into the treacherous people they've become, the Kree have done quite a bit with that tech. They built a city on Earth's Moon, and created the subspecies known as the Inhumans, who themselves have become Marvel mainstays. Their wars with the shapeshifting Skrulls and the Shi'ar are the stuff of comic legend. Let's remember too that one of their own soldiers, Mar-Vell, went renegade while on a mission to Earth, becoming perhaps one of the greatest cosmic superheroes ever, and spawning his own legacy. And don't forget the villainous types, who are perhaps more notable than the good guy(s): the Supreme Intelligence, the Kree's foremost military minds in one form, has had his share of schemes foiled by the mighty Avengers, and his chief enforcer, Ronan the Accuser, has proven more than the equal of Earth's heroes. A few years ago, the Supreme Intelligence used the Forever Crystal to bring some Kree out of their evolutionary dead-end, spawning the more hideous Ruul. The legacies of the Kree are so varied--Ms. Marvel, the Priests of Pama, Ultra-Girl, Marvel Boy, even the Young Avenger, Hulkling--and their military exploits so renowned/feared throughout the Marvel Universe, that it should come as no surprise that they are among the most popular alien races.
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<img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/headshots/lilandra.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Lilandra">#1 Shi'ar
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #97 (Marvel)
Created by: Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum
Where space opera meets soap opera, we have… the Shi'ar. An avian race who ruled an empire spanning galaxies, their introduction was through their royal family, the Neramanis. Imagine the worst possible sibling rivalry in history, set it against the backdrop of the entire cosmos, and you start to get an idea of the issues this family has. D’Ken’s doomed quest for power, Deathbird’s Byzantine conspiracies and coups, Lilandra’s alternating role as regent and rebel, off set with the occasional bout of gladiatorial combat or minor act of genocide. And, of course, there’s a love story. Lilandra and Xavier, bound together as kindred spirits, separated by oceans of space. So, as you might expect, it ends with his evil twin sister possessing his body, and psychically forcing the entire Empire into fiery death and destruction. Kind of gives a whole new meaning to “star-cross’d love.” Heck, with all the treachery, usurpation, rebellion, war, slavery, and eventual decay and ruin, it's like watching the blooper reel for the Roman Empire, with the Legion of Superheroes playing the Centurions. Yet that remains one of the most fascinating things about this particular race. Where most alien races come across as great warriors or scientists, the Shi'ar are politicians, more accustomed to maneuvering and manipulation than anything else. There may not be any smoke-filled rooms aboard their star cruisers, but the machinations, pomp, and power plays are as entertaining as the interpersonal relationships. They were also pivotal in moving the X-Men into a new era of popularity, pushing them further into the realm of science fiction, so that we could ignore all that pesky social commentary, and just enjoy what we all came for: space ships, alien princesses, and big ass explosions.
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So there you have the Top 10 Alien Races, those gatherings of extraterrestrial beings with otherworldly appeal, and out-of-this-world exploits that left readers wishing upon a star for more. Every alien is part of a race… even Last Sons and Daughters… but not every race moves beyond their uniform look to become something unique. Of course, the denizens of the cosmic are just the first stop on our Cosmic tour, so stay tuned to Comixfan throughout the month of March to continue your intergalactic journey, and keep your eyes peeled for our other Cosmic offerings (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=38059).
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Brood, Kherubim, Shi'ar: Jordan T. Maxwell
Daemonites, Watchers: Raul Grau
Kryptonians, Oans: Jon Hancock
Kree, Skrulls: Gary Miller
Martians: Nick Costanzo
Contributors: Will Carper, Tom Connolley, Anthony Devlin, Robert Gill, James Groves, Patrick James, Stephanie Kay, Wil Kitchenmaster, Alan Lynch, Magic Rabbit, Janne Pietikainen, Omar A. Safi, Tom Toner
Image Assistance: Zachary J. Morrison, Greg Reeves
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writers involved, and are not reflective of Comixfan or its other staff in general.
By: Nick Costanzo, Raul Grau, Jon Hancock, Jordan T. Maxwell, Gary Miller
Editors: Raul Grau, Jordan T. Maxwell
For more than a century, alien life forms have been a regular ingredient in our literary diet, and nowhere is that more apparent than the weekly doses of sequential fiction that comic book fans ingest. Of course, Comixfan has already examined The Top 10 Extraterrestrials (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=36789) in all their otherworldly glory, but behind every noteworthy alien are a few billion relatives who happen to share the same basic appearance. Of course, alien races in the funny papers were not always the stars of the show… the Jovian metal men and the Stone Men of Saturn gave no indication of the empire building to come.
From Daxamites to Dakkamites, from Saturnians to Saurians, and even from green shapeshifting aliens to red shapeshifting aliens, there are more races in the cosmos than there are stars that have been Sun-Eaten… but if every pair of neighboring worlds with a petty squabble feel worthy of a multi-part War, how can you determine which alien races are truly the best? The staff of Comixfan were willing to rocket through decades of extraterrestrial entities, just to crash land with their selections for the top spots. Here are the ten races who never managed to force all beings under their sway, but force readers to follow their every adventure.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/Uatutn.jpg" align=left hspace=10 alt="Uatu"></a>#10 Watchers
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #13 (Marvel)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Intergalactic Voyeurs. The Watchers are an ancient race whose very existence has become intertwined with the act of... well, watching. Individual Watchers are assigned individual worlds to observe (individually, of course), tasked with learning all there is to know about the inhabitants they spy upon, but with the stipulation that they may never interfere. Imagine spending your nearly immortal lifespan staring across the emptiness of space at an infant race, recording their every triumph and tragedy, yet morally bound to never be a good neighbor and introduce yourself, or even politely ask them to not destroy themselves. Humanity is obsessed with interfering, with sharing our point of view with anyone who will listen, but the Watchers are a race obsessed with the purity of knowledge, a universe proceeding at its own pace, uncorrupted by their direct actions. Bald heads and oversized eyes aside, the Watchers could not be more alien.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/guardiansoftheuniverse.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Oans">#9 Oans
First Appearance: Green Lantern v.2 #1 (DC)
Created by: Gil Kane and John Broome
When you consider aliens in modern culture, they're usually green or reptilian, and almost always have some sort of deadly intention. Rarely was there a pulp novel or B-movie about an alien race that tried to look after everything. And yet, that's precisely what the Oans set out to do. Based on the planet Oa in the centre of the known universe (most of the time), these blue-skinned, red-robed midgets (What? I forgot to mention the midget factor? Now you see another reason for their addition) took upon themselves the responsibility of protecting every single being in the universe. A tall task some would say. But these little guys not only had giant ambitions and huge egos, they also had a penchant for green jewelry. Forming the Green Lantern Corps and proving longer lasting than any other intergalactic police force, the Oans' contribution to comics can be seen in the continued popularity of Green Lantern. The Oans aren't warriors, yet they're consistently arrogant and grandiose. But, most importantly, they're the most altruistic aliens that the comics world will probably ever see… and they're midgets.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/LadyZannah.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Zealot">#8 Kherubim
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.S #1 (Image)
Created by: Jim Lee and Brandon Choi
For centuries and across galaxies, the Kherubim were defined by their ongoing war with the sinister Daemonites. It was a rather simple conflict. No real clashing ideologies or interests. The Kherubim were good and noble, while the Daemonites were evil and menacing. That's pretty much it, a primal struggle between good and evil that has gone on for so long that no one could accurately tell you what either side was really fighting for anymore. Just "they're evil and we're good and that's all the justification we need." Which given the current global landscape is rather prescient for a ‘90s comic book. So naturally when members of both races crash landed here on Earth millennia ago, they carried on their battles...influencing the history and mythology of mankind...because that's all they knew how to do. To this end, Lord Emp formed a team mostly consisting of human/Kherubim hybrids to combat the Daemonite menace. On one mission, they were sent "home" to Khera itself, only to find that the war had long since ended. Their reason for being had been negated before the team itself had even been formed. And the simplistic dynamic that they had been led to believe was disproven as well, as the Kherubim proved far less angelic than their pseudo-namesakes. The culture the CATS had been fighting alongside was one of conquest, corruption, enslavement, and disenfranchisement. So what do you fight for when your ideals have been crushed? When your cause has vanished? The Kherubim journey from escapist simplicity into deeper ambiguity is one that lends great depth to an otherwise standard superhero convention, and one that reflects on our own world more and more each day.
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<img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/headshots/dc/martianmanhunter.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="J'onn J'onzz">#7 Martians
First Appearance: Detective Comics #225 (DC)
Created by: Joseph Samachson and Joe Certa
What it means, exactly, to be a Martian these days is a tricky question. If you are anything like the JLA’s beloved J’onn J’onzz (a.k.a. the Martian Manhunter), then you were a green, peace-loving, artist type, who was probably wiped out by a plague a couple millennia ago. Unless, of course, you are like a member of the Hyperclan, in which case you’re a White Martian who is ALMOST as tough as the Martian Manhunter, your race isn’t dead, and you’d absolutely love to take over Earth. Then again, if you were an ancient Martian, then you’re a flaming mass of destruction who reproduces asexually and wants to kill everything that moves. Regardless, you represent a frighteningly powerful species, with full control over your atomic structure, cosmic-level telepathy, Superman-level strength and heat vision, and the ability to laugh in the face of matter conservation as you alter your body’s density. In a way, it’s a good thing that most of the species died before humanity was out of the Stone Age. After all, with Martians around, who needs the Justice League…or humanity, for that matter? Still, though the race has a confusing history at best, it has also produced the most loyal and steadfast member that the Justice League has ever known. For that reason alone, they deserve a place on this list.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/wildcats_covert_action_23.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Voodoo">#6 Daemonites
First Appearance: WildC.A.T.S #1 (Image)
Created by: Jim Lee and Brandon Choi
Take two parts Alien, sprinkle liberally with John Carpenter's Thing, add just a dash of Doctor Doom, and you have the G'aold of Stargate fame... erase the Egyptian motif, and you have the Daemonites. A race of shape-shifting, body-snatching lizard people, with technology far beyond humanity and a penchant for galactic domination, the Daemonites were the perfect foil for the equally one-dimensional WildC.A.T.s... battling pure, unrepentant evil makes the heroes seem all the more heroic, and killing is not murder as long as the victims are not human, so the C.A.T.s land on their feet morally as well. The status quo kept quoing, and the two sides kept clashing, until the C.A.T.s took a day trip to Khera, seat of the Kherubim empire and internment camp for the scions of Daemon. The Daemonites had long since lost their war, and were left a beaten, disgraced people, relegated to squalor, existing only under the boot heel of their ancient enemies. It seems that evil is only in the eye of the beholder, and you can feel sympathy for the devil... which sadly makes it much less fun to watch them get squished.
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<img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/headshots/brood.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Brood">#5 Brood
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #155 (Marvel)
Created by: Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum
A few short years after nobody could hear Sigourney Weaver scream in space (not to mention John Hurt's really bad case of indigestion), we were introduced to a rather similar extraterrestrial race in the pages of Uncanny X-Men. The Brood were the best kind of space villain. Totally parasitic, malevolent to the core with no redeeming features, utterly inhuman and cruel, and completely lacking in individual personality. Which, of course, means that it's totally okay to kill them. And yet, some of the X-Men still found a moral quagmire in having to take them out (except for Wolverine, but that's because he's the best there is at...something, I forget what exactly), even though these sleazoids had already tried to kill them, assisted in an intergalactic coup, killed countless worlds, enslaved a race of gentle space whales (I guess they'd never seen Star Trek IV), and impregnated the entire team with their hatchlings. Therein lies the greatest appeal of the Brood. Much like the original Alien movie, the danger they present is not of an oncoming invasion, but a psychological menace. Only instead of hiding in air ducts or popping out of your chest, they grow inside of you. They take you over. They BECOME you. Watching the X-Men (or other mutants, evangelicals, Ghost Rider, etc.) cope with the evil growing within, the notion of (and in some cases, desire for) their own demise made for incredibly compelling storytelling. And then watching them overcome that and kick some alien butt was equally gratifying. If you'll pardon the pun, it really is the best of both worlds.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/supermantn.jpg" hspace=10 align=left hspace=10 alt="Superman">#4 Kryptonians
First Appearance: Action Comics #1 (DC)
Created by: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Reimagined by: John Byrne
Every time Superman makes a list, I struggle to explain why. Well, this time it's not Superman. Krypton and its populace were thriving, up until about a year before Superman's birth. The culture that gave Earth its greatest and most iconic hero were emotionless scientists who procreated through cloning. Distrustful of anything different, their arrogance led to their destruction. The Kryptonians are also guilty of killing their finest son. Doomsday, the ultimate killing machine, would come from this race, devoid of morals or emotion. Kryptonian society is like an abusive upbringing. The ones that fly the nest rebel and become great heroes. Even the dogs (and horses). Kryptonians are the most well known of comic book races, and, short of Star Wars and Star Trek, most other forms of fiction as well. They parallel the cold logic of the Vulcans, and yet the members who achieve fame do nothing to reflect their race's history and culture. Kryptonians may be famous, but they're certainly not easy to understand.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/ANNSKRL001004.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Super Skrull">#3 Skrulls
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #2 (Marvel)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
The very first extraterrestrials in the Marvel Age of Comics, the Skrulls owe their roots to John W. Campbell Jr.'s 1938 short story Who Goes There? and Robert Heinlein's oft-copied 1951 novel about alien invaders, The Puppet Masters. Having created the Blue Area of the Moon in their early spacefaring careers, the Skrulls staged games between the alien Cotati and the Kree which ultimately backfired, the latter stealing their technology, and beginning millennia of war. Many Skrulls have made their way to Earth in recent years, first encountering the Fantastic Four, which led to the creation of Kl'rt, the "Super-Skrull" who possesses the powers of all four members. They've been members of the Squadron Supreme, and posed as Alicia Masters and Wolverine. Stranger still, Reed Richards once hypnotized some Skrulls into shapeshifting into ordinary cows, which then produced milk, and people drank it, and....egad, I can't go on! The Skrull race is not totally malevolent--Skrull General Zedrao awarded the Kree Captain Mar-Vell with the Royal Skrull Medal of Valor in the hour of his death. And lest ye forget, the Skrulls are known in the Ultimate universe as the Chitauri, and in Marvel classic lore, they're also the race that spawned Rom's enemies, the deadly Dire Wraiths! If nothing else, forty-plus years in comics proves that you can take their shapeshifting powers away, but you can't keep the Skrulls down for long.
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<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/top10aliens/cm3.jpg" align=left hspace=10 alt="Captain Marvel">#2 Kree
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #65 (Marvel)
Created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
For an evolutionary dead-end, the militaristic humanoid race known as the Kree (available in both pink and blue-skinned varieties!) sure shows a lot of staying power. These aliens have had a formidable presence throughout history. Since stealing technology from the then-peaceful Skrulls several millennia ago, and unwittingly turning them into the treacherous people they've become, the Kree have done quite a bit with that tech. They built a city on Earth's Moon, and created the subspecies known as the Inhumans, who themselves have become Marvel mainstays. Their wars with the shapeshifting Skrulls and the Shi'ar are the stuff of comic legend. Let's remember too that one of their own soldiers, Mar-Vell, went renegade while on a mission to Earth, becoming perhaps one of the greatest cosmic superheroes ever, and spawning his own legacy. And don't forget the villainous types, who are perhaps more notable than the good guy(s): the Supreme Intelligence, the Kree's foremost military minds in one form, has had his share of schemes foiled by the mighty Avengers, and his chief enforcer, Ronan the Accuser, has proven more than the equal of Earth's heroes. A few years ago, the Supreme Intelligence used the Forever Crystal to bring some Kree out of their evolutionary dead-end, spawning the more hideous Ruul. The legacies of the Kree are so varied--Ms. Marvel, the Priests of Pama, Ultra-Girl, Marvel Boy, even the Young Avenger, Hulkling--and their military exploits so renowned/feared throughout the Marvel Universe, that it should come as no surprise that they are among the most popular alien races.
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<img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/headshots/lilandra.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Lilandra">#1 Shi'ar
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #97 (Marvel)
Created by: Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum
Where space opera meets soap opera, we have… the Shi'ar. An avian race who ruled an empire spanning galaxies, their introduction was through their royal family, the Neramanis. Imagine the worst possible sibling rivalry in history, set it against the backdrop of the entire cosmos, and you start to get an idea of the issues this family has. D’Ken’s doomed quest for power, Deathbird’s Byzantine conspiracies and coups, Lilandra’s alternating role as regent and rebel, off set with the occasional bout of gladiatorial combat or minor act of genocide. And, of course, there’s a love story. Lilandra and Xavier, bound together as kindred spirits, separated by oceans of space. So, as you might expect, it ends with his evil twin sister possessing his body, and psychically forcing the entire Empire into fiery death and destruction. Kind of gives a whole new meaning to “star-cross’d love.” Heck, with all the treachery, usurpation, rebellion, war, slavery, and eventual decay and ruin, it's like watching the blooper reel for the Roman Empire, with the Legion of Superheroes playing the Centurions. Yet that remains one of the most fascinating things about this particular race. Where most alien races come across as great warriors or scientists, the Shi'ar are politicians, more accustomed to maneuvering and manipulation than anything else. There may not be any smoke-filled rooms aboard their star cruisers, but the machinations, pomp, and power plays are as entertaining as the interpersonal relationships. They were also pivotal in moving the X-Men into a new era of popularity, pushing them further into the realm of science fiction, so that we could ignore all that pesky social commentary, and just enjoy what we all came for: space ships, alien princesses, and big ass explosions.
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So there you have the Top 10 Alien Races, those gatherings of extraterrestrial beings with otherworldly appeal, and out-of-this-world exploits that left readers wishing upon a star for more. Every alien is part of a race… even Last Sons and Daughters… but not every race moves beyond their uniform look to become something unique. Of course, the denizens of the cosmic are just the first stop on our Cosmic tour, so stay tuned to Comixfan throughout the month of March to continue your intergalactic journey, and keep your eyes peeled for our other Cosmic offerings (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=38059).
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Brood, Kherubim, Shi'ar: Jordan T. Maxwell
Daemonites, Watchers: Raul Grau
Kryptonians, Oans: Jon Hancock
Kree, Skrulls: Gary Miller
Martians: Nick Costanzo
Contributors: Will Carper, Tom Connolley, Anthony Devlin, Robert Gill, James Groves, Patrick James, Stephanie Kay, Wil Kitchenmaster, Alan Lynch, Magic Rabbit, Janne Pietikainen, Omar A. Safi, Tom Toner
Image Assistance: Zachary J. Morrison, Greg Reeves
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writers involved, and are not reflective of Comixfan or its other staff in general.