By Rory Lucey

Titan Books, out now

Nine Lives aboard the Nostromo.

I’d better start by admitting I’m a dog rather than cat person so some of the nuances of feline behaviour in this book may have passed me by – but enough is universal enough between the two species that dog-owners will recognise a lot of the behaviour on show.

This isn’t quite what I was expecting, in a good way. Rather than single page jokes pitting cat vs. xenomorph, it’s a short graphic novel retelling of the plot of the original (and in many ways, best) Alien movie, seen from the point of view of Jonesy the cat, who’s the only survivor other than Ripley from the ill-fated ship. Some of the scenes are instantly recognisable but given the necessary feline twist (exactly where was Jonesy at the start of the film? And quite how similar is his behaviour to that of the xenomorph?) while there are long stretches where the cat isn’t involved with the action, and we just see the plot progressing in the background of panels. Of course, the times when you want your protagonist to be concentrating on the life or death struggle in front of him… he’s cleaning himself. Or playing with a cat toy… Or playing with an Alien tail. (Not recommended.)

It’s done with a great deal of love and care for both cats and the Alien franchise – there’s no question we’re on the Nostromo, or who the characters are – and there’s some nice background jokes along the way (exactly what does W-Y stand for again? Apart from rapacious greed and profit, of course).

Verdict: A fun tribute to a key character in a major movie. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order Jonesy from Amazon.co.uk