He was the only living thing to survive alongside Sigourney Weaver’s Warrant Officer Ripley in 1979’s Alien, but now Jonesy the cat has got his own story in an illustrated book.
Ridley Scott’s classic movie, set in 2122, saw the seven-member crew of a commercial space tug, Nostromo, attacked by aliens during their return trip to Earth. The crew’s cat, Jonesy, was aboard and managed to escape death along with Officer Ripley.
Now, the ginger cat is the star off a new Alien offshoot – an 80-page illustrated book by Rory Lucey titled Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo.
In an interview with io9, Lucey said: “At the scary moments I tried to either diffuse the situation with cat hijinks, like Jonesy licking his butt in the escape pod during the final showdown, or play into the tension and have Jonesy be scared.
Your favorite feline, Jonesy is the star of this full-colour, illustrated book that gives you a cat's eye view aboard the USCSS Nostromo! Get your copy of, "Nine Lives on the Nostromo" by @rorylucey on 10/16 from @TitanBooks! #ALIENDAY pic.twitter.com/KoISRKy1qV
— Alien (@AlienAnthology) April 26, 2018
Filed to: This Is Awesome.
Check out my interview with @io9 with an exclusive peek at more art from “Jonesy”—out now from @TitanBooks! ? @Inkwellmgmt @AlienAnthology https://t.co/lX4Ogx02HA
— Rory Lucey (@RoryLucey) October 17, 2018
“Cats don’t exactly react to situations in human-appropriate ways, so just staying true to that helped bring the humour in naturally.”
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The plot of the book offers hints about the terrifying story in the film, so it probably isn’t suitable for kids.
Lucey explained: “What I’ve said to my art students is that they should pay attention to the context clues of what is happening around Jonesy in the book,
“And see if they, one, really want to see a movie like that and then two, have a conversation with their parents about if it is the right time.”
Last year, the sixth film in the Alien series was released. The sequel to 2012’s Prometheus and the second prequel in the series, Alien: Covenant starred Michael Fassbender as a crew member on a colony ship. When the crew dock on an uncharted planet, they make a horrifying discovery.
In his four star review for NME, Dan Stubb’s wrote of Alien: Covenant: “You still feel like you’re watching something of great quality, and its prevailing subtexts –creation myths, God complexes, evolution theory – answer some long-held questions about the Alien universe. If you’ve ever enjoyed an Alien film, this one is worth spending two hours in space for.”
Jonesy: Nine Lives on the Nostromo is out now from Titan Books.