Dark Horse Comics has canceled the upcoming eight-issue series Aliens Colonial Marines: Rising Threat after new sexual conduct allegations regarding writer Brian Wood were revealed by editor and writer Laura Hudson on Friday.  The publisher has also said it will not pursue new projects with Woods.  "Dark Horse will not pursue any new projects with Brian Wood," the company said in a brief statement.  "Dark Horse has cancelled the upcoming series, Aliens Colonial Marines: Rising Threat."

The first issue of the new series, which was based on characters from the upcoming Aliens video game, had a street date of September 18, which means that production was undoubtedly fairly far along.  Dark Horse did not respond to our question as to whether the book was printed and what would be done with printed copies if it was.

Other talent on the book included artist Werther Dell’Edera, colorist Michael Atiyeh, letterer Nate Piekos of Blambot, and cover artist Tristan Jones.

Hudson described a series of incidents (on Twitter) with Wood (who was married), when she was a young journalist and he was a well-known artist.  According to the account, Wood forced Hudson into a kiss at their encounter and then texted her repeatedly over weeks urging her to enter a sexual relationship.  Hudson acknowledged that others had gone public with similar allegations in the past, and apologized for not having come forward sooner.  The latest allegations were apparently the final straw for Dark Horse.

Wood’s career as a comic writer and artist stretches back to 1997.  He was under exclusive contract to DC from 2006 to 2011, a period in which he produced his best-known work, DMZ, for the company’s Vertigo imprint.  DMZ received high critical praise, including coverage in the New York Times (see "’DMZ’ in ‘NYT’").  In recent years, Wood’s work has been published by Dark Horse; he’s also written for television and video games.