Hi Mark! As a Vorthos I wanted to voice an opinion on the creature type "Alien". In brief I don't like it flavorfully because alieness is relative, especially in a setting that is composed by different worlds interacting with eachother. Mechanically I understand its role similar to Beast to group a lot of creatures whose species wouldn't get their own typeline, especially with sci-fi Universes Beyonds' products.
Creatures like "Davros" and "The face of Boe" that would be class-only without their species featured make sense as alien for a mechanical reason, but I think that cards like "Spelling Bee" or "Star Whale" work just fine as Insect and Whale and sticking the alien type on them just feels wrong.

Until we make a card that mechanically cares about something being an Alien. : )

Do artist names count for Spelling Bee?

No. From the FAQ: “The player looking at the top card of your library can choose any word from the card’s name, type line, or text box. Notably, they can’t choose a word that’s only in the artwork or artist credit. It doesn’t have to be a real word from a dictionary; Astroquarium is a perfectly cromulent word, for example.”

Would Spelling Bee have been a break a few years ago? Would a card like it be a break in black border, or just a strong bend that needs a strong justification?

Green does get the occasional flier and Spelling Bee is a 1/1, so it’s much more bend than break.

Hi Mark! What's the deal with Spelling Bee? I didn't expect you to have a deathtouch flyer in green in a set you lead.

It has to be Spelling Bee for the whole card to hold together, and it was such a nice overall package, that I allowed it.