diff --git a/devtools/print_wire.c b/devtools/print_wire.c
index cd862164b..a13164614 100644
--- a/devtools/print_wire.c
+++ b/devtools/print_wire.c
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+#include <ccan/mem/mem.h>
+#include <ccan/utf8/utf8.h>
 #include <common/type_to_string.h>
 #include <devtools/print_wire.h>
+#include <errno.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 
@@ -23,19 +26,72 @@ void printwire_u64(const char *fieldname, const u64 *v)
 	printf("%"PRIu64"\n", *v);
 }
 
-void printwire_u8_array(const char *fieldname, const u8 **cursor, size_t *plen, size_t len)
+/* Returns false if we ran out of data. */
+static bool print_hexstring(const u8 **cursor, size_t *plen, size_t len)
 {
-	printf("[");
 	while (len) {
 		u8 v = fromwire_u8(cursor, plen);
 		if (!*cursor)
-			return;
-		if (isprint(v))
-			printf("%c", v);
-		else
-			printf("\\x%02x", v);
+			return false;
+		printf("%02x", v);
 		len--;
 	}
+	return true;
+}
+
+static void printwire_alias(const u8 **cursor, size_t *plen, size_t len)
+{
+	struct utf8_state utf8 = UTF8_STATE_INIT;
+	const char *p = (const char *)*cursor;
+	bool char_done = true;
+
+	printf("[");
+	for (size_t i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+		if (!p[i]) {
+			if (!memeqzero(p+i, len-i)) {
+				printf(" **INVALID PADDING** ");
+				goto hexdump;
+			}
+			break;
+		}
+		if (utf8_decode(&utf8, p[i])) {
+			if (errno != 0) {
+				printf(" **INVALID UTF-8** ");
+				goto hexdump;
+			}
+			char_done = true;
+		} else {
+			/* Don't allow unprintable characters */
+			if (utf8.total_len == 1 && !cisprint(utf8.c)) {
+				printf(" **UNPRINTABLE CHARACTER** ");
+				goto hexdump;
+			}
+			char_done = false;
+		}
+	}
+	if (!char_done) {
+		printf(" **INCOMPLETE UTF-8** ");
+		goto hexdump;
+	}
+	printf("%.*s ", (int)len, p);
+
+hexdump:
+	if (!print_hexstring(cursor, plen, len))
+		return;
+	printf(" ]\n");
+	return;
+}
+
+void printwire_u8_array(const char *fieldname, const u8 **cursor, size_t *plen, size_t len)
+{
+	if (streq(fieldname, "node_announcement.alias")) {
+		printwire_alias(cursor, plen, len);
+		return;
+	}
+
+	printf("[");
+	if (!print_hexstring(cursor, plen, len))
+		return;
 	printf("]\n");
 }