Writer: Randy Stradley / Pencillers: Phil Norwood and Chris Warner / Inkers: Norwood, Karl Story, Robert Campanella / Colour Artist: In-Color / Letterer: Pat Brossaeu / Dark Horse Comics / Titan Books (This Collection) / Collects: (Material From) Dark Horse Presents #34-#36, Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special and Aliens Vs. Predator #1-#4
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The Pitch: Covered primarily with sand and dirt, the searing heat of Ryushi's nineteen-hour day causes most of the native creatures to burrow for shelter. It's not anybody's idea of a vacation spot - but the Predators aren't looking for a vacation. And the Aliens aren't looking to be disturbed . . .
I don’t know if you’ve heard the story of how one of the greatest crossovers in comics came about, but in case you haven’t, it goes something like this. Dark Horse Comics would hold ‘bull sessions’ to hash out storylines and ideas. An inter-company crossover that they couldn’t quite grasp had been suggested by publisher Mike Richardson. This opened up a fun conversation on ‘X vs X’ crossovers that Dark Horse could publish. It was Chris Warner who first said the words: ‘Aliens Versus Predator’. The room fell silent. It was a stroke of genius, especially since Dark Horse owned the comic-publishing license for both properties. And thus, the comic we’ve come to know and love was born. In these days where crossover events seem to rule the landscape with their omnipresence and regularity, Aliens Vs. Predator may seem like small potatoes. It's a contained event (albeit one that spawned a cottage industry for Dark Horse, its then-publisher). It doesn't require the reader to have read decades of continuity – although a rough working knowledge of Aliens and Predator 1 & 2 help. And it wouldn't have set you back the price of a large omnibus to buy it in single-issue form. But at the time, it was an even nonetheless. Two of genre moviedom's biggest draws facing off.. something that had already been teased by the appearance of an Alien warrior skull in 1990's Predator 2 the notion of a face-off between these two monsters filled fifteen-year-old me with joy. Obviously, very little has changed because when I found the old titan edition of AVP in a second-hand store back before the pandemic, I snapped it up without even checking on the condition (something I never do normally). I didn't care. I just wanted to relive that memory of wandering into a W.H. Smith back in '91, seeing that book on the shelf and spending my pocket money on it… Reading it over and over until the cover was worn and tatty. Could it really still be that good? Of course it can, you fools!
First, you should know that the book's sensibilities are much more Predator than they are Alien. The eroticism and male rape metaphors from Ridley Scott's 1979 classic are absent, largely because the book is such a machine of plotting and incident, there really isn't time to dwell on the creature's form and it's meanings. It does port over the feminist utilitarianism from that film, however and throws in a good dose of Deliverance’s survivalist aspects, too. Our lead character, Noguchi is awakened by the encounter, choosing to become a hunter rather than the hunted. But that comes later. First, we're treated to a philosophical argument via two pilots on the notion of nature versus technology before we realise that Predators are seeding planets with the Alien to test younger members of their species and indoctrinate them in the ways of the hunt. That starting point itself offers an interesting idea: that The Alien is conquerable and perhaps even controllable. Of course, control is ultimately an illusion and it's not long before the Alien Queen is stacking the deck in her species' favour, ensuring that a queen Facehugger gets through the Predator's screening process and is part of the batch sent to a planet named Ryushi, once an empty prairie-land, now the site of corporate farming on a mass scale.
The breakneck pacing of the book doesn't allow for diversions. It's final face-off is immensely satisfying
Here we get interesting asides, with the farmers demanding more of a share because the price their cattle are fetching back on Earth has skyrocketed. Momentarily, the book dabbles with corporatism versus the working man, something that can also be found in the original Alien. Again, it's dismissed quickly. The breakneck pacing of the book doesn't allow for such diversions. Before long, we're launched into an uncontrolled hunt, the Aliens take over of the human settlements and the bloody traces of James Cameron's Aliens seeping into the story. Only, there is no military intervention, no death from above for the chittering horrific creatures. No nerve-gassing the whole nest. Instead, the book slides into the true American genre: The Western. Only now the female land baron must lead the homesteaders to safety. I have to tell you: it's a glorious ride. The action sequences build and build, ramping up the tension and merrily taking down characters you like. Its final face-off is immensely satisfying.
the plotting and domino-effect incidents are fantastically placed and beutifully paced
The book takes a movie-style plot and utilises it perfectly. Any screenwriter that sat in a meeting pitching this to Fox would have been rightly proud. Stradley does a superb job of taking the genre fusion present in the earlier incarnations of Aliens and Predator and giving them a western make-over. The book pounds along, never dwelling too long on the ramifications of the destructive paths the Predators and Aliens carve through the human population. The drive is relentless. Stradley's plotting and domino-effect incidents are fantastically placed and superbly paced. His dialogue is excellent, striking the right note between drama and the utilitarian nature of the film’s worker bees. Warner and Norwood make a good relay team on the art. Their figures are well-drawn and the line of action is always clear. At the time this was released, Dark Horse was already dabbling in Manga and you can clearly see the influence here on the art as there are a couple of panels that wouldn't look out of place in Akira. The dynamic possibilities of the action are fully explored by Norwood and Warner, who never let a choice moment go unused. Story, Campanella and Norwood's inks offer just the right line to highlight the mechanics of the ships, vehicles and people. Kudos has to go to In-Color here, too. Not once do the colours obscure the action on the intent of the pencillers. Brousseau completes the squad to perfection, lettering the action with a firm style that manages to differentiate the characters wonderfully. Aliens Vs. Predator is a superb comic, tightly scripted, wonderfully drawn and nicely finished. It might just be the greatest movie never made.
Buy Dark Horse comics here and support The Comic Crush. Catch more of our Aliens 35th Anniversary Celebration on YouTube, or listen on Apple Podcasts, tune in on Spotify or check it out wherever you listen to Podcasts. You can contact your favourite comic shop about the availability of Aliens Vs. Predator.