by: Justin Spotten
“My mommy always said there were no monsters. No real ones. But there are.”
-Ellen Ripley, Alien Resurrection
A lone figure walks cautiously down a dimly lit hallway. They are frightened, mumbling to themselves and flashing their light around in every which way. They don’t see the shadow descending from above, don’t here the soft swish of a tail or see the faint glint off the slimy carapace. They only turn when they hear the snarl; a low undulating rasp that quickly crescendos into a paced hiss. Only then do they turn in horror as the beast curls back its lips angrily and lashes out with deadly accuracy. They only evidence left after the gruesome scene is a splatter of blood along the floor and walls. Ridley Scott, along with the mad, surreal designs of H. R. Geiger, birthed the perfect hunter; and Dark Horse helped make the Alien immortal. 
In 1988 Dark Horse comics released the first Alien comic. The story originally followed the adventures of Corporeal Hicks and Newt during a major outbreak of Aliens on earth, ten years after the events of the Aliens movie. This had to be changed after Alien 3 came out due to the fact that Hicks and Newt were killed off in the movie. Dark Horse changed the names of the characters to Billie and Corporeal Wilks for the re-prints and the sequel series, Aliens: Nightmare Asylum. This should be a real boon for collectors though; if you have a copy with the original movie names, it’s probably worth a decent amount of cash. The movies main femme fatale, Ellen Ripley, along with Annalee Call makes a short appearance as her clone in the Alien vs. Predator vs. Terminator miniseries. These were the only movie cameos and the rest of the Alien comics featured either original characters or a crossover with comic book properties. The stories usually incorporated a few key themes. First, the main characters have never heard of or encountered the Aliens before. Second, they find out after an encounter or two why the Aliens are so dangerous (Facehuggers, acid blood, mastery of stealth, etc.). Third, there is either a member of the group or a side character that either wants to steal the eggs or somehow thinks they can control the Aliens themselves. All of these bring about the fourth: the body count. Only one or two characters will manage to escape. The rest will either be hosts or cannon fodder to be dragged kicking and screaming down a dark corridor. One of the nice things about the Aliens series was that it never had any problems killing off main characters. If there is a decent sized cast, it will be gorily whittled down to one, maybe two survivors if they are lucky. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule…
Dark Horse has let the Aliens run wild not only in their own universe, but in others as well. These company crossovers have pitted the famous star beasts against some of comic’s biggest legends. Batman and Superman have had multiple crossovers with the creatures and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) went toe-to-toe with them back in two thousand. Outside of DC, the Aliens made an appearance in the pages of 2000 AD, Witchblade, and WildC.A.T.S. These crossovers were normally self contained stories that had no bearing on the continuity of either franchise. The only real exception came in the case of the WildC.A.T.S./Aliens crossover where Warren Ellis killed off key members of Stormwatch in order to launch his new book, The Authority. The stories had a distinct action-horror bent, where the guest stars stumble upon the Aliens and have a limited amount of time to stop them before all hell breaks loose. It usually did anyway, but it is fun to watch the heroes scramble in a blind terror to stop the Alien menace before it was too late. The Aliens deadliest foe didn’t come in the form of a spandex clad superhero, but from a creature just as single-minded and deadly as itself: the Predator.
In February of 1990, Dark Horse paired the two extraterrestrial killing machines against each other in Dark Horse Presents #36. That same year Predator 2 hit theatres, and at the end of the movie you see one of the Predators placing a human skull on the trophy wall next to an Alien’s. Since these two defining moments the Aliens and Predators have been considered mortal enemies by fans and writers alike. It really is a match made in some kind of heaven. The Aliens are a hive-minded, instinctual animal with an insatiable hunger, the ability to multiply while killing their enemies and total dedication to their species. The Predators, on the other hand, are a technologically advanced race with the same blood lust, an unbreakable will and total dedication to the hunt. Dark Horse had the right idea setting these two species against each other, and it shows. Besides the ten plus Dark Horse Alien vs. Predator miniseries, the two rivals have hacked and slashed their way through two movies, toy lines by Hot Toys, Kenner and McFarlane Toys and over five video games on multiple systems. And their popularity is ever growing.
The viscous creature from an unknown point in space has been terrifying moviegoers and comic fans for three decades, and I think it is safe to say that they will continue to do so in the future. With Dark Horse’s Three World War out in comic shops now and a prequel movie on the way, it is plain to see that nothing is going to stop this monster’s reign of terror anytime soon.
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