Comics Explained: Aliens versus Predator

As of writing The Predator is finally out in cinemas. As expected this franchise has regularly featured in comics so if we want to look at the comics we are spoiled for choice. Today I wanted to look specifically at one comic which went on to define the Predator: Aliens versus Predator. Many people will know this from the two movies but Aliens and Predators have been fighting each other for over a decade by the time even the first movie was released; we had toys, novels, games and the thing that started it all, comics. It is quite incredible that a lot of the lore behind the Predator universe comes from the Aliens versus Predator, (the most common name for the species is the Yautja which comes from the comics), part of the franchise and often Alien and Predator are classed as one and the same. Today we'll look at the first two stories which pitched the ultimate lifeform against the ultimate hunter but first I just want to discuss the origins of this franchise.

Origins

Dark Horse Presents #34

The first story would appear over three issues in Dark Horse Presents #34-36. Although Dark Horse regularly publishes their own original stories, most famously Hellboy, they also regularly purchase the rights to other titles and create comics based on them - before Disney bought Lucasfilm they did the Star Wars comics for quite a while. The Terminator versus Robocop was another crossover done by Dark Horse as an example. Dark Horse Presents was an anthology series so the first crossover of the Aliens and the Predators appeared alongside other stories, although due to their popularity they were the main story and were featured on the cover. Backing it up slightly we have the films. In 1979 Ridley Scott released Alien, perhaps one of the greatest and scariest sci-fi movies of all time, which was followed by James Cameron's Aliens in 1986. Aliens continued the horror theme of the first movie but it brought in action elements; if not for this we may never have gotten Aliens vs. Predator to start off with. In 1987 we then got Predator directed by John McTiernan of Die Hard which was firmly in the action movie genre, however, it can also be classed as a thriller with the burly mercenaries being hunted down one by one by the Predator meshing it well with Alien. A crossover was a perfect idea and we finally got it in 1989 with Dark Horse Presents #34. It soon gained popularity; so much so that in Predator 2 in 1990 an Alien skull can be seen in the Predator trophy cabinet. As more comics, games and novels were being produced Fox, (which owned both franchises), seriously considered doing a movie but not many people associated with it were in favour of it. Sigourney Weaver wanted her character killed off in Alien 3 so she didn't have to appear in a crossover, and both Scott and Cameron were against it - in a twist of fate James Cameron later enjoyed the movie we did get calling it the third best Alien movie, if his opinion has since changed I am not sure. There are still talks about making another movie with several directors hoping that the renewed interest in the two franchises thanks to Alien: Covenant and The Predator will pave the way for a third movie.

Aliens vs. Predator

Dark Horse Presents #36, when they first fought

Our first story is split between three different stories over the three issues: Aliens, Predator, and Aliens versus Predator. On a ship flying to a planet two bored pilots, Scott and Tom, debate how companies were exploiting planets, including the Earth. Something fast passes by them which they put down to a meteorite but we see that it is in fact another ship. The two pilots start discussing how evolution has fought back against humanity including the rise of the Africanized honey bees, red ants taking over the southern US, and a bacteria breaking down the planet's oil. Is nature actually evil? Is an organism doing something that it is evolved to do which harms another lifeform actually evil? As they have their discussion we pan onto the ship as rows upon rows of eggs are being scanned revealing inside the facehuggers awaiting to hatch and infect a host. Attached to a harness an Alien Queen is being forced to lay the eggs for something. The next issue sees a change of discussion for the pilots - now they discuss technology, humanity and the primordial urge to hunt. On the second ship we find out who has the Queen: a group of Predators. We see that they are observing a swamp on an alien planet and collecting the eggs to shoot to the planet. Two rival Predators begin a ceremonial fight as Scott and Tom debate humanity's primal urge to show supremacy through force, and one Predator beats the other. In our final issue the eggs are shot down to the swamp and they hatch. The Predators soon land with the intention to hunt the ultimate prey. Quickly they find signs of the Aliens, the xenomorphs, including a monkey-like creature, a serpent, and a bird having their chests ripped open from the inside. However, they are soon ambushed. One of the Predators has its neck torn open by the flanking xenomorphs but the other Yautja fight back. In a flurry of spears and blasters they manage to wipe out the xenomorphs. The pilots continue their discussions, including about hunting, and one mentions how loosing his virginity was a rite of passage as the elder Yautja break off the finger from a killed xenomorph. The acidic blood then burns the symbol of their clan on the head of the youngest hunter initiating him into the hunt.

The Hunt on Ryushi

The Hunt begins

Dark Horse soon came back to Aliens versus Predator and we got an immediate sequel. We find out that one of the eggs was secretly a Queen egg and that they were sent to multiple planets. One happened to be the planet Ryushi. By the twenty-second century corporations like Weyland-Yutani (from Alien) had been colonising different planets to use for economic exploitation as Earth's environment had slowly been destroyed. On Ryushi the Chigusa Corporation had set up a farming town called Prosperity Wells where they would raise and farm a rhino like animal, acting more like a sheep or cow, called the rhynths. It is an important time for Prosperity Wells: after a year the colony of just 100 had finally built up a large shipment of rhynth to send to Earth, and their administrator was being changed. The current administrator was Hiroki Shimura was welcoming, and warning, the new administrator Machiko Noguchi. Machiko soon found out that there are tensions between the company and the colonials who want more pay. Scott and Tom in The Lector arrived on Ryushi to take the rhynths to Earth just as the pods containing the xenomorph eggs landed in a nearby valley. Quickly the eggs hatch and attach to the rhynth. One of the chief ranchers, Ackland, found a discarded facehugger so sent it to the colony's biologists and doctors, Kesar and Miriam Ravna. Meanwhile, the colony is partying to celebrate their first shipment and Machiko to get the ranchers on side gave them pay rises. More importantly, the Yautja hunting party arrived...

Broken Tusk and Machiko

Kesna Ravna decided to search the valley to find the origins of the facehuggers but instead finds the Yautja. Their elder and leader, Broken Tusk who is the same one from the first three issues, is ran over by Ravna who then immediately crashed, dying in the explosion. Broken Tusk's un-Blooded and volatile students became enraged deciding the hunt the colonists in revenge including a small ranch where they kill the dog and parents. Back at Prosperity Wells the unconscious Broken Tusk is brought to Miriam and Machiko as Scott and Tom prepare to head off to Earth. They are horrified to discover that strange creatures, including one giant one, stand where the rhynth once did and one of the remaining ones have a chestburster burst its way through its chest. The crew is butchered and the pilots cocooned. The sole survivor of the small ranch attack was a young boy who was followed by the un-Blooded Yautja and a battle erupted between the Yautja and colonists. Despite being lightly-armed their weaponry was far more advanced than that of the colonists and decimated the defenders eager to get back to their master. As this was happening Machiko, and a guard, went to The Lector to see why they hadn't set off only to be met by the xenomorph Hive. The guard is taken by the xenomorphs and Machiko was almost overtaken herself until she was saved by one of the Yautja. However, the hunter could not survive the onslaught from the parasites despite taking many out with it. Machiko described the un-Blooded warrior best: Despite his speed and strength and practiced moves, the 'warrior' was not a smart fighter - he was like a karateka who had mastered his style, but had never faced an actual opportunity. Prosperity Wells soon became engulfed in a three way war between the colonists, Yautja, and xenomorphs claiming the lives of several un-Blooded warriors and colonists including Hiroki.

Broken Tusk against an un-Blooded

Machiko went to find Miriam and they two realised one important thing: if they were to survive they needed Broken Tusk on side. As one of the students broke into the lab Broken Tusk prevented it from killing the humans. As the young warrior broke a taboo by killing humans Broken Tusk started fighting with the young one allowing the two humans to escape and formulate a plan. Machiko had a plan to allow the colonists to evacuate. Taking the helicopter they release the rhynth who stampeded allowing the colonists to evacuate during the distraction, much to the dismay of Ackland as a year's worth war profit had now gotten away or was killed. To escape Broken Tusk climbed an antennae but he was followed by the xenomorphs but as he had defended them Machiko opted to save the warrior. However, during the rescue a xenomorph attacked causing the helicopter to crash killing Miriam. During the stampede Scott and Tom had managed to escape the Hive and helped Machiko out of the crash only to find that Broken Tusk had tried to rescue Miriam as well. The four formed a small pragmatic group fighting their way through the hordes of xenomorphs to get to the operations centre. Inside they discovered a note revealing a sobering reality: Chigusa Corporation had refused to send marines deciding instead that Machiko should preserve the xenomorphs, even at the expense of the colonialists. Suddenly Tom fell over in pain with a chestburster killing it, (which is soon dispatched by Broken Tusk), and Scott comes to the sobering reality that he would share the same fate resulting in him getting Machiko to do a mercy killing. 

With the colonists safely out of the way Machiko realised that if they didn't do anything the xenomorphs could spread across humanity's colonies. Using a van and teaming up with the Yautja they broke into The Lector in order to blow it up to take the Hive with it. Luckily the van hit the Queen temporarily incapacitating her; if not the two could have been instantly torn apart. Fighting through the ship the Queen soon came after them mortally wounding Broken Tusk. Machiko managed to drag the Yautja to an escape pod and the heavy doors shut across the Queen's neck killing her. The launch of the pod detonated the ship taking the Hive with it. However, Broken Tusk was on death's doors. In his final moments he used blood from a xenomorph to burn his clan's symbol onto Machiko initiating her into the clan. Following the events the surviving colonists were moved to a friendlier system but Machiko opted against following them. For two years she waited on Ryushi acting as a small scale rancher. A new batch of un-Blooded with another Yautja, Broken Tusk's rival from the initial comics, hunting the xenomorphs. Machiko took part and the Yautja fought with her. She had become a member of their clan.

Machiko with Broken Tusk's mark

Thank you for reading. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby. Feel to free leave any comments and suggestions, and have a nice day!

What If: The Galactic Empire invaded Earth?

Invasion of the Empire

I love Star Wars. While on YouTube earlier this week I saw a very entertaining two-part video detailing an invasion of our planet by the Galactic Empire (Part 1 and Part 2). These videos got me thinking: what would an actual invasion of the Earth by the Empire be like? Would Earth manage to resist the power of the Empire? As I'm rather illiterate when it comes to non-Star Wars related military all my information on the actual fighting of the Earth-Empire War comes from the YouTube videos themselves (which I highly recommend watching). This scenario will combine both Canon and Legends information.

The Coming of the Empire

The Galactic Fleet

Like all empires the Galactic Empire were always looking for more resources. Setting off from the planet Jakku the Empire sends several scouting parties into the Unknown Regions looking for resource rich planets to pilfer, or alternatively to build/hide superweapons like their Death Star (currently under construction). One of the scouting parties discover a mysterious star system which they name Sol, and discover that Sol 3 has life. They find the planet has satellites and that they have invented a primitive version of the HoloNet. However, upon investigation they find that this planet is extremely unusual. Humans live on this planet but there are thousands of different cultures, languages, and religions on this planet. The language English when spoken seems awfully familiar to Galactic Basic. Instead of one unified government like on Alderaan or Coruscant there are many regional leaders who range from monarchs, elected leaders, and dictators. The diversity of this planet also staggers the Empire. It has giant cities like Coruscant, deserts like Tatooine, forests like Kashyyyk, great oceans like Kamino, and tundras like Hoth. The Empire hated aliens so it was another bonus for them that the only sapient species on this planet were humans. Several Star Destroyers are sent to Sol 3 with a message: Join the Galactic Empire or else...

The propaganda machine would show the glories of being in the Empire: mass employment, access to advanced technology, the ability to live on different planets (solving the looming overpopulation problem), and preferential treatment as Sol 3's inhabitants are human. Also the threat of being destroyed by an intergalactic power is significantly reduced under Imperial rule. This is where my scenario differs to the YouTube video: Earth will not be united in their reaction.

The Invasion

The Invasion Begins

Earth is divided today. We would like to imagine that an invasion by aliens would unite humanity but there is a strong chance that we will remain divided. This has been shown throughout our history. During the Japanese invasion of China the leader of the Nationalists, Chiang Kai-shek, was placed under house arrest by one of his leading commanders, Zhang Xueliang, as he was going to ally with Japan over the Communist Chinese. During the Second World War it was famous that people allied with the invading Nazis instead of the resistance. Wars can unite people but equally they can divide people. While some would be enticed to join the Empire for the advanced technology and access to new markets others would notice the similarity with fascist regimes, like the Nazis, and the apparent xenophobia of the Empire. The Empire would exploit this. Unless if both ally with the Empire it could use Kashmir to entice Pakistan or India to their side, it could use the Korean conflict to get allies, it could use the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it could divide the EU, and the list goes on.

The Empire would first destroy satellites of hostile countries and then use Star Destroyers to rain down upon key military and civilian targets. Star Destroyers by themselves are capable of turning a planet's surface to glass so it is not too far-fetched to imagine that they could level entire cities. It is doubtful that they would destroy capitals (what if they killed the people who can call for a surrender?) but large cities would definitely be destroyed. If the USA opposed the Empire then San Francisco and New York would be destroyed, if Russia St Petersburg and Volgograd would be destroyed, China would have Shanghai and Hong Kong etc. The Cheyenne Mountain Complex would stand no chance against the blast from a Star Destroyer. Earth does have a fighting chance though. This is better explained in the YouTube videos which I would advise watching. Several nuclear blasts can take down a Star Destroyer and our jets are more maneuverable compared to the cheaply made TIE Fighters. The ground attack would also be difficult for the Empire. Stormtrooper armor is designed to resist laser blasts so they are weak against our ballistics. As shown in Return of the Jedi stormtrooper armor was easily pierced by Ewok spears. Our combat armor isn't designed to resist a longsword so stormtrooper armor isn't designed to resist bullets. Equally, Imperials rifles have a shorter range than our guns and their helmets themselves impede trooper vision.

AT-AT walkers

Earth would come into issue with Imperial vehicles. Many Imperial vehicles were made of durasteel; although weaker than titanium durasteel is very resistant to kinetic damage. Although severe blunt force can destroy them (like how Ewoks destroyed AT-STs with logs) we would struggle to take them down. With no Snowspeeders which the Rebels had we would be hard pressed to topple the AT-AT walkers. Our mines, and other paraphernalia, would help take down AT-STs our weaponry would struggle against the Empire's vehicles. Our body armor and tanks would be weak against the Empire's lasers and plasma blasts. Despite this we will still start to resist the Empire until Palpatine decides that he's had enough. With the Rebel Alliance causing problems, such as on Jedha, and not simply wanting to turn Sol 3 to glass Palpatine sends one individual to end the war: Vader. 

I can imagine Vader landing on the lawn of the White House (if Trump decided to oppose the Empire) with members of the 501st. Televised we see the sheer power of the Sith Lord. Using the Force the White House's doors are forced open. The Presidential guard shoot at the Sith but their bullets are stopped mid-air. With one flick of his hand the guards clutch their throats as their life is slowly squeezed out of them. Vader's lightsaber flies to his other and a flash of red erupts from the end. Vader starts approaching the Oval Office and the guards fall one by one as Vader's red blade slices through them. Meanwhile, the 501st search through the White House dispatching security and arresting members of Trump's cabinet: Ivanka, Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, Mike Pence etc. Vader then uses the Force to smash into the Oval Office where Trump is. His bodyguards are Force-lifted upwards with their heads smashing against the roof. "Mr President. I must inform you that your term has ended earlier than expected" Vader's lightsaber would then impale the president. The 501st would bring in Pence. "Mr Pence. I hope you are more willing to accommodate the Empire than your predecessor. Otherwise you will find me less forgiving than your other Lord." After seeing the fall of the United States the last free world leaders would flee to the apparent security of underground bunkers. However, as the Separatist leaders found out at the end of the Clone Wars there is no escaping the Sith...

The Empire's Vietnam

Earth under the Empire

As the United States found out in Vietnam, the USSR found out in Afghanistan, and the US-led coalition found out in Iraq and Afghanistan it is one thing to fight a weaker power but something entirely different to win the peace. Earth may have lost the war but it will win the peace. Those who aligned with the Empire would be given positions of power over the rest of us, but a loyal member of the Imperial government would be placed in charge. From Coruscant high-tech products and the HoloNet would be imported to Earth. With them would be Imperial mining teams to take advantage of Earth's rich resources. Slavery would publicly return to Earth. Some of the collaborators would be willing to have Twi'lek and Wookie slaves arguing that as they are aliens human rights don't apply to them. In contrast the rest of society would virulently turn against the Empire and the collaborators if they hadn't already.

Just by looking at our own history and contemporary world would we be able to see what the Empire would face. Guerrilla factions would spring up around the world to oppose the new regime. As shown with Jedha and Alderaan the Empire has very heavy-handed methods in dealing with revolt. We all know Order 66. There were many other orders for the Clone Army with Order 37 having troopers arrest civilian populations and execute them if someone does not give themselves up. Although clones were fazed out of the Imperial Army, in Legends due to the Kaminoans rebelling, it is not too hard to imagine that at least some of these orders remained in place. Order 37 would be used to quarantine civilians and execute them if rebel leaders would not hand themselves over. Thanks to this many would actually side with the rebels over the Empire. As Earth is more divided compared to any other planet in the Galaxy the rebel groups would not form one congruent unit; in comparison the Twi'lek resistance on Ryloth during the Clone Wars was only divided based on who would lead them. Looking at contemporary Libya, Somalia and Syria there are many rebel groups fighting not only the government but each other. We can imagine something similar in this scenario. However, the Rebel Alliance would seek allies on Earth. This would unite some of the rebel factions. Thanks to the Rebels and the fighting the Empire the Earth rebels would get Imperial technology. Most importantly Imperial armor more resistant to blasters. When the Death Star is destroyed during the Battle of Yavin support for the rebels would grow but only with the death of the Emperor at the Battle of Endor would Empire rule end. Vader would be universally feared on Earth so the announcement that he died at Endor would be a huge moral boost for Earthen rebels. The Rebel Alliance would help oust the last Imperials from Earth. The remnants of the Empire would flee further into the Unknown Region where they eventually will form the First Order.

Post-Imperial Earth

The New Republic

Like the rest of the liberated Empire Sol 3 would be integrated into the New Republic. However, the New Republic would be receptive to Earth's diversity. Instead of being one unified government like Coruscant Earth would have a similar government like Naboo. Naboo has two governments: one for humans and one for gungans where both are represented with human and gungan politicians. Earth would be the same but with a more diverse set of politicians. On Earth many former countries would return like France, the USA, Russia etc. However, the map wouldn't be the same as it was when the Empire invaded. With the Republic's aid the borders would be redrawn to accommodate various groups. Maybe an independent Scotland, a united Israel-Palestine, and a Kurdistan? However, for years rebel groups not affiliated with either the New Republic or the new world order would still remain, For years they would be a problem until they either willing disarm (just like the IRA in real life), or be destroyed (like the LTTE in real life). However, Earth would remain connected to the wider Galaxy as Earthen humans move across the stars and various species like Twi'leks, Wookies and Rodians come to Earth. There could be even a populist movement to leave the Republic, or even a resurgent racism against aliens. Maybe even the new Jedi Order would visit Earth looking for prospective new Jedi. Earth would remain part of the Republic until out of the depths of space the First Order comes and Earth would be eerily reminded of her past when Snoke and Kylo Ren come onto the scene...

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.