Aliens vs. Predator (Dark Horse 1st Series 1990)      Trade Paperback 

3rd Printing 

The inhabitants of the colony planet Ryushi are peaceful ranchers - men and women who lead simple lives. But their lives are tragically shattered as they become part of a "coming of age" ceremony for that race of deadly alien hunters - the Predators. However, the Predators' prey are not the human inhabitants of Ryushi, but rather something far more dangerous - Aliens! 

Now, Dark Horse Comics presents the first Aliens versus Predator story. The quiet settlement on the planet Ryushi is turned into a battleground as the Predators clash with the vastly superior numbers of the Alien horde - with the few remaining humans caught in the middle fighting both sides! However, when it becomes apparent that the Aliens are winning, the humans and the Aliens are faced with a tough choice: trust each other - or die! All hell breaks loose as the warring Predators begin their attack on the Alien brood - with the planet's inhabitants caught right in the middle! Machiko has a plan to roust all the invaders, but what can she do alone, with only a gun at her side? Machiko's only allies against the ever-increasing Alien horde are a lone Predator and a man on the brink of death! 

Story/Spoilers: 

In part #0: Originally published in three installments in Dark Horse Presents, this edition collects the blockbuster "prequel" tale written by Randy Stradley and illustrated by Phillip Norwood. This storyline takes place prior to events contained in the Aliens vs. Predator four-issue, full-color series. 

As bored pilots Tom Strandberg and Scott Conover of the Lector provide narration in the form of an introspective conversation about nature versus technology, a Predator Mother Ship flies past (mistaken by the pilots as a meteor) carrying a captive Xenomorph Queen, harvesting its eggs for seeding planets with "game" to prepare inexperienced Un-Blooded Predators for their initiation in a Xenomorph hunt. Leader of the hunting party, Broken Tusk, is preparing for the hunt before being alerted by a subordinate that fellow Predator Top-Knot won a recent fight to claim the right to choose their hunting grounds. Top-Knot ultimately challenges Broken Tusk but is defeated by him. Broken Tusk chooses the planet of Ryushi to conduct his hunt, unbeknownst to him that a colony of humans had established themselves on the planet. Top-Knot instead leads another hunt on a marsh-covered planet that the party had seeded with Xenos. After a successful skirmish with the creatures, Top-Knot bloods a subordinate. 

Next in part #1: Continuing the story begun in the pages of Dark Horse Presents #34-#36, this is it - Dark Horse Comics' most ambitious project to date! The inhabitants of the colony planet Ryushi are peaceful ranchers - men and women who lead simple lives. But their lives are tragically shattered as they become part of a "coming of age" ceremony for that race of deadly alien hunters - the Predators. However, the Predators' prey are not the human inhabitants of Ryushi, but rather something far more dangerous - Aliens! 

Soon after, a bizarre pod lands on the planet of Ryushi, nearby the rhynth ranching colony of Prosperity Wells, that is currently expecting the arrival of the Lector for livestock shipment. As the seeding pod begins laying Eggs, it is detected by the ranch's long-range scanners, and replacement administrator to Hiroki Shimura, Machiko Noguchi, is notified. Machiko shares a tumultuous relationship with the personnel of the ranch and is forced to pacify a group of workers complaining to Shimura in regard to a higher pay cut. As the Lector enters Ryushi's orbit, a Yautja hunting party's shuttle lands within Prosperity Well's horizon, the group led by the Leader Broken Tusk. By nightfall, workers Ackland and Jame Roth discover dead Facehuggers and a herd of dazed rhynth. Ackland tells her to give the Facehuggers to colony doctor Kesar Revna, but to lie that they had located them in Iwa Gorge to avoid a quarantine. A party is held in the town for the arrival of the Lector and their first rhynth export shipment to Earth, and Machiko surprises the still-disgruntled ranchers with the news of their receiving a larger cut. Meanwhile, Dr. Revna, intrigued with the Facehugger specimens' he has received, travels to Iwa Gorge to retrieve more. However, he encounters the Predator's shuttle and is discovered by the hunters, attempting to escape on his Yamaha hover bike. He loses control and crashes into Broken Tusk and incapacitating him, before driving into the shuttle, causing it to explode. The party, now without a leader or a means to leave the planet, declare war on their apparent enemy. While reading Revna's report, Machiko is surprised by pilot of the Lector, Scott and subjected to his amorous advances, to which she briskly rejects by throwing him against a wall. Apologizing to Machiko for Scott's behaviour, co-pilot Tom drives Scott back to the Lector, just in time to be captured by a horde of Xenomorphs that had managed to establish a hive, alongside a Queen, within the Lector. 

Next in part #2: The quiet settlement on the planet Ryushi is turned into a battleground as the Predators clash with the vastly superior numbers of the Alien horde - with the few remaining humans caught in the middle fighting both sides! However, when it becomes apparent that the Aliens are winning, the humans and the Predators are faced with a tough choice: trust each other - or die! 

At dawn, Machiko and Hiroki send Copter-1 pilots Ashley Ikeda and David Spanner to Iwa Gorge in search of Dr. Revna, learning from his wife, Miriam Revna that the Facehuggers were brought in by Ackland and Roth. Ikeda and Spanner discover the remains of the Yautja shuttle and the unconscious leader. They subsequently take him back to base, unaware that the hunting party spot their aircraft and follow it. Coming across the home of rancher Bob Sheldon, the Yautja slaughter him, his wife and his dog, but their son, Bobby Sheldon, narrowly escapes on their hover bike. Machiko and Hiroki confront Ackland on his callousness. Ackland subsequently defends himself by saying he didn't want to delay the operation, but Hiroki suggests any potential problem with Ackland's herd may be the reason the Lector has yet to leave the planet with its first load. Machiko subsequently sent Collins to speak to the Lector crew in person. Summoned to the med center, Machiko and Hiroki, along with Ackland and Roth, discover in awe, Revna studying the monstrous Broken Tusk, restrained and still unconscious. Suddenly, Bobby Sheldon crashes his hoverbike in town, and he is brought to the med center, positively identifying Broken Tusk as belonging to the "monsters" that killed his parents. Having Ikeda scout the remains of the Sheldon ranch, Machiko warns the town of an imminent attack and secures them inside the main complex, Hiroki placed in charge of security. Prosperity Wells is barricaded with cargo containers, unaware of the hive inside the Lector. After learning that Collins has yet to return from the Lector, Machiko opts to investigate herself, being given a service pistol by Hiroki. Machiko goes to the Lector, escorted by copter-pilots Riley and Mason armed with scatter-guns, but Mason is seized by Xenomorphs as soon as he enters the ship, and Machiko only survives an outpouring wave of Xenomorphs due to an “Un-Blooded” Predator interfering and attacking them.  

Next in part #3: All hell breaks loose as the warring Predators begin their attack on the Alien brood - with the planet's inhabitants caught right in the middle! Machiko has a plan to roust all the invaders, but what can she do alone, with only a gun at her side. 

Leaving the inexperienced Yautja to be overwhelmed, Machiko contacts Hiroki in time to hear the security team under attack, where she discovers Riley already slain by another hunter, who is then overwhelmed by Xenomorphs. Entering the south lock with the other workers, Machiko orders all doors welded shut except the east lock, and watches in despair as Hiroki and his security team are killed by the hunters through security cameras, sacrificing themselves to buy the colonists time to take refuge. Witnessing the group of Predators parading the heads of human and Xenomorph prey around a victory bonfire, Machiko vengefully gears up for combat, but not before leaving Weaver in charge and giving Ackland a black eye for his causing of the Lector's infestation. Machiko takes a hover bike and travels to the med center where she reunites with Miriam. She leaves her a semi-automatic shotgun for defense before taking leave for the uninfected rhyth holding pens outside the Lector. After she left, a lone Predator impersonates Machiko's voice to lure Miriam elsewhere, before ripping open the doorway. Broken Tusk manages to partially break his restraints to defend her. Hearing the attack, Machiko rams through the wall of the med center with her hoverbike and into the insubordinate hunter. Miriam, trusting her captive, releases him, allowing him to gear up and fight his disobedient charge, giving Machiko and Miriam time to reach a copter and take flight. After killing his foe, Broken Tusk watches his trainees fight against the Xenomorphs, in time to witness a rhynth stampede released by Machiko. He manages to get out of harms way by climbing a tower as he watches hunter and Xenomorph alike trampled and crushed by the stampede. While Weaver leads the evacuation, Miriam convinces Machiko to rescue the "Broken Tusked Warrior" with the copter. 

Next in part #4: Action is the key word for this final issue of comicdom's best-selling direct-sale comic book series! Machiko's only allies against the ever-increasing Alien horde are a lone Predator and a man on the brink of death! 

When Miriam and Machiko rescue the "Broken Tusked Warrior" with the copter, a lunging Xenomorph causes it to crash. Meanwhile, Lector pilots Tom Strandberg and Scott Conover have since escaped their confines within the Lector hive, arriving in town to witness the chaos, as well as the copter crashing in front of them. Scott pulls Machiko from the wreckage whilst Broken Tusk carries Miriam in his arms, revealing that she died. Machiko, Tom and Scott board themselves inside the colony's east lock and plan to wait for the arrival of the Marines. However, Tom finds the message from Takashi Chigusa denying her request for military support and instead ordering the preservation of the Xenomorphs, and to await instructions from Shigeru Chigusa. Suddenly, Tom begins convulsing, and births a Chestburster that is immediately killed by the hunter, Scott realizing that he too has been impregnated. After Machiko offers to give Scott a chance at revenge and a mercy killing when the time comes, Scott gives her the codes necessary to crash the Lector's orbital barge onto the complex, before being put out of his misery by Noguchi. Machiko and Broken Tusk use a tractor to ram-raid into the Lector hive, crashing into the Queen. Broken Tusk defends the emergency escape pod while Machiko activates the barge navigational instruction from the cockpit. Surviving the hit-and-run, the Queen attacks and mortally wounds Machiko's ally, but is knocked back by Machiko shots whilst she drags him into the escape pod. The Queen forces itself into the escape-pod, but its hand is severed by Broken Tusk and its head decapitated after the pod doors close. The pod launches just in time to avoid the barge crashing onto the Lector and Prosperity Wells, destroying the colony and eliminating the Xenomorphs. The two survivors land miles from the now destroyed colony and exit the pod. The fatally wounded Predator uses the rest of his strength to brand Machiko with his mark before dying, Machiko tearfully lamenting her loss. Chigusa declared Prosperity Wells a "write-off" and Machiko's contract was bought out. While the colonists were granted passage to a friendlier location in the Rigel system, Machiko decided to stay behind on Ryushi, living in a rancher's former home and mounting the Queen's head over her front door. There, she awaits the Predator's arrival for their next Xenomorph hunt. 

Trade Paperback reprints/collects: Aliens vs. Predator (1990) Issues #0-4, Dark Horse Presents (1986) Fifth Anniversary Special, & Dark Horse Presents (1986) Issues #34-36. Dark Horse Comics

Trade Paperback is bagged & boarded and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly. 

Third Printing 

Publisher: Dark Horse / Titan Books 

Publication Date: 1991 

Format: FC, 176 pages, TPB, 10.25" x 6.75" 

ISBN-10: 1852864133 

ISBN-13: 9781852864132

Collectible Entertainment note: Trade Paperback is in Fine + to Very Fine condition.  Very Nice!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Aliens and/or Predator collector / enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Very Highly Recommended. 

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