Line #17 ComicBook/AliensVsPredator


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/42672_6812_48796_1_aliens_vs_predator.jpg]]
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3	[[Franchise/AlienVsPredator This is where it all started.]]
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5	The original ''Aliens vs. Predator'' comic book miniseries by Creator/DarkHorseComics. The idea came about when some Dark Horse comics creative types were sitting around, talking about other comics companies doing "versus" titles to boost sales, and started brainstorming their own "versus" title. Suggestions got increasingly ridiculous, before editor and artist Chris Warner finally said [[EurekaMoment "Alien versus Predator,"]] and everyone looked at each other, shocked that it hadn't been the first thing they thought of. Not only was the pairing completely natural, but Dark Horse Comics already had the license to print comics for both the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise and the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' franchise (at the time, only consisting of [[Film/{{Predator}} the original movie.]]) Fox licensing was all over the idea, a writer and artist (Phill Norwood at first, then Chris Warner himself with #4) was attached, and it was full-steam ahead.
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7	The story is set [[SchrodingersCanon nominally]] in the Aliens universe, with a far-flung future with space travel and distant human colonies, and a corrupt corporation overseeing almost everything. In this universe, the small planet Ryushi is just exiting its "first phase" of colonization, preparing to deliver their first roundup of rhynth (something like a cross between a cow and rhinoceros) to a Company freighter. Because the first phase is ending, the previous colony administrator is leaving, and a new boss, Machiko Noguchi, is taking over. She's initially cold and distant, trying to run the colony tight and by-the-book, but is finding her approach is not earning her respect from the rough-and-tumble colonists.
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9	Meanwhile, a Predator ship is racing through space towards a hunt. On board, a captive Alien Queen lays eggs for the Predators to "seed" on their chosen worlds so they can hunt them some Aliens. A screening process prevents eggs which contain facehuggers with Queen larvae from entering the mix, but Queen isn't a fan of having her eggs incinerated right in front of her, and manages to push the screening drone off course. Thus, one of the facehuggers on this hunt will impregnate someone with a Queen. And of course, the world chosen for this hunt is the dry, hot, arid, desert world of Ryushi, the Predators either being unaware of or not caring that there will be humans around who might screw up their hunt.
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11	It doesn't take long for things to go completely pear-shaped. The facehuggers infect the rhynth of one of the settlers' herds, and he covers up that his rhynth might be infected with something so he doesn't lose money on the roundup. The infected rhynth are loaded aboard the freighter ''[[MeaningfulName Lecter]]'', where the aliens hatch and get the two pilots. The freighter is docked in the middle of the colony, meaning the aliens can come barging out at any time to attack the colonists, and the Predators have to go through the humans to get to their prey. And the colony's doctor, intrigued by the facehugger the rancher's assistant gave him, heads to the totally wrong spot to look for them, encounters the Predators, and accidentally puts the hunt's leader in a coma, leaving a large group of effectively unruly teenage Predators on a world with humans and Aliens with no adult supervision. The colonists have to fight for their lives against the Aliens and the Predators, the Aliens have to try and fight off the Predators while attacking humans to build their hive, and the young, inexperienced, more-balls-than-brains Predators have to try and take on an entire Alien hive and some badly overwhelmed but extremely pissed-off human colonists.
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13	This first story set the stage for all other Aliens vs. Predator stories to come, and is actually a pretty fine piece of comic book writing in and of itself. Several more comics series followed. The comic story itself was adapted into a novel by Creator/StevePerry and Stephani Perry, entitled ''Aliens vs. Predator: Prey''.
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15	!! This comic includes examples of:
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17	* ActionGirl: Machiko Noguchi. She doesn't start off action at first, but it's firmly established well before everything goes to shit that she has the chops for it.
18	* ActionPrologue: PlayedWith. Fox wanted one "Aliens" story and one "Predator" story to precede the first "Versus" story. So one issue focuses on the Alien Queen (held captive by Predators, though no actual Predators appear in the issue), and the next shows a bunch of Predators fighting over potential hunting grounds, before we finally see Predators actually (successfully) hunting Aliens, to create a contrast for how dramatically the hunt in the main story is about to go awry. These first three issues (chapters in collected editions) feature basically narration by Conover and Strandberg debating the merits and flaws of humanity's high-tech, corporate lifestyle, the nature of manifest destiny, and so on. While there's plenty of action in two of the three prologues, there's also a lot of philosophical narration counterpointing it.
19	* AdaptationalHeroism: The Predator leader, Broken Tusk, is a very noble character, even kind (for a Predator, at least). Notably, this is the first story in which Predators and humans team-up against a bigger threat, and Broken Tusk treats Machiko with respect and honor, even marking her as a member of his Clan. Other Predators may choose not to kill humans, but few will actively ally with them, or go so far as "adopting" them.
20	* AdaptationalSexuality: In the comic, Jame Roth is a SmallRoleBigImpact character who really only has two or three scenes (she isn't even given a first name). In the novel, her role is expanded greatly, including adding even-more-bit-character Cathy as her HappilyMarried spouse.
21	* AdaptationalVillainy: To counterpoint the example of Broken Tusk, we have ''every single other Predator in the story''. They kill pretty much indiscriminately, without regard to victims who are unarmed, children, etc. Once Broken Tusk figures out what they've been up to, he seems to pretty much wash his hands of them.
22	** The novel makes it explicit that he intends to beat some sense into them, fatally if necessary;
23	-->"(after Broken Tusk [[CurbstompBattle dispatching]] the ringleader among his rogue students) Perhaps Tichinde had been alone, but he doubted it. Hunting alone was not common behaviour to the young. And if they were here, in the ooman camp, on a Hunt - nothing would stop him from the lessons he would teach them."
24	* AdmiringTheAbomination: Downplayed. Machiko and one of her people have been ambushed by the Aliens coming out of the ''Lector'', her companion snatched away. Then a Predator appears and begins fighting the horde. Machiko is initially predisposed towards the Predator, since the Aliens killed one of her people, the Predator looks more human, and recalls the stories of samurai and warrior monks from her childhood. See BigDamnHeroes for how it all turns out.
25	* AnimalStampede: Machiko stampedes the irritable rhynth to take out scores of Aliens and Predators duking it out in Prosperity Wells' main street.
26	* ArmorIsUseless: Averted with the Predators. Despite them not typically wearing much armor in their other appearances, here they wear what looks like full plate armor, made from xenomorph exoskeletons, to protect them from acid blood spatter. Played straight with Machiko's armored vest, which does precisely nothing to protect her (not unlike the Marines' armor in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''.)
27	* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: {{Discussed}} in the second, Predator-centric prologue. Tom Strandberg advances the idea with his copilot, Scott Conover, and Scott starts deconstructing it. Tom points out that human political infighting isn't so different. And of course, the discussion is counterpointed by showing the Predators operating on literal Asskicking Equals Authority.
28	* BigDamnHeroes: Subverted. When Machiko first walks unaware into the Alien hive in the ''Lecter'', she kills only a handful of them before her gun runs dry. Just as they're about to swarm her, a Predator blows the head off one Alien with a laser gun, before leaping into battle against his foes. The subversion is that the Predator wasn't acting to save Machiko, he just wanted to kill a bunch of Aliens and grab some nice trophies, and the Aliens quickly swarm and slaughter him. Then subverted again when Machiko leaves the Predator to his fate.
29	-->'''Machiko''': I learned a long time ago. . . never align yourself with a loser.
30	** Played straight when the injured Broken Tusk acts to save Dr. Miriam Revna from one of his wayward hunters.
31	* BizarreSexualDimorphism: This series posits that facehuggers which carry Queen embryos have spines on their back.
32	* BlindedByTheLight: Broken Tusk has this reaction when Dr. Revna is driving towards him on a hover bike, shading his eyes from the vehicle's headlights, causing the bike to plow into him and put him in a coma (and the bike to ricochet into the Predator ship, destroying it and royally pissing off the remaining Predators). Nevermind that Predators see in infrared, so headlights shouldn't bother them in the slightest.
33	* TheCavalryArrivesLate: As soon as they realize they have two hostile sets of [=XTs=] closing in on them, the colony sends a distress signal requesting Colonial Marines to help deal with the problem. The Company holds this cavalry back because they want to know more about the assorted aliens, ordering Machiko to take steps to preserve all specimens. [[ColonyDrop Machiko is disinclined to acquiesce to their request.]]
34	* ChekhovsGun: Prosperity Wells' communications tower. Machiko and Mr. Shimura climb it early in the story to watch the ''Lecter'' land, and Machiko notes the "300 pound" weight limit and doubts it can support both of them. Later, Broken Tusk is trying to fight his way clear of ''several'' Aliens on the ladder of the tower, and it starts giving way beneath their combined weight. Machiko crashing the copter into it (see HellishCopter) finishes the colony's ability to talk to anyone not within walkie-talkie range.
35	* ColonyDrop: Machiko wipes out the hive (and the colony) by dropping the ''Lecter's'' orbiting abbatoir down on it. Unfortunately, the only transmitter she can use to contact the barge is on the ''Lecter'', which the Aliens have turned into their hive.
36	* ContrivedCoincidence: Roth finds a bunch of Ackland's rhynth sick, with dead facehuggers scattered around Beriki Canyon. Ackland tells Roth to take the things to Dr. Revna, but tell him she found them in Iwa Gorge. Revna goes to Iwa Gorge to look for more of them. Guess where the Predators decided to land their ship?
37	* DefrostingIceQueen: A non-romantic example. Machiko is initially a tough, no-nonsense, by-the-book Company woman, but is growing frustrated that her approach with the colonists and Company staff isn't bringing her the results she wanted. She takes Hirkoi's advice to loosen up and "get some rhynth shit between (her) toes." She makes some surprising inroads with colonists and staff. . . in the day before all hell breaks loose.
38	* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Machiko has an unremembered nightmare regarding the Aliens before they come streaming out of the ''Lector'', at which point she recalls the dream.
39	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Since this was before ''Film/Alien3'', it hadn't yet been revealed that Aliens take some structural information from their hosts. Thus, all the Aliens, no matter what critter from what planet they hatch from, all look like the Warriors from ''Film/{{Aliens}}''.
40	* EarnedStripes: See FacialMarkings. The mark of (presumably, we see a few different sigils) the Clan etched in the Aliens' acid blood is a rite of passage for Predators, passing into adulthood and earning the right to be hunters. [[spoiler:At the climax of the comic, Broken Tusk marks Machiko in this way, signifying that she's earned her stripes by the codes of his people.]]
41	* EnemyMine: Machiko and Broken Tusk must team up to take out the Alien hive, as it's already grown far too big for either of them to deal with alone.
42	* EvilDetectingDog: The first real attack by the Predators against the colonists is the outlying Sheldon family, whose dog detects the cloaked Predator and goes after it. [[KickTheDog The dog doesn't fare well.]]
43	* FacialMarkings: The comic posits that Predators who have successfully hunted Aliens are marked on their brow with a symbol, presumably of their Clan, in the Aliens' acid blood, signifying they have passed a trial of some kind. Broken Tusk's sigil is a lightning bolt, and he has one not only scarred into his forehead, but on a few pieces of his gear. At the end of the comic, he gives Machiko the same marking as a sign of respect and admiration from one warrior-hunter to another. This mark becomes critical to Machiko's character in later ''[=AvP=]'' stories, a symbol of her being half-in-half-out-of Predator culture.
44	* HellishCopter: The helicopter-type-thing Machiko takes to try and escape Prosperity Wells ends up like this. Granted, it was mostly because she didn't know how to fly the thing in the first place ''before'' attempting an extremely tricky maneuver. Interference from a xenomorph didn't help matters any, either.
45	* HeroicSacrifice: Several.
46	** Hiroki Shimura and a few other colonists hold off the attacking Predators long enough for the colonists to get the doors sealed from Aliens and Predators.
47	** Conover gets a RedemptionEqualsDeath moment when he gives Machiko everything she needs to pull off her plan, before she kills him because of the chestburster within.
48	** Broken Tusk goes out like a badass fending off the Queen long enough for Machiko to not only finish her plan but eject them in ''Lector's'' escape pod.
49	** Quite a few RedShirt Predators pull unintentional ones, leaping into glorious battle against hordes of Aliens (bypassing Machiko in the process) only be overwhelmed and killed.
50	* IChooseToStay: After the dust clears, the Company abandons the colony, shipping the colonists off to other worlds and reallocating the staff. They buy out Machiko's contract (essentially firing her for costing them the colony all the Alien and Predator specimens they wanted), and offer to set her up somewhere else to live out her life. She chooses to remain on Ryushi, both because it's become the only place she can think of as "home" after all she'd gone through there. . . and because she knows, sooner or later, Broken Tusk's people will be back, and she feels they deserve an explanation for what happened to him. [[GoingNative And because, with his mark, she just might get a chance to live the Predator lifestyle.]]
51	* InsistentTerminology: Meta example. In the novelization, Jame Roth and Cathie are referred to as "spouse," not "wife."
52	* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: Downplayed. The Company is named Chigusa in this story, and the two highest-ranking Company representatives are Hiroki Shimura and Machiko Noguchi, both with strong Japanese names and drawn with strong Japanese features. When the Company in the ''Alien'' 'Verse was finally revealed onscreen to be Weyland-Yutani, Chigusa was retconned into their less-successful competitor that eventually went out of business.
53	* {{Jerkass}}: Conover. He's rather abrasive at the best of times, and when he's drunk, comes on to Machiko ''way'' to strong, and won't take "no" for an answer, causing her to throw him across the room. Also, Ackland, for being an arrogant, self-centered tool who basically lets the whole mess happen in the first place.
54	* MeaningfulEcho: As with the Predator in the first film, Broken Tusk communicates exclusively in mimicked snippets of dialogue he overhears (mostly from Machiko). These are all spookily relevant to the situation at hand, indicating that while Broken Tusk doesn't speak English, he damn sure understands it. Notably, the novelization alters this plot point slightly: Broken Tusk isn't mimicking the words himself, but using the recorder in his armor to replay them, and doesn't understand what the phrases he's parroting back actually mean. . . despite them still being perfectly appropriate to the situation.
55	* MeaningfulName:
56	** Machiko calls the Predator she teams up with "Broken Tusk," since one of his mandibular teeth is broken off. The novelization reveals his proper Predator name is Dachande, which means "different knife," also alluding to his broken tooth.
57	** In the novelization, Dachande names Machiko Da'dtou-di, the feminine form of "small knife," once he realizes she's female, small even by human standards, yet a better Predator than his own Unblooded.
58	** The freighter visiting Ryushi is named the ''Lecter'', after Hannibal Lector. Fitting for a tug, like the ''Nostromo'', that is carrying an abbatoir instead of a refinery, but also fitting as a place spawning man-eating monsters.
59	* NamedByTheAdaptation: Because "Weyland-Yutani" hadn't been revealed on-screen by that point (all references to the Company's name in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' wound up in deleted scenes), Dark Horse names the Company "Chigusa." Once Weyland-Yutani was officially canonized, Dark Horse [[RetCon retconned]] Chigusa into their less-successful competitor.
60	* NoseArt: The ''Lector'' has crudely-painted heart with the words "I know I'm ugly but my mama loves me" and a pig's face in it.
61	* OffWithHisHead: Machiko kills the Queen like this using the door of the ''Lector's'' escape pod.
62	* PreAsskickingOneLiner: One of Broken Tusk's borrowed phrases from Machiko ("You know rhynth temperament, right? I've got three thousand head that have been crammed into holding pens since last night -- what kind of mood do you think they're in right now?") becomes this as he takes one of his errant hunters to school:
63	-->'''Broken Tusk''': ''(to wayward Predator)'' What kind of mood do you think they're in right now? ''(cue MegatonPunch)''
64	* PreserveYourGays: In the novelization, Jame Roth and her spouse Cathie are among the few survivors at the end.
65	* RankScalesWithAsskicking: Machiko Noguchi is the highest-ranked corporate executive on Ryushi, and quite the Action Girl. Also, when Machiko first sees Broken Tusk leap into battle against the Aliens, she assumes she's about to see a replay of all the other Predators who leapt headfirst into glorious slaughter, only to get overwhelmed and butchered by the Aliens' superior numbers. But she doesn't realize he's the eldest Predator, the master of this particular hunt, and the rank-and-file Aliens pose zero threat to him.
66	* RevolversAreJustBetter: The novelization changes Machiko's semi-auto pistol into a revolver.
67	* ShoutOut:
68	** The freighter ''Lecter'', obviously, to Hannibal Lector.
69	** Ryushi is a desert planet in a binary starsystem with a truly remarkable sunset.
70	* ShownTheirWork: A minor example, but Broken Tusk wanders out into the courtyard of the colony, and sees the other Predators engaged in a pitch battle with no one. Broken Tusk adjusts the settings on his mask, and suddenly the Aliens become visible to him. ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' established the xenomorphs don't show up in infrared, which is what the Predators naturally see in.
71	* SingleBiomePlanet: Ryushi is a desert. PlayedWith, in that Machiko's narration says that while she'd always considered it a featureless brown wasteland, once she gets out in it, she realizes how much natural variation and beauty there is there.
72	* SmallRoleBigImpact: Roth. She works for Ackland, whose rhynth have been infected by the facehuggers. Ackland doesn't want to risk his rhynth (and thus, his money) being tied up in quarantine, so he tells Roth to tell Dr. Revna that she found the specimens in a completely different place, [[ContrivedCoincidence which just happens to be where the Predators landed their ship.]] Revna ends up accidentally blowing up the ship and knocking the Predator leader, Broken Tusk, into a coma, which leaves the rest of the adolescent Predators to their own devices.
73	* SuperWindowJump: Little Bobby Sheldon does this to get to a hoverbike and escape the Predators who killed his mom, dad, and dog, and tried to kill him. SoftGlass is downplayed: his t-shirt is tattered after the jump and he clearly got some minor lacerations from the glass.
74	* TalkToTheFist: Machiko, when she has enough of Ackland's bullshit.
75	* VillainDecay: The Aliens' one arguably starts here. While they're still very formidable, it's only in fairly large groups. The young, inexperienced Predators easily slaughter bunches of them, but [[WeHaveReserves there are always more.]] Machiko's handgun also punches really big holes in them with little effort, when an Alien was seen to NoSell Gorman's pistol shots in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. Maybe Ryushi is dangerous enough (''before'' the Predators and Aliens get there) that you need pistols that can cut xenomorphs in half as a sidearm?
76	* WaifFu: Whatever martial art Machiko studied, she's good enough at it to hurl a grown man half again her size across the room, ''upside down''. Granted, he was ''extremely'' drunk at the time, but still.
77	* WillfullyWeak: ''War'' shows that Predators actually have more conventional weapons like rifles and grenades that they reserve for serious circumstances, such as warfare or extracting Queens from hives, where they don't need the fight to be even ''remotely'' fair. The novelization also indicates that, for traditional hunts, the ritual is to match the prey weapon for weapon. . . so against Aliens, Predators tend to bring melee weapons (with the odd inefficient ranged weapon), while hunts against humans involve more sophisticated gear. The Predators on Ryushi are only issued cloaking devices because humans are present; otherwise, the devices would be forbidden until they'd completed their first Alien hunt.

Context ComicBook / AliensVsPredator