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Predator (comics line)

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Predatorissue1

Cover to Predator #1 by Chris Warner.

The Predator comic book line is a long-running series of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics based on the Predator franchise. The line has included a number of limited series, one-shots and short stories, starting with the comic Predator: Concrete Jungle (originally titled simply Predator) in June 1989.

Since the line's inception, Dark Horse has published a total of 42 different Predator stories, as well as various collected editions, reprints and non-canon crossover comics that introduce the titular Predator species to other franchises.

Publication History

Origins and development

Dark Horse Comics launched its Predator comics line in 1989. Much as had been the case with the company's already-successful Aliens line, launched the previous year, the first Predator series that Dark Horse produced (originally titled simply Predator, but later renamed Predator: Concrete Jungle in collected form) was a continuation of the film on which the licence was based — in this case, it followed Detective John Schaefer, brother of Dutch from Predator, as he investigated his sibling's mysterious disappearance whilst simultaneously dealing with a Yautja incursion in New York City. The story also featured the return of Major General Philips from the film, now leading a clandestine military organisation attempting to deal with the Yautja.

Again much like the Aliens line, the Predator line has continued semi-regularly as a series of miniseries, one-shots and short stories, the majority of which have featured original characters and storylines, focusing on widely varied encounters between humans and the Yautja throughout the course of human history. However, both Schaefer and Philips have returned in two further adventures, and the three series featuring them are now referred to as the "core Dark Horse Predator graphic novels" by the publisher.[1]

Expansion

In 1992, inspired by the success of the Aliens vs. Predator crossover from two years previous, Dark Horse teamed up with DC Comics and introduced the Predator to seminal comic book character Batman in the landmark series Batman versus Predator. The success of the comic led to an ongoing series of crossover comics that pitted various characters, both from within Dark Horse and from other publishers, against the Predators. Similar crossovers also emerged for both the Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator lines. Also in 1992, Dark Horse attempted to expand the Predator comics line to the United Kingdom market, first as part of Aliens magazine and later in the anthology magazine Total Carnage. However, the mid-1990s fall in comic book sales led to both magazines being cancelled in early 1994 and Dark Horse retreating to its traditional American base.

Hiatus and relaunch

Following Predator: Xenogenesis in 1999, the Predator line (along with Dark Horse's Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator lines) entered a deliberate ten-year hiatus. During this break, the only Predator comics published were Omnibus collections of the existing comic books.

The break in Predator comics finally came to an end in 2009, when Dark Horse relaunched the line with a new limited series titled Predator: Prey to the Heavens. Beginning in January 2013, Dark Horse began issuing its back catalogue of Predator comics — starting with the original series, Predator: Concrete Jungle — as digital downloads via its subsidiary Dark Horse Digital. More recent titles in the line have been published simultaneously in both physical and digital formats.

The Predator line potentially proves somewhat more complicated to follow than the Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator lines, at least in its early days, in that it includes a number of serialized short story prequels that share their title with the main series into which they lead; thus there are actually two comics called Predator: Race War, two called Predator: Bad Blood etc. In most (but not all) cases, these serialized prequels were subsequently collected and reissued as a "bonus" issue, typically designated issue #0, of the relevant main series.

Common Themes

The Predator comic series, much like the originating Predator films, have tended to focus mostly on stories told from a human point of view, usually with lone or small numbers of Predators acting as mysterious antagonists, visiting the Earth and causing havoc and terror amongst their human prey. In contrast to the Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator comics, which predominantly take place away from Earth in the futuristic time period of the Alien films, the vast majority of Predator comics have been set on Earth in a contemporary or even historical setting; however, since the line's relaunch in 2009, this has proven less consistently true. The exact motives and culture of the Yautja are typically left mysterious in the comics, although these elements are explored more thoroughly in the Aliens vs. Predator spin-off comics.

Predator Comics

Film adaptations

Original stories

Collections

Crossover comics

See also: Crossover comics line

Novel Adaptations

Several of the comics in the Predator line have been adapted into novels:

External Links

References

  1. ↑ "Dark Horse Comics - Predator Omnibus Volume 1". Retrieved on 2015-05-18.

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