The cosmos is about to get a lot more dangerous at Marvel Comics with the surprise acquisition of the licenses for both the Aliens and Predator franchises, with a number of comic books, collections, and reprints planned for the near future.
C.B. Cebulski, Editor-in-Chief of Marvel, (courtesy of IGN) reminisced about the films, saying that “I can clearly remember where I was when I saw each of these modern masterpieces for the first time, and reveling in how both masterfully weave extraterrestrial dread and drama into some of the most iconic scenes we’ve ever seen on film. And it’s that legacy that we’re going to live up to!”
To whet everyone’s appetite, artist David Finch provided illustrations of the creatures (one holding a very familiar head), and said that he was “…fortunate enough to be a kid when they were new” and proudly revealed that he drew the illustrations “…with a massive smile on my face.”
When Conan the Barbarian and the Star Wars line found their way back to Marvel after many years of publication at Dark Horse Comics, it wasn’t a huge surprise, since both series had a long publication history at Marvel and were originally published by “The House of Ideas”. This move by Marvel coincides with parent company Disney’s acquisition of Twentieth Century Fox, essentially bringing the two properties under the same roof for the the very first time.
Alien first entered the comics medium in 1979 when the film was adapted by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson for a graphic novel by Heavy Metal. The Predator clawed his way onto the comic page with Predator #1 in the summer of 1989 from Dark Horse Comics.
Check out both of Finch’s covers below and stay tuned to Conskipper for more information about Marvel’s publishing plans for these two storied franchises.
