Aliens vs. Predator: Blood Time
Aliens vs. Predator: Blood Time is an eight-page story in Dark Horse Comics #25, written by Randy Stradley and drawn by Phill Norwood. The issue is dated September 1, 1994. Top-Knot, a Yautja veteran, took ten young bloods into an unnamed swamp for a blooding against the most dangerous prey their tribe had found. A kill on that ground was worth more than twenty lesser trophies, and failure almost always meant death. Light-Stepper killed an adult Xenomorph there and lost a hand. Two-Stripes tried to claim the head, and Top-Knot left him tied to a tree.
Plot Summary
The Marsh Hunt
Two-Stripes waded the marsh at sunset with nine other hunters, and flying reptiles crossed the water overhead. The opening line named the hunt as his time. The prey was the most dangerous the tribe worlds had produced, and a kill there would raise him in the tribe more than twenty lesser trophies. Failure on that hunt almost always meant death. They had been in the swamp for two days, and so far the wait had outweighed the hunt. Two-Stripes blamed the delay on their guide, Top-Knot, and thought the older hunter had lost the trail. Light-Stepper heard a clicking in the growth and showed that the trail was in front of them.
The First Sign
The first sign was a torn flying reptile under the trees, with a broken spear, a burn from Xenomorph acid, and a skull, and the discovery was an honor. Light-Stepper was on the body when Two-Stripes knocked him aside and claimed the discovery as his own, and Top-Knot let that claim stand. The hunting party followed the marks into thicker growth, where Xenomorphs came out of the trees and hit the line. Light-Stepper was at the front of that fight, and Two-Stripes stayed with him instead of breaking off on his own.
The First Xenomorph
The hunting party closed with the Xenomorphs under the trees, and Light-Stepper left the ground with a spear and struck one of them. The spear broke as the two of them came down together, and acid from the body took his right hand, but he had killed the Xenomorph. Two-Stripes had stayed near him through the fight, and he stood over the fallen hunter with little time left and took the head instead of staying with the wound.
The Stolen Head
Two-Stripes carried the Xenomorph's head back through the marsh and presented it to the hunting party. He had left Light-Stepper on the ground, and he waited for the place in the tribe that a kill on this ground was supposed to bring. Light-Stepper had been brought back alive, and the head was his kill. The clan learned what Two-Stripes had done, and Top-Knot turned the claim away. The return ended on Top-Knot's mask in front of the hunter who had brought the head.
Left At The Tree
The party did not blood Two-Stripes, because Top-Knot's word was law and failure on the hunt almost always meant death. They took his armor and his weapons, and the ship left with the other hunters. Two-Stripes stayed in the swamp, tied to a tree, with the armor in the shallows, and he was left for the Xenomorphs on that ground. The last caption used the same words as the first page, over the hunter tied in the swamp and the ship leaving.
Key Characters
- Two-Stripes was one of the ten young hunters on the swamp trial. He claimed Light-Stepper's find at the first corpse, then took the Xenomorph head after Light-Stepper made the kill. Top-Knot refused that claim, and the party left him tied to a tree without armor.
- Light-Stepper found the trail when Two-Stripes thought Top-Knot had lost it. He killed a Xenomorph, lost his right hand to the acid, and lived, and the clan counted the kill as his.
- Top-Knot led the hunt. He was a veteran of many hunts, his word was law, and he left Two-Stripes in the swamp when the false claim failed.
Editions
Dark Horse Comics published Aliens vs. Predator: Blood Time in full color, as an eight-page story in Dark Horse Comics #25, dated September 1, 1994. Randy Stradley wrote it and edited the issue with Edward Martin III. Phill Norwood drew it. Frank Lopez colored it. Vickie Williams lettered it. Richard Corben painted the title page, Paul Mendoza and Jim Royal drew the cover, and Scott Tice designed the issue. The story was later reprinted in the 1996 collection Aliens/Predator: War and in Aliens vs. Predator Omnibus Volume 1.
Behind The Scenes
Blood Time is the marsh hunt Top-Knot led after Dachande took Ryushi from him. In the 1989 Aliens vs. Predator comic, Dachande beat Top-Knot for the choice of hunting ground and picked the seeded colony, and Top-Knot took another party into a swamp. Phill Norwood drew the eight pages, Frank Lopez colored them, and Vickie Williams lettered them. Richard Corben painted the title page that opens the story. The issue was a flip book. Paul Mendoza penciled the Blood Time cover and Jim Royal inked it, and Russ Heath drew the James Bond cover on the other side.
Later accounts call Two-Stripes a bad blood because he took another hunter's kill and was caught. Blood Time ends with him tied to the tree, without armor or weapons, and does not follow him after the ship has gone. Light-Stepper lost his right hand to the acid, lived, and was blooded on that kill. He returns, one-handed, in Aliens vs. Predator: Duel.
Conclusion
Aliens vs. Predator: Blood Time is Randy Stradley's 1994 Dark Horse story, drawn by Phill Norwood. It follows Top-Knot's young hunters through a swamp trial, then ends with Light-Stepper blooded and missing a hand, and with Two-Stripes tied to a tree as the ship leaves.
External Sources
Tag Categories: Avp Comics
