Aliens vs. Predator: Chained to Life and Death
Aliens vs. Predator: Chained to Life and Death is a six-page story in Aliens vs. Predator Annual #1, written by Mark Schultz and drawn by Tom Biondolillo. Lee Loughridge colored it, and the annual is dated July 7, 1999. An aging Yautja woke on a toxic planet with his mask off and acid burns on his arm, knowing he was no longer the best hunter of his kind. He had come for a last hunt against the Xenomorph he admired most. His reflexes failed, he chose not to fire the killing shot, and the death he had wanted did not mean what he hoped.
Plot Summary
The Acid
An unnamed Yautja woke on the ground of a distant toxic planet with his bio-mask off, and Xenomorph acid burned the arm that had carried him through a long life of hunts. A check of his body told him the wounds would not kill him outright, and that the disability would outlast the pain. He had survived by outdoing every other hunter, and the burns on his arm and on the mask showed him that his place at the top was over.
The Beloved Prey
The Yautja put the pain aside and turned to the adult Xenomorph on his spear. Acid ran from the wound where the spear had gone through, and the kill was not finished. He had crossed that distance for this trophy, the prey he admired above the rest and the one he felt closest to. The burns were not going to heal into the hunter he had been, so the unfinished creature was what he forced himself back toward.
The Homeworld
With that prey in front of him, he aimed his shoulder cannon and let his thoughts go back to Yautja Prime. He remembered a hall of stone pillars, skulls and trophies from the hunts he had finished, and the record he had set against other hunters. He had taken these creatures in shallow water and on harder ground. No hunter he set himself against had finished more hunts, or killed more Xenomorphs, and that record was what the hall held.
The Feast
He had studied Xenomorphs, their bodies and the trophies taken from them, until he could hunt the way they did, and that study had made him the master of his company. On Yautja Prime, the Council of Ancients gathered at a table of food, and a hunter's place among them had to be proved again and again. A hunter who slowed lost that place, because younger hunters were always coming up behind him. He knew he was past his prime, so he boarded a Predator ship and left for the toxic planet, meaning the hunt to be his last.
The Last Hunt
The stalk on that planet had gone well, and he cornered the adult Xenomorph before it knew he was there. He closed with the spear, having expected the tail, but his answer came late, and for the first time his reflexes failed. The tail hit him as the spear went in, the kill was not clean, and the acid burned him. He had the cannon on the impaled creature, with the mask off, and he chose not to fire the killing shot, so the beam went wide. He had decided to die under its fangs rather than lose the rank he held. The wounded Xenomorph crawled toward him anyway, wanting only to live, and it would never understand why he had let it come. In that last moment the hunts and the rank did not mean what he had hoped.
Editions
Dark Horse Comics published Aliens vs. Predator: Chained to Life and Death in full color, as a six-page story in Aliens vs. Predator Annual #1, dated July 7, 1999. Mark Schultz wrote it. Tom Biondolillo drew it, Lee Loughridge colored it, and Clem Robins lettered it. John Bolton drew the title illustration. Philip Amara edited the annual, and Jeremy Perkins designed it. The story was later reprinted in Aliens vs. Predator Omnibus Volume 2.
Behind The Scenes
John Bolton drew the title illustration for Chained to Life and Death, separate from Tom Biondolillo's story pages. Lee Loughridge colored those pages, and Clem Robins lettered them. The story was one of five in the annual, with Hell-Bent, Pursuit, Old Secrets, and Lefty's Revenge.
Conclusion
Aliens vs. Predator: Chained to Life and Death is Mark Schultz's 1999 Dark Horse story, drawn by Tom Biondolillo. It follows an aging Yautja from his rank on Yautja Prime to a last hunt on a toxic planet. He impaled the Xenomorph he admired most, chose not to fire the killing shot, and the death he wanted did not mean what he had hoped.
External Sources
Tag Categories: Avp Comics
