Aliens vs. Predator: The Ultimate Battle
Aliens vs. Predator: The Ultimate Battle is a Dark Horse mini-comic written by Dan Thorsland, with pencils by Brandon McKinney and inks by Karl Kesel. Dark Horse published it in 1993 as Aliens: Space Marines No. 13, and Kenner packed it with the first Aliens vs. Predator two-pack, Warrior Alien versus Renegade Predator. On an unnamed jungle world, Cracked Tusk, an elder Predator, led a Yautja hunting party against a hive. Renegade, a Young Blood on that hunt, lost his spear to one adult Xenomorph, and at the end the two of them were facing each other, with no winner chosen.
Plot Summary
Outside The Hive
On an unnamed jungle world, a hunting party gathered outside a hive. Cracked Tusk had brought the hunters there for the prey he treated as a real match for them. He ordered them to drive the adult Xenomorphs out of the nest before anyone went in after a trophy, and the hunters fired on the hive until the creatures broke from it. The adult Xenomorphs scattered into the surrounding jungle, where the party could go after them one at a time.
The Hunt Begins
Renegade was too quick once the creatures were outside. He raised his shoulder cannon to fire into them while they were close to the hive, and Cracked Tusk stopped him. The elder wanted the prey farther out in the trees, where the hunt would be a chase. After that wait, Cracked Tusk threw his head back and howled. The war cry started the hunt, and the party split up under the canopy to chase the adult Xenomorphs one by one.
Renegade In The Swamp
Renegade went into the swamp with a spear and searched the water and the bank for movement. He was trying to prove himself on this hunt, and the spear was the weapon he carried once the party had split. Another hunter waded near him with a heavier cannon on his shoulder, while Renegade stayed on his own stretch of the swamp. An adult Xenomorph was in the trees over him while he searched, and he had not seen it.
The Spear Fight
The adult Xenomorph dropped onto Renegade from the trees over the swamp and knocked him down. He got back to his feet with the spear, and for a stretch of the fight neither one had a clear lead. Renegade held the claws and the tail off his body. The creature was fast enough that he could not set his feet for a clean thrust, and when he struck, the tail caught the spear and tore it out of his hands.
Close Combat
Losing the spear made Renegade angry, and he stayed in the fight at arm's length. He and the adult Xenomorph charged, hit each other hard, and came out of that collision with no clear advantage. Renegade grappled with the creature and stayed clear of the jaws and the claws. The adult Xenomorph took those blows without giving ground, and the two of them were even in the jungle with the spear gone.
The Second Xenomorph
A second adult Xenomorph came out of the jungle and moved on Renegade from behind while he grappled with the first. The spear was gone, and the two creatures had him between them. Before it reached him, another hunter from the party came over the fight in a Blade Fighter. The craft struck that second adult Xenomorph, carried it away from Renegade, and the hunter took the creature as his trophy.
After the Blade Fighter left, Renegade was alone again with the first adult Xenomorph. He had lost the spear and had nearly been caught between two creatures, but he refused to leave the hunt, and the Xenomorph stayed in front of him, ready to continue. When the comic closed, Renegade and the creature were facing each other in the jungle, about to resume the fight.
Key Characters
- Cracked Tusk led the hunting party on the unnamed jungle world. He ordered the hunters to drive the adult Xenomorphs out of the hive, stopped Renegade from firing on them at the nest, and started the hunt with a war cry.
- Renegade was the Young Blood who took a spear into the swamp. An adult Xenomorph knocked him down, took the spear with its tail, and met him at close range. After a hunter in a Blade Fighter carried off a second creature, Renegade was facing the first one when the comic ended.
- Scavage was a hunter on Cracked Tusk's expedition, on the same jungle world as Renegade. He was part of the party that flushed the hive and then split into the jungle after the adult Xenomorphs.
Editions
Dark Horse Comics published Aliens vs. Predator: The Ultimate Battle in 1993 as a full-color mini-comic. It is numbered Aliens: Space Marines No. 13, and Kenner packed it with the Warrior Alien and Renegade Predator two-pack. Dan Thorsland wrote it, Brandon McKinney pencilled it, and Karl Kesel inked it. Dan Nakrosis lettered it, Joe Phillips drew the cover, and Barbara Kesel edited it.
Marvel's Aliens: The Original Years Volume 1, released in May 2021, was the first mass-market reprint of the Kenner mini-comics from that numbered run, and it gathered the Colonial Marine strips. The Ultimate Battle, the Aliens vs. Predator pack-in numbered as issue 13, was omitted from that collection.
Behind The Scenes
The earlier Space Marines strips followed Ellen Ripley and the Colonial Marines. This pack-in is a separate hunt with Cracked Tusk's party and the Xenomorphs, and the number on the cover is the last in that Kenner run. Dan Thorsland had edited other comics in the series, and on this one he is the writer, with Barbara Kesel as editor. Brandon McKinney and Karl Kesel drew the interiors, and Joe Phillips painted the cover.
Kenner sold Cracked Tusk, Renegade, and Scavage as Predator figures in the same period, and this mini-comic put the three of them in one story, with the boxed two-pack pairing Renegade and the Warrior Alien. The Blade Fighter that carried off the second creature is the vehicle Kenner released in 1993, the same year as the pack-in.
Conclusion
Aliens vs. Predator: The Ultimate Battle is Dan Thorsland's 1993 Dark Horse mini-comic, drawn by Brandon McKinney and Karl Kesel and packed with Kenner's first Aliens vs. Predator two-pack. It follows one hunt on an unnamed jungle world, from Cracked Tusk's order to flush a hive through Renegade's fight with a single adult Xenomorph. The comic ends with that fight unfinished, after a second creature is carried off by a hunter in a Blade Fighter.
External Sources
Tag Categories: Avp Comics
