Back in July Marvel Comics announced that, with the acquisition of Fox by Disney, they would be adding the Aliens and Predator franchises to their stable. The news made waves as the licenses for both properties have been held by Dark Horse Comics since the late ’80s. Now Marvel has announced that their first Aliens title will be an omnibus collection of the earliest Dark Horse stories.
Aliens Omnibus Volume 1 will include multiple complete Aliens miniseries, as well as appearances in anthologies like Dark Horse Presents and Dark Horse Insider, all spanning the franchise’s comics history from 1988 to 1992:
This unprecedented collection will contain: Aliens (1988) 1-6, Aliens (1989) 1-4, Aliens: Earth War (1990) 1-4, Aliens: Genocide (1991) 1-4, Aliens: Hive (1992) 1-4, Aliens: Tribes (1992) 1, Aliens: Newt’s Tale (1992) 1-2, Alien 3 (1992) 1-3 and Aliens: Space Marines (1992) 1-12—plus material from Dark Horse Presents (1986) 24, 42-43, 56; Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special (1991) 1; and Dark Horse Insider (1989) 14-27.
Along with the announcement, Marvel included a piece of direct market-exclusive cover artwork by Mark A. Nelson, which originally appeared on the cover to the first Dark Horse Aliens miniseries. The main cover to the omnibus will, according to the announcement, be by Greg Land.
It makes sense that Marvel’s first Aliens offering would be a reprint of previous material. They have thirty years’ worth of comics to repackage and re-offer, after all, and that’s certainly cheaper than producing new stories would be at the moment, particularly as the publisher is still restrengthening their line following the Diamond shutdown earlier this year.
Check out Mark A. Nelson’s cover artwork below. Published by Marvel Comics, Aliens Omnibus Volume 1 will arrive in stores in April 2021.
Is this different from the Alien Omnibus series that Dark Horse already put out? If it is, perhaps they should have used a different title.
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