In 1986, James Cameron's Aliens brought to theatres the horrors of a new kind of war against a terrifying enemy. Two years later, Dark Horse Comics released a direct follow-up to the events in the film. Years before any talk of a third Alien film, the comics series took fandom by storm, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Thirty years later, Dark Horse is still a valued partner of 20th Century Fox and joins them in celebrating the anniversary of Aliens with the release of this oversize collection of the original comics series.

Volume 2.

In 1986, James Cameron's Aliens brought to theaters the horrors of a new kind of war against a terrifying enemy. Long before Alien3 was even a glint in director David Fincher's eye, Dark Horse Comics was already crafting a terrifying post-Aliens continuity for Ripley, Hicks, and Newt. Earth is overrun by xenomorphs with no hope of saving it for humanity. But Ripley has a plan to capture a 'Queen Mother' - a super queen that rules multiple nests - and bring it back to Earth. There the Queen Mother will command the xenomorphs to gather where they can all be destroyed by nuclear bombs.

These are the comics stories that kept fear alive. Since 1988, whether there was an Alien film on the horizon or not, Dark Horse Comics delivered scares that audiences demanded. From the depths of space, to bizarre alien worlds, and even to surface of our own dear Earth, in the pages of comic books there were dozens of sequels and spinoffs to the films, as well as original stories that carried the monsters and the mythos to new heights. These are the Aliens Essential Comics--stories which have stood the test of time . . . and kept readers awake at night. In this first volume is the initial Aliens trilogy--Outbreak, Nightmare Asylum, and Earth War, in which Hicks and Newt--and eventually Ripley--join forces to battle an infestation of Aliens both on Earth and in the wider galaxy (all of these stories were written before the film Alien3 chronicled the deaths of the heroes of Aliens). Written by Mark Verheiden (who went on to write The Mask, Timecop, Battlestar Galactica, Daredevil, and many other films and television shows), and beautifully illustrated by Mark A. Nelson, Den Beauvais, and Sam Kieth, these stories are the perfect starting point for readers new to the Aliens mythos, and a volume to be treasured by longtime fans.

In 1986, James Cameron's Aliens brought to theaters the horrors of a new kind of war against a terrifying enemy. Long before Alien3 was even a glint in director David Fincher's eye, Dark Horse Comics was already crafting a terrifying post-Alienscontinuity for Ripley, Hicks, and Newt. Earth is overrun by xenomorphs with no hope of saving it for humanity. But that doesn't mean just leaving it to the Aliens. Ripley has a plan to capture, from what they believe is the Alien homeworld, a "Queen Mother"--a super queen that rules multiple nests--and bring it back to Earth. There the Queen Mother will command the xenomorphs to gather where they can all be destroyed by nuclear bombs. Collects Aliens: Nightmare Asylum #1-#4 and Aliens: Female War #1-#4. Includes cover art for all issues.

Fourteen years before the Aliens and the Predators met on film, they collided in the pages of a comic book. Now, on the thirtieth anniversary of that battle, the original comics stories are collected in one massive volume! This deluxe ebook is a must have for fans of the Xenoverse. Humans have colonized Ryushi, unaware that the planet is a traditional Predator site for the ritual hunting of Aliens. When the three species intersect, just about everything that can go wrong does. To save herself and her colonists, colony boss Machiko Noguchi must forge an uneasy truce with the Predator leader to fight the ravening xenomorph hordes spawned by an unleashed Alien Queen! Throughout history, the screen's mightiest monsters have clashed: in the 1940s it was Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, in the '60s it was King Kong vs. Godzilla, and in the '90s it was Aliens vs. Predator!

"This volume collects issues #0-#4 of Aliens vs. Predator, the short AVP story from Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special, and part 1 of Aliens vs. Predator: War, originally published in Dark Horse Insider, all from Dark Horse Comics"--Copyright page.