Aliens: Reapers is a comic book short story that was first published by Dark Horse Comics in the Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special in April 1991. Originally published in black and white, the story was written by John Arcudi, illustrated and inked by Simon Bisley and edited by Randy Stradley.
In the Aliens comics line, Aliens: Reapers was preceded by Aliens: Advent/Terminus, published concurrently with Aliens: Countdown, and was followed by Aliens: The Alien.
Publisher's Summary
It's the greatest single-issue blow-out of all time! Dark Horse Comics cordially invites you to a 112-page birthday bash celebrating this critically-acclaimed title's fifth anniversary and presenting brand new stories written and illustrated by many of the absolute top talents in the comics industry. get ready for some exciting, all-new tales, including... Aliens by John (Terminator) Arcudi and Simon (Lobo) Bisley...
All of the stand-alone stories from the past issues of Dark Horse Presents in one volume, and in color for the first time! This package includes stories by... John Arcudi and Simon Bisley (DHP 5th Anniversary Special)... This volume is colored by Rachelle Menashe and Chris Chalenor. All wrapped up in a stunning new cover painting by Simon Bisley.
Plot
This short action-heavy story focuses on an expedition by another alien species (presumably the "Reapers" of the story's title) hunting an Alien hive, eventually facing its monstrous Queen. The Xenomorphs in the story, particularly the Queen, are shown to be much larger than the typical ones faced by humans, perhaps as a result of gestation in infected Reapers. In the end, it is revealed that on the Reaper homeworld, the Xenomorphs are a form of cuisine.
Reprint History
Aliens: Reapers was first collected alongside a number of other Aliens stories published in Dark Horse Presents up to that point in the Dark Horse Presents: Aliens trade paperback, released in April 1992. For this release the story was colored by Chris Chalenor.
In the United Kingdom, the comic was later reprinted in Aliens magazine, Vol. 1 #17, in June 1992.
The story was was eventually collected again as part of Aliens Omnibus: Volume 3 in March 2008.
The comic was released digitally through Dark Horse Digital on June 12, 2013, collected with Aliens: Cargo and reusing Simon Bisley's cover art from Dark Horse Presents: Aliens.
Behind the Scenes
Reapers shares its name with the short story Reaper from the anthology novel Aliens: Bug Hunt. In fact, the term "reaper" has appeared several timzes in the Alien franchise, also appearing as the name of the Reaper pistol featured in the novel Alien: Sea of Sorrows.
Reapers is notable as one of the few Aliens stories to depict an alien species other than the Xenomorphs. Other notable non-Xenomorph aliens featured in the franchise include the lizard-like space travelers in Aliens: Theory of Alien Propagation, the reptilian Xenomorph-eating alien from Aliens: Taste, the alien pilot shown in Aliens: Earth Angel, the hunting village aliens from Aliens: Alien, the extraterrestrial scientists in Aliens: Incubation, the alien monkeys in Aliens: Fire and Stone and, of course, the Predators and Engineers. Several recent Alien novels have also introduced other species, such as the dog-aliens from Alien: Out of the Shadows.
John Arcudi is a veteran writer of Aliens and Predator comics, having also worked on Predator: God's Truth, Predator: Big Game, Aliens: Genocide, Aliens: Alien, Aliens: Stronghold, Aliens: Alchemy, Aliens: More Than Human and Predator: Prey to the Heavens. He was also the original writer on Dark Horse Comics' The Mask, which was turned into a theatrical film of the same name starring Jim Carrey.
United Kingdom-based artist Simon Bisley is world renowned for his painted fantasy-style artwork on titles such as Judge Dredd, Lobo and Heavy Metal magazine.
Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special contained another Aliens/Predator/Aliens vs. Predator comic story, namely an otherwise untitled Aliens vs. Predator short.
Gallery
