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Batman/Aliens II, originally titled Batman/Aliens Two, is a three-issue limited crossover comic book series that was first published by Dark Horse Comics and DC Comics from December 2002-February 2003. It was written by Ian Edginton, illustrated by Staz Johnson, inked by James Hodgkins, colored by Digital Chameleon and Gregory Wright, lettered by John Workman, Jr. and edited by Michael Wright, with cover art by Johnson and Hodgkins.
Batman/Aliens II was a sequel to 1997's Batman/Aliens.
In the overall Dark Horse crossover comics line, Batman/Aliens II was preceded by JLA versus Predator and Witchblade/Aliens/Darkness/Predator: Mindhunter, and was followed by Superman vs. Aliens II: God War.
Publisher's Summary
#1: A Gotham City construction crew uncovers a sealed vault housing an unspeakable horror! Eighty years ago, an expedition to the South Pole uncovered a crashed spaceship, a spaceship containing the bloodthirsty Aliens. Now, after years in hibernation, a nearly desiccated Alien is unleashed upon the modern world. And it's very, very hungry! Only one man has a chance of stopping this murderous beast... the Dark Knight Detective known as Batman!
#2: A black-ops government agency has taken over the Aliens case! But there's still at least one very fierce, very hungry Alien on the loose in Gotham City! Can Batman stop it from wreaking havoc in Arkham Asylum?
#3: The thrilling conclusion to the 3-issue Prestige Format series! Batman's been imprisoned in a secret government base... but even if he escapes to face his mysterious abductor, he'll have to battle a fearsome cadre of super-soldiers biologically engineered from the DNA of captured Aliens and Arkham's most notorious psychopaths!
Reprint History
Cover to Batman/Aliens II trade paperback by Johnson.
After its initial publication under the original title Batman/Aliens Two, the series received its current title, Batman/Aliens II, when it was collected in trade paperback form, released in September 2003, featuring a modified version of Staz Johnson's cover to issue 2 that repeated the circular Batman-fighting-an-Alien motif.
Batman/Aliens II was collected again, alongside the other crossover stories that pit Batman against the Xenomorphs, in the DC Comics/Dark Horse Comics: Aliens trade paperback, released in April 2016. The release used a modified version of Staz Johnson's cover to Batman vs. Aliens II #2.
Behind the Scenes
United Kingdom-based writer Ian Edginton worked on a number of Aliens, Predator and Aliens vs. Predator comics for Dark Horse over the years, perhaps most notably Aliens: Rogue and Aliens vs. Predator: Eternal.
The circular Batman-fighting-an-Alien motif featured on the cover of issue 2 and later repeated against a black background for the trade paperback would become the most common cover motifs for Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator comics in the 2000s, being adapted/repeated on the covers of the Aliens versus Predator versus The Terminator trade paperback edition (showing all three movie monsters fighting) and Alien vs. Predator: Civilized Beasts (showing an Alien and a Predator locked in combat).
Batman/Aliens II is notable as one of the few Aliens stories to depict the scientific procedure of gene-splicing to create Spliced Xenomorphs, which are bred for sole purpose of being more obedient and controllable. Gene-splicing is also a plot device in another Aliens crossover story, Predator vs. Judge Dredd vs. Aliens, as well as Aliens: Rogue, Operation: Aliens.
Gallery
Issue covers
