It was announced earlier this year that we’d be getting another Predator comic collection from Marvel reprinting a number of classic series from Dark Horse Comics. Predator: The Original Years Omnibus Volume 2 is set to release in March of 2024, but it seems that two comics have been removed from the lineup as per reporting from Bleeding Cool.
The comics no longer included are Predator: Hell Come a Walkin’ written by Nancy A. Collins with art by Dean Ormston, and Predator: Demon’s Gold written by Ron Marz with art by Claudio Castellini. According to Bleeding Cool, Marvel is making the oversized hardcover returnable and the page count has been reduced from 1048 to 992.
Predator: Hell Come a Walkin’ Issue #1 cover artwork Dean Ormston
Dark Horse Presents 137 – Predator: Demon’s Gold cover artwork by Dan Norton
When thinking of why these comics may have been removed, it isn’t hard to make assumptions. Predator: Hell Come a Walkin’ is set during the American Civil War, and includes racist dialogue from some of the characters evoking attitudes of the time period. The story features Union and Confederate soldiers temporarily joining forces to fend off the Predator. Bleeding Cool asked writer Nancy Collins about the apparent removal of her story, to which she responded she was unaware:
“Nope. Nobody tells me nothing. Then again, I’ve never seen a dime in royalties on that story, so I don’t give a f-ck. Apparently, no one understands nuance in history or fiction nowadays.”
Predator: Demon’s Gold is set during WWII, where a Predator hunts a squad of Nazis in South America. The issue here may come from the swastika icons on the Nazi characters. The swastika is banned in Germany, though certain exceptions are granted for educational or artistic works such as film. In other forms of media dealing with The Nazis such as video games or comics, the symbol has been typically censored or altered for the region, sometimes replaced with the iron cross or another substitute. Such was the case with the recent Wolfenstein series by developer MachineGames. Video games were finally granted the artistic exception some years back.
A third comic, Predator: Race War may have also been excluded from the initial lineup, as it logically should’ve been included with this collection’s timeframe after not being in Volume 1. The comic deals with a literal race gang war within a prison in which the inmates have to set aside their disputes to fight a Predator.
While we realize that art produced in the past can sometimes lack the societal awareness of today, we think the removal of these comics entirely is the wrong way to go about it. Other solutions such as censorship of the specific text, symbols, or an “Outdated Cultural Depictions” warning (ala Disney+ content) still may not be ideal, but would be more understandable than outright retraction. When it comes down to it, Predator is an R-rated franchise where adult and even controversial material has been the norm.
The new lineup post-censorship is as follows:
Predator: Hell & Hot Water (1997) 1-3, Predator: Primal (1997) 1-2, Predator: Nemesis (1997) 1-2, Predator: Captive (1998) 1, Predator: Homeworld (1999) 1-4, Predator: Xenogenesis (1999) 1-4, Predator (2009) 1-4, Predators (2010) 1-4, Predators: Beating the Bullet (2010) 1, Predators: Preserve the Game (2010) 1, Predator: Hunters (2017) 1-5, Predator: Hunters II (2018) 1-4, Predator: Hunters III (2020) 1-4; material from Dark Horse Presents (1986) 124; Free Comic Book Day 2009: Predator
Should this not be a deal-breaker for you, Predator: The Original Years Omnibus Volume 2 is currently up for pre-order on Amazon. Currently the list price remains as it was before the removal of the two comics. If you’re looking for the direct market variant cover featuring the Predator: Primal artwork by Bob Eggleton, get in touch with your local comic shop.
ALthough I have no love for them, they have a freaky small size, bland white covers, and binding that breaks apart.
Again, this simple fact is seemingly too hard to understand in the risk-averse culture of the 2020s.
Have to despair at such idiocy, even more so when there are real, horrendous wars going on.
This depiction in the first arc is certainly the main issue I have with that series, and that surprise kill at the end of the first issue of the second arc aside, that is certainly not how her encounters in the rest of The Preserve went.
I always felt they wanted to jump to Machiko without really earning her, but I loved how they course correctly in The Preserve and had her actually only genuinely succeed against the Predators in The Preserve when surprise was on her side. Every other battle she nearly died in and was only saved by outside influence. It also highlighted her synthetic augmentations which was a great choose.
Nobody's perfect!
I mean... I know there were some Alien-Predator stories which weren't good that Dark Horse did. I mean off the top of my head, I can think of maybe... Aliens: Lovesick, Predator: Strange Roux, Predator: Homeworld (if only cause of the art), and the Xenogenesis run.
As to which ones entertained, is subjective!
But Marvel has this weird "Human Supremacy!" approach with their Predator stories and has Theta effectively one-shotting each Predator she comes across, and I just do not find that entertaining.
The other comics being cut sounds like it's all on Marvel.
Not defending Marvel's output but let's not pretend Dark Horse didn't publish some tripe over the years.
Outside of Predator vs Wolverine, I don't think Marvel has done too good of a job in publishing the Alien-Predator comics. It feels too safe, too sanitized in so many ways. I mean even when the characters curse, it's always the jumbled text that goes "Bring it you ugly f@&*!"
Dark Horse, early on fully unleashed and embraced the expletives but the over the years... seriously toned them down (I have no idea why they did but... they did). But as far as I know, words like Hell, Damn, and Shit were still present.
Marvel? Way too safe, way too sanitized from what I've seen.
And they're publishing an IP which has had controversial material through out it's entire run in the films, games, comics and books. And they're afraid of publishing a story which has the Predator killing Nazis? Who are they trying to avoid offending?
Say what you want about Dark Horse but at least their stories entertained.
They are on the precipice of removing the Yautja altogether from their own series. An intelligent, advanced humanoid race that brutally murders humans, and also at times rapes them to death with facehuggers for their own hunting pleasure? And wasn't the game reserve using humans as slaves, or something very close to it?
Marvel is publishing an IP that revolves around amorality, greed, cruelty, rape, murder, and slavery. This is a universe where "a murderer and rapist of women" becomes a self-sacrificing hero to protect all of humanity. They have a problem with racism and a swastika? If they can't handle adult themes, they shouldn't be publishing the Aliens/Yautja IP.
No.
literally falling apartDH Predator Omnibus Vol 2 book.Oh, I'm always forgetting about this stupid law in Germany. It's not like not showing it in works of fiction will change history. But yeah, it makes sense, kinda.
So with that one I kinda get it, even if I still think it's a crappy move.
WE'RE ADULTS, YOU IDIOTS.