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Aliens / Predator / Prometheus Universe
Predator: The Original Years Omnibus Vol. 1
Collects Predator (1989) #1-4, Predator 2 #1-2, Big Game #1-4, Cold War #1-4, The Bloody Sands Of Time #1-2, Bad Blood #1-4, Invaders From The Fourth Dimension, Dark River #1-4, Strange Roux And Kindred #1-4 - And Material From Dark Horse Presents (1986) #46, #67-69 And #119; Dark Horse Comics #1-2, #4-7, #10-14, #16-18 And #20-21; And A Decade Of Dark Horse #1.
The hunt begins! As the Predators make their Marvel debut, experience their original comics legacy! Nowhere is safe when the remorseless alien killers stalk the concrete jungle of New York City, leave a trail of death across the American Southwest and ignite the Cold War by landing in Siberia! And did Predators come to Earth during Vietnam and World War I? The hunters make a new enemy in Dutch's brother, Detective John Schaefer; and it's Predator vs. psychotic Predator in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey! And in 1950s Hollywood, only a child with special glasses can see the monster in the midst of Tinseltown! It's total carnage, Predator-style!
The hunt begins! As the Predators make their Marvel debut, experience their original comics legacy! Nowhere is safe when the remorseless alien killers stalk the concrete jungle of New York City, leave a trail of death across the American Southwest and ignite the Cold War by landing in Siberia! And did Predators come to Earth during Vietnam and World War I? The hunters make a new enemy in Dutch's brother, Detective John Schaefer; and it's Predator vs. psychotic Predator in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey! And in 1950s Hollywood, only a child with special glasses can see the monster in the midst of Tinseltown! It's total carnage, Predator-style!
999 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 28, 2022
40 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Mark Verheiden
273 books34 followersMark Verheiden is an American television, movie, and comic book writer. He was a co-executive producer for the television series Falling Skies for DreamWorks Television and the TNT Network.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 12, 2023
100% did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did.
As some people know I've been waiting for this Omnibus for like 2+ years, maybe 3 years, now and I'm so glad to finally have it. Predator goes back and gives us the stories originally published years and years ago after the movie was a huge success.
Opening with one of the biggest stories, Concreate Jungle, we have the Predator come to New York City. What starts off eerily similar to Predator 2 the movie quickly turns into a full on invasion storyline by the end equipped with a whole army of the Predators. It's a fun story that kicks off this collection the right way.
After that we travel through various different stories, some funny and over the top like the Italian mob verses predators to ones more serious like a Pirate fighting for his life with a Predator to more somber stories such as the final one titled Kindred which sees a small town attacked by the creature of darkness. While there's a few stories that didn't work for me, the vast majority are either fun and dumb or actually legit really well done Predator stories that I'd love to see in a movie some day maybe.
Overall, a great collection for Predator fans. I'd dare say better than even any of the Alien Omnibus (Even the first which I enjoyed) and far superior to 2 and especially 3 for Alien Omnibus. I hope we get another which I believe will finish it up. So give me more Marvel. MORE!!!
As some people know I've been waiting for this Omnibus for like 2+ years, maybe 3 years, now and I'm so glad to finally have it. Predator goes back and gives us the stories originally published years and years ago after the movie was a huge success.
Opening with one of the biggest stories, Concreate Jungle, we have the Predator come to New York City. What starts off eerily similar to Predator 2 the movie quickly turns into a full on invasion storyline by the end equipped with a whole army of the Predators. It's a fun story that kicks off this collection the right way.
After that we travel through various different stories, some funny and over the top like the Italian mob verses predators to ones more serious like a Pirate fighting for his life with a Predator to more somber stories such as the final one titled Kindred which sees a small town attacked by the creature of darkness. While there's a few stories that didn't work for me, the vast majority are either fun and dumb or actually legit really well done Predator stories that I'd love to see in a movie some day maybe.
Overall, a great collection for Predator fans. I'd dare say better than even any of the Alien Omnibus (Even the first which I enjoyed) and far superior to 2 and especially 3 for Alien Omnibus. I hope we get another which I believe will finish it up. So give me more Marvel. MORE!!!
April 19, 2023
Consistently fun to read with some true moments of brilliance. Notably, ‘The Bloody Sands of Time,’ ‘Bad Blood,’ and ‘Kindred’ were strong and ‘Invaders From the Fourth Dimension’ was utterly brilliant.
February 11, 2023
(Zero spoiler review) 2.5/5
Yeah, pretty disappointed with this, not gonna lie. Predator is not a character (if you could even call it that), that I've had any interest in, or fondness for over the years. Truth be told, I don't even think I've seen any of the movies all the way through. But a bloody, gritty, 80's/90's era comic, featuring blood, bad ass action and maybe even some boobs... you know, all the things that modern comics and entertainment in general are single-mindedly trying to erase from existence, sign me up. Unfortunately, as you can tell from the score, that is not what we got.
The most positive thing I could say about this overall is the art is generally held to a very high standard. There are a few rather notable stumbles here and there, but for the most part, the artists held up their end of the bargain here. Hell, a few of the writers acquitted themselves somewhat admirably as well. But this was early on, with the quality taking a significant nose dive about a third or so of the way through, with it ebbing and flowing between acceptable and barely mediocre for the remainder of the book. Though the main culprit here is the protagonist itself. Predator is not an interesting or engaging character in any way, and trying to base 1000 ages of stories around what is essentially a bland, boring one dimensional 'big bad' is putting yourself on a hiding to nothing. And despite said admirable exceptions I mentioned earlier, most fail to elevate this faceless, uninteresting mass of action cliches into anything I would call even remotely enjoyable. And certainly not re-readable.
Not only this, but you've essentially set up the Predator as being all but an unkillable powerhouse, yet the longer these stories go on, the Predator becomes (and this is a common issue with many antagonists like this), that the Predator essentially becomes as strong/ weak/ stupid as the story requires. One minute he's taking out whole platoon's, the next he is losing a fist fight with a single person. It's ridiculous, immersion breaking and not particularly well thought out or crafted. The better stories are those that actually managed to muster some moderately fleshed out characters to substitute for the fact that the Predator isn't a character, but a plot device, though no one achieves anything approaching greatness in this regard.
If you're the kind of person who can turn off your brain and look at the pictures and clap along, then you'll probably enjoy this. If you prefer to have your brain semi engaged during the reading process, then you'll likely want to skip this and aim for something that gets the old neuron's firing just that little bit more. I'm strongly considering selling this. Say's it all really. 2.5/5
OmniBen.
Yeah, pretty disappointed with this, not gonna lie. Predator is not a character (if you could even call it that), that I've had any interest in, or fondness for over the years. Truth be told, I don't even think I've seen any of the movies all the way through. But a bloody, gritty, 80's/90's era comic, featuring blood, bad ass action and maybe even some boobs... you know, all the things that modern comics and entertainment in general are single-mindedly trying to erase from existence, sign me up. Unfortunately, as you can tell from the score, that is not what we got.
The most positive thing I could say about this overall is the art is generally held to a very high standard. There are a few rather notable stumbles here and there, but for the most part, the artists held up their end of the bargain here. Hell, a few of the writers acquitted themselves somewhat admirably as well. But this was early on, with the quality taking a significant nose dive about a third or so of the way through, with it ebbing and flowing between acceptable and barely mediocre for the remainder of the book. Though the main culprit here is the protagonist itself. Predator is not an interesting or engaging character in any way, and trying to base 1000 ages of stories around what is essentially a bland, boring one dimensional 'big bad' is putting yourself on a hiding to nothing. And despite said admirable exceptions I mentioned earlier, most fail to elevate this faceless, uninteresting mass of action cliches into anything I would call even remotely enjoyable. And certainly not re-readable.
Not only this, but you've essentially set up the Predator as being all but an unkillable powerhouse, yet the longer these stories go on, the Predator becomes (and this is a common issue with many antagonists like this), that the Predator essentially becomes as strong/ weak/ stupid as the story requires. One minute he's taking out whole platoon's, the next he is losing a fist fight with a single person. It's ridiculous, immersion breaking and not particularly well thought out or crafted. The better stories are those that actually managed to muster some moderately fleshed out characters to substitute for the fact that the Predator isn't a character, but a plot device, though no one achieves anything approaching greatness in this regard.
If you're the kind of person who can turn off your brain and look at the pictures and clap along, then you'll probably enjoy this. If you prefer to have your brain semi engaged during the reading process, then you'll likely want to skip this and aim for something that gets the old neuron's firing just that little bit more. I'm strongly considering selling this. Say's it all really. 2.5/5
OmniBen.
December 2, 2025
Absolutely fantastic! An amazing collection of Predator comics. I was always a fan of these growing up but there were so many that I had missed. A must read! But be warned, there are a huge amount of comics here. It'll take you awhile.
February 4, 2023
This is a cool read if you are a true predator fan, I enjoyed both movies when I was younger so I decided to pick this up to see what the comics from around that time and on were about. You’re not exactly going to walk away from this shaking your head in shock due to its brilliant story telling. The stuff is mediocre however, I’m surprised how many nutty predator fans exist that salivate all over this. It sits nice on my shelf and if a remake film drops again now that Marvel bought the rights to Predator and Aliens, I’ve done my homework like a good boy.
Btw, this omnibus has a very strong printing smell. You may get high off the ink fumes. Enjoy.
Btw, this omnibus has a very strong printing smell. You may get high off the ink fumes. Enjoy.
November 29, 2025
Marvel’s Predator: The Original Years Vol. 1 brings together most of the titles originally published by Dark Horse Comics based on the film franchise from 1989 to 1997.
There are a few standout stories contained therein to recommend it. Foremost being the first of them, originally published simply as Predator, that puts the title character in an urban setting, which later became the basis for the film Predator 2. Shorter titles like Invaders from the Fourth Dimension and Strange Roux also stand out for being different to the norm in the collection. Maybe too many of the stories contained therein cover the same basic idea. The original Predator comic is followed by a comic adaptation of Predator 2, the film that took much inspiration from that aforementioned comic. There is a lot of recapping in Bad Blood of the preceding Dark Horse Presents story of the same name. There are a few through lines in the titles, with NYPD detective John Shaefer (unnecessarily the brother of the first film’s protagonist) from the eponymous opener reappearing in Cold War and Dark River. Enoch Nakai, protagonist of Big Game, similarly later appears in the shorter follow up “Blood on Two-Witch Mesa”.
The dialogue is what one might expect for comic books in the 1990s based on a science fiction action franchise with a target audience of young males. Most titles do manage to pull off the occasional zinger and the alternate versions of familiar dialogue in Predator 2 are interesting to compare with the film. The artwork is uniformly well done despite some real stylistic variations from title to title. Nothing ever gets too abstract Nor do the Predator designs deviate wildly as they do in later film entries. The artists always find interesting ways to create new ways for blood to gush and spines to be ripped from bodies. Although most of the stand outs are either their own series or self-contained one-shots, many of the titles contained therein are drawn from issues of Dark Horse Presents or Dark Horse Comics. These shorter pieces work better from a pacing perspective having to be done within fewer pages, even if some of them cover similar ideas to their longer contemporaries.
Maybe one criticism is that Predators always behave in exactly the same way from title to title with very little done to create new interesting actions for them or even characterise them. The only attempts to do something different, in Bad Blood and, to a lesser extent, Dark River, struggle to fully embrace their concepts of a rogue Predator or one motivated by vengeance. Overall, it feels like there are fewer original ideas going into Predator comics from Dark Horse as there was going into its sister Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator series. Often the comics fail to make great use of their unique settings although those set in the First World War, the Golden Age of piracy, the Louisiana bayous, and 1950s Hollywood do put their settings to use in ways that differentiate them from other stories. The aforementioned piracy themed story, a one-shot, also gives us the origins of the pistol from the end of Predator 2, decades before it would be done again in Prey. It feels less unnecessary in a one-shot comic than it did in a film. Although Detective Shaefer’s never-ending quest for his brother reminds us that this connection was always unnecessary.
A good tome for fans of the franchise and a reminder of the heyday of these sorts of tie-ins, most of them, like Predator, done by Dark Horse Comics.
There are a few standout stories contained therein to recommend it. Foremost being the first of them, originally published simply as Predator, that puts the title character in an urban setting, which later became the basis for the film Predator 2. Shorter titles like Invaders from the Fourth Dimension and Strange Roux also stand out for being different to the norm in the collection. Maybe too many of the stories contained therein cover the same basic idea. The original Predator comic is followed by a comic adaptation of Predator 2, the film that took much inspiration from that aforementioned comic. There is a lot of recapping in Bad Blood of the preceding Dark Horse Presents story of the same name. There are a few through lines in the titles, with NYPD detective John Shaefer (unnecessarily the brother of the first film’s protagonist) from the eponymous opener reappearing in Cold War and Dark River. Enoch Nakai, protagonist of Big Game, similarly later appears in the shorter follow up “Blood on Two-Witch Mesa”.
The dialogue is what one might expect for comic books in the 1990s based on a science fiction action franchise with a target audience of young males. Most titles do manage to pull off the occasional zinger and the alternate versions of familiar dialogue in Predator 2 are interesting to compare with the film. The artwork is uniformly well done despite some real stylistic variations from title to title. Nothing ever gets too abstract Nor do the Predator designs deviate wildly as they do in later film entries. The artists always find interesting ways to create new ways for blood to gush and spines to be ripped from bodies. Although most of the stand outs are either their own series or self-contained one-shots, many of the titles contained therein are drawn from issues of Dark Horse Presents or Dark Horse Comics. These shorter pieces work better from a pacing perspective having to be done within fewer pages, even if some of them cover similar ideas to their longer contemporaries.
Maybe one criticism is that Predators always behave in exactly the same way from title to title with very little done to create new interesting actions for them or even characterise them. The only attempts to do something different, in Bad Blood and, to a lesser extent, Dark River, struggle to fully embrace their concepts of a rogue Predator or one motivated by vengeance. Overall, it feels like there are fewer original ideas going into Predator comics from Dark Horse as there was going into its sister Aliens and Aliens vs. Predator series. Often the comics fail to make great use of their unique settings although those set in the First World War, the Golden Age of piracy, the Louisiana bayous, and 1950s Hollywood do put their settings to use in ways that differentiate them from other stories. The aforementioned piracy themed story, a one-shot, also gives us the origins of the pistol from the end of Predator 2, decades before it would be done again in Prey. It feels less unnecessary in a one-shot comic than it did in a film. Although Detective Shaefer’s never-ending quest for his brother reminds us that this connection was always unnecessary.
A good tome for fans of the franchise and a reminder of the heyday of these sorts of tie-ins, most of them, like Predator, done by Dark Horse Comics.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 10, 2024
"Maybe they're like us. Technology removes us from our true selves-takes us away from the beast inside. Maybe the hunt is their way of keeping the beast alive. Or maybe they're sadistic sons of bitches" stated Detective John Shaefer in the first storyline in the Predator-Original Years Omnibus describing the predators. I am a fan of the first Predator movie and the second one has grown on me. Predators was okay. I never saw The Predator because of the negative reviews. Alien vs. Predator was garbage, and I will sadly never get back. I did not bother with the sequel and the reviews I have seen convinced me not to waste my time. I have not seen Prey, but I would like to. I have been waiting for another good Predator movie.
I decided to give this omnibus a shot, and I am glad that I did. Is this top-notch writing with the greatest stories ever written? No, but the stories are entertaining, and the artwork is excellent. There is one photo of the camouflaged Predator on page 187 that I thought was an impressive drawing.
The volume starts with Detective John Shaefer investigating the killing of gang members done by a certain alien. Predator 2 took some of the ideas from this story line. He encounters the predator and fights it. Other parts of the story include John trying to discover what happened to his brother and even goes to Latin America to investigate. The Predator 2 comic is included in this omnibus.
There are also storylines that take place during the Vietnam War, World War I, and the Cold War where John Shaefer joins a US special forces team to fight predators in the Soviet Union.
You have stories filled with action, suspense, and fun. Sometimes the dialogue is cheesy, but it is still an enjoyable read. If you are a fan of the first two Predator movies, I recommend this omnibus. Definitely looking forward to the second one.
I decided to give this omnibus a shot, and I am glad that I did. Is this top-notch writing with the greatest stories ever written? No, but the stories are entertaining, and the artwork is excellent. There is one photo of the camouflaged Predator on page 187 that I thought was an impressive drawing.
The volume starts with Detective John Shaefer investigating the killing of gang members done by a certain alien. Predator 2 took some of the ideas from this story line. He encounters the predator and fights it. Other parts of the story include John trying to discover what happened to his brother and even goes to Latin America to investigate. The Predator 2 comic is included in this omnibus.
There are also storylines that take place during the Vietnam War, World War I, and the Cold War where John Shaefer joins a US special forces team to fight predators in the Soviet Union.
You have stories filled with action, suspense, and fun. Sometimes the dialogue is cheesy, but it is still an enjoyable read. If you are a fan of the first two Predator movies, I recommend this omnibus. Definitely looking forward to the second one.
February 4, 2023
Great collection of Predator stories.
October 1, 2023
Some really fun stuff here. Not always a fan of how easily a predator can die, nor of the direction some of the stories went, but SUPER worth it.
January 10, 2025
A lot of these stories are hit and miss. Personal highlights were God's Truth, Big Game, Pride of Nghasa, 1719 and Strange Roux. I wasn't a fan of the John Schaeffer stories and I found myself skipping the rest of them in the series.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews