Marvel Comics acquired the comic book rights to the Alien and Predator franchises when Disney purchased 20th Century Fox. Marvel's Alien comics are already reaching store shelves, and recently we've been covering the build-up to the Marvel debut of Predator. We shared a look at variant covers for Marvel comics that were supposed to be available in May, covers that showed Predators taking on the likes of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. We shared the announcement that Predator #1 was supposed to be available in June. We reported that July would bring an omnibus of Predator comics that were originally published by Dark Horse Comics.
But none of that is going to be happening in the months that were announced. Newsarama reports that Marvel has cancelled all orders for the Predator ongoing series, the omnibus, and the twenty "Marvel vs. Predator" variant covers that were going to be appearing throughout the summer.
No reason was given for the cancellation, but Newsarama heard that Marvel has told retailers they'll be rescheduling the release of all of these products for sometime in November. They just haven't revealed the new November release dates yet.
So while we wonder exactly why this delay is happening, at least we know the release of these products have only been pushed back a few months.
The omnibus contains the following books:
PREDATOR (1989) #1-4
PREDATOR 2 #1-2
PREDATOR: BIG GAME #1-4
PREDATOR: COLD WAR #1-4
PREDATOR: THE BLOODY SANDS OF TIME #1-2
PREDATOR: RACE WAR #1-4
PREDATOR: BAD BLOOD #1-4
PREDATOR: INVADERS FROM THE FOURTH DIMENSION
PREDATOR: DARK RIVER #1-4
PREDATOR: STRANGE ROUX
PREDATOR: KINDRED #1-4
Plus 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.
Coming from the creative team of Ed Brisson and Kev Walker, Predator #1 will boast a primary cover by Leinil Francis Yu, but there will also be variant covers from the likes of Philip Tan, Ryan Brown, Rahzzah, Peach Momoko, David Finch, Inhyuk Lee, Ron Lim, and Skottie Young. The ongoing series is set "just a few years in our future – and in the continuity of the entire film series". The synopsis:
Hunt. Kill. Repeat. In the near future, a young girl sees her family slaughtered by the deadliest and most feared hunter in the universe: a PREDATOR. Years later, though her ship is barely holding together and food is running short, Theta won't stop stalking the spaceways until the Yautja monster who killed her family is dead… or she is.
This series has been described as "a violent, heartbreaking, unforgettable new chapter in the Predator saga".