Predator #1 – The Hunt Is Over, The War Is On!

Predator #1 ( Dark Horse – Arcudi / Saltares / Dzioba / Elder )

“The world’s attention is focused painfully on a brutal third world Civil War, a merciless sectarian conflict sparing neither soldier nor civilian, grandmother nor child. But amidst the terror and carnage, where great nations and powerful interests jockey for position and advantage, another blood feud rages in the shadows, one no more humane but decidedly less human. Two warring tribes from the stars have chosen Earth’s killing fields as their arena, with each clan sworn to eradicate the other . . . and all who stand between them. Each is the other’s prey, each the other’s Predator.”

Hollywood may have given us the Aliens and Predator characters, but it was Dark Horse Comics that has perfected them.  Dark Horse has been giving us the best stories from these properties for the past twenty years have had far outshone the crappy AvP films and the last installment of Aliens. Half-breed cloned Ripley indeed!  Dark Horse comes out with the double-barreled shotgun revival of both of these properties with a new Aliens book (reviwed here) and now a Predators installment.

Where in the world can two warring Predator clans land where lots of people dies everyday and most of the world ignores it? Oh yeah, Africa!  We open our story much the same as a Predator film. There is a gun fight, some explosions, and then the two guys that actually talk are met face-to-face with three Predators in battle armor.  Cut a few weeks ahead to the East African headquarters of GDS Security (think Black Gate Security in the Middle East), as they plan a new motorcade through hostile streets.  Pretty basic characters here. we’ve got the US Army Major who hates the GDS guys for not doing their jobs, and the GDS guys are nothing more that hired guns.  That is except for the GDS field leader, Thorpe, whom I’m guessing we’ll be seeing more of.  I only state that because he wasn’t dead by the end of the book like many others.

As for the Predators themselves, staying true to form, we don’t see them very much.  Some great posed splash pages by the art team and that’s pretty much it.  Given that this was very much a set up book, it was okay to not see them all that much.  I expect that well be seeing plenty of them soon enough.

Art and writing are up to the high Dark Horse standards.  I do want to point out that while the language is not overly foul, there are some words that you might not want your kids reading.  Might want to keep this one reserved for your high schooler, or just keep it for yourself.

Grade: B+

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Updated: June 26, 2009 — 12:21 pm

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