Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Abnett
Art: Brian Thies
Colors: Rain Beredo
What They Say:
Colonial Marines hunt the Predators, and the Predators lead the marines into an ambush! But on the jungle world of Tartarus, everyone has their eyes on the ultimate prize: an otherworldly spacecraft ripe for the taking!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of this four-part miniseries definitely hit a good spot for me in what it wanted to do, tying the Aliens and Predator universes a bit more in design and concept but not really binding them in a direct sense. Sending the marines in to deal with a legal dispute about claims on a new world is something that does require a kind of supposed neutral party like the government/military since you really don’t want these massive starfaring corporations to start having their own military units as that would just turn things in an even darker direction. Having this team find the remains of an illegal competitor there but also the xenotech works a couple of good ideas while introducing us to the redshirts of the day with the marines doing it all by the book and proper, which was well structured and engaging to watch through the writing and artwork.
With the second issue, things start to change as one would expect and it too hits a good pace and structure. There’s some good fun in seeing how Lorimer is pushing to gain access to the alien ship that’s been discovered and knowing that he truly has the upperhand in getting what he wants because of the corporate/government relationship. Paget does her best to hold her own and keep a sense of command about her, doubly important for all the grunts under her there, but even she knows that she can stall him only so long. The saving grace, in a sense, is that this is a pretty tense and dangerous situation as there are a whole host of unknowns. And that’s made a bit worse by the sudden arrival of an apparent member of the illegal claim that saw everyone he was with gutted by the Predators. That certainly doesn’t have him taken seriously, but it ratchets up the tension more.
Naturally, while this expands (and another group arrives that reveals a little more about how to survive here), the marines are securing more of the area since they may end up stuck here for some time until the big teams can come in a few months once they learn what’s here. This opens the series up to the Predator that’s starting to stalk as one group disappears and we see another attacked, which in turn raises tensions all around. Brian Thies does a great job in bringing this to life with some great locations brought to life that plays to the jungle element well all while giving the Predator(s) a real sense of being hunters in their element here. The marines provide a solid balancing point since they have the bravado and panic set in as they really see what the Predators are capable of, and mixing in some of what’s going on at the base camp as things happen around them just raises the tension even more. It’s a very solidly built level of tension.
In Summary:
Predator: Life and Death hit a sweet spot from the start and it carries it through well here, delivering the right connections to the larger franchise and their mythologies while also providing the action component that it needs.The mixture of marines and Predators with a couple of other parties now making their way into it to add more nuance and color is just right. Abnett’s script keeps things moving with just enough detail to make it more engaging as part of the big picture while Thies’ artwork delivers some strong sequences in the action with moments of terror that you can imagine translating beautifully to the big screen. Good stuff all around that leaves me excited for the back half of the miniseries.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 6th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99