The Yautja and the Xenomorphs extend their reach towards Mega City One, and only one man can stand against them.
Creative Staff:
Story: John Layman
Art: Chris Mooneyham
Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Letters: Michael Heisler
What They Say:
The ultimate science-fiction crossover pits the legendary lawman Judge Dredd against the universe’s supreme hunters, the Predators, as they both try to survive an onslaught by the galaxy’s ultimate killing machines, the Aliens!
Content: ( Please be aware that Content sections may contain spoilers)
The storyline “Splice and Dice” has begun! A few weeks before the story starts, a Predator runs though a swampland area. It is obviously injured and is soon confronted by a mutated group of animal men consisting of a gorilla, a rhino, and a few others. One discovers the Predator’s space ship and they bring the injured alien back to a man they name Doctor Reinstot. Before that though, they explore the Predator’s ship. They discover the weapons and trophies the alien had on board, and take them, one in particular being very familiar. This can only lead to bad results further on. Coming back to the present,Judge Dredd, Judge Anderson, and Judge Gilligan are in the area known as The Cursed Earth, looking for the crazed followers of Archbishop Emoji, who burned down the John Corbett Block. The three Judges reveal the followers and take them down, though the real target, Emoji, escapes. A resident tells us that Emoji has headed towards the “Alabama Morass” which is the area the Predator was in earlier.
As Dredd gives chase, we cut back to Dr. Reinstot in his lab. He is examining, or should I say, obsessing, over one of the skulls brought back by his animal men. It’s a Xenomorph skull, and as he gloats to the captured Predator (brought to him by the mutated animals), he holds up a jar containing, what else, a facehugger. The mutated deer interrupts to tell Reinstot that trespassers have arrived, and is told to capture the Judges and Emoji. The deer man agrees but mentions that those weren’t who he was talking about. We then cut to the red device that the Predator dropped at the very beginning. We are treated to the sight of four more predators. Next issue simply says “Collision Course”. There’s definitely going to be a scrap next issue, as more predators enter the scene to look for their captured comrade. What will Dr. Reinstot do with the Alien DNA? And what will the Judges do with this scene? We’ll have to see next time!
Taking into account that this is a crossover event, we are still flung around to different locations quite a bit, with very little learned at each location. What the Predator is doing here, nobody knows. Judge Dredd and his allies seek the hilariously odd Archbishop Emoji, who did get a few chuckles out of me. Reinstot seems like he’s met the Judges before, but seems relatively unfazed when they are brought up. Things may become clearer later, bu as our story stands now, only the barest of threads are holding our characters together on their course. The Alien DNA falling into Reinstot’s hands is a terrifying prospect, considering what we’ve seen him do already. Judge Dredd will have to push his way into this mix if he’s to have any say in what’s going on at all.
In Summary:
This is a pretty good first issue with some slight problems. The plot hasn’t really done much to bring out contenders together, only stringing them along converging paths by the barest coincidences. This is especially true in Dredd’s case, as he would never have been near either of these extra terrestrials had Emoji not fled. Aside from that, the plot moves a little too fast along, but not so much that it’s incoherent. Having the xenomorphs around will ensure that soon, this will be a bloodbath. This issue really serves best to introduce the players and show where thing will head in the future. Dred is characterized well, with his never give up and chase the enemy down at all costs persona is in full force, and it’s great to see his translated over so well from the pages of his own comics. The art is pretty good, with a mix of light and dark lighting, and shadows having been done really well.
This book, both action-wise and story-wise, can only go up from here. This first issue serves as a springboard to get us started, and it does that really well. The scene where the Mutant animals take out the predator is great. The colors and the surroundings just lend themselves really well. It’s a bit of a shaky start, but it has the potential to turn itself into a great story if done right. We’ve not seen a bit of the xenomorphs yet, but the issue here has given us palpable excitement for their arrival and what will happen when they show up. All in all, it’s not the best, but it certainly is a great start to read.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics, IDW Publishing
Release Date: July 27, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
