Predator: Life and Death #1

This is the first issue of a miniseries, for fans of the Predator franchise or in the mood for a shorty storied run " this is for you! Read Full Review

Dan Abnett lives up to the hype and delivers a fantastic story in Predator: Life and Death #1. He seamlessly introduces a new story, characters, and even Alien: Isolation into this expanding comic book universe. Every panel is written in detail, and franchise diehards will appreciate this. Brian Thies pairs up the writing with some excellent visuals, and this issue looks and feels gritty. His artwork keeps the tone perfect for the issue. Issue #1 is an excellent table setter for the series and I eagerly anticipate the next part. Read Full Review

I love the approach taken on this comic. The third person viewpoint adds to the story, and the artwork makes it easier to slip into this role. Read Full Review

Despite the heavy science fiction themes, the artwork is realistic, and detailed. Even the world of Tartarus seems realistic, as trees, and water cover the landscape. It all makes the alien world extremely believable. Read Full Review

Since there is less action than one might expect from a comic relating to the Predator franchise, this issue may be somewhat disappointing for some readers; however, I think the end of the issue will be enough to persuade readers to continue and truly get into the meat of the story of this miniseries. Overall, fans of the Predator universe will definitely need to give Predator: Life and Death a try once it is available on March 2nd. Read Full Review

Predator: Life and Death hits all the right sweet spots for me with its debut. It works a familiar storyline to be sure, there's no denying that, but it's the setup that I think fans want. It's clean and simple but it has the right layers to it with the corporate elements brought in combined with the marine side that made Aliens so much fun. It doesn't feel like the world itself is going to be a huge factor, which is a nice change of pace from last year's event, and instead it's going to be the Predator's themselves combined with a few twists that feels like they're in the shadows ready to come out. Williamson's script is sharp and focused, hitting all the right points, and Mooneyham simply excels in bringing this to life visually, both in the design work of characters and setting but also the layouts that makes for a smooth and engaging read. This is probably the most excited I've been for a Predator series in quite a few years. Read Full Review

As an opening chapter, Predator: Life and Death does a solid job of establishing the larger world before digging its hooks in emphatically during the final few pages.  While it isnt necessarily tipping its hand too early about the larger story, its clear that Abnett absolutely gets the world hes playing in, providing an authentic Predator experience without things ever feeling too derivative.  A somewhat restrained start then, but given Dark Horses track record with these particular franchises, you can most definitely count me in for the rest of this event. Read Full Review

All in all the Predator Life and Death #1 is worth a read and sets nice groundwork for the issues to follow. Read Full Review

Predator: Life and Death #1 was a good start to this new mini series. It is new reader friendly, stays true to what fans like about the Predator series, and straightforward with what you will get out of this story between the characters and plot. Read Full Review

Abnett is taking his time to establish the first set of players in a game that will be sure to include the familiar, frightening faces of the Aliens and Engineers soon — so the slow burn in this first issue may very well be the calm before a varicolored bloodbath. Worth a look. Read Full Review

There are 16 more issues in this story, meaning 2016 is going to be a good year. Read Full Review

This issue does not offer us an in-depth look at the Yutja and their reasoning behind the killing of the Marines. It does a great job of introducing the new story and serves its purpose of being an informative issue. I just hope the upcoming issues will give us some more action sequences, but all in all this issue gets its job done and it does so in style. Read Full Review

The first quarter of the Life and Death mini-series amounts to a retelling of Aliens with a Predator instead of a Xenomorph. It's an interesting premise, and Life and Death follows that idea to the letter, but it's not a particularly ambitious one. It shuffles around the existing Predator and Aliens plots effectively, but what the franchise needs is new ones. Read Full Review

Although the plot is very paint by the numbers, I enjoyed the first issue and am excited for what will happen next. The story also has the Predator show up and wreck stuff, which is all I ever want from these types of books. I'm a simpleton that enjoys sci-fi violence, what can I say. Regardless, I'll be looking forward to the next issue to see what happens next. Read Full Review

Overall Predator: Life and Death #1 is a very fun introductory issue. It essentially seems like a comic that is strictly for the AVP diehard fans, giving proper amounts of fan-service. This could have dragged the story down to sheer redundancy, but when the inevitable explosion of violence breaks out with the introduction of the Predators, I couldn't keep a smile off my face. This story gave me everything I love about the Predator franchise, in all of it's bloodsoaked glory. Read Full Review

I appreciate the approach Dark Horse is taking by releasing a Predator series first, followed by the Aliens and Prometheus franchises to keep each story somewhat separate, while at the same time maintaining a consistency over the course of this story's seventeen parts. My confidence in Dan Abnett's writing, my love for these franchises, and Dark Horse's editorial approach to this multi-part story will keep me around to see how this story is going to turn out. Read Full Review

Predator: Life and Death #1 is hardly the worst way fans of the iconic sci-fi franchise could spend $4. This issue borrows heavily from both the Predator and Alien movies, a fact which is both an asset and a drawback at times. The real questions are whether this series can bring something new to the table, and if readers really need a 17-part Alien/Predator/Prometheus crossover in the first place. Read Full Review

There's enough here for Predator fans to check out this comic. Just seeing the iconic Predators and things like an engineer's ship make this a fun romp. And hopefully, the talent Abbott has displayed in his other work will shine more in the next few issues of Predator: Life and Death. Read Full Review

This story is recommended for fans of theAlien/Prometheus andPredator films who want a more modern expansion of the film universe than Dark Horse's earlier efforts accomplished. However, there isn't much else to bring in a casualAlien orPredatorfan who doesn't normally go beyond the films. Read Full Review

Thies' art also paces Abnett's story nicely, despite the issue's derivative predictability, and David Palumbo's cover beautifully blends a couple of the different franchises together. "Predator: Life and Death" #1 is for those who can't get enough Predator comics in their stack. For all others, though, there will be a nagging sense they've seen this before, because -- for the most part -- they have. Read Full Review

You probably know what you're getting into with Predator: Life and Death.  Some soldiers are going to run around the wilderness, slowly hunted by this alien creature.  Many will die.  A few will probably survive.  Someone might get in the choppa.  If you're a diehard Predator (and/or Aliens) fan, you'll dig this book.  That goes without saying.  Otherwise, there's not much separating this from your generic monster / slasher movie with a disposable set of characters. Read Full Review

The bar was set high with Fire and Stone. This series, visually, is far below it. If the visuals continue to look like this, I'll look at the next issue, but not purchase it. Dark Horse, what happened? Read Full Review

It's a difficult thing to take a licensed title such as Predator and make it fresh and exciting, especially when the original films worked so well. This is the same thing with Alien, as I've seen it many times before, the bad guys just want to keep trying to capture a live Xenomorph and it always escapes and kills everyone. The plot of the original was just so good that they had to reuse it again, and again, and" again. Admittedly this is the opening scene of a four-part mini-series so many mysteries could unfold before the end, and Dark Horse claims that this series will include Aliens and the engineers from Prometheus. But for right now, if you're looking for a little bit of action and some carnage, and you're a fan of Predator, then pick up a copy of Dark Horse's latest rendition, you won't be disappointed. Read Full Review

And Thies cleverly adapts the horror of the invisible cinematic Predators for the comicbook medium. The Yautja really can appear out of nowhere–they're not there in one panel, and suddenly impaling a guy in the next one. Their quick, bloody kills are frozen at their most gruesomely spectacular moments. It's the perfect action-horror aesthetic: inhumanly fast carnage, but paused for maximum shock value Read Full Review