REVIEW: Predator Hunters #1 of 5

Script: Chris Warner
Art: Francisco Ruiz Velasco
Letters: Michael Heisler
Review: Art Bee

Sci-Fi junkies typically roar about anything Predator related. Since the first two movies hit the big screen many comic book creators took on the mantra, leading to the AVP comics and movie. There have been several Predator comic book runs and I wish I could be one of those that have read them all. I feel blessed that the books I have read were fairly decent to good, but each felt a bit repetitive…same story with a different cover and theme.

Thus far we have seen a Predator in the past, present, and future as well as in various nations and terrain. Feels almost rinse and repeat, doesn’t it? Well strap in, ladies and gents! This mini-series is a different creature of a Predator story entirely!

Seriously…there are ladies that read comics, fanboys.

Predator Hunters gives us a different slice of the same pizza pie, but it all starts at the cover. The above cover is not what I want to see as a comic book fan. Bright color helps, but great artwork gets my attention. If this had not been put in my folder by the grace of my LCB owner (thanks, Shawn) I would have passed right by it on the shelf. The Predator’s face on the cover is really nicely done; it just seems like the creators are ashamed of it. It’s good, guys! Make it bigger and the title smaller, and watch the people jump back. That is one of the best Predator faces I believe I have ever seen artistically rendered.        

The story opens up with a scene just like every other Predator story: people being hunted. This is also the location of a major artistic error. On page two in the second panel, a person named Marcel is caught in a snare trap. The problem with the panel is, at first sight, it appears Marcel is falling down in front of the other two characters. Vertical lines indicate vertical movement, but the body position indicates falling without any clues of upward movement. Once you stop and look at it for a few seconds, it is apparent that he is going up. There is a snare line attached to his ankle, but the line is not straight and absent of tension identifiers. Honestly if these snare line clues were present and the vertical movement lines were just below the guy, it would have been appropriate.

What excites me about this issue the fact it’s a fresh new Predator story. This time the hunter is the prey. The story introduces one of the main characters as the returning Enoch Nakai, who fought and killed a hunter in Predator: Big Game from 1991. I have not read this series but I’d like to find it. Thanks to the creators for providing this information (and more) in the back of the issue. Enoch and three others are grouping together to take the hunt to the alien in the jungle somewhere in the world…yeah, the scripter decided not to give us a real location, like we would judge. Thanks, Chris!

The artwork is adequate throughout the issue except for the work on the alien, which is superb. It left me feeling like: meh, meh, Woo, meh, meh, meh, Woo-Hoo. I hope you understand, because I hate being redundant. A lot of my feelings towards the artwork have to do with the backgrounds. They are almost non-existent unless there is a Predator in the scene. I do have to complement Valesco for his use of color; it is exquisite.

This first issue is a great start to the series. The story is very captivating; aside from the one panel on page two, which is bewildering. This mini-series will find its way into my folder for the next four months. If you are a Predator fan, it’ll be just like fine wine. If this is meaningless to you and you are of legal drinking age, try it and you will see.