When Predator was released unexpectedly in 1987, it was one of the finest science fiction movie of its time since the release of Alien in 1979. In 1989, Dark Horse published Predator, the comic book series as an in-direct sequel to the movie before 1990 Predator 2. I have not read any of the comic versions until finally, I bought this... and I have some mix feelings towards it.

 

Predator: The Essential Comics Volume 1 features three reprinted mini-series that was published before over the years and one never before published adaptation of Predator 2 until now. In Predator: Concrete Jungle, the story takes place in New York city where during the hottest summer, the Predator is on the hunt again... except, he brings his compatriots. Detective Schaefer, brother of Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, together with Detective Rasche investigates the murders and the conspiracy of one certain general that was involved from the movie. As the Predators invade New York City, it take Schaefer and Rasche to save the day. In Predator: Cold War, the Predators are now in Siberia and once again, on the hunt. Schaefer and Rasche once again together with a beautiful Russian soldier will stop the Predators on their hunting game... only the Russian government and the American government and a certain general want the Predators technology. In Predator: Dark River, its summer all over again and this time, a crazed Predator from Schaefer's past returns and wreck havok in South America. Once again, Schaefer investigates and this time, he will put an end to it.

 

The comic book series is filled with a lot of one-liners and cheesy action. I can see that writer Mark Verheiden really love the movie and so, his style of writing is similar to how the 1980s are then but it doesn't get any better. Although I do feel the concept of the Predator universe is some what not understood, its not exactly the best of its own when it comes to reading. On art, Chris Warner and Ron Randalldid a good job capturing the presence of the characters. Its not really good and its not that terrible. Its just how it is when reading a Predator adaptation comic and felt as if a fan would have envision it. Overall for me, Predator: The Essential Comics Volume 1 would appeal to fans but not as an introductory story to those who are not familiar with.

When James Cameron's Aliens was released in 1986, it was a sequel nobody knew that its better than the first. It was different, it was action-oriented and science-fiction has become a whole other level of entertainment. Fans wanted more and before 20th Century Fox release Alien 3 in 1992, there was the comics. At the height of it all, the 1980s and the 1990s comics has found a new kind of voice and with this new voice, they found a different kind of audience. So when Dark Horse Comics acquire the rights to release the sequel to Aliens in comic format, fans were thrilled and the released of Aliens issue 1 of 6 in July 1st, 1988, it became an instant bestseller! The rest, is history.

 

I have been waiting for a collection that I wanted to get my hands on as I am an Aliens fan (shamefully, not the biggest) and I love most of what Aliens are. The comic books, on the other hand, another matter. After I missed out my chance to collect the omnibus editions (which I had heard the binding was bad), the re-released of Aliens for this edition was something I look forward to. Aliens: The Essential Comics Vol.1 collects the first three books (Outbreak, Nightmare Asylum & Earth War) that became the trilogy of the sequel that follows up from Aliens. Sadly, I was disappointed by its execution. The story is mediocre. It wasn't any thing mind-blowing nor explore much of the universe that started from Ripley Scotts vision based on a story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett. It was... boring. The first, which was Outbreak, had more words that can drive any comic book readers to become in a confuse state manner. There are too many things going around - a cult form over the alien sentient, a military corporation wanting the xenomorphs as a weapon, Newt (all grown up) felt abandoned and betrayed and lost and declared insane, Hicks, fueled with hatred against the aliens that killed his friends and a whole other supporting characters, which later made a mess of the whole arch. Then, the philosophy involvement of what truly happen that relates to the first movie, became a downfall to the first book.

 

The sequel, which was called then Book II (Nightmare Asylum) is no different. The approach is a little less whining but the content is no different with the exception of the return of Ripley. Remember, this was still before Alien 3. Then came the final arch story with Earth War, and every thing else, falls apart. It wasn't a good closure but it was a closure that marks Mark Verheiden ending his trilogy. Art wise, only Denis Beauvais is worth mentioning here. I didn't like Mark A. Nelson and Sam Keith art work at all.

 

The Essential Comics Volume 1 edition collects the first three books. The binding of the book is firm but its also easily creates a line at the bind. Paper quality wise is smooth. Its a book that's has its quality to savor for. Overall, I do like the cover and the universe of Aliens, even though the writing is terrible. This is truly a comic book trade paperback dedicated to fans who want more of Aliens.

So, didn't love it as much as I thought I would. This was a no-quite-accurate telling of the original Evil Dead movie. There were added/expanded scenes, which were good, but they changed a bit of the continuity of the original story, which wasn't good. The made all the girls look like they were dressed in modern-day (circa 2008) clothing, when the original story was filmed in the late 70s. Also, they made Cheryl some rando friend of Linda's rather than Ash's younger sister. There was some added backstory, which was kind of interesting and they expanded some scenes, for example Scott ditching Ash and Linda to find another way out of the woods. They actually show a bit of his trek through the woods, which was cool.

 

All-in-all it was closer to the meh side of good rather than the awesome side of good. Not a complete disaster, but it could have been better.

... but I should have. Instead I have watched the movie Life. If you don´t know that movie, it´s the one were Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhall and others are acting like complete morons, even though they are supposed to be scientist. These idiots picked up an ancient life form from Mars, whose main objective is to kill them all (and to get to earth). Due to the stupidity of the astronauts / scientist and the survival instict of the alien, all hell breaks loose on the ISS.

Honestly, I cheered for the alien, which is so wrong because it was so boring and non-threatening. The people in this movie were just so dumb, I was on the verge of throwing stuff at my tv and don´t get me started on the ending. I hated the ending.

 

Coming back to the one and only Alien, the real deal, threatening in all it´s glory. I´m reading the graphic novel for the halloween bingo. The story takes place after the event of the James Cameron movie Aliens, Newt and Hicks have survived and are forced to go after the Alien again. I´m about halfway through and I´m enjoying the story and the artwork with its drawings in black and white.

 

   

So I'm really not a Superman person, I'm just reading this because I'm trying to read up on the DC crossover events. I know that's like 50 trades, and I accept that I'm crazy for trying at this point. At any rate, Superman: Sacrifice was part of the buildup to Infinite Crisis. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten my hands on Project OMAC yet, and it seems like OMAC should probably be read first. There's a lot of intermingled events here. The basic idea is that Maxwell Lord (Luthor Lite) has managed to take control of Superman's mind. I'm not exactly sure how. If it was explained in the issues collected here, I missed it. Maybe that's in OMAC. The end result is that Wonder Woman feels compelled to do something that Superman and Batman both regard as essentially unforgiveable.

And it's ok. I guess everybody seemed more or less in character. The storyline itself simply wasn't that interesting to me. I get that an out-of-control Superman would be a very scary thing, but I don't think that was developed very well. Considering the implications, the entire storyline felt like it had been compressed, but that's probably partly to do with the crossover. Storylines need resolving in a set number of issues, no more and no less. Of course, I may not even be seeing the end of the storyline, and it may end up spreading out across a dozen or so trades. But what was here? It was ok.