Predator Invaders From The Fourth Dimension Review

This 1-shot comic came together through relative unknowns, with only Clem Robbins the letterer seeming to have a lot of experience behind him, having worked on many different projects, but mostly Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The writer Jerry Prosser has done a fair bit of work, apparently contributing to Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (which is amazing), though I fail to see where he worked on it. He has worked on odd projects here and there, nothing particularly well appraised. The penciller/cover artist has done very little comic work, as has the inker, Brian Garvey, though they have both worked on Aliens: Newts Tale. Ray Murtaugh, the inker, has worked on a dozen or so Star Wars comics.

Predator: Invaders from the fourth dimension is a very strange story, which I found equally unappealing. When 11-year old Tommy receives a pair of special glasses (which are meant to be used at the cinema) from his father, who works in the B-Movie business, Tommy goes to a recent explosion site. Lo and behold, he finds that the explosion was caused by a Predator, which he can see with his special glasses, and for some reason decides to take some of the Predator’s belongings. The rest of the comic is about the Predator chasing down Tommy, whilst Tommy tries to convince people that the Predator is doing so. The comic’s finale comes when the Predator faces Tommy, and Tommy gives back the Predator’s belongings.

I must say, this is one of the strangest comics I ever read, and not in a good way. It’s hard to tell if the comic is meant to be comedy (in which case it does a very bad job), or extremely bad action. The art is mediocre, nothing extraordinary, but the story is just unbelievable; it just seems strung together. Maybe the writer thought they would be different from the plotline in which Predator comics are normally written, but it fails. Having a kid as the protagonist is the first problem, particularly as it’s not a very serious comic. But the whole glasses that can see the Predator is just weak, and the comic just never seems to become very interesting. The cover art is also uninspiring, reason being as it is done by the penciller. Considering the other great Predator comics that are available, this should be avoided.