After a period of uncertainty as to when Marvel’s previously announced Predator series would release due to the Disney/Thomas Brothers lawsuit, Marvel has now announced that their first Predator comics from writer Ed Brisson and artist Kev Walker will be stalking into comic book stores in July of 2022!
The updated announced contains no new plot information, but does include a quote from Brisson.
“I’ve been obsessed with Predator since first seeing the film at the drive-in theater as a kid. I can still remember sitting there in horrified fascination and then acting out the movie for my classmates the following week at school. I bought the VHS and wore the hell out of the tape. Getting to write the characters launch for Marvel is a dream come true. When they offered me the gig, I already had a million ideas ready to go.
Not only am I excited to write a PREDATOR book, but I’m doubly excited to be working with Kev Walker on the series. The pages he’s turned in so far and mind-blowing. He’s delivered awe-inspiring alien planets; huge, blood-pumping action scenes: and devastatingly emotional beats all in the space of the first issue. I really think we’re making something quite special here.”
Marvel’s Predator: The Original Years Omnibus Vol. 1 was also a victim of delay due to the lawsuit, with its updated September release date having only just been announced in February. Predator #1 will release on the 6th of July. Thanks to Skewed & Reviewed for the heads-up.
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No worries I get it and while I do find the story charming I don't necessarily think it makes for a good Predator story. I really hope the next arc is completely unrelated.
(Xiggz456, not trying to take away from your enjoyment; if you're loving them don't let me or anyone else take that away from you... it's not my intention to do that anyway)
... have they released any solicitations or previews or anything for the story arc AFTER this one yet? I'm curious to know if they intend to continue down this current path or if they're changing directions entirely after this...
Imo good Aliens media touches upon some of the cosmic mystery behind the Aliens. Good Predator media dips, though not too deeply, into Pred culture and sprinkles a few Pred individuals with personality and maybe even growth. At the end of the day, Preds are a bit more like humans than the utterly alien Aliens.
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These are just ideas I came up with on the fly, but I think there's a lot of wasted potential with Marvel's actual approach.
It's hard to say whether the next arc will be related as we all assumed that Alien was going to be an ongoing series following Cruz and that ended up being its own 6 issue arc with the next one being almost completely unrelated. I'd assume that the writer probably didn't write any additional stories during the lawsuit as that would be a potential waste if the lawsuit had gone differently. Now that the series is four issues deep though I'd assume another arc is in the works so we shall see soon enough whether we continue to follow Theta or get something new.
As for people not liking it, I totally understand why folks wouldn't as this story is tonally not in line with Predator. I'm still finding some enjoyment from the series but it feels unrealistic on several fronts to a pretty high degree. Like it kinda feels like an over the top anime version of Predator to me which is fun but I usually don't have to suspend my disbelief this much for a Predator story.
doubt it will be unrelated. we really don't know how much the writer had backlogged while the lawsuit sorted itself out. Theta is probably our main character for until theres a new writer .
I think a lot of people don't like it cause it doesn't feel as predator as it could maybe its the future setting maybe its theta. maybe it feels like something other then predator like a space series like Star Wars or something. like the predators are just there maybe if they build one up more it will start feeling more like its there book . like we don't even have a name for the one theta is hunting its just the three mandibled predator theta didn't even think to give it a better name make it more personal having a name
Yeah we only had to wait 2 weeks since the last issue. But we'll have to wait 5 weeks for issue 5.
We know that this'll be a 6 issue arc so I'm hoping that the next arc is completely unrelated. I'd really prefer it not taking place in the future.
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Yes, that would be far preferable to what we're getting from Marvel.
If our human female protagonist is already established as this nigh-unstoppable Pred-wrecking machine within the first few issues, how is this character and the plot going to develop across the next, say, dozen issues？
If she can repeatedly beat Preds like this over and over again, she's either extremely lucky...or the Preds simply don't pose much of a danger to her. The former is silly from a storytelling perspective and the latter debases the Preds.
It woulda made more sense to follow her long and arduous journey from grieving, orphaned girl to hardcore warrior-woman...like a slow-burn revenge tale, where along the way, we could learn more about Marvel's Pred universe set in the future. What are the forces at play on the human and non-human sides？How did she learn the ropes and grow into an elite operator capable of hunting Preds？
Maybe they'll introduce an "elite" Pred to give her a proper challenge later？So far, this reads like a generic sci-fi setting with a hyper-dominant heroine from the get-go and hapless Preds thrown in as fodder to prop her up.
Yeah, this is my main issue with the series so far too. It's so DC Movies, trying to play catch up with Marvel and jumping to the end. We should have had other series that led into this.
Now, that said, I am still enjoying the arc so far. I liked the way
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Dark horse wasn't perfect, but if they were still handling the comics today, we would have had an "official prequel to Prey" already where feral faced-off against the French fur trappers prior to his encounter with Naru. Such a missed opportunity there I think... I miss that level of cooperative tie-ins too...
I don't like anything about this story arc. Especially the fact that it pretty much kicks off with her being a seasoned hunter of the predators. I don't mind people hunting them, but it has to be *earned* first, like all of the characters in Dark Horse's "Hunters," "Hunters II" and "Hunters III" series. Without that, and just jumping right into her being a seasoned hunter of them, It just Reduces the predators to generic-alien-killers and basic-canon-fodder imo.
From my perspective it Completely loses the high-stakes hunter/prey dynamic the series was known for, and it seems more like a sci-fi franchise in the middle of an identity crisis. I can see someone having the rebuttal that the high-stakes hunter/prey dynamic is still there just reversed, but that just doesn't work for me; it's not as interesting narratively to me.
I was really looking forward to checking this series out. I'm not just bashing on it because it's marvel (I've always been a fan of marvel). But this really has been a disappointment. I'm hoping that "Prey" will inspire them to recalibrate their approach to the predator franchise and return to a more traditional story arc.
Ugh. I wish he'd just go away...
Looks to me like he forgot to finish drawing/tracing the legs too
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1556/9595/products/75960609928300521_500x.jpg?v=1666709938
PREDATOR #6
ED BRISSON (W) • KEV WALKER (A) • Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
Variant Cover by CARLOS MAGNO
Theta and the Astar team are under attack by a Predator! But is this the one Theta has been searching for all her life? Don't miss what happens as Theta comes face-to-face with what could be her final battle!
32 PGS./Parental Advisory ...$3.99
Oh yes!
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no actual solicitation yet only some marvel titles got full solicitations in the preview Alien , Predator and Star Wars didn't yet .
https://is2.4chan.org/co/1663769590186896.png
I'm not sure about the new
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I'm enjoying the buildup and some of the character development. I think I'm liking the direction it's going a lil more. Although I do agree about some of the other aliens looking a little too Guardians of the Galaxy esque. But it doesn't ruin the series for me, so far.
December's Predator #5 Solicitation
PREDATOR #5
ED BRISSON (W) • KEV WALKER (A) • Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
Variant Cover by PHILIP TAN • Variant Cover by GREG LAND Theta has been taken prisoner...but her captors aren't the Predators! Who are they? And will Theta be able to escape? Or will the Predators finally avenge their fallen kin?
32 PGS./Parental Advisory ...$3.99
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tLVXBLBZpmQoBsjhBr9nPn-1200-80.jpg
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Also, I have a hunch the Predator she's after is a Bad Blood, or at least one whose abusing technicalities in the honor code to get cheap kills. I don't know, maybe we need to find out more about what was going on on the planet where Theta's parent's were killed, and if that organization had any prior conflict with Predators there, but the way he just kills a father who only went out into the woods to find his kid, then goes to hunt down the mother and kill anyone in his way (including two guys who were completely unarmed), gives me that vibe.
Same. Seeing bits of that with Ahab in Fire & Stone was really cool.
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I've been wanting to see a more prominent one of those in Predator for a while now. Curious to see how it's handled.
https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/marvel-predator-2-first-look/#8
I think The Predators date thing is just them not coordinating with what's going on in Hunting Grounds unfortunately. It's just a general intro page thing and I wouldn't put much canon-shifting weight in it myself.
Fugitive's ship crashes in Georgia, USA, or perhaps across the state line in Florida (listed as FL in the script). His escape pod ejects over Mexico. How the ship managed to glide all the way there that long after he bailed is just one of the many silly things of that movie. Though I suppose it's not that implausible given the geography if the ship is still going fast enough.
They could make up for this by introducing a deadlier "elite" predator later on, perhaps someone like Smiley in Civilised Beasts
Picked up the comic without having any prior knowledge to the storyline.
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Dislike:
PREDATOR #4
ED BRISSON (W) • KEV WALKER (A) • Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
Variant Cover by Salvador Larroca • Variant Cover by Stan Sakai
Theta's in danger as two Predators have her cornered! It's life or death as Theta goes head-to-head in an all-out dogfight!
32 PGS./Parental Advisory ...$3.99
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/664669551971008512/1010959599609860167/NxoyjzeB4EJiU6YhwPauFW-1200-80.jpg
Art is pretty solid, and the pacing of the issue is pretty good as well. Theta is a bit too much of an ultimate badass to so easily hunt Predators, but I think issue 2 will flip that so she is the hunted.
Of course there's probably more to this in later issues but it doesn't hold up for me on its own.
Here's hoping for a more traditional Marvel Predator story in the near future.