Just saw this over on CBR (http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/exclusive-dark-horse-expands-the-xenoverse-with-predator-life-and-death-miniseries (http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/exclusive-dark-horse-expands-the-xenoverse-with-predator-life-and-death-miniseries))
QuoteThanks to Dark Horse Comics, the "Xenoverse" is about to grow a little larger. CBR can exclusively reveal the covers and solicitation for writer Dan Abnett and artist Brian Thies' "Predator: Life and Death," a four-issue miniseries which will kick off the publisher's initiative to expand this universe next year. Several new series helmed by Abnett and as-yet-unannounced artists will follow "Predator" and focus on "Prometheus," "Aliens" and "Alien vs. Predator."
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPRLD-1-FC-FNL-957e6.jpg&hash=334e42df667a1b5652e4fae9decaddb51ac7b648)
It starts in March 2016.
Spoiler
QuotePredator: Life and Death #1 (of 4)
Dan Abnett (W), Brian Thies (A), Rain Beredo (C), and David Palumbo (Cover)
On sale Mar 2
FC, 32 pages
$3.99
Miniseries
Colonial Marines on the planet Tartarus battle extraterrestrial hunters over the possession of a mysterious horseshoe-shaped spaceship of unknown origin.
The Weyland-Yutani rep wants the ship, and the marine captain wants to protect her crew. But neither objective is likely when a band of Predators attacks!
• Predator: Life and Death begins chapter one in a new story cycle involving Predators, Aliens, and the mysterious Engineers from Prometheus!
All I can do is try and breathe. Dan Abnett writing a FaS-style A/v/P/Prometheus crossover? I'm adoring he and Andy Lanning's 2008-2010 Guardians of the Galaxy. TAKE MY MONEY!
...so "solicitation" means this is actually going to happen, right?
March 2, 2016 is the release date, so it's happening even sooner than the first issue of Defiance.
Oh man, I hope they let Abnett get really cosmic with this, especially now that the Prometheus sequel is in production.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 11, 2015, 12:10:37 AM
March 2, 2016 is the release date, so it's happening even sooner than the first issue of Defiance.
Cool...thought "solicitation" meant "proposed story"
Also, ow
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPredatorLD20-0d276.jpg&hash=abac461abe6c6cac28b3d7fc01088f7a6100d727)
That certainly looks painful! The variant cover is cool, too.
Spoiler
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPRLD-1-FC-VARIANT-66088.jpg&hash=54a7061cb9d0617f3c1787f2b510183bf2e04819)
Here's hoping that they have a wee bit more freedom to feature the Engineers this time around. The fact that they've announced this only three months before release gives me some hope that studio interference wasn't as bad as it was with FaS.
I am going to assume this is the Fire and Stone sequel they've been meaning to do.
I just hope they don't say or even speculate "Engineers created Predators"... I REALLY hope they don't.
Abnett overseeing this series gives me a lot of hope! And I can easily see Amazing Spider-Man in that interior artwork. It looks great so far.
I hope these stories don't feel as restricted by Prometheus and Alien: Covenant as Fire and Stone did.
Quote from: happypred on Dec 11, 2015, 12:09:56 AM
...so "solicitation" means this is actually going to happen, right?
When a book is solicited it means it's advertised and open for preorders through Diamond (global comics distro company -- Weyland-Yutani for comics logistics), which means you guys go to your nearest comic shops and preorder those suckers so Dark Horse know how many need to be printed. The higher the preorder numbers, the healthier the book and the more likely it is you'll see more books along those lines. Preorders are kind of the lifeline of a comic. Just going in and buying a comic off the shelf each time you want it doesn't actually help the comic.
Engineers had to have created yautja. Since fire and stone weve learned that humanoid beings from other planets were also created by engineers. The chances of us finding an actual humanoid would be very peculiar and would raise so many new questions in both science and religion. Are people actually saying when this engineer race starts seeding worlds with their own d.n.a. and creating engineer-like species that another engineer-like species just happens to evolve and shares similarities to every other engineered intelligence across the galaxy? It just doesnt add up. As much as people dont like it, for whatever reason, i'm all for engineers having a hand in the preds evolution. It doesnt affect anything and it has the potential to contribute to the ever expanding yautja lore. Which imjust fine with ;)
Quote from: LordCassusSnow on Dec 11, 2015, 05:02:43 AM
Engineers had to have created yautja. Since fire and stone weve learned that humanoid beings from other planets were also created by engineers. The chances of us finding an actual humanoid would be very peculiar and would raise so many new questions in both science and religion.
Here is the thing. I find that the idea of the Engineers creating the Predators... kind of devalues them. That they aren't unique and it further places the Engineers on a pedestal which... I think over-rates them. I most certainly don't want them to be these... galactic overlords and I'm just afraid we're going to be getting that. Fire and Stone showed only a few races who were either created by the Engineers, or interacted with them.
But here is the thing... the universe is so big that perhaps not even the Engineers have covered the entire universe. I mean if the Yautja were created by the them, then how come they weren't made aware of them? More so... Incursion suggested that the Predators in the new EU have documented their history, even cherished it to where it's heavily archived. One would think they would've documented about the Engineers and their relation to them. If they were created by the Engineers, there would've been archives on their planet and the Yautja would've known about them.
Fire and Stone indicated that they didn't. And Incursion's suggestion of the Yautja keeping their history down suggests no real interaction between the species.
Also.. Elden had suggested that even he didn't know where the Yautja came from when he was undergoing his transformation and perhaps.. off-panel viewed some history. He even said to one of the Predators: "I don't know what you are or where you came from."
Quote from: LordCassusSnow on Dec 11, 2015, 05:02:43 AM
It doesnt affect anything and it has the potential to contribute to the ever expanding yautja lore. Which imjust fine with ;)
We do know that the Yautja are a polytheistic race with their own deities. Similarly to our own but we also know that they are an ancient race-- and the old EU suggests that their origins were even lost to them, though the new EU suggests they have their history heavily archived. I just think that the Predators need to be their own thing, and kept as something unique. I mean why not? Isn't it enough that the Engineers are pretty much well.. the Masters of the Universe (No, not He-Man) now? I say let some races be engineered, and some be naturally occurring.
As a Predator fan, it would just further devalue the concept of the character for me.
Actually, evolutionary principles dictate the land-dwelling humanoid body design would be the most likely form of life, in terms of species which naturally discover star travel. It's all to do with efficiency of energy and the psychology of invention. Mere tool-use, on its own, isn't enough.
Life might be very exotic, out there, but humanoid life is generally going to be what we communicate with.
Exceptons to that would be if something has, say, telekinesis or has been given technology by another civilisation (or is artificially created). That's when 'leap-frogging' factors could potentially arise.
Quote from: tyrannosaurusjones on Dec 11, 2015, 03:12:04 AM
When a book is solicited it means it's advertised and open for preorders through Diamond (global comics distro company -- Weyland-Yutani for comics logistics), which means you guys go to your nearest comic shops and preorder those suckers so Dark Horse know how many need to be printed. The higher the preorder numbers, the healthier the book and the more likely it is you'll see more books along those lines. Preorders are kind of the lifeline of a comic. Just going in and buying a comic off the shelf each time you want it doesn't actually help the comic.
Thanks for this info
Quote from: LordCassusSnow on Dec 11, 2015, 05:02:43 AM
Engineers had to have created yautja.
It's strange that the Yautja seem to be one of the races lacking knowledge about the Engineers. Ahab seems to have stumbled upon their existence in that cave on the planet with the four-armed warrior aliens.
Hope Ahab is in this
Quote from: happypred on Dec 11, 2015, 05:54:26 AM
It's strange that the Yautja seem to be one of the races lacking knowledge about the Engineers. Ahab seems to have stumbled upon their existence in that cave on the planet with the four-armed warrior aliens.
The universe is a very big place. Not counting the AVP films and the old EU, Fire and Stone may have been their first encounter.
Inversely, the same could be said about the Engineers not knowing about the Yautja.
The predators archived their history? On their homeworld? I thought it was passed on by elders of their race? In incursion its stated that the yautja history was being lost by the war consuming yautja space and with it many elders who are keepers of that knowledge. Also im pretty sure its also stated that perhaps even the yautja may no know where their beginnings are. If thats the case then we might never know what kinds of interactions with engineers were worthy of note in pred history as they are now lost forever thanks to the rage.
Quote from: LordCassusSnow on Dec 11, 2015, 06:09:51 AMIn incursion its stated that the yautja history was being lost by the war consuming yautja space and with it many elders who are keepers of that knowledge.
Don't remember Incursion saying that...
I always thought of the yautja being on the same engineer extermination list as humans and the preds, being the bad asses they are, turned the tables and escaped the engineers apocalypse and spread throughout the galaxy hunting engineer creations and maybe even creating them for game as the beasts in the predators sequel comic bare striking similarities to the animal life in fire and stone.
Quote from: happypred on Dec 11, 2015, 06:15:17 AM
Quote from: LordCassusSnow on Dec 11, 2015, 06:09:51 AMIn incursion its stated that the yautja history was being lost by the war consuming yautja space and with it many elders who are keepers of that knowledge.
Don't remember Incursion saying that...
I don't think it did, there was mention that the legacy of Yautja hunts was erased with each dead Yautja but I think that's more of a cultural thing than anything regarding history.
Quote from: predxeno on Dec 11, 2015, 07:14:28 AM
I don't think it did, there was mention that the legacy of Yautja hunts was erased with each dead Yautja but I think that's more of a cultural thing than anything regarding history.
My mistake then! I suppose I must've misinterpreted something amongst the fan discussion regarding that.
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Dec 11, 2015, 05:27:37 AM
Actually, evolutionary principles dictate the land-dwelling humanoid body design would be the most likely form of life, in terms of species which naturally discover star travel. It's all to do with efficiency of energy and the psychology of invention. Mere tool-use, on its own, isn't enough.
Life might be very exotic, out there, but humanoid life is generally going to be what we communicate with.
Exceptons to that would be if something has, say, telekinesis or has been given technology by another civilisation (or is artificially created). That's when 'leap-frogging' factors could potentially arise.
This is very enlightening!
Quote from: predxeno on Dec 11, 2015, 07:14:28 AM
Quote from: happypred on Dec 11, 2015, 06:15:17 AM
Quote from: LordCassusSnow on Dec 11, 2015, 06:09:51 AMIn incursion its stated that the yautja history was being lost by the war consuming yautja space and with it many elders who are keepers of that knowledge.
Don't remember Incursion saying that...
I don't think it did, there was mention that the legacy of Yautja hunts was erased with each dead Yautja but I think that's more of a cultural thing than anything regarding history.
Yes as in each Yautja death ends the legacy of a Yautja warrior
Based on Elden's reaction to the Predators in Fire and Stone, I don't believe they're going down the road of the Engineers being the progenitors of the Predators. I do prefer that the Engineers not be single handedly responsible for every single variation of life in the galaxy.
That said I did kind of like the idea of the Predators hunting their own gods. It was quite a powerful idea. It's still powerful, they're literally hunting gods, I just thought it was more powerful with them hunting their own.
I think we're going to see a lot more interaction between the franchises - at least in comic book form - now. It seems very much like Dark Horse is committed to some sort of massive universe and continuity. And I'm all for that assuming it's kept tidy and the stories themselves are actually good! I'm still a little underwhelmed by Fire and Stone as a whole as it felt like it ultimately went no-where.
Quote from: happypred on Dec 11, 2015, 05:54:26 AM
Hope Ahab is in this
I would love that! The F&S Predator series was fantastic and I loved Ahab!
Even as a non-comic fan, it's nice that they're pumping out some new series!
I wonder if Tartarus is a name that winds up being given to LV-223 at some point, since that's the Greek underworld, it would make sense, especially since neighboring 426 winds up getting called Acheron, the river one had to cross to get into Tartarus.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 11, 2015, 11:31:22 AM
I wonder if Tartarus is a name that winds up being given to LV-223 at some point, since that's the Greek underworld, it would make sense, especially since neighboring 426 winds up getting called Acheron, the river one had to cross to get into Tartarus.
Nice bit of info there dude. Thanks. Good thought also.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 11, 2015, 11:31:22 AM
I wonder if Tartarus is a name that winds up being given to LV-223 at some point, since that's the Greek underworld, it would make sense, especially since neighboring 426 winds up getting called Acheron, the river one had to cross to get into Tartarus.
That's definitely an interesting notion and quite possible. I could see it being a battle over the accelerant cargo.
Personally I'd like them to keep away from LV-223 though. I don't want the same hands-tied feeling that Fire and Stone had to come across to Life and Death.
I'm really looking forward to this. Well the Marines of going to hell it seems lol ;)
I agree with hoping that this one is able to stand on its own more than FaS. Giving Abnett some room to flesh things out would be great, and I like that it seems that he'll be writing the whole thing. FaS had too many writers and editors. I hope they let him get really cosmic.
It will be interesting to see when this winds up being set, because I assume from Stradley's comments from months back that this was written with Alien 5 in mind. It might provide a bit of insight into what Blomkamp had in store. It will also be worth seeing if FaS gets referenced at all.
This is rumor control here are the facts: Chapter 22 page 286-Hashori" Every yautja death is a tragedy, wiping out centuries of experience and history. Every death takes away part of that story. Now the yautja story is more denuded than it has ever been before, in all living memory". There are no archives mentioned. History seemes to be passed down by the oldest and most experienced elders who are now being killed off by the rage. There is also no homeworld mentioned which im fine with. These conversations should focus on the facts that have been given from whats actually canon and not fan fiction.
I do believe there's a threat of humans knowing where the Predator homeworld is towards the end of the book though (a bluff). The implication seems to be that there is one, the Predators just don't know where it is anymore.
Utramorph...
This was the most exciting news to wake up to, pal. ;D
I am so excited, I will definitely be ordering these at my local book shop! I love seeing more Yautja and Engineer interactions.
To add to the topic above, yeah, the Predators don't seem to know where their homeworld is and weren't even phased when Weyland-Yutani threatened to "nuke the f**k" out of their planet. Maybe they know where a Predator planet is, but not exactly their homeworld.
AvP2010 heavily implies they have no idea where it is, your clan leader questions if BG386 is "one of the Father-Worlds where our ancestors hunted so long ago?"
And the game manual straight out says the Predators are so ancients that their ancestry is lost to myth and legends. And yes, in AvP2010, the Predators put a huge value on memory just like Rage War Yautja do. "There is memory here in these very stones..." you hear your clan leader say this as you explore the Predator ruins.
So some elements from that may be fitted into Lebbon's Yautja. I only remember them cherishing memory and saying death is a tragedy. But a species that is FAR older than humanity, I doubt they'd be able to archive their history very accurately. Heck, we hardly know our own origins and we're only 200,000 years old as a species.
Does anyone know when this will be set in the timeline? Would it be decades after Fire and Stone? Or shortly after?
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Dec 11, 2015, 08:30:55 AM
Based on Elden's reaction to the Predators in Fire and Stone, I don't believe they're going down the road of the Engineers being the progenitors of the Predators. I do prefer that the Engineers not be single handedly responsible for every single variation of life in the galaxy.
Elden seemed to think to say that
all life was created by the Engineers including the Predators, although this could just be him guessing and making assumptions.
I wonder if we are going to see other parts of Predator society. They can't all be hunters.
Quote from: predxeno on Dec 11, 2015, 08:38:29 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Dec 11, 2015, 08:30:55 AM
Based on Elden's reaction to the Predators in Fire and Stone, I don't believe they're going down the road of the Engineers being the progenitors of the Predators. I do prefer that the Engineers not be single handedly responsible for every single variation of life in the galaxy.
Elden seemed to think to say that all life was created by the Engineers including the Predators, although this could just be him guessing and making assumptions.
He never says
all life. He just says they created life. He specifically says to the Predators he doesn't know what they are.
It's been awhile since I read it but I'll take your word for it; I'm not going to bother going back to re-read it, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. :(
I checked before replying to you.
Was it ever explained how Elden knew all of that in terms of the Engineers creating many lifeforms, or was that something done entirely off panel and left to the viewer to explain for themselves whether or not he was experiencing delusions of grandeur?
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Dec 11, 2015, 08:30:55 AM
I'm still a little underwhelmed by Fire and Stone as a whole as it felt like it ultimately went no-where.
Definitely nowhere near as disappoiting as Three World War (in my opinion)...but felt like it didn't have a strong focus
QuoteQuote from: happypred on Dec 11, 2015, 05:54:26 AM
Hope Ahab is in this
The F&S Predator series was fantastic and I loved Ahab!
Indeed...really liked Mooneyham's interior predator art
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 11, 2015, 07:43:29 PM
Does anyone know when this will be set in the timeline? Would it be decades after Fire and Stone? Or shortly after?
Nope, no word yet beyond what CBR revealed, though if I were to speculate, I would point out that the Marine's uniforms and weapons look
Aliens-era. So maybe 22nd-23rd century?
It will be interesting to see how connected this winds up being to FaS. My gut feeling is that this will stand apart from it. I can't wait until we learn more. 2016 and 2017 are shaping up to be good years for the fandom. ;D
Also found an AvP piece from Brian Thies on his Deviant Art.
http://brianthies.deviantart.com/gallery/ (http://brianthies.deviantart.com/gallery/)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg14.deviantart.net%2Fa0ff%2Fi%2F2015%2F148%2F5%2F1%2Favp_by_brianthies-d8v4czh.jpg&hash=dd2ff1101cc6de96da08c2e8eed131c0d6504d5e)
Pred looks suitably sleek and athletic...Xeno proportions look right
Anyone else notice that the Predator in the preview image is wearing a Kenner-style Lava Planet mask, complete with tusks? I like the reference, and how we get some other interesting takes on the Preds.
Spoiler
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPredatorLD20-0d276.jpg&hash=abac461abe6c6cac28b3d7fc01088f7a6100d727)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fkastorskorner.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F06%2Flava-pred-feat.jpg&hash=64fa8d88026610ddaa9333a37c3ee061372bf132)
Sounds great! This could be really suspenseful, and action-packed.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 13, 2015, 07:56:50 PM
Anyone else notice that the Predator in the preview image is wearing a Kenner-style Lava Planet mask, complete with tusks? I like the reference, and how we get some other interesting takes on the Preds. Spoiler
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPredatorLD20-0d276.jpg&hash=abac461abe6c6cac28b3d7fc01088f7a6100d727)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fkastorskorner.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F06%2Flava-pred-feat.jpg&hash=64fa8d88026610ddaa9333a37c3ee061372bf132)
Hmm...kinda
His mask is partially obscured
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 13, 2015, 07:56:50 PM
Anyone else notice that the Predator in the preview image is wearing a Kenner-style Lava Planet mask, complete with tusks? I like the reference, and how we get some other interesting takes on the Preds. Spoiler
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPredatorLD20-0d276.jpg&hash=abac461abe6c6cac28b3d7fc01088f7a6100d727)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fkastorskorner.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F06%2Flava-pred-feat.jpg&hash=64fa8d88026610ddaa9333a37c3ee061372bf132)
I do love seeing a variety in the masks and I do see what you mean.
Just re-read Predator F&S...definitely a solid, entertaining little miniseries but still felt there was so much untapped potential. F&S deserves a sequel or even a prequel. It needs to lead...somewhere. I also feel that a large multi-miniseries event would benefit from being helmed by a single creative lead.
I hope Dan Abnett isn't just doing the Predator portion...but it looks like he is?
Aliens Defiance is tied to Predator Life and Death?
Quote from: happypred on Dec 14, 2015, 10:39:17 AMI hope Dan Abnett isn't just doing the Predator portion...but it looks like he is?
The way it was phrased, talking about Abnett "leading" the creative team, makes me think he will be involved in at least the majority of the releases. Although I guess they could just be talking in chronological terms.
Quote from: happypred on Dec 14, 2015, 10:39:17 AMAliens Defiance is tied to Predator Life and Death?
They haven't said, and I would've thought they'd mention it if it was the case.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Dec 14, 2015, 10:43:55 AM
The way it was phrased, talking about Abnett "leading" the creative team, makes me think he will be involved in at least the majority of the releases.
That was my assumption as well. We'll find out soon enough, I guess.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Dec 14, 2015, 10:43:55 AM
They haven't said, and I would've thought they'd mention it if it was the case.
Perhaps Tristian could enlighten us?
DH's March solicitations are up, and they include another (fantastic) variant cover, this one by Chris Warner.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/buffy-25-predator-life-and-death-and-more-in-dark-horses-march-2016-solicitations (http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/buffy-25-predator-life-and-death-and-more-in-dark-horses-march-2016-solicitations)
Spoiler
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I'm loving the variety in Predator looks already. Is it March yet?
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 14, 2015, 09:35:02 PM
I'm loving the variety in Predator looks already. Is it March yet?
f**king Voodoo magic mon
...though I wouldn't get my hopes up too high. Cover art doesn't always make it into the interior...or it might, but ends up looking different/worse
(https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/968417.jpg)
(https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/973153.jpg)
As long as we don't see the Super Predators, or any Four-Armed Predators...
Still might give this one a pass though.
Also...kinda seeing a bit of dental resemblance
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPredatorLifeDeath-1-Alt30th-6ad2a.jpg&hash=0b6a28d4d3a23d8e2d7678fc127c9e69f07cbf83)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.comicartfans.com%2FImages%2FCategory_33558%2Fsubcat_76149%2FHPIM0437.JPG&hash=503638d9158f5c5ef0c1772793661b064873ace6)
It's done by the same artist.
Not liking that Warner variant. :-\ Far too cartoony for me.
I'm loving it...like it more than Palumbo's, which I find underwhelming. Warner's looks like some sort of Yautja shaman
Quote from: happypred on Dec 15, 2015, 05:07:43 AM
...though I wouldn't get my hopes up too high. Cover art doesn't always make it into the interior...or it might, but ends up looking different/worse
(https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/968417.jpg)
(https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n_iv/600/973153.jpg)
Oof, even seeing those 2009-10 covers makes me sad now. :laugh:
The Predator series wasn't great. :-\ That bombshell on Aliens #1 though!
Focus on suspense, with enemies sneaking up on people who are caught alone or in tight spaces.
It's up for pre-order on TFAW. Got mine. ;D
http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Predator%3A-Life-And-Death-1___495641 (http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Predator%3A-Life-And-Death-1___495641)
I assume I could pre-order via DH Digital? That would help the series, yes?
I believe all pre-orders help.
Not really thrilled about the continued cross-over between Aliens and Predator. That idea failed with the last two movies. The novelty wore off a decade ago. Now I find myself having to read through predator comics to get at some Aliens stories. I mean it is obvious that there is an Aliens connection here, yet it is referred to as a predator comic. Not cool. I don't think this has Ridley Scott's support...
I see your point. It seems every company is in a rush to catch some "cinematic universe" lightning in a bottle, but at least DH is giving us an Aliens series (Defiance) that seems to be its own thing, as well. I just hope they have some more freedom this time around. FaS seemed almost like a waste given how restricted they were.
That being said, I'm liking the interconnected stuff so far, so I'm interested to see what these series have to offer, especially since they're being helmed by really good writer.
I asked Randy Stradley on Twitter if this is a sequel to FaS, but he hasn't gotten back to me.
Predator makes the back cover to the previews catalog:
http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/71/977?articleID=172430
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 16, 2015, 09:04:47 PM
Not really thrilled about the continued cross-over between Aliens and Predator. That idea failed with the last two movies. The novelty wore off a decade ago. Now I find myself having to read through predator comics to get at some Aliens stories. I mean it is obvious that there is an Aliens connection here, yet it is referred to as a predator comic. Not cool. I don't think this has Ridley Scott's support...
Don't buy Predator Life and Death (not sure whether there are aliens in it...seems like a Predator/Prometheus story).
Instead, go buy Aliens Defiance.
The two movies failed to capture the potential of the concept, doesn't mean it's a bad concept...you are however, entitled to your personal taste
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 16, 2015, 09:04:47 PM
Not really thrilled about the continued cross-over between Aliens and Predator. That idea failed with the last two movies. The novelty wore off a decade ago. Now I find myself having to read through predator comics to get at some Aliens stories. I mean it is obvious that there is an Aliens connection here, yet it is referred to as a predator comic. Not cool. I don't think this has Ridley Scott's support...
As much as I liked the AVP crossover and the films in general... I am sort of agreeing here. I mean if I want a Predator story, I have to tredge through this Prometheus bull but it doesn't feel like I'm reading a Predator or AVP story. As a matter of fact, I might as well say that Prometheus... kind of took over in a hostile manner and effectively killed AVP. I think SiL said it best, it's not the Alien-Predator universe anymore, it's the Prometheus universe.
And considering that Ridley Scott didn't like the concept of Alien vs. Predator, I don't think he is entirely for this as well. I've heard some claims on this forum that he was a bit apprehensive when being told about Fire and Stone. So, if he is apprehensive about it-- he still doesn't think highly of the concept. I doubt we will see Predators in the upcoming Prometheus sequels.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 16, 2015, 09:38:58 PM
I see your point. It seems every company is in a rush to catch some "cinematic universe" lightning in a bottle, but at least DH is giving us an Aliens series (Defiance) that seems to be its own thing, as well.
See, this is a problem with I have with the current canon and how it's being handled. Alien-Predator DOESN'T need a shared universe because it has BEEN a shared universe since 1989.. 1990 if you don't count the comics, and was further solidified in 2004-- regardless if anyone liked the film or not. Now it seems like every studio out there is trying to do what Marvel Studios has done-- but Marvel Studios has the privilege of having actual comic writers and content creators working on their material... Alien-Predator doesn't. Never did. They were originally two separate universes until the original and TRUE AvP came out, and solidified in Predator 2. And now it seems like every studio out there is trying to emulate what Marvel's done... I can understand Warner Brothers with the DC Cinematic Universe, but now I'm hearing of a Hasbroverse which... is just a bit ridiculous.
In the case of Alien-Predator, well.. as I said, it's BEEN a shared universe. No need to market it as being a new shared universe. It's been one for over twenty six years. There are many shared universes out there that apparently... studios are pretending don't exist, or have forgotten that they do, and are trying to market them as new, wild, untried concepts... selling them to us, and we fall for it. It's kind of hamfisted.
In the case of the AVP concept, with new light being looked on Anderson's statements on the AVP franchise essentially being a stand-alone and not so much a continuation of the Alien franchise, then what the hell does that make them and the concept entirely? Their own separate but parallel canon, an AU, or never was canon in the first place?
In the case of the comics, I have a feeling we're never going to get a stand-alone Predator series that has NO Prometheus or Alien references, nor will be set in the past or the present. And as a Predator fan... that... kind of upsets me.
I'm passing on this one..
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 16, 2015, 09:04:47 PMNot really thrilled about the continued cross-over between Aliens and Predator.
Is it a crossover? It mentions Marines and Engineers but no Aliens. We have no idea what's on the ship.
Yeah, don't think Life and Death has Aliens
I'm all for having Predator stories, Aliens stories, Prometheus stories, and all of the possible combinations. I'll stay away from what I don't like but I won't be praying for its abandonment.
I really don't think quality is tied to whether the story is a cross-over. It's really tied to the skill of the writers and artists...and the extent of Fox's meddling.
Quote from: happypred on Dec 17, 2015, 09:44:22 AM
I really don't think quality is tied to whether the story is a cross-over. It's really tied to the skill of the writers and artists...and the extent of Fox's meddling.
Indeed. Those are the real factors when it comes to quality.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Dec 17, 2015, 08:47:12 AM
Is it a crossover? It mentions Marines and Engineers but no Aliens. We have no idea what's on the ship.
That's a good point, and the title I used for the thread might have been a bit unclear. All we know is that it's the first part of a "story cycle" involving the Aliens, Predators, and Engineers. It could turn out that each of those is confined to their own series, and never cross over.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 17, 2015, 10:16:52 AMAll we know is that it's the first part of a "story cycle" involving the Aliens, Predators, and Engineers. It could turn out that each of those is confined to their own series, and never cross over.
That's what I took it to mean. But it could be interpreted either way.
Whether its a cross over in terms of multiple-series intertwining is immaterial. It is already a cross-over of sorts by the sheer fact of the Predator from the Predator universe appearing on a cover with the Juggernaut ship which originated in the Aliens universe. Now since the Prometheus film basically wrote the AVP films out of canon co-existence why are we having more Aliens / Predator stories, while featuring Prometheus elements no less? I am very surprised that Ridley Scott tolerates this. Perhaps he just doesn't think comics are worthy of being dignified by his attention..
I guess I just like the old way of things. Aliens comics were Aliens comics. Predator comics were Predator comics. AVP comics were AVP comics. You knew what brand you were in for when you picked up the book based on the title.
I hope that this series focuses more on the Engineers' other technology aside from the accelerant. The humans and Predators competing over Engineers' guns and FTL technology would be pretty cool.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 17, 2015, 06:37:47 PM
I hope that this series focuses more on the Engineers' other technology aside from the accelerant. The humans and Predators competing over Engineers' guns and FTL technology would be pretty cool.
Me too. Their focus on the accelerant - despite not being able to play with it properly - was one of the things I did dislike about Fire and Stone.
The focus on the accelerant was not really a problem. I mean they were on LV-223 so accelerant is expected, But to suggest that is all the Engineers have in their arsenal is really lowering the expectations. I am sure they have lots more goodies.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Dec 17, 2015, 07:02:41 PM
Me too. Their focus on the accelerant - despite not being able to play with it properly - was one of the things I did dislike about Fire and Stone.
The accelerant is a fine concept and an interesting plot device if used well IMO...Sebela just f*cked up the AvP comic and Olivetti's art was bad (guy could not draw Predators or Aliens at all)
I thought the accelerant was used well in the Prometheus comic
As long as it doesn't turn into a black goo cluster like AvP did, I'm sure it'll be fine.
I imagine they'll probably have an interview with Abnett promoting the whole thing after the holidays and the Star Wars hype dies down.
Hulk Francis vs. Hulk Predator vs. "Hello, I'm Elden"
...the very essence of Aliens vs. Predator. Thank you Sebela
Quote from: happypred on Dec 18, 2015, 12:38:56 AM
The accelerant is a fine concept and an interesting plot device if used well IMO...Sebela just f*cked up the AvP comic and Olivetti's art was bad (guy could not draw Predators or Aliens at all)
I thought the accelerant was used well in the Prometheus comic
I know I'm often quite harsh about the Fire and Stone series and the overuse of Prometheus elements but sitting down and thinking about it they actually were quite constant with what the accelerant did - aside from explaining properly why Elden was effected like he was. I know we all have our ideas on the matter though.
I wonder if we'll finally meet an Arcturian in this. Abnett definitely has plenty of experience writing aliens.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 18, 2015, 01:40:43 PM
I wonder if we'll finally meet an Arcturian in this. Abnett definitely has plenty of experience writing aliens.
I really hope we do eventually.
(Is it me, or are us two the biggest fans of the Arcturians? XD)
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 18, 2015, 02:46:27 PM
(Is it me, or are us two the biggest fans of the Arcturians? XD)
We should start a fan club! :laugh: I do think Fox has a plan for them, it just remains to be seen where they eventually show up (movie, novel, comics, game, etc.).
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 18, 2015, 09:53:34 PM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 18, 2015, 02:46:27 PM
(Is it me, or are us two the biggest fans of the Arcturians? XD)
We should start a fan club! :laugh: I do think Fox has a plan for them, it just remains to be seen where they eventually show up (movie, novel, comics, game, etc.).
We'd make a whole forum dedicated to them. :laugh:
Yeah, which author said that "there are plans for them"? I remember it was one of the authors of the last trilogy, was it James Moore?
If they make an appearance in a film, it'd have the tagline...
"It doesn't matter when it's Arcturian, baby."
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Dec 18, 2015, 08:31:10 AM
I know I'm often quite harsh about the Fire and Stone series and the overuse of Prometheus elements but sitting down and thinking about it they actually were quite constant with what the accelerant did - aside from explaining properly why Elden was effected like he was. I know we all have our ideas on the matter though.
Some more exposition about the nature of Elden and what's a meat robot would've been nice
I suspect they're like really infantile Blade Runner Replicants
Quote from: happypred on Dec 20, 2015, 01:52:07 PM
Some more exposition about the nature of Elden and what's a meat robot would've been nice
I suspect they're like really infantile Blade Runner Replicants
I wish
Sea of Sorrows had mentioned the constructs, it would have been a nice cross-media reference. There was a good opportunity for it when Decker was recollecting on synthetics getting civil rights. It would have been cool if he had thought something like "And don't even get me started on those 'meat robots' they started rolling out in the 23rd century."
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 20, 2015, 10:57:23 PM
I wish Sea of Sorrows had mentioned the constructs, it would have been a nice cross-media reference. There was a good opportunity for it when Decker was recollecting on synthetics getting civil rights. It would have been cool if he had thought something like "And don't even get me started on those 'meat robots' they started rolling out in the 23rd century."
Really surprised that the F&S team thought no further explanation would be needed (other than one-line references to Constructs and meat-robots)
I'm not sure they came to an actual conclusion themselves.
Well at least a Prometheus-based comic series is consistent with the movie that spawned it :laugh:
I always say it feels very much like Prometheus. :P
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Dec 21, 2015, 08:21:43 AM
I'm not sure they came to an actual conclusion themselves.
I expect they were told they could make a very ambiguous connection with Bladerunner and hence the Meat Robot. Ridley Scott has been flirting with this idea for a while if I remember correctly.
Yep...a tad more exposition would have been nice.
I thought the Predator and Prometheus series were enjoyable. Omega was decent.
Aliens and AvP were disappointing.
Agreed on those points. Predator in particular was stronger - I think mostly because it wasn't focused on all the other aspects. No accelerant or etc. It was just about that white whale.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Dec 22, 2015, 12:43:31 PM
Agreed on those points. Predator in particular was stronger - I think mostly because it wasn't focused on all the other aspects. No accelerant or etc. It was just about that white whale.
Predator could have benefited from R-rated dialogue and maybe a less buddy-buddy team-up...but I think along with Duel, it's the best team-up (I've always been ambivalent about Prey's team-up...always liked Prey despite the team-up, not because of it).
The flashback hunt was superb. Wish we could get more stuff like that
Quote from: happypred on Dec 23, 2015, 12:27:02 AM
Predator could have benefited from R-rated dialogue
The older, earlier Predator comics were rife with expletives such as shit, f**k, bitch, ass, and a whole other slew of words. Not to mention the violence factor back then was cranked up to eleven.. The newer comics now, well... they come more off as PG-13. Violence is toned down, words are censored.. Yeah.
Yeah, things are a bit more tame now than the height of 90s EXTREME. :laugh:
I loved Predator Concrete Jungle (the comic...I love the game too, but that's another matter)
I wonder if there'll be more Engineer vs Predator fights here, and if they'll use some tech or be the brawly big dudes again.
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 23, 2015, 02:13:13 PM
I wonder if there'll be more Engineer vs Predator fights here, and if they'll use some tech or be the brawly big dudes again.
If there is going to be some fights, I would really like to see a more even better.. I get that a lot of people see the Ahab vs Engineer fight as being the way a fight between a Predator and Engineer should be, but I disagree with that view as Ahab was old and becoming decrepit (he was past his prime, and needed the aid of a grappling hook to get around), so if there are more fights.. I'd like to have for a Predator in his/her prime, with a considerable amount of skill, fighting evenly with an Engineer without being thrown around like a ragdoll.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Dec 24, 2015, 01:17:53 AM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 23, 2015, 02:13:13 PM
I wonder if there'll be more Engineer vs Predator fights here, and if they'll use some tech or be the brawly big dudes again.
If there is going to be some fights, I would really like to see a more even better.. I get that a lot of people see the Ahab vs Engineer fight as being the way a fight between a Predator and Engineer should be, but I disagree with that view as Ahab was old and becoming decrepit (he was past his prime, and needed the aid of a grappling hook to get around), so if there are more fights.. I'd like to have for a Predator in his/her prime, with a considerable amount of skill, fighting evenly with an Engineer without being thrown around like a ragdoll.
I would actually forego the whole idea of pitting them both against each other in a mere show of brute strength and would instead prefer to see them pit their wits against each other. Or better yet, I'd prefer for the Predators and Engineers to no longer co-exist in the same universe. AVP just seems like a childish "Dracula vs. Frankenstein" idea to me now...
Like the idea of a tactical battle of wits between the two
I'd prefer a good PvP (Predator vs. Prometheus/Engineer) story to nothing at all
I'd prefer nothing at all to a really bad or childish PvP story
The idea itself is only as childish or silly as the writers/artists make it
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 24, 2015, 02:29:12 AM
Or better yet, I'd prefer for the Predators and Engineers to no longer co-exist in the same universe.
I agree with you here... to a certain point. At least they can co-exist in one universe, and not co-exist in another. I'll take the universe where they don't co-exist, or rather-- at some point did but the Engineers are a long dead race.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 24, 2015, 02:29:12 AM
AVP just seems like a childish "Dracula vs. Frankenstein" idea to me now...
I strongly disagree with this.
I would have liked to have a seen a less brute force fight too. I was actually pretty disappointed the Engineer didn't try and whip out some sort of cool tech.
He whipped it out against a bunch of aliens...apparently he doesn't always keep it on him and likes a good punch-up every now and then
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Dec 24, 2015, 01:17:53 AM
Ahab was old and becoming decrepit (he was past his prime, and needed the aid of a grappling hook to get around)
Had the exact same thought back when first reading
Quote from: happypred on Nov 01, 2014, 03:25:08 AMQuote from: Ultramorph on Oct 27, 2014, 03:34:50 PMI liked his grappling hook. Low tech and a cool new device.
It could be implying that Ahab is too old to be leaping around, he has to rely on a grappling hook
However, Ahab is a tough old man (Galgo even calls him that)
After the Engineer fight, he recovers remarkably well from being pummeled, arm snapped, knee kicked in
Killing the Engineer (with Galgo's help) seems to have rejuvenated him...he shows good agility until he gets an attack of weak legs in the contracting tunnel
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Dec 24, 2015, 01:17:53 AM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 23, 2015, 02:13:13 PM
I wonder if there'll be more Engineer vs Predator fights here, and if they'll use some tech or be the brawly big dudes again.
If there is going to be some fights, I would really like to see a more even better.. I get that a lot of people see the Ahab vs Engineer fight as being the way a fight between a Predator and Engineer should be, but I disagree with that view as Ahab was old and becoming decrepit (he was past his prime, and needed the aid of a grappling hook to get around), so if there are more fights.. I'd like to have for a Predator in his/her prime, with a considerable amount of skill, fighting evenly with an Engineer without being thrown around like a ragdoll.
Yeah, I'd love to see a Predator in their prime fight an Engineer.
Or, imagine if one Predator hunts a group of them like in the first film? That'd be pretty cool to see, the ultimate hunter instilling fear even in this ancient race.
And the Engineers do seem to feel fear, judging by the screams from the one about to be cuddled by the Trilobite.
Oh God, how badass would it be to hear the Predator mimic Engineer speech?
"Var vule kreda, varr gurdno nayaaa.... UAAAA nolum..." A mixture of booming Engineer voice with metallic Predator playback.
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 24, 2015, 02:14:33 PM
Oh God, how badass would it be to hear the Predator mimic Engineer speech?
"Var vule kreda, varr gurdno nayaaa.... UAAAA nolum..." A mixture of booming Engineer voice with metallic Predator playback.
That would be pretty cool! I share the hope that we get more varied Predator vs. Engineer fights, I especially want to see the Engineers use their tech more. Hopefully they do more than wander around and look mysterious, which is basically what they did in FaS.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Dec 24, 2015, 07:57:59 PM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 24, 2015, 02:14:33 PM
Oh God, how badass would it be to hear the Predator mimic Engineer speech?
"Var vule kreda, varr gurdno nayaaa.... UAAAA nolum..." A mixture of booming Engineer voice with metallic Predator playback.
That would be pretty cool! I share the hope that we get more varied Predator vs. Engineer fights, I especially want to see the Engineers use their tech more. Hopefully they do more than wander around and look mysterious, which is basically what they did in FaS.
I recall reading somewhere that the Engineer in FaS used a weapon that could disintegrate creatures, is this true? Also he apparently performed autopsies on things, (not sure on what, were they humans or?)
I'd like for this new comic to expand a bit on their culture, even if it's just humans walking around observing their murals and making theories on the artworks.
Yeah, the Engineers have rifles that can disintegrate a horde of xenomorphs in one blast. We only see them use it once. As far as the autopsies, we seen two (assumingly) human corpses on what look like examination tables in the downed Juggenaut.
I agree, they should take more advantage of human characters speculating. They did it a bit in Aliens: FaS, but they could have done much more.
One thing that occurred to me the other day: if they're following the Fire and Stone formula, that means four 4-issue mini-series. That being said, they've only solicited one series, Predator, so far, so they might be releasing this one series at a time, rather than all together like they did with FaS. That means it might take well over a year for all of this to come out. 16 months from March 2016 is June/July 2017. That's just a few months before Alien: Covenant is set to come out. That makes me think that the Prometheus or Aliens leg of this could be getting the "Official Prequel Tie-In" treatment.
TL;DR: this whole thing could wind up tying in closely with the upcoming movie, which potentially bodes well for it having a meaningful story.
Quote from: Xenomorphine on Dec 11, 2015, 05:27:37 AM
Actually, evolutionary principles dictate the land-dwelling humanoid body design would be the most likely form of life, in terms of species which naturally discover star travel. It's all to do with efficiency of energy and the psychology of invention. Mere tool-use, on its own, isn't enough.
Life might be very exotic, out there, but humanoid life is generally going to be what we communicate with.
Exceptons to that would be if something has, say, telekinesis or has been given technology by another civilisation (or is artificially created). That's when 'leap-frogging' factors could potentially arise.
But humanoid as in an exact copy of human physique including five fingers and all? :-\
The Predators look so much like humans, except for their faces and feet, that it makes you wonder... I know about the theory you mentioned, but it has also been criticized and questioned, and to be fair there is no way to prove it until we actually run into two or more sentient intelligent alien species in order to compare and verify. Until then it's just pure speculation.
What we do know though is that an highly intelligent organism needs at least fine motor skills and at least one highly flexible and exact body-part (i.e. limb, trunk, tendrils, tentacle) free and available at all times to pick up things to use and fiddle with. With that said we could have a quadruped (or six-legged, or eight-legged...) creature with a set of arms, tendrils, or tentacles on the back, or the head even. Or why not an octopus-like organism able to erect itself to fully stand up when on land? Or a worm or snake-like organism with a set of "tongues" or retractable filaments able to grapple, carry and manipulate things with, or a fully mobile mollusk creature or crustaceanesque many armed intelligent organism - or something completely out of the box. Maybe a really large amoeba creature able to form and manipulate its body-mass to do the same things we can do with out arms and hands?
To me it would make sense if the Predators were "created" by the Engineers as well, just like us humans. I don't like the concept in the Alien universe, but as a crossover it kind of makes sense. Maybe the Predators were "created" way earlier by the Engineers and were somewhat and somehow forgotten about? Maybe a nixed project? Maybe the Predators the Engineers originally "created" were less impressive? Maybe the accelerant/black goo was less developed and didn't have the same effect and abilities as it has now, or maybe it was even more unpredictable?
Anyways, my biggest beef with the Predator design is their carbon copy human physique, and especially the fact that they have five fingered human hands. Always kind of bothered me.
I think you have to consider that the Predator was initially created to be an alien hunter that is going to hunt Schwarzenegger's team in the jungle and they needed a guy to wear the suit. That's it. No further thought was put into it regarding how it fits into a grand Alien universe. You're reading far too much into it. We all are. This interconnectivity with the Aliens universe is literary afterthought, no more.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 27, 2015, 09:36:38 PM
I think you have to consider that the Predator was initially created to be an alien hunter that is going to hunt Schwarzenegger's team in the jungle and they needed a guy to wear the suit. That's it. No further thought was put into it regarding how it fits into a grand Alien universe. You're reading far too much into it. We all are. This interconnectivity with the Aliens universe is literary afterthought, no more.
True, back then they did try to go with a more alien design but there were problems with the suit apparently.
Quote from: SpreadEagleBeagle on Dec 27, 2015, 09:13:36 PM
To me it would make sense if the Predators were "created" by the Engineers as well, just like us humans. I don't like the concept in the Alien universe, but as a crossover it kind of makes sense. Maybe the Predators were "created" way earlier by the Engineers and were somewhat and somehow forgotten about? Maybe a nixed project? Maybe the Predators the Engineers originally "created" were less impressive? Maybe the accelerant/black goo was less developed and didn't have the same effect and abilities as it has now, or maybe it was even more unpredictable?
I do not like the concept of the Predators being created by the Engineers and I really don't want to see it encouraged in the current "canon". The universe is a pretty big place, and I don't think even the Engineers have covered every area of it. While they have created many life forms, I don't like the idea of them creating EVERY life form and that includes the Predators. It just further places the Engineers on a pedestal that they're the Intergalactic Overlords and Masters of the Universe which... if you ask me, devalues the Alien and Predators.
As said, the universe is a pretty big place and there are infinite possibilities. Xenomorphine even pointed out that according to numerous astro-biologist, that a hominid shape would be the result of years of advanced evolution for a space faring race. And while the anatomy of the Predators is indeed hominid, there are other aspects which are extremely alien-- even when considering the idea of Engineers and our own similarities to them. For one, the blood is a luminescent green, but there is more to it.. in the old EU, it was shown that their blood and flesh has unique rejuvenation properties, and in the current and new EU, their blood apparently does grant healing properties-- which human biologist even considered on somehow using to benefit mankind in giving them minor healing factors. That's something very alien, even by well... alien standards.
I have to ask, why can't live evolve on it's own in this rebooted universe? Do the Engineers HAVE to create all life? No. That would be a very boring thing, suggesting that the Alien-Predator universe wouldn't be at all around without the Engineers. Lame.
I am all for the idea of the Predators being their own race, with no direct relation to the Engineers. If they are going to have a relationship, it should be one based on minor interactions between them in brief conflicts. But for Engineers to create the Predators? Sorry, but I just... cannot get behind that idea. For me that would ruin the character, and I already don't like where the new EU is going.
Do we really need an origin story for the Predators? No, we don't. We've already got one for the Alien and already that's divided fans, despite twenty years of speculation based on Scott's hints in previous interviews prior to Prometheus.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 27, 2015, 09:36:38 PM
I think you have to consider that the Predator was initially created to be an alien hunter that is going to hunt Schwarzenegger's team in the jungle and they needed a guy to wear the suit. That's it. No further thought was put into it regarding how it fits into a grand Alien universe. You're reading far too much into it. We all are. This interconnectivity with the Aliens universe is literary afterthought, no more.
I actually agree with this because, while I am an Alien vs Predator fan.. the whole idea was just an after thought and no one really questioned it. For twenty years after a successful comic run, no one questioned it and we accepted it as it was. It was simple, and it was good. And go ahead and rally a lynch mob when I say this, but it was better that way. But now, because of the whole reboot which happened, now questions which no one asked are being answered. I mean the two franchises were once two separate universes until the original (and true but now forsaken) AVP comic but wasn't later solidified until Predator 2 as an in-joke by Stan Winston, and a nod to the comics.. and then came the movies which... while I liked and still champion, weren't well received. Then the franchises were separated again..
And now they're attempted to being joined again because of the shared universe craze which Hollywood is doing. Prometheus is fine as a strictly Alien only continuity, but throw Predator in? That's like... trying to have beer at a wine tasting party. It doesn't fit in the atmosphere. Because of Prometheus, we're getting answers to question no one asked.. in regards to the Predator character and series, I find this quite harmful.
We don't need an origin story for the Predator.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 27, 2015, 09:36:38 PM
I think you have to consider that the Predator was initially created to be an alien hunter that is going to hunt Schwarzenegger's team in the jungle and they needed a guy to wear the suit. That's it. No further thought was put into it regarding how it fits into a grand Alien universe. You're reading far too much into it. We all are. This interconnectivity with the Aliens universe is literary afterthought, no more.
I know! :P
Personally I think it works better for the movie to have an alien that has a very human body as it plays well with the concept and message of the movie -
there is always someone bigger and stronger than you, so don't be a cocky macho a-hole and use your brain, drop the ego and work with what you have. If the Predator would've looked more alien than it does all of that would've been lost in translation so to speak. It would've been more of a man vs. space invader blob kind of thing.
It gets annoying when you mix the Predator universe with the Alien universe and the Prometheus add-on, as there are all of a sudden three race that have the exact same physique etc.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Dec 28, 2015, 06:38:40 AM
I do not like the concept of the Predators being created by the Engineers and I really don't want to see it encouraged in the current "canon". The universe is a pretty big place, and I don't think even the Engineers have covered every area of it. While they have created many life forms, I don't like the idea of them creating EVERY life form and that includes the Predators. It just further places the Engineers on a pedestal that they're the Intergalactic Overlords and Masters of the Universe which... if you ask me, devalues the Alien and Predators.
I understand that you as a Predator fan don't like it, but it does make sense since humans, Engineers and Predators have the exact same body structure, proportions etc. - we even have the same kind of five-fingered hands!
QuoteAs said, the universe is a pretty big place and there are infinite possibilities. Xenomorphine even pointed out that according to numerous astro-biologist, that a hominid shape would be the result of years of advanced evolution for a space faring race. And while the anatomy of the Predators is indeed hominid, there are other aspects which are extremely alien-- even when considering the idea of Engineers and our own similarities to them.
That theory is not even a theory - it's pure speculation as there obviously is no verifiable data to compare and process i.e. it is NOT science, it's just a bunch of hypothetic assumptions tossed around based on well-educated guesses.
And as I wrote:
"I know about the theory you mentioned, but it has also been criticized and questioned, and to be fair there is no way to prove it until we actually run into two or more sentient intelligent alien species in order to compare and verify. Until then it's just pure speculation.
What we do know though is that an highly intelligent organism needs at least fine motor skills and at least one highly flexible and exact body-part (i.e. limb, trunk, tendrils, tentacle) free and available at all times to pick up things to use and fiddle with. With that said we could have a quadruped (or six-legged, or eight-legged...) creature with a set of arms, tendrils, or tentacles on the back, or the head even. Or why not an octopus-like organism able to erect itself to fully stand up when on land? Or a worm or snake-like organism with a set of "tongues" or retractable filaments able to grapple, carry and manipulate things with, or a fully mobile mollusk creature or crustaceanesque many armed intelligent organism - or something completely out of the box. Maybe a really large amoeba creature able to form and manipulate its body-mass to do the same things we can do with out arms and hands?"QuoteFor one, the blood is a luminescent green, but there is more to it.. in the old EU, it was shown that their blood and flesh has unique rejuvenation properties, and in the current and new EU, their blood apparently does grant healing properties-- which human biologist even considered on somehow using to benefit mankind in giving them minor healing factors. That's something very alien, even by well... alien standards.
The Engineers have black blood, and we have no idea what their blood is capable of.
QuoteI have to ask, why can't live evolve on it's own in this rebooted universe? Do the Engineers HAVE to create all life? No. That would be a very boring thing, suggesting that the Alien-Predator universe wouldn't be at all around without the Engineers. Lame.
Don't get me wrong, I agree with you. I don't think that the AVP crossover work or will ever work, and the implementation of Prometheus really messed things up even more. That's why I always see the movies of each franchise as the "canon" of each respective franchise. What happens in a Alien/Prometheus movie doesn't effect or direct the Predator universe, and vice versa. AVP to me is just a separate crossover pulp sci-fi franchise that has no bearing on the original franchises and their universes. Comics, games, novels etc. are comics, games, novels etc., they're EU - not movies. And so far we haven't seen anything from AVP or EU spill over to the movies. And personally I hope that they will keep it that way.
QuoteI am all for the idea of the Predators being their own race, with no direct relation to the Engineers. If they are going to have a relationship, it should be one based on minor interactions between them in brief conflicts. But for Engineers to create the Predators? Sorry, but I just... cannot get behind that idea. For me that would ruin the character, and I already don't like where the new EU is going.
I don't like the idea that the Engineers created us as I find the whole Ancient Astronaut concept lazy and stupid. But if the Engineers and the Predators indeed live in the same universe together with us, it becomes painfully obvious that the three of use look pretty much the same, and since the Engineers are known for fiddling with life it's not that farfetched that they had something to do with the Predators as well, unless their is a forerunner race to the Engineers that created both the Predators and Engineers and the Engineers just picked up from where the their creators left...
QuoteDo we really need an origin story for the Predators? No, we don't. We've already got one for the Alien and already that's divided fans, despite twenty years of speculation based on Scott's hints in previous interviews prior to Prometheus.
No we don't, but it looks like we're getting one anyways.
Wow, I never thought of it as the whole "there's always someone stronger than you" thing, that's a cool way of looking at the film's message, SpreadEagleBeagle.
It reminds me of my friend's saying when I told him about the Engineers in the AvP expanded universe, and he said "there's always a bigger fish in the sea".
Come to think of it, that's a scary thought in a universe like Alien... makes you wonder, is there something worse than a Xenomorph out there? Probably a good thing that we haven't discovered it! :P
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 28, 2015, 02:41:42 PM
Wow, I never thought of it as the whole "there's always someone stronger than you" thing, that's a cool way of looking at the film's message, SpreadEagleBeagle.
It reminds me of my friend's saying when I told him about the Engineers in the AvP expanded universe, and he said "there's always a bigger fish in the sea".
Come to think of it, that's a scary thought in a universe like Alien... makes you wonder, is there something worse than a Xenomorph out there? Probably a good thing that we haven't discovered it! :P
We've got (or had) something worse or about as bad as the Xenomorphs right here. We have polar bears, and great white sharks, anacondas, crocodiles, poisonous spiders, peanuts. We used to have T-Rexs. Fortunately they're regional. I have no doubt there is worse stuff out there though.
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Dec 28, 2015, 02:41:42 PM
Wow, I never thought of it as the whole "there's always someone stronger than you" thing, that's a cool way of looking at the film's message, SpreadEagleBeagle.
I mean, you have freaking Conan the Barbarian, Apollo Creed & Jesse "The Body" Ventura going all Hollywood cocky macho American on a bunch of unsuspecting ruskies and South Americans in the jungle, mowing them down like they were fighting children, lifting cars with their hands, blowing shit up, using superior weaponry and taking their Russian/S.American targets by surprise and stealth - just like the Predator does later on against Dutch and his elite special forces unit. The reason Dutch survived is because he knew that he couldn't fight the Predator on the creature's own terms, he had to admit to himself that he in fact was the prey. A weak, tiny and unimpressive individual compared to the Predator. So just like Mculay Culkin in the HOME ALONE movies, Dutch had to become inventive and fight the Predator from an underdog perspective.
QuoteIt reminds me of my friend's saying when I told him about the Engineers in the AvP expanded universe, and he said "there's always a bigger fish in the sea".
Come to think of it, that's a scary thought in a universe like Alien... makes you wonder, is there something worse than a Xenomorph out there? Probably a good thing that we haven't discovered it! :P
There probably is, or was, or will be, but the Alien does a pretty good job considering how well-adapted it is to the harsh indifference and hostility of space. It needs no technology to survive, only needs hosts, and if there are none around it can wait forever if it has to. The cold vacuum of space is like second nature to the Alien, and extreme heat only seems to merely annoy the beast. It's a primordial super organism - fire and ice (or fire and stone if you want). Hence
the perfect organism remark by Ash. It's the purest form of survivor, especially considering that it doesn't have any moral obligations etc. Opportunistic yet equipped with endless patience. It's design and existence in that sense makes it flawless and really, really frightening. It's here to outlive us all.
It would be interesting to see what happened if an Alien was introduced to the Black Goo, or if the Black Goo is intact synthesized Xenomorph essence, further developed by the Engineers to be used in various different ways, one of the working as a terraforming and even evolutional accelerant? In ALIENS: F&S the Aliens that touched the goo seemed unharmed and unchanged, except for the one morphed together with-you-know-who.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 28, 2015, 05:15:23 PM
We've got (or had) something worse or about as bad as the Xenomorphs right here. We have polar bears, and great white sharks, anacondas, crocodiles, poisonous spiders, peanuts. We used to have T-Rexs. Fortunately they're regional. I have no doubt there is worse stuff out there though.
Yes, those are scary in their own way (including the peanut), but they can't be compared to the parasitic nature of the Alien combined with its ability to survive in extreme temperatures, environmental conditions and the vacuum of space. It's acidic blood, its intelligence, its possible hive mind, its ability to morph living matter (egg-morphing), the DNA reflex, genetic memory, multiple reproductive systems, its patience, hive construction abilities etc. makes it into a completely different (i.e. bigger) threat than sharks, t-rexes, poisonous spiders etc.
But you can't compare it to peanuts. ;) That stuff is instant death to some people...
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Dec 28, 2015, 08:15:57 PM
But you can't compare it to peanuts. ;) That stuff is instant death to some people...
That's true! Peanuts - the perfect botanic organism. It's just as gastronomically delicious as it is instantly lethal (to some people), and you can find its betulaceae traces everywhere in factory made foods, especially in candy and baked goods, which makes it a a nut unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality, which is an interesting combination of elements making it a tough little son-of-a-bitch (to some people).
Quote from: SpreadEagleBeagle on Dec 28, 2015, 07:50:34 AM
Don't get me wrong, I agree with you. I don't think that the AVP crossover work or will ever work, and the implementation of Prometheus really messed things up even more. That's why I always see the movies of each franchise as the "canon" of each respective franchise. What happens in a Alien/Prometheus movie doesn't effect or direct the Predator universe, and vice versa. AVP to me is just a separate crossover pulp sci-fi franchise that has no bearing on the original franchises and their universes. Comics, games, novels etc. are comics, games, novels etc., they're EU - not movies. And so far we haven't seen anything from AVP or EU spill over to the movies. And personally I hope that they will keep it that way.
Good to see that you agree with me for the most part but I still think that the idea of Engineers creating Predators is an awful and very harmful thing to the Predator mythology. I also understand why you view as each franchise having their own canon and continuity, something which I in a way view as well but differently and am championing a way for each canon and continuity to be organized and assigned. Remember my Multiverse idea? That was the whole reasoning behind the idea, to categorize, assign and organize it. But we're not talking about that now, but I do see your view point and understand it.
Let me say that I used to enjoy Prometheus but ever since it's introduction to the franchises, and while the movie contributed quite a lot of possibilities-- it also took something away from the previously established material. We gained something, but we also lost something. I'm not sure if anyone would understand that. Like as if all of it was made pointless.
I believe that AVP works as it's own franchise with it's own side-canon and continuity as well as a concept of it's own but when Prometheus is introduced to it, the concept is diluted and Prometheus takes over the center stage.
Quote from: SpreadEagleBeagle on Dec 28, 2015, 07:50:34 AM
Don't get me wrong, I agree with you. I don't think that the AVP crossover work or will ever work
I think it has worked in the past (Prey, Hunter's Planet, War, Duel, Civilised Beasts). I've rather enjoyed all of those comics/novels
Predator Life and Death might turn out to be a great melding of Predator and Prometheus. I'm reserving my judgment.
The films haven't worked out...but with the quality of directors and writerd on board...what did you expect?
Quote from: happypred on Dec 29, 2015, 02:49:44 AM
Predator Life and Death might turn out to be a great melding of Predator and Prometheus.
As long as they don't attempt a Predator origin story, like whether or not the Engineers created them... as long as they don't touch that, whatever..
Quote from: SpreadEagleBeagle on Dec 28, 2015, 07:50:34 AM
No we don't, but it looks like we're getting one anyways.
I have to ask, how do you know this?
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Dec 29, 2015, 03:17:23 AM
I have to ask, how do you know this?
I don't think he means towards your worry of the Predators and Engineers - he's talking about the Prometheus/prequel series. And the questions have been asked - they've been asked for a long time, since as far back as Alien. The answers (Prometheus) was just poor.
Whilst I can see why Engineers creating the Predators would make sense, I don't want to see that being the case either. I'd be interested in seeing some history between the 2 but it would seem from Fire and Stone that if there was any background between the 2, it's in the long forgotten past.
Even that would be cool...
Maybe Ahab becomes obsessed with finding out more about the Engineers? That'd be a cool arc...and would show a different side of his race
I'd love to see the past interactions between the Predators and Engineers, not in a "they created them" way, but maybe show if there was a first ever encounter between a Predator hunting party and a group of Engineer scientists. I'd like it if the franchise explores the idea of coincidence, a thing called "Convergent Evolution", look at the Thylacine and the wolf, both have very similar morphologies despite one being a marsupial and the other a mammal.
I know it's an Earth animal, but the idea of convergent evolution is fascinating, and it'd be interesting to explore the idea that the Predators are this one in a billion chance that happened to form.
I wonder, which race is older? Both are truly ancient and predate the human epoch, even Rage War touches on the idea that a Predator space habitat is older than humanity itself, the audio diaries of AvP2010 also say how the Predator ruins predate modern hominids. And we know that Engineers predate us too.
I have this feeling that Engineers are a bit older. But as far as the galaxy's concerned, these two may be the eldest race, maybe alongside the Dog-Aliens from the new novels.
I just love this idea of us being this relatively new and young species, we're like little toddlers just stepping outside for the first time...
If there's one thing FaS showed, it's that Predator and Prometheus mix pretty well together, so I'm still optimistic. Not to mention this whole thing has a really good writer.
I hope Ahab shows up, even if it's just a cameo. I'm still sticking with my theory that Tartarus just might be LV-223.
Abnett is generally good...he does have his misses. Really hope he delivers a good story with cool Yautja, cool marines, cool Prometheus creatures...and maybe xenomorphs as well
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 02, 2016, 04:22:44 AM
Checked out Tristan Jones' Tumblr...
Apparently, Incursion is one of his research pieces along with a bunch of Alien books... Why a Predator book though?
I know he's reading Incursion, but I think it's mostly because it's the newest novel.
YEESSSSS!!!
Incursion was among my favourite books so this is great news.
Maybe because Incursion has some
Spoiler
biomechanical ships.
that's why. Also like Ultramorph said, it's pretty recent and no doubt much easier to get.
Incursion sets up a good amount of stuff with the xenos, so he's probably interested in that, along with the future history of the Marines.
The full list of books he mentioned as research: Predator: Incursion, Alien: River of Pain , and the novelizations of Aliens, A3, and Resurrection. So, can we all agree that Alien 3 and Resurrection aren't getting retconned? ;D
https://twitter.com/TRexJones/status/683140103657635840 (https://twitter.com/TRexJones/status/683140103657635840)
Also, I kind of love how Predator: Life and Death seems to be adhering to the history Lebbon set up in Incursion, with the Marines starting to have run ins with the Predators, and W-Y aggressively going after alien tech. Serious props if Abnett mentions ArmoTech.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 02, 2016, 04:22:44 AM
Checked out Tristan Jones' Tumblr...
Apparently, Incursion is one of his research pieces along with a bunch of Alien books... Why a Predator book though?
How is this relevant to Predator: Life & Death?
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 02, 2016, 07:29:43 PM
So, can we all agree that Alien 3 and Resurrection aren't getting retconned? ;D
Not until Blomkamp's movie happens.. And he did say that Ridley and Blomkamp have the final word.
Assuming that movie ever happens now that Ridley went George Lucas on us.
Quote from: happypred on Jan 03, 2016, 03:44:27 PM
How is this relevant to Predator: Life & Death?
....Damn it, I posted in the wrong thread!!
Any recent news about this (I can't seem to find any)? Really anticipating this series.
Not that I've seen.
I haven't heard anything new, but DH's April solicitations should be out sometime in the next week-and-a-half, so we'll be getting the summary and cover to issue 2 (as well as the solicitation for Aliens: Defiance #1).
It seems like Dark Horse is playing this one a bit closer to the chest than they did with Fire and Stone. I don't know whether that's just an attempt not to get us over-hyped, or if it's because they have some surprises up their sleeve. Probably a bit of both.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 07, 2016, 08:41:32 PMI haven't heard anything new, but DH's April solicitations should be out sometime in the next week-and-a-half, so we'll be getting the summary and cover to issue 2 (as well as the solicitation for Aliens: Defiance #1).
It seems like Dark Horse is playing this one a bit closer to the chest than they did with Fire and Stone. I don't know whether that's just an attempt not to get us over-hyped, or if it's because they have some surprises up their sleeve. Probably a bit of both.
Well...March is coming along soon. Guess we won't have to wait too long. Really hope the interior art is good.
EDIT: Brian Thies' work looks mediocre...
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9b/8c/01/9b8c01770a08a8aee7a1dbea6958e7eb.jpg)
But Mooneyham's sketching and actual F&S art are leagues apart
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpre05.deviantart.net%2F1fd7%2Fth%2Fpre%2Fi%2F2010%2F120%2F5%2F2%2Fpredator_by_mooneyham.jpg&hash=ea9a581e87c5fbb916fbd6192b234672a3e1e481)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.felixcomicart.com%2FImages%2FCategory_2%2Fsubcat_591%2F0301152102481xu3exNqok.jpg&hash=5a9fc329a3643be36b23808bcf31f8385ecc41a6)
Yeah, March is going to be here before we know it, so it's all good. FaS was unfortunate because the studio interference meant it was a full 11 months between the initial announcement and when it finally hit stands.
I hope Mooneyham and Ferreyra do the art for some of the series after Predator. They knocked it out of the park on Prometheus and Predator. It would be cool to have Agustin Alessio back, as well.
Doing some browsing, and it seems that Tartarus is probably a Warhammer reference on Abnett's part.
http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Tartarus (http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Tartarus)
Randy Stradley has addressed whether this is a FaS sequel on Facebook.
Quote"Life and Death" begins as it's own story, then intersects with "Fire and Stone."
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 09, 2016, 04:41:54 PM
Randy Stradley has addressed whether this is a FaS sequel on Facebook.
Quote"Life and Death" begins as it's own story, then intersects with "Fire and Stone."
Very cool news...I like some degree of connection among stories. Thanks
Interesting. I wonder how they intersect.
Hopefully they intersect in a way that gives more context to what was happening in "Fire and Stone".
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 10, 2016, 12:09:12 PM
Hopefully they intersect in a way that gives more context to what was happening in "Fire and Stone".
With all those creative minds behind the series...expected a lot more
The writers room was a cool idea, and I'm glad they did it, but I do think it had flaws. I'm hoping that Abnett is writing all of these upcoming series. "Helmed by Abnett" isn't entirely clear.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 13, 2016, 01:36:17 AM
I'm hoping that Abnett is writing all of these upcoming series. "Helmed by Abnett" isn't entirely clear.
Indeed...one vision holding it all together to avoid the "too many cooks" problem
Wouldn't mind consistent art either (if it is good)
The April solicitations are up (http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dark-horse-april-2016-solicitations-include-aliens-defiance-house-of-penance-more (http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dark-horse-april-2016-solicitations-include-aliens-defiance-house-of-penance-more)), and we have the cover and summary for
Predator: Life and Death #2.
Spoiler
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPredatorLifeDeath-2-b1e7f.jpg&hash=844193609bff37c4178c4e94ed8601d503a68a88)
QuotePredator: Life and Death #2 (of 4)
Dan Abnett (W), Brian Thies (A), Rain Beredo (C), and David Palumbo (Cover)
On sale April 6
FC, 32 pages
$3.99
Miniseries
Colonial Marines hunt the Predators, and the Predators lead the marines into an ambush! But on the jungle world of Tartarus, everyone has their eyes on the ultimate prize: an otherworldly spacecraft ripe for the taking!
I gotta ask... why are they using the Kenner Predators?
Are they canonizing them now along with their wonky backstories?
Who knows, but I was just pointing that out on Facebook! :laugh: That's definitely the Hive Wars Predator. I like it, variety is always cool.
Loving the jungle camo! I'm really excited to see this series. Colonial Marines vs Predator in/around an Engineer ship. I can't wait! ;D
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 14, 2016, 07:59:51 PM
I gotta ask... why are they using the Kenner Predators?
Are they canonizing them now along with their wonky backstories?
Unlikely. The artist probably just likes aspects of the design.
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.poeghostal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F11%2Fpredator-hive-wars-poe-ghostal-review-6.jpg&hash=ec45ada0c84609930c8c5297e2c9a54ac163f3ad)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.actionfigurefury.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fneca-predators-series-10-hive-wars-predator.jpg&hash=05b818d8ccc360e3d942491c28e3a8f14f920ee1)
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 14, 2016, 08:02:32 PM
Who knows, but I was just pointing that out on Facebook! :laugh: That's definitely the Hive Wars Predator. I like it, variety is always cool.
And now I know who you are, friend request incoming.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 14, 2016, 08:03:51 PM
Unlikely. The artist probably just likes aspects of the design.
I hope you're right about that.
The Kenner Predators, I have mixed feelings about. Some can fit in the context of the films but most are just REALLY outlandish like Stalker, Nightstorm, Night Recon, Clan Leader. They're great as toys though.
Kenner-inspired Predators fighting Marines over a Space Jockey ship sounds like something awesome I would have done with my toys as a kid. I'm sold on this series. I agree about some of the Kenner designs being outlandish, but NECA has shown that some of the most outlandish can be drawn to look pretty cool.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYn2lwPUwAAOQSN.jpg:large)
Also, based on what Randy Stradley said, I imagine that this particular miniseries will stand pretty much apart from too much
Fire and Stone stuff. Maybe just a reveal at the end of issue 4 that
Spoiler
Tartarus is LV-223 or something like that
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 14, 2016, 08:21:40 PM
I agree about some of the Kenner designs being outlandish, but NECA has shown that some of the most outlandish can be drawn to look pretty cool.
It's been a hard couple years for me as an AVP fan to be onboard with the rebooted canon. So I'm trying to be optimistic but it's been very hard for me. So you'll have to forgive my outlook on current projects. NECA has done so far, a good job in revising the original Kenner designs but some of them they should've left alone such as Scavenger and Nightstorm. As for Spike Tail, I will admit that is a good redesign.
I'm just wanting something that is more in line with the films, and some of the Kenner designs are, but some of them... I just feel aren't and I don't want those that I feel aren't in line with the movies to make an appearance. The Kenner toys and comics were a part of my childhood, but looking back, I most certainly wouldn't want some of them cemented in canon.
Hive Wars, Lava Planet, Cracked Tusk, Renegade, and... MAYBE Spike Tail, I could see fitting in and wouldn't mind.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 14, 2016, 08:58:02 PM
It's been a hard couple years for me as an AVP fan to be onboard with the rebooted canon.
If there's one thing I've learnt recently is that canon does not matter. It's fluid and it makes no difference to us. Just enjoy what you enjoy. No-one can take that away from you.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 14, 2016, 09:09:18 PM
If there's one thing I've learnt recently is that canon does not matter.
Funny, because all these years, in the groups I surrounded myself in... at some point, it did matter.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 14, 2016, 09:09:18 PM
No-one can take that away from you.
Then how come it feels like that?
Great news, Ultramorph. I am so sold on this series! That summary for the second issue really pumped up my excitement!
This looks and sounds like a very fun series. It will be cool to see some diverse Predators. I'm glad that they seem to be doing one miniseries at a time, rather than doing four at a time like with FaS.
EDIT
Issue #2 is up for pre-order on TFAW.
http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Predator%3A-Life-and-Death-2___497564 (http://www.tfaw.com/Profile/Predator%3A-Life-and-Death-2___497564)
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 14, 2016, 08:03:51 PMQuote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 14, 2016, 07:59:51 PM
I gotta ask... why are they using the Kenner Predators?
Are they canonizing them now along with their wonky backstories?
Unlikely. The artist probably just likes aspects of the design.
I am not really seeing a massive similarity...the top of the helmet though
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPredatorLifeDeath-2-b1e7f.jpg&hash=844193609bff37c4178c4e94ed8601d503a68a88)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.poeghostal.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F11%2Fpredator-hive-wars-poe-ghostal-review-6.jpg&hash=ec45ada0c84609930c8c5297e2c9a54ac163f3ad)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.actionfigurefury.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fneca-predators-series-10-hive-wars-predator.jpg&hash=05b818d8ccc360e3d942491c28e3a8f14f920ee1)
Quote from: happypred on Jan 15, 2016, 02:47:00 AM
I am not really seeing a massive similarity...the top of the helmet though
Look at the leg armor too. The shin armor. It's similar too.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 15, 2016, 03:27:47 AM
Quote from: happypred on Jan 15, 2016, 02:47:00 AM
I am not really seeing a massive similarity...the top of the helmet though
Look at the leg armor too. The shin armor. It's similar too.
Good catch...man, I think the backstory of Hivewars Pred would make an excellent comic
Quote from: happypred on Jan 15, 2016, 04:54:39 AM
Good catch...man, I think the backstory of Hivewars Pred would make an excellent comic
I'm not entirely opposed to the Kenner Predators having a cemented place in the rebooted canon. It's just a few that... I really have a hard time in digesting like Scavenger, Nightstorm, and Night Recon. I mean... I wouldn't mind Scavenger and Nightstorm if they were in their original incarnations and not the retconned newer incarnations where they're the Super Predators. Night Recon on the other hand is just too bizarre.
The Kenner Predators, some of them do have backstories which can fit in with the films, assuming we're to account with the NECA backstories but even then.. some of the backstories are off. Hive Wars Predator however, does fit in with the films.
So... I'm fifty-fifty on the Kenner Predators.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 14, 2016, 07:59:51 PMI gotta ask... why are they using the Kenner Predators?
Because someone liked the look?
Wolf is on the cover of
Predator: Incursion, it doesn't automatically mean he and his entire life's story are in the novel.
Same as Celtic in Forever Midnight. Or Scar and the Elder on Flesh and Blood. It's just a design that's either in the story (which might not be the case, sometimes the designs are completely different) or the artist just liked that armour set. I really don't get the fuss. :-\
Just musing that the Hivewars Pred would be a cool character...I doubt he actually does become one
I agree with Hicks, it's just an artistic thing that we shouldn't read too much into. Even if the Predators do wind up looking a bit like Kenner Preds, it's entirety unlikely that they'll go out of their way to include the silly backstories.
We have our first short preview of issue #1, courtesy of Previews World:
http://www.previewsworld.com/catalogimages/STK_IMAGES_PDF/STK680001-700000/STK699022.pdf (http://www.previewsworld.com/catalogimages/STK_IMAGES_PDF/STK680001-700000/STK699022.pdf)
I like the art quite a bit. Can't wait until March!
They also have an exclusive interview with Dan Abnett:
http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/71/977?articleID=173518 (http://www.previewsworld.com/Home/1/1/71/977?articleID=173518)
He addresses the
Fire and Stone connection.
Spoiler
QuoteDan Abnett: It's a self-contained story, in as much as I'm explaining everything you need to know. New readers can jump right in. But I guess you'll get an extra kick if you know the various movies well, and there's extra depth to be had if you've also read Dark Horse's previous cross-franchise event, "Fire and Stone." And why wouldn't you? It's available in handy trade editions, and a big collection, and it's great.
Liking the looks of that interior artwork! Looks like just the right style.
Well that opens up a new can of worms. They couldn't see that derelict from space. There is the tacit implication that there is another reason why nobody saw the derelict on LV-427 during all the years of colonization.
Not to mention the fact that this is clearly trading in Alien territory which really distrubinly disrupts the franchise boundaries again. I am really not looking forward to more Predator / Engineer scraps or interactions of any kind for that matter, but as I am interested in the continuation of the Aliens stories I'll probably pick this up.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 15, 2016, 08:08:09 PM
I am really not looking forward to more Predator / Engineer scraps or interactions of any kind for that matter, but as I am interested in the continuation of the Aliens stories I'll probably pick this up.
Shame. The Predator series was the best thing about Fire and Stone.
The fact that they can't see the Juggernaut from orbit sort of reinforces my suspicion about what planet Tartarus is. Remember
Spoiler
in Prometheus: Fire and Stone when they're in middle of the jungle, but all their scanners are just reading "metal everywhere" or something like that?
Either way, I hope we get some good Predator vs. Engineer action.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 15, 2016, 08:14:39 PM
Either way, I hope we get some good Predator vs. Engineer action.
As long as we aren't seeing Engineers tossing Predators like rag dolls while they've got one in a headlock, fine, I guess.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 15, 2016, 09:07:46 PM
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 15, 2016, 08:14:39 PM
Either way, I hope we get some good Predator vs. Engineer action.
As long as we aren't seeing Engineers tossing Predators like rag dolls while they've got one in a headlock, fine, I guess.
Right. Please don't WWE this thing. We need battle of wits not headlocks and noogies.
The reason why I would like to see less and less battle brawls with Predators is that Aliens is mostly becoming a mature adult fantasy series. It is about asking the big questions and finding horrific answers. F and S brought things down to a He-Man level. Big monsters duking it out is basically for kids. I used to really like the idea of mixing Aliens and Predators back in the 90s, but the tone of the franchises has really diverged especially since Prometheus. Aliens / Prometheus is much more erudite, while Predator is the rude red-neck of the series. Its a culture clash and an age gap more than anything these days. I dislike getting drawn into a kindergarten brawl which is what the idea of AVP in the Prometheus age feels like.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 15, 2016, 10:06:42 PM
The reason why I would like to see less and less battle brawls with Predators is that Aliens is mostly becoming a mature adult fantasy series. It is about asking the big questions and finding horrific answers. F and S brought things down to a He-Man level. Big monsters duking it out is basically for kids. I used to really like the idea of mixing Aliens and Predators back in the 90s, but the tone of the franchises has really diverged especially since Prometheus. Aliens / Prometheus is much more erudite, while Predator is the rude red-neck of the series. Its a culture clash and an age gap more than anything these days. I dislike getting drawn into a kindergarten brawl which is what the idea of AVP in the Prometheus age feels like.
....I sort of agree with this but I wouldn't use some of the words used here in that paragraph.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 15, 2016, 08:01:37 PM
Liking the looks of that interior artwork! Looks like just the right style.
So far I hold Predator Concrete Jungle, Civilised Beasts (improved a lot from Thrill), and Predator F&S as the best entries from a purely visual perspective
The original AvP comic has pretty nice art...but the colouring is bad
Quote from: happypred on Jan 16, 2016, 01:49:04 AM
The original AvP comic has pretty nice art...but the colouring is bad
I don't think they had Photoshop or Paint Tool Sai for coloring back in 1989.
But did you check out the reprint that Rebellion had for the special editions of AVP2010?
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 16, 2016, 02:41:49 AM
Quote from: happypred on Jan 16, 2016, 01:49:04 AM
The original AvP comic has pretty nice art...but the colouring is bad
I don't think they had Photoshop or Paint Tool Sai for coloring back in 1989.
But did you check out the reprint that Rebellion had for the special editions of AVP2010?
I have the reprint of #0 . . . great colour
That's the only AvP 2010 reprint I think
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 15, 2016, 10:06:42 PM
As long as we aren't seeing Engineers tossing Predators like rag dolls while they've got one in a headlock, fine, I guess.
Don't get me wrong - that's not what I'm asking for. But there's just something I love about the Predators hunting literal Gods.
Quote from: happypred on Jan 16, 2016, 06:52:09 AM
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 16, 2016, 02:41:49 AM
Quote from: happypred on Jan 16, 2016, 01:49:04 AM
The original AvP comic has pretty nice art...but the colouring is bad
I don't think they had Photoshop or Paint Tool Sai for coloring back in 1989.
But did you check out the reprint that Rebellion had for the special editions of AVP2010?
I have the reprint of #0 . . . great colour
That's the only AvP 2010 reprint I think
I hope they redo the AvP series with Wes Dzioba recolouring the entire series. I would love it so much.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 16, 2016, 05:24:44 PM
I hope they redo the AvP series with Wes Dzioba recolouring the entire series. I would love it so much.
I would be happy with that. Infact, I would be happy if they decided to reprint the original old EU comics for fans who aren't on-board with the rebooted canon. Aren't they doing it in a big collection for the original ALIENS run?
The coloring of a book cannot be underestimated. The original Aliens series went out black & white and it was awesome. Adding color to it really damaged it. But that was because they didn't really control the color palette and you got this technicolor mishmash. I mean we had pink backgrounds and Newt wearing an aqua shirt. You compare that with some of the work that Matt Hollingsworth did on the Hawkeye series recently and it is night and day. You can tell that Matt really thought through the color palette of each page while Aliens: Outbreak's colors were like a 100 different bottles of paint spilled onto the canvas. I just checked the graphic novel and I can't even see who gets the credits for the colors. Anyone? Was it Mark A. Nelson? I find that hard to believe.
The AVP original series also suffered from a coloring malaise. I mean an AVP series in Pastel? Come on. I never even bothered to pick up the follow up series.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 16, 2016, 05:24:44 PM
I hope they redo the AvP series with Wes Dzioba recolouring the entire series. I would love it so much.
Yes...
The original colouring is ... sloppy
The omnibus colouring is cleaned up but the palette is still terrible
The quality of the colouring in the 2010 issue #0 really brought the comic to full life
Bleeding Cool has 4 more pages of previews! Beware of spoilers.
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/01/18/six-pages-from-predator-life-and-death-1-by-dan-abnett-and-brian-thies/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter (http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/01/18/six-pages-from-predator-life-and-death-1-by-dan-abnett-and-brian-thies/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)
Spoiler
I'm loving the art, and that is definitely the Lava Planet pred, at least as far as masks go. The interrupted Hudson quote was pretty amusing. Who do you think the hut they find belongs to?
Yeah no doubt about it now, he's using NECA figures as a reference for the Preds, isn't the first time an artist of the comics has done that. Considering the crashed Engineer ship there I think it's safe to assume Tartarus is really LV-223?
I think for the minute it would be safe to assume they're the same place. I'd prefer them not to be though. I like a nice connected universe but I don't want them to close it down too much.
Do we know when this takes place?
Oh man...looking quite noice
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 19, 2016, 08:32:06 AM
I think for the minute it would be safe to assume they're the same place. I'd prefer them not to be though. I like a nice connected universe but I don't want them to close it down too much.
Do we know when this takes place?
Nope, we haven't gotten any indication of a date. As far as the LV-223 thing, I see what you mean about it becoming too constrictive, though if it is, it seems like the whole planet is a jungle now, rather than just the small bit we saw in FaS. They probably have some fun stuff up their sleeves.
In other news, Randy Stradley posted about this on Facebook, and his friend Michael Heisler shared the post with this interesting tidbit:
QuoteA preview of PREDATOR: LIFE AND DEATH #1 by Dan Abnett, Brian Thies, Rain Beredo and me, all ably corralled by Randy Stradley. If it seems a little familiar, that's because it leads into the PROMETHEUS series I leaked some pages from this morning.
Looking down at the 'leak', we get this:
Spoiler
QuoteA couple of pages from the upcoming PROMETHEUS: LIFE AND DEATH #1. There's art, of course. You'll just have to wait.
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/12549067_10208513729746084_184776463576769245_n.jpg?oh=9a766acdb5372367dfc1f65bdff8f4fb&oe=574174B0)
Heisler must be doing the lettering or coloring for this whole thing. So, a cool tease. There is that one "Something woke up" line, which could be anything but is interesting nonetheless.
I am SO hyped for this now! I cannot wait to get my hands on this and the other upcoming stuff this series leads to!
I really look forward to seeing the Engineers get expanded on, they're such an exciting race. I've always been a fan of "humanoid precursor" creator races, like the ones in Assassin's Creed. Both franchises delve into human mythology and weave such fascinating stories from them and introduce a mysterious race that is slowly teased here and there.
I am also curious to seeing what aspects of Predator Incursion may show up seeing as the book is being used as research for the comic.
I agree, there's a lot they can do with the Engineers while keeping them mysterious. I hope the something that "woke up" is the mountain. I want that thing to hatch or whatever it will eventually do!
It would be pretty cool if we saw the Marines using precursor technology to what they have in
Incursion. They seem to have some things on their shoulders. Maybe an early version of the personal drones they have in the novel? Speaking of that, any guess what the thing is in the dropship in the second panel?
Spoiler
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.bleedingcool.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F01%2FPRLD1_9-600x923.jpg&hash=b30690c3eaee8a76d403d87d277ff755a900f7b8)
It almost looks like a cryosleep pod, or a small aircraft.
So Life and Death is the new moniker these series are going under then?
I just hope this series feels like it actually goes somewhere! I'd love to see them explore the Engineers more and it feel like it we learnt something at the end of it!
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 19, 2016, 08:39:02 PMSpeaking of that, any guess what the thing is in the dropship in the second panel?
I think it might be some sort of small auxiliary craft. Perhaps a smaller fighter?
I'm surprised they're announcing this next cross-over event series by series, rather than altogether like Fire & Stone. Perhaps it's not much of a direct follow up. Also, it seems like Aliens: Defiance is not part of this cross-over series, anyone know if that's the case?
IIRC, back when Defiance was first announced, they said it doesn't connect with the crossover stuff, even though it's all broadly part of the same canon.
I think they're announcing things more slowly this time around to avoid spoilers and over-hyping. Look at how much we guessed about FaS before it even came out, just from covers and solicitations.
Ultramorph, that vehicle reminds me of the Manta from Unreal Tournament.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 19, 2016, 11:21:00 PM
IIRC, back when Defiance was first announced, they said it doesn't connect with the crossover stuff, even though it's all broadly part of the same canon.
I think they're announcing things more slowly this time around to avoid spoilers and over-hyping. Look at how much we guessed about FaS before it even came out, just from covers and solicitations.
Which I think it a good idea. Keeps it spaced out more and doesn't overdo it all in one go.
Quote from: RidgeTop on Jan 19, 2016, 11:10:59 PMI'm surprised they're announcing this next cross-over event series by series, rather than altogether like Fire & Stone.
Hopefully spreading it out a bit will make it less rushed than
Fire and Stone seemed to be. Like hicks said, this seems like a smarter way to do it.
Over on Facebook, Randy Stradley posted an interview he did with Diamond Distributors about the
Life and Death event, and it is quite illuminating. Beware of spoilers.
Spoiler
QuoteI did an interview with Diamond Distributors' "Diamond Daily" retailer newsletter. I'd post a link to it, but you'd have to be a Diamond customer to log in. So, here is the transcript of the unedited (nad unproofread) interview:
Diamond Daily: Predator: Life and Death seems like a natural progression from the Fire and Stone crossover event from 2014. How will this new series fit into the overall AvP comics universe?
Randy Stradley: It is indeed a "progression" of the Fire and Stone story cycle. Life and Death begins as an independent story, with no apparent link to Fire and Stone (other than the futuristic, otherworldly setting), but eventually intersects with the previous story cycle in several ways that are important to the survivors of Fire and Stone.
DD: With Ridley Scott currently working on a sequel to Prometheus with Alien: Paradise Lost and Shane Black in talks to be working on a new Predator film, will the Life and Death story pull more from the original Alien and Predator films or will it sow seeds for the new franchise films?
RS: As with most film projects, the details of the film stories are treated as state secrets, and even when we do know certain details, we're not allowed to allude to them in the comics. But in this case, based on what we've been told about Alien: Paradise Lost, there's no real way within the timeframe of Life and Death that there could be any kind of significant crossover. So, we're pulling from what has been established in the first two Alien films, the three Predator films, and Prometheus. But when you mix all of that together, there are bound to be surprises.
DD: The Alien franchise trends more toward horror, while the Predator films and comics tend to be more action focused. What sort of tone will Life and Death strike with audiences?
RS: There will definitely be a blending of tones as the story progresses, but there won't be (I hope) jarring transitions between chapters.
DD: As an editor, how hard is it to balance the already established canon from the films and comics with the new stories and characters that are being created?
RS: I've been working on telling stories based on existing canons for twenty-eight years now, and I've learned most of the tricks. Want to introduce something new? Easy, just introduce it as a new thing, making sure that it doesn't contradict the "rules" of the existing canon. Think that something previously established in the canon is silly? Ignore it. Don't contradict it, but don't call it out, either. The most difficult part is making sure that you are interjecting something new, and not just treading old ground.
DD: Considering your experience in the comic book industry, what makes working on the Life and Death event special for you and the fans?
RS: The best part is revealing what comes next. As I mentioned, within the timeframe of our story, we won't be getting into what happens in Ridley Scott's next film, but in may ways we are telling the story of what happens after Prometheus and after Aliens. Some of the groundwork was laid down in Fire and Stone but, for instance, what happens in the opening chapter with Predator hearkens not only to the first Predator film, but also to Alien. It's the building on the existing framework in unexpected ways that keeps it interesting for the creators as well as the fans.
DD: Given the legacy of the Alien and Predator franchises, how do you make sure that these new stories feel fresh for longtime fans? Is it difficult to balance this while trying to appeal to someone who has never read any of the Alien or Predator comics?
RS: See answer to question 5.
DD: Will Dark Horse be doing anything to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Aliens this year?
RS: Absolutely. In addition to the Life and Death story cycle, Brian Wood and Tristan Jones are producing a new series called Aliens: Defiance, which is set prior to the film Aliens and Ripley's ill-fated return to LV-426. There's also a big crossover that I can't talk about yet scheduled for later in the year. Sorry, you'll just have to wait. And, for Twentieth Century Fox's official Aliens Day— April 26 (4.26, get it?)—we're publishing a gorgeous over-sized collection of our very first Aliens series, by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson. It's all in glorious black-and-white, with the original dialogue (i.e. without the changes instituted after the events Alien3 altered continuity), and includes every scrap of Mark Nelson Aliens art we could get our hands on.
(And is it too early to remind everyone that 2017 marks the 30th anniversary of Predator?)
DD: Talk a bit about some of the incentives being offered with Predator: Life and Death and the Life and Death event overall.
RS: To promote the launch of the Predator: Life and Death series we're offering a special "unlocking" variant incentive. We have two orderable covers for the first issue, one by David Palumbo and the other by Sachin Teng (show covers). Retailers who order a combination of 15 copies or more or will be eligible to place unlimited orders on our special Dark Horse Presents 30th Anniversary variant drawn by Chris Warner. The cover treatment pays respect to the series that put Dark Horse on the map 30 years ago. We will also be featuring this unlocking incentive for other launches within the Life and Death story cycle, including Prometheus and Aliens vs. Predator.
DD: Is there anything else retailers can look forward to with this event?
RS: One of the concerns we heard about with Fire and Stone was that there was confusion about reading order, as, for instance, when Predator #1 came out the same week as Aliens #2. For Life and Death we've reverted to the traditional monthly schedule. The story will unfold over a longer period of real time, but reading order will be absolutely clear.
I wonder if we'll see any new aliens shown in flashbacks like in Fire and Stone, I'd love to see more Predators hunting other things.
Also, since those flashbacks concerned Ahab, I wonder if he'll show up.
I wouldn't mind a while mini-series about Ahab's hunts.
I'm definitely interested to see if Ahab, Angela, and co. show up later on in the event.
Any guesses as to what the big crossover is coming later in the year?
Perhaps the Life and Death series has an Omega style event at the end?
Life and Death seems to the title the new event is going under.
And I'd be all for more Ahab!
I defintely expect an Omega-like finale issue or miniseries, but from how Randy talked about the release order, I don't think Life and Death will wrap up until early or mid-2017. Either way, they seem to have some pretty cool plans fot the year.
I'm with you. I hadn't read the interview yet but I've just got to the part you mention. I understand what you're saying and I agree - it sounds like something completely separate.
I'm glad to hear they've gone back to a traditional release schedule though.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 22, 2016, 03:35:12 PM
I defintely expect an Omega-like finale issue or miniseries, but from how Randy talked about the release order, I don't think Life and Death will wrap up until early or mid-2017. Either way, they seem to have some pretty cool plans fot the year.
I thought this was a six issue event?
Nope, it seems to be 4 four-issue minis like FaS. The difference is that they're releasing one series at a time in chronological order, rather than releasing them all simultaneously.
I hope parts of this new series will be in the vein of ALIENS: FaS, if not, I won't bother with it. I hope they stay far away from the total crap that was AVP: FaS, and PRED: FaS was pretty underwhelming too.
I don't think I'll be picking this one up. Just not feeling the whole "Predators in Prometheus" schtick Dark Horse is doing.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 22, 2016, 09:35:38 PM
I don't think I'll be picking this one up. Just not feeling the whole "Predators in Prometheus" schtick Dark Horse is doing.
I agree.
Whilst Prometheus may have been underwhelming, it opened up so many potential avenues for interesting new stories rather than being contained to the same few stories over and over again.
Personally I'm looking forward to seeing more of these new directions.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 23, 2016, 01:39:18 PM
Whilst Prometheus may have been underwhelming, it opened up so many potential avenues for interesting new stories rather than being contained to the same few stories over and over again.
Personally I'm looking forward to seeing more of these new directions.
I agree mostly except the I found Prometheus to be perfectly whelming. I've never come out of the theatre so whelmed.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 23, 2016, 01:39:18 PM
Whilst Prometheus may have been underwhelming, it opened up so many potential avenues for interesting new stories rather than being contained to the same few stories over and over again.
Prometheus works fine as an Alien exclusive thing.. but when Predator is thrown in.. I'm just afraid that they're going to be doing HUGE changes to the fundamentals of Predator. Which is what they seem to be doing.
Predator is about the hunt, nothing more, nothing less.. It's not about answering the big questions.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 23, 2016, 03:45:48 PM
I agree mostly except the I found Prometheus to be perfectly whelming. I've never come out of the theatre so whelmed.
I used to like Prometheus.. then my opinion about it changed.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 23, 2016, 08:42:41 PM
Prometheus works fine as an Alien exclusive thing.. but when Predator is thrown in.. I'm just afraid that they're going to be doing HUGE changes to the fundamentals of Predator. Which is what they seem to be doing.
Predator is about the hunt, nothing more, nothing less.. It's not about answering the big questions.
Which is exactly all the Predators inclusion in this whole escapade has been. Hunting the Engineers. Predator is the most versatile franchise out of these ones. Let it flex its story telling muscles before you condem it.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 23, 2016, 09:12:51 PM
Which is exactly all the Predators inclusion in this whole escapade has been. Hunting the Engineers. Predator is the most versatile franchise out of these ones. Let it flex its story telling muscles before you condem it.
Fine.. but we don't need an origin story for the Predators. As long as they don't do that.. fine.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Jan 23, 2016, 09:50:25 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 23, 2016, 09:12:51 PM
Which is exactly all the Predators inclusion in this whole escapade has been. Hunting the Engineers. Predator is the most versatile franchise out of these ones. Let it flex its story telling muscles before you condem it.
Fine.. but we don't need an origin story for the Predators. As long as they don't do that.. fine.
I knew that this was what that was about. :P Nothing indicates that this is what they're trying to do with the Predators. I do agree though - I'd like it stay away from that.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 23, 2016, 09:52:26 PM
I do agree though - I'd like it stay away from that.
At least we agree on that.
I will say after Fire and Stone, I gave up on the comics.
I am open to any concept/story as long as it is well executed. Some concepts are harder to pull off than others, e.g. a Yautja origin tale...hence I would be wary.
I thought Sebela's AvP completely missed the point of AvP
One small thing Randy said in the interview with Diamond...
Quotewhat happens in the opening chapter with Predator hearkens not only to the first Predator film, but also to Alien.
...has me hoping that we get to see some fossilized chair suit Engineers. It's a small thing, and I accept that "Elephant Jockeys" are gone, but I was disappointed that we didn't see any chair suits in
FaS.
Also, not a huge spoiler or anything but, as far as how connected these miniseries will be
Spoiler
if you look at the previews for Predator and the leaked dialog for Prometheus, both mention a character named Roth, so it looks like we'll be dealing with a set cast like the previous event.
I'm glad we only have to wait until March for this. Here's hoping that they do something cool with "the mountain", assuming it figures in the story.
Bollocks, forgot to pre-order this again over the weekend.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 24, 2016, 05:41:07 PM
It's a small thing, and I accept that "Elephant Jockeys" are gone
It'd be f**king cool if the human Engineers are a copycat race of an even more ancient race of elephant Jockeys
Quote from: happypred on Jan 27, 2016, 02:18:07 AM
It'd be f**king cool if the human Engineers are a copycat race of an even more ancient race of elephant Jockeys
That.. made me laugh with a sense of irony.
Quote from: happypred on Jan 27, 2016, 02:18:07 AM
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 24, 2016, 05:41:07 PM
It's a small thing, and I accept that "Elephant Jockeys" are gone
It'd be f**king cool if the human Engineers are a copycat race of an even more ancient race of elephant Jockeys
That's what people seem to keep asking for.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 27, 2016, 08:07:15 AM
Quote from: happypred on Jan 27, 2016, 02:18:07 AM
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 24, 2016, 05:41:07 PM
It's a small thing, and I accept that "Elephant Jockeys" are gone
It'd be f**king cool if the human Engineers are a copycat race of an even more ancient race of elephant Jockeys
That's what people seem to keep asking for.
Indeed we do lol
I don't know what I want anymore. ???
I like the Engineers, especially since "Elephant Jockeys" almost always looked goofy when they did appear. I just want some Alien-esque chair suit homages. It would be pretty neat if the characters in Life and Death spend most of the series thinking the Engineers are elephant-like beings, and it's a reveal to them when one takes off its suit.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 27, 2016, 05:41:58 PM
I like the Engineers, especially since "Elephant Jockeys" almost always looked goofy when they did appear. I just want some Alien-esque chair suit homages. It would be pretty neat if the characters in Life and Death spend most of the series thinking the Engineers are elephant-like beings, and it's a reveal to them when one takes off its suit.
I agree.
Also the Elephant-Jockey kept looking inconsistent, in some comics it looked like this weird humanoid elephant, in another comic it was a tall and skinny weird faced thing and I remember one where it's essentially just a big overweight elephant man on a chair.
I wasn't a huge fan of those concepts and Prometheus really fixed it for me. I grew to really love the Engineers. I just see the elephant Jockey as mutated body modified Engineers, like how we have people who extensively change themselves with plastic surgery and what not, except Engineers' tech would allow for them to go to far greater levels.
And I agree, it'd be a cool nod to have the humans assume it's an elephantoid only to see it's humanoid, very, very humanoid. ;D
The Engineer is at most...what...8 to 9 ft tall. Ian Whyte plays the Engineer and he is 7'1
Thr Jockey is 13 to 14 ft tall and with much less human proportions. Give me my gangly, inhuman, truly gigantic elephant Jockeys.
I'm really torn about the jockeys. On principle giant elephant men look very silly.
Take that back
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F31.media.tumblr.com%2Ftumblr_lpju13TJ4s1qa1o5zo1_500.jpg&hash=8486494dffaa84fabe338acb7fc90cfb4f280115)
As great as that piece of artwork is, I still think the creature looks kinda goofy.
That's from the Aliens/Predator Universe trading cards, isn't it?
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Jan 28, 2016, 08:36:56 AM
That's from the Aliens/Predator Universe trading cards, isn't it?
I do believe so. There was some great artwork in that set.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Jan 28, 2016, 08:36:56 AM
As great as that piece of artwork is, I still think the creature looks kinda goofy.
That's from the Aliens/Predator Universe trading cards, isn't it?
Blasphemy
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 28, 2016, 04:13:35 AM
I'm really torn about the jockeys. On principle giant elephant men look very silly.
I agree. ;D
In the comics, there wasn't a single Jockey design that I liked.
That is until Prometheus brought the Engineers.
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Jan 28, 2016, 02:09:51 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 28, 2016, 04:13:35 AM
I'm really torn about the jockeys. On principle giant elephant men look very silly.
I agree. ;D
In the comics, there wasn't a single Jockey design that I liked.
That is until Prometheus brought the Engineers.
The Ancient Jockey in Destroying Angles i felt was the best of the lot
Quote from: happypred on Jan 28, 2016, 07:24:18 AM
Take that back
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpju13TJ4s1qa1o5zo1_500.jpg
Already this looks like it has no relation to the original film. The jockey looked like it was grown out of a chair remember? This dude has legs which brings us into human territory...
Also, just about everyone looks cool in a spacesuit. Remove the helmet and I think the magic would be lost...
Quote from: Whiskeybrewer on Jan 28, 2016, 02:43:25 PM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Jan 28, 2016, 02:09:51 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 28, 2016, 04:13:35 AM
I'm really torn about the jockeys. On principle giant elephant men look very silly.
I agree. ;D
In the comics, there wasn't a single Jockey design that I liked.
That is until Prometheus brought the Engineers.
The Ancient Jockey in Destroying Angles i felt was the best of the lot
In general, I agree but the saggy boobs and the hair always annoyed me. I do love that comic though!
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 03:10:22 PM
Quote from: Whiskeybrewer on Jan 28, 2016, 02:43:25 PM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Jan 28, 2016, 02:09:51 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 28, 2016, 04:13:35 AM
I'm really torn about the jockeys. On principle giant elephant men look very silly.
I agree. ;D
In the comics, there wasn't a single Jockey design that I liked.
That is until Prometheus brought the Engineers.
The Ancient Jockey in Destroying Angles i felt was the best of the lot
In general, I agree but the saggy boobs and the hair always annoyed me. I do love that comic though!
My thoughts exactly. ;D
I did like the idea behind the one who tried to terraform Earth. Do you remember what it was called? A Jockey ship was above Earth, cooling down the climate. Then the President and a few people board the ship and it turns out they are synthetics and one of them had a nuke inside of them that they set off to assassinate the Jockey.
While the Jockey looked kinda weird, he did display the exact same strength as the Engineer, casually ripping apart Synthetics. In fact, he started off sorta peaceful and then BAM the ripping begins, just like in Prometheus. XD
It was just called The Alien IIRC.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 03:10:22 PM
Quote from: Whiskeybrewer on Jan 28, 2016, 02:43:25 PM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Jan 28, 2016, 02:09:51 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 28, 2016, 04:13:35 AM
I'm really torn about the jockeys. On principle giant elephant men look very silly.
I agree. ;D
In the comics, there wasn't a single Jockey design that I liked.
That is until Prometheus brought the Engineers.
The Ancient Jockey in Destroying Angles i felt was the best of the lot
In general, I agree but the saggy boobs and the hair always annoyed me. I do love that comic though!
I certainly hope you guys don't talk to your ladies this way... ;-P
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 28, 2016, 04:27:12 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 03:10:22 PM
Quote from: Whiskeybrewer on Jan 28, 2016, 02:43:25 PM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Jan 28, 2016, 02:09:51 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 28, 2016, 04:13:35 AM
I'm really torn about the jockeys. On principle giant elephant men look very silly.
I agree. ;D
In the comics, there wasn't a single Jockey design that I liked.
That is until Prometheus brought the Engineers.
The Ancient Jockey in Destroying Angles i felt was the best of the lot
In general, I agree but the saggy boobs and the hair always annoyed me. I do love that comic though!
I certainly hope you guys don't talk to your ladies this way... ;-P
LOL!!! :laugh:
Don't worry, we're very cordial people. :P
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Jan 28, 2016, 04:46:51 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 28, 2016, 04:27:12 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 03:10:22 PM
Quote from: Whiskeybrewer on Jan 28, 2016, 02:43:25 PM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Jan 28, 2016, 02:09:51 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Jan 28, 2016, 04:13:35 AM
I'm really torn about the jockeys. On principle giant elephant men look very silly.
I agree. ;D
In the comics, there wasn't a single Jockey design that I liked.
That is until Prometheus brought the Engineers.
The Ancient Jockey in Destroying Angles i felt was the best of the lot
In general, I agree but the saggy boobs and the hair always annoyed me. I do love that comic though!
I certainly hope you guys don't talk to your ladies this way... ;-P
LOL!!! :laugh:
Don't worry, we're very cordial people. :P
Well we try our best anyway lmao :laugh:
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 03:33:35 PM
It was just called The Alien IIRC.
Yup, that's the one. That comic is such a weird combination of interesting ideas and goofy stuff. It was basically DH's way of throwing away the Space Jockey subplot from the original comics, which is a shame. It would have been cool to have them as the villains for a while. I guess we're getting that now, in a way, so it's all good.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 28, 2016, 05:09:02 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 03:33:35 PM
It was just called The Alien IIRC.
Yup, that's the one. That comic is such a weird combination of interesting ideas and goofy stuff. It was basically DH's way of throwing away the Space Jockey subplot from the original comics, which is a shame. It would have been cool to have them as the villains for a while. I guess we're getting that now, in a way, so it's all good.
Yes, it was sad how the whole fascinating concept of the space jockey was dispensed with in the pages of Dark Horse Presents.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 28, 2016, 05:09:02 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 03:33:35 PM
It was just called The Alien IIRC.
Yup, that's the one. That comic is such a weird combination of interesting ideas and goofy stuff. It was basically DH's way of throwing away the Space Jockey subplot from the original comics, which is a shame. It would have been cool to have them as the villains for a while. I guess we're getting that now, in a way, so it's all good.
That disappointed me. It would have been interesting to see more of an early interpretation of the Jockey's. Especially in such a short throwaway.
Via Randy Stradley's Facebook page:
QuoteJust teasing a sliver of a Doug Wheatley variant cover.
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/12651309_1065301370201255_2006179098988369321_n.jpg?oh=66d7e6733f72ba848ae053596c94c10c&oe=5745B08A)
I love that they're bringing back classic
Aliens comic artists for these cover. Also, not to nitpick, but if you look at what we can see of the background, that Predator seems to be on a Juggernaut.
I see some AVP Scar Predator motif in there.. This... humors me. Ironic.
Oh yeah, the chest armor is very AVP-esque. The fact that Wheatley is doing this cover has given me more hope that we'll see some chair suits. ;D
Dark Horse also just released a bit of info about some upcoming Dark Horse Presents variants.
http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/2225/dark-horse-comics-debuts-yearlong-30th-anniversary (http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/2225/dark-horse-comics-debuts-yearlong-30th-anniversary)
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 29, 2016, 01:14:31 AM
Oh yeah, the chest armor is very AVP-esque.
I just noticed the extra teeth on this Predator! You know how EVERYONE complained about the Predators having more teeth in AVP? Well, looks like we got AVP styled Predators! I just.. find it so amusing that everyone pisses on the movie, and this also includes content creators but they still end up using designs and elements. I get a laugh out of that! :D
I think they're making a concerted effort to pay homage to all the stuff that has come before, like Kenner and even the AvP movie. It makes sense for the 30th anniversary.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 03:10:22 PM
In general, I agree but the saggy boobs and the hair always annoyed me. I do love that comic though!
That comic really instilled a sense of awe and mystery into the Jockey civilisation
Quote from: happypred on Jan 29, 2016, 05:37:27 AM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 03:10:22 PM
In general, I agree but the saggy boobs and the hair always annoyed me. I do love that comic though!
That comic really instilled a sense of awe and mystery into the Jockey civilisation
I spent ages hunting that comic down as a kid. It was my holy grail comic - aside from the nightmares that Alien induced in me and ensuing fascination that brought, the mystery of the Jockey was probably the second thing I loved most about the Alien series and this comic really helped feed into that mystery.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Jan 28, 2016, 09:55:08 PMThat disappointed me. It would have been interesting to see more of an early interpretation of the Jockey's. Especially in such a short throwaway.
What's even more confusing is how the novel
Earth Hive includes all the stuff with the Jockey, including the cliffhanger ending above Earth, but by the time they all get back there at the end of the next book he's just vanished without explanation.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Jan 29, 2016, 01:14:31 AMDark Horse also just released a bit of info about some upcoming Dark Horse Presents variants.
http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/2225/dark-horse-comics-debuts-yearlong-30th-anniversary (http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/2225/dark-horse-comics-debuts-yearlong-30th-anniversary)
Neat idea! I like the
Life and Death one. Oldschool meets new.
I'm moving onto my re-read of Female War after I finish this NA review. I was wondering how/if that came up in the novelization because I couldn't remember. I think I've only read the novelization once.
Oh. Sorry to spoil it for you :P But no, it doesn't. Not even a mention.
It is a weak point in the series that is not attended to properly. Presumably, the SJ was just floating above earth and slowly terraforming it somehow. But before he got finished, he got taken out. End of story. Really. Cheaply.
Destroying Angels handled the SJ much, much better IMO compared to that "president and a bunch of androids try to assassinate the SJ" story...
Quote from: happypred on Feb 01, 2016, 02:15:11 AM
Destroying Angels handled the SJ much, much better IMO compared to that "president and a bunch of androids try to assassinate the SJ" story...
No argument there. The Alien just felt like a quick way and being rid of that concept.
Quote from: happypred on Feb 01, 2016, 02:15:11 AM
Destroying Angels handled the SJ much, much better IMO compared to that "president and a bunch of androids try to assassinate the SJ" story...
100% agree. What a let-down in hindsight.
Just saw the preview for this and I'm excited. More LV-223 jungle shenanigans, it looks like. Still, I'll be honest and say that it's probably going to be as uneventful as the rest of Fire and Stone.
We're most likely going to get: Marines go to LV-223 on a rescue mission, Predators show up looking for Ahab, carnage, and then we'll get some token 'expansion' of the black goo or Engineers, though it won't really do much to answer any questions or expand the mythology in any meaningful way.
I hope I'm wrong.
Another thing that always bothers me about future Predator stories is how they literally don't change at all over the course of almost 200 years. I mean I think the writers get hung up on the ritual hunting crap and stick with the iconic Predator gear and behavior, but come on there's so much room for creativity there.
Future Predators would have some scary, scary technology. There's no special rules dictating that they always use the same gear forever and wouldn't progress, I mean how did they establish the setup that's used in the Predator movies anyway?
I've always wanted to see that - expand on their deceptive, sadistic nature with new devices and hunting tools. Make them have a perfect invisibility cloak instead of the shimmery one, give them things like short-range teleportation and newer, smarter weapons, and please bring back their voice mimicry and voice-throwing, a creepier side to the Predators that's seemed to have fallen by the wayside. Sometimes they seem more like intergalactic wrestlers whose loftiest ambition is to have a naked sumo and arm-wrestling match with the meanest things they can find before returning to their ship to slap each other on the ass, drink alien beer, and taxidermy their trophies to put above their space mantles.
It seems like they're so shoe-horned into their own iconography that writers or artists don't want to stray from it in fear of alienating Predator fans.
Quote from: RagingDragon on Feb 07, 2016, 10:09:38 PM
We're most likely going to get: Marines go to LV-223 on a rescue mission, Predators show up looking for Ahab, carnage, and then we'll get some token 'expansion' of the black goo or Engineers, though it won't really do much to answer any questions or expand the mythology in any meaningful way.
I hope I'm wrong.
I hope so, too. I'm quite excited for this whole thing, but I'm also having realistic expectations based on what wound up happening with
Fire and Stone. That being said, Abnett as the writer is reason to hope that, even if it doesn't really answer or delve too deep into anything, it will at least be a fun ride. Hopefully he's writing the whole thing. There were too many cooks in the kitchen on that last crossover.
As far as the Predator technology, I agree, it would be great to see some more advanced stuff from them at some point. Who knows, maybe we will in this series. They are taking some artistic cues from Kenner, so maybe we'll see some of that.
I think Lebbon tried to imply that Predator tech progresses fairly quickly...but his Predators only use blades and shoulder cannons
I always got the impression Predators might have more advanced tech, they just use the traditional stuff when hunting because that's viewed as more honourable.
The first review of issue #1 is up. It's fairly positive, and doesn't contain any info that we didn't know from the solicitations.
http://massmovement.co.uk/?p=7628 (http://massmovement.co.uk/?p=7628)
The first question that immediately springs to mind - is Hasdrubal a Conrad reference? :P
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Feb 09, 2016, 03:45:52 PM
I always got the impression Predators might have more advanced tech, they just use the traditional stuff when hunting because that's viewed as more honourable.
This pretty much.
In Incursion, when they get serious,
Spoiler
they do pack some meaner looking gear including somethings resembling guns if I remember the description correctly.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Feb 09, 2016, 03:51:23 PM
The first review of issue #1 is up. It's fairly positive, and doesn't contain any info that we didn't know from the solicitations.
http://massmovement.co.uk/?p=7628 (http://massmovement.co.uk/?p=7628)
Doesn't sound so bad, even if I'm already tired of "marinez and predatorz and enjuneerz fieting!" I honestly feel like the only thing that could make Prometheus even more lame is by having Predators running around stabbing things. It just takes me so far away from that rich, scary mystery of the Derelict craft and original Alien.
Plus, none of these stories so far have tried to actually incorporate the Predators into this cosmic scheme of creation and destruction in any meaningful way. They've literally just been out driving around in their Chevy's killing things and stumble across humans, aliens, and engineers in some disaster.
There aren't even passing comments in Fire and Stone about how or if the Predators are related - they're just a third party that shows up and fights. Wasted opportunity.
I'll wait and see how the reviews go. So many of these series start out strong, then just go to complete pointless hell like the writers don't even care about the ending so long as they hook you into buying four issues. That was a lot of complaining, but hey, if the situation calls for it. :P
I agree with the above. Every time a Predator shows up in the Aliens universe now, it is like a WWE wrestling star showing up at a serious TED talk about some great discovery. They don't belong. They don't contribute. The only way they could belong is if their participation is somehow explained. So basically we need to have an origin story the explains the Predators, but on the downside, doing that will destroy the mystery of the predators, so nobody wants that.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 09, 2016, 08:55:34 PM
The only way they could belong is if their participation is somehow explained. So basically we need to have an origin story the explains the Predators, but on the downside, doing that will destroy the mystery of the predators, so nobody wants that.
Pretty much this... and as a Predator fan, I feel that... shoe-horning Predators into the Prometheus angle is very contrived and unnecessary.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Feb 09, 2016, 09:42:37 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 09, 2016, 08:55:34 PM
The only way they could belong is if their participation is somehow explained. So basically we need to have an origin story the explains the Predators, but on the downside, doing that will destroy the mystery of the predators, so nobody wants that.
Pretty much this... and as a Predator fan, I feel that... shoe-horning Predators into the Prometheus angle is very contrived and unnecessary.
Yes, its the high school equivalent of forcing the geeks and the jocks to hang out together. No good can come of that.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 09, 2016, 10:16:42 PM
Yes, its the high school equivalent of forcing the geeks and the jocks to hang out together. No good can come of that.
....I still think that the whole AVP thing can work on it's own but throw Prometheus into it? No.. Just... No.
And.. another thing, it's kind of bothering me that we're kind of getting analogies here that the Alien side of things is meant to be for high class aristocrats, and Predator's meant for the peasant, low class redneck... Where did this mentality come from?
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Feb 09, 2016, 10:20:35 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 09, 2016, 10:16:42 PM
Yes, its the high school equivalent of forcing the geeks and the jocks to hang out together. No good can come of that.
....I still think that the whole AVP thing can work on it's own but throw Prometheus into it? No.. Just... No.
And.. another thing, it's kind of bothering me that we're kind of getting analogies here that the Alien side of things is meant to be for high class aristocrats, and Predator's meant for the peasant, low class redneck... Where did this mentality come from?
Where are we getting these analogies from?
I'd have to disagree with the whole outlook that Predator doesn't fit into Prometheus. For me, it's so fun and badass to see them hunt other intelligent races besides humans.
And ever since I saw Prometheus, I always wanted to see a Predator hunt an Engineer so I got my wish thanks to Fire and Stone, and may get to see that dream come true again in future works.
Also, Predator can feel very fleshed out and cerebral when you're reading a well written book like South China Sea or Incursion. It's not for peasants. The Yautja have always been established as the galaxy's hunters, it's kind of their thing.
But I do love to see new and refreshing things be explored, so I'd love to see other aspects such as them going to war with proper war gear like we saw in Extinction. That's why Incursion was so appealing, new setting and a new theme (war). I don't think we ever saw Predators forge an actual alliance with another race.
So I really don't see where this whole "Predators are for peasants" mentality is coming from. Both sides of the franchise appeal to people in their own ways. Alien just tends to dish out more material in general compared to Predator. But both have a huge cultural impact and a cult following.
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Feb 09, 2016, 11:37:48 PM
Where are we getting these analogies from?
I'm talking about how Perfect-Organism is saying that the Predator franchise is more or less the low-brow red-neck franchise or the jock-ish kind of franchise.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Feb 09, 2016, 11:50:01 PM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Feb 09, 2016, 11:37:48 PM
Where are we getting these analogies from?
I'm talking about how Perfect-Organism is saying that the Predator franchise is more or less the low-brow red-neck franchise or the jock-ish kind of franchise.
To be fair, Predators are basically alien redneck jocks with some rules. :laugh:
But I think there's so much more to exploring them with than just hunts. While they're all about the hunt, that doesn't mean all stories should just revolve around that.
Lots more can be explored, like what if some species decides to retaliate against them? This will be interesting to see. Incursion comes close but it's not about retaliation.
Spoiler
It's about the Rage using them as target practice, one character notes the irony of using a violent race for this. XD
I don't think neither franchise is better than the other, it's all based on opinions. I love them both very much but Predator just a little bit more. :P
Considering the only real presence the Predators has had in this post-Prometheus world is that they like to hunt the Engineers, I think you're both completely blowing it up. Because them wanting to hunt Engineers is completely spot on. They like challenging prey. The Engineers are literally Gods. What's more awesome prey than that?
And the Predator series was hands-down my favourite one out of the Fire and Stone run.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 10, 2016, 08:05:22 AM
The Engineers are literally Gods.
You keep on saying that. Don't you mean "God-like"?
Remember David's phrase? "Mortal after all."
To me, for them to be literal Gods, they would have to be immortal and well.. divine.
http://bigcomicpage.com/2016/02/09/bcp-interview-dan-abnett-talks-predator-life-and-death/
I've not read this one yet.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Feb 10, 2016, 08:11:09 AM
To me, for them to be literal Gods, they would have to be immortal and well.. divine.
Their apparent creation of multiple races makes them Gods to me. But I see your point too.
(https://bigcomicpage.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/13.jpg)
The cover for Prometheus - Life and Death #1. Abnett is writing all 4 series.
So, there's going to be an Alien: Life and Death, Prometheus: Life and Death, and an AVP: Life and Death, along with the Predator one?
Did I read that right?
Yes. Just like Fire and Stone.
So this is basically going to be the Fire and Stone sequel then?
Probably a good thing they're getting one guy to write the whole shebang this time around.
We don't know if it's an actual sequel. Just that it follows the same format.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 10, 2016, 08:05:22 AM
Considering the only real presence the Predators has had in this post-Prometheus world is that they like to hunt the Engineers, I think you're both completely blowing it up. Because them wanting to hunt Engineers is completely spot on. They like challenging prey. The Engineers are literally Gods. What's more awesome prey than that?
And the Predator series was hands-down my favourite one out of the Fire and Stone run.
Exactly, that's really the whole point of the Predator. In virtually every media featuring a Predator has involved it hunting someone dangerous or challenging.
I mean honestly, what does one expect from a comic featuring Engineers and Predators? The two bro-hugging? :P
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 10, 2016, 08:15:27 AM
http://bigcomicpage.com/2016/02/09/bcp-interview-dan-abnett-talks-predator-life-and-death/
I've not read this one yet.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Feb 10, 2016, 08:11:09 AM
To me, for them to be literal Gods, they would have to be immortal and well.. divine.
Their apparent creation of multiple races makes them Gods to me. But I see your point too.
(https://bigcomicpage.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/13.jpg)
The cover for Prometheus - Life and Death #1. Abnett is writing all 4 series.
OMG I am so excited for this series now!
Judging by that cover, it seems we may see some more humans meeting Engineers, maybe even in a non-hostile manner who knows? It'd be cool to see more of our interactions with them. Or he might snap like in Prometheus lol. He'd only pause for a second to ask "How did these ants get to my ship from that distant backwater planet?"
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Feb 10, 2016, 03:18:01 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 10, 2016, 08:05:22 AM
Considering the only real presence the Predators has had in this post-Prometheus world is that they like to hunt the Engineers, I think you're both completely blowing it up. Because them wanting to hunt Engineers is completely spot on. They like challenging prey. The Engineers are literally Gods. What's more awesome prey than that?
And the Predator series was hands-down my favourite one out of the Fire and Stone run.
Exactly, that's really the whole point of the Predator. In virtually every media featuring a Predator has involved it hunting someone dangerous or challenging.
I mean honestly, what does one expect from a comic featuring Engineers and Predators? The two bro-hugging? :P
Yes, that's pretty obviously implied from calling them 'Predators!' but it doesn't mean it's the only purpose for having them in any story, ever, and it certainly doesn't automatically make for an
interesting or
good story.
Most appearances of the Predator these days turn him into an anti-hero anyway, and Predator: Fire and Stone was no different. I thought the art was great, and the story was told well enough, but it literally served no purpose other than being 'Engineer vs. Predator' comic book fodder.
We get zero explanation of why there's another Engineer on LV-223, or why after he wakes up he just walks around doing things for no reason. He also just starts yelling and punching shit as soon as he encounters the Predator and Galgo. It's literally Prometheus all over again, same shallow story and all, except this time he blows up in the end.
I mean it was ultimately a pointless story that did nothing to further the universe, and reads like a fan-fiction of someone who just wanted to see an Engineer and Predator go at it. Was it enjoyable? Yeah, on a comic book action level, I guess, but we got plenty of the Super Shredder 3-way deathmatches with the Resident Evil T-Virus in AvP: Fire and Stone. They need to actually go somewhere with the story.
That early review did a good job setting up the mythological backstory behind the name Tartarus, and digging around a bit more, it turns out that Tartarus had a son, a monster called Typhon. According to Theoi "Later poets described him as a volcanic-daimon, trapped beneath the body of Mount Aitna in Sicily."
All this makes me hope that something is planned for the living mountain.
Big Comic Page has an advance review up, and it's a 4/5. It does contain some spoilers, though, so be careful.
http://bigcomicpage.com/2016/02/11/advance-review-predator-life-and-death-1-dark-horse-comics/ (http://bigcomicpage.com/2016/02/11/advance-review-predator-life-and-death-1-dark-horse-comics/)
Spoiler
I was wrong, it seems Tartarus is not LV-223. It's LV-797. This actually makes me more excited.
Predator comics and Aliens comics are as smart or as stupid as the writers make them. One is not inherently more high brow than the other...what utterly silly thinking
Quote from: Ultramorph on Feb 10, 2016, 06:01:58 PM
Spoiler
I was wrong, it seems Tartarus is not LV-223. It's LV-797. This actually makes me more excited.
Good. I didn't want to see it all be reduced to a small universe.
Quote from: happypred on Feb 11, 2016, 02:44:54 PM
Predator comics and Aliens comics are as smart or as stupid as the writers make them. One is not inherently more high brow than the other...what utterly silly thinking
Damn right.
Quote from: happypred on Feb 11, 2016, 02:44:54 PM
Predator comics and Aliens comics are as smart or as stupid as the writers make them. One is not inherently more high brow than the other...what utterly silly thinking
I agree.
Like I said before, both franchises are equally good in my eyes although I lean more on Predator, doesn't mean I am any less excited for more Alien material as it enriches the universe.
So no, Alien and Predator should never be separated, the Prometheus stuff serves to open many doors leading into new areas for the two critters to explore.
There is definitely some Hemingway potential with Predator comics. A good writer could do something great with that. But if a Predator tale is to stay true to the core ideas behind Predator, it will invariably be a hunting story. It is a book about sport. The Alien series is free from all of that. There is no element of sport in the Alien mythos. Especially, with the new direction that the Alien franchise is taking via Scott's new films, it is more about world creation and the origins of man. So yes the Alien world is a more high brow series with lofty ideas. So I have to respectfully disagree. Aliens and Predators should go their separate ways.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 11, 2016, 05:06:42 PM
There is definitely some Hemingway potential with Predator comics. A good writer could do something great with that. But if a Predator tale is to stay true to the core ideas behind Predator, it will invariably be a hunting story. It is a book about sport. The Alien series is free from all of that. There is no element of sport in the Alien mythos. Especially, with the new direction that the Alien franchise is taking via Scott's new films, it is more about world creation and the origins of man. So yes the Alien world is a more high brow series with lofty ideas. So I have to respectfully disagree. Aliens and Predators should go their separate ways.
Predator: Incursion proves you wrong there, my friend. It has some elements of hunting, but it also goes beyond that. It really builds up the world and explores many things we haven't seen before. It shows that yes, Predator could very easily go down the more high brow direction.
How their society
Spoiler
values memory above all physical things and how they make their own ships individually, how the clans independently advance similar tech without trading etc. There was so much explored in the book. How humans ask questions on "how are they a space faring race?" Because they too keep associating the Predators with the hunt.
There's so much more to explore with the Predators even in films or a series.
Like, how they react with races that offer to fight alongside them. If they forge alliances.
Heck, look at AvP, the Predators taught humans how to build. That, while linked to their hunting culture also toys with "Ancient Astronaut" theories just like Prometheus. AvP did it before Prometheus.
Also, from what we've been hearing so far about Shane Black's film, there's some "re-inventing" going on, what that means, I don't know yet.
A few more advance reviews have gone up, and they're also pretty positive. As usual, beware of spoilers if you choose to read them.
http://fanboycomics.net/index.php/blogs/bryant-dillon/item/6105 (http://fanboycomics.net/index.php/blogs/bryant-dillon/item/6105)
http://bigcomicpage.com/2016/02/11/advance-review-predator-life-and-death-1-dark-horse-comics/ (http://bigcomicpage.com/2016/02/11/advance-review-predator-life-and-death-1-dark-horse-comics/)
I like how Abnett
Spoiler
seems to have snuck Seegson into the mix. ;D
Quote from: Ultramorph on Feb 12, 2016, 01:06:21 AM
I like how Abnett Spoiler
seems to have snuck Seegson into the mix. ;D
He did write Alien Isolation, after all! I'm glad to see Isolation sneaking into these comics - and with Defiance too. Adds to the world building very nicely and to a feeling of a more cohesive universe.
Can't wait to pick mine up.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 11, 2016, 05:06:42 PM
There is definitely some Hemingway potential with Predator comics. A good writer could do something great with that. But if a Predator tale is to stay true to the core ideas behind Predator, it will invariably be a hunting story. It is a book about sport. The Alien series is free from all of that. There is no element of sport in the Alien mythos.
Allow me to respectfully disagree...
That's like saying an Aliens story has to be a tale full of jump scares with humans being stalked by an Alien or Aliens (this is true of Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Res)
The core theme of the Aliens franchise is the cold indifference of not just the cosmos but of humanity as well, e.g.the Company. The Aliens are almost a reflection of man's remorseless drive to survive and expand at all costs and at the expense of all else. What is scarier, the Aliens or the Company trying to exploit them? If the ability to survive ruthlessly is the criterion, is man any less of a perfect organism than the xenomorph?
You could do A LOT with that
The core theme of the Predator franchise is the human propensity for (and enjoyment of) violence, conquest and domination. Swanland rally captures this theme with his cover for the 2009 Predator DH series. The Predator caresses a human skull before a shrine built of assault rifles and human bones. The Predator is almost an embodiment of man's violent, sadistic tendencies.
As with Aliens, you could do A LOT with that.
Quote from: happypred on Feb 12, 2016, 10:48:45 AM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 11, 2016, 05:06:42 PM
There is definitely some Hemingway potential with Predator comics. A good writer could do something great with that. But if a Predator tale is to stay true to the core ideas behind Predator, it will invariably be a hunting story. It is a book about sport. The Alien series is free from all of that. There is no element of sport in the Alien mythos.
Allow me to respectfully disagree...
That's like saying an Aliens story has to be a tale full of jump scares with humans being stalked by an Alien or Aliens (this is true of Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Res)
The core theme of the Aliens franchise is the cold indifference of not just the cosmos but of humanity as well, e.g.the Company. The Aliens are almost a reflection of man's remorseless drive to survive and expand at all costs and at the expense of all else. What is scarier, the Aliens or the Company trying to exploit them? If the ability to survive ruthlessly is the criterion, is man any less of a perfect organism than the xenomorph?
You could do A LOT with that
The core theme of the Predator franchise is the human propensity for (and enjoyment of) violence, conquest and domination. Swanland rally captures this theme with his cover for the 2009 Predator DH series. The Predator caresses a human skull before a shrine built of assault rifles and human bones. The Predator is almost an embodiment of man's violent, sadistic tendencies.
As with Aliens, you could do A LOT with that.
Exactly.
And when you join them, it merges those themes together.
Like humanity trying to reverse engineer Predator technology, to boost their own killing capabilities. And the whole "keep our tech out of their hands", it's like Predators know how dangerous we'd be if we got that powerful. Listen to the Audio Diaries of AvP2010, Weyland himself states that his studying of Aliens and Predator tech isn't just for profit, but to literally make humans the elite species of the galaxy.
We're essentially a sleeping giant.
And that's why they LOVE hunting us.
But like we've covered, there's a lot you can do with either franchise. One is not more "high brow" than the other. Both toyed with the "Ancient Aliens visiting us" theme.
Of course we can respectfully disagree. Just because the AVP film delved into some "Ancient Aliens visiting us" themes doesn't mean that the idea worked well. In fact, one could say that the AVP film fell flat with what it attempted to do by involving Predators in our history. This idea presented in AVP did not work anywhere near as well as it did in Prometheus, and that is because the idea of Predators guiding us along comes across as silly whereas the idea of Engineers is compelling. Why? Exactly. Because the idea of Engineers creating us, opens up the mystery of why they created us and also why we create androids. The question itself is a high brow idea. When we are faced with Predators guiding us along, the only answer we can put forth is that so they can hunt us. That is simply not compelling and rather low brow.
But don't get me wrong, the Predator films and world is still enjoyable, it is just not on the same playing field as Aliens. But that is just my opinion, and we all have our own justifiable perspectives...
Dark Horse's May solicitations are live, and we have the cover and summary of issue #3.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dark-horse-may-2016-solicitations-feature-lobster-johnsons-return-gene-has-mae (http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dark-horse-may-2016-solicitations-feature-lobster-johnsons-return-gene-has-mae)
Spoiler
QuotePredator: Life and Death #3 (of 4)
Dan Abnett (W), Brian Thies (A), Rain Beredo (C), and David Palumbo (Cover)
On sale May 4
FC, 32 pages
$3.99
Miniseries
The Colonial Marines discover the corporate claim jumpers they're protecting have been hiding what they know about the massive, horseshoe-shaped alien spaceship. Meanwhile, the Predators go on the offensive!
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPRLD-3-FC-4x6-SOL-93f34.jpg&hash=1aa325e86d98ef0f7e7c06a893f4f8ced4f055e0)
That cover is awesome! The variety of Predator designs is so refreshing, and the juxtaposition of that and the goo arsenal is great.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Feb 12, 2016, 07:12:43 PM
Dark Horse's May solicitations are live, and we have the cover and summary of issue #3.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dark-horse-may-2016-solicitations-feature-lobster-johnsons-return-gene-has-mae (http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dark-horse-may-2016-solicitations-feature-lobster-johnsons-return-gene-has-mae)
Spoiler
QuotePredator: Life and Death #3 (of 4)
Dan Abnett (W), Brian Thies (A), Rain Beredo (C), and David Palumbo (Cover)
On sale May 4
FC, 32 pages
$3.99
Miniseries
The Colonial Marines discover the corporate claim jumpers they're protecting have been hiding what they know about the massive, horseshoe-shaped alien spaceship. Meanwhile, the Predators go on the offensive!
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.comicbookresources.com%2Fimgsrv%2Fimglib%2F0%2F0%2F1%2FPRLD-3-FC-4x6-SOL-93f34.jpg&hash=1aa325e86d98ef0f7e7c06a893f4f8ced4f055e0)
That cover is awesome! The variety of Predator designs is so refreshing, and the juxtaposition of that and the goo arsenal is great.
All this teasing is killing me!
Is it March yet!?
Is this cover based on a Kenner figure too?
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 12, 2016, 07:52:54 PM
Is this cover based on a Kenner figure too?
From what I can tell? No.
Won't be the first time we see a Yautja sword though (Predator 2, AvP War, Predator Bad Blood)...good stuff
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 12, 2016, 04:28:02 PM
Of course we can respectfully disagree. Just because the AVP film delved into some "Ancient Aliens visiting us" themes doesn't mean that the idea worked well. In fact, one could say that the AVP film fell flat with what it attempted to do by involving Predators in our history. This idea presented in AVP did not work anywhere near as well as it did in Prometheus, and that is because the idea of Predators guiding us along comes across as silly whereas the idea of Engineers is compelling. Why? Exactly. Because the idea of Engineers creating us, opens up the mystery of why they created us and also why we create androids. The question itself is a high brow idea. When we are faced with Predators guiding us along, the only answer we can put forth is that so they can hunt us. That is simply not compelling and rather low brow.
But don't get me wrong, the Predator films and world is still enjoyable, it is just not on the same playing field as Aliens. But that is just my opinion, and we all have our own justifiable perspectives...
The potential depth of the Predator franchise is not limited to the Ancient Aliens angle...
Yup, that Predator seems to be an entirely original (awesome) design, though some elements of the helmet remind me a bit of Enforcer from
Bad Blood. I like the possible
Spoiler
competition Abnett is setting up between W-Y and Seegson as far as exploiting Engineer tech goes. All this has me really wondering what the "big crossover" that's coming later in the year will be.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Feb 13, 2016, 03:43:27 PM
Yup, that Predator seems to be an entirely original (awesome) design, though some elements of the helmet remind me a bit of Enforcer from Bad Blood. I like the possible Spoiler
competition Abnett is setting up between W-Y and Seegson as far as exploiting Engineer tech goes. All this has me really wondering what the "big crossover" that's coming later in the year will be.
What big crossover!? Oh shit! This has me ultra excited now dude!
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Feb 13, 2016, 04:38:04 PM
What big crossover!? Oh shit! This has me ultra excited now dude!
From Randy's interview with Diamond Daily (the bolding is mine):
QuoteRS: Absolutely. In addition to the Life and Death story cycle, Brian Wood and Tristan Jones are producing a new series called Aliens: Defiance, which is set prior to the film Aliens and Ripley's ill-fated return to LV-426. There's also a big crossover that I can't talk about yet scheduled for later in the year. Sorry, you'll just have to wait. And, for Twentieth Century Fox's official Aliens Day— April 26 (4.26, get it?)—we're publishing a gorgeous over-sized collection of our very first Aliens series, by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson. It's all in glorious black-and-white, with the original dialogue (i.e. without the changes instituted after the events Alien3 altered continuity), and includes every scrap of Mark Nelson Aliens art we could get our hands on.
I'm excited too. ;D If I had to guess what it is, I would say maybe
Spoiler
the characters from Defiance, FaS, and Life and Death come together?
Quote from: Ultramorph on Feb 13, 2016, 05:48:34 PM
Quote from: Guan Thwei 1992 on Feb 13, 2016, 04:38:04 PM
What big crossover!? Oh shit! This has me ultra excited now dude!
From Randy's interview with Diamond Daily (the bolding is mine):
QuoteRS: Absolutely. In addition to the Life and Death story cycle, Brian Wood and Tristan Jones are producing a new series called Aliens: Defiance, which is set prior to the film Aliens and Ripley's ill-fated return to LV-426. There's also a big crossover that I can't talk about yet scheduled for later in the year. Sorry, you'll just have to wait. And, for Twentieth Century Fox's official Aliens Day— April 26 (4.26, get it?)—we're publishing a gorgeous over-sized collection of our very first Aliens series, by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson. It's all in glorious black-and-white, with the original dialogue (i.e. without the changes instituted after the events Alien3 altered continuity), and includes every scrap of Mark Nelson Aliens art we could get our hands on.
I'm excited too. ;D If I had to guess what it is, I would say maybe Spoiler
the characters from Defiance, FaS, and Life and Death come together?
That would be exciting!
One thing though.
Spoiler
Isn't Defiance set a bit after Isolation? Those character would be pretty old by this point if Life and Death is after Fire and Stone. Unless medical sciences improved significantly.
I ask that because Defiance is between Isolation and Aliens (2135-2179) if I'm not mistaken, while Fire and Stone is in 2219 and Life and Death may be after this.
We have yet to see extreme longevity in this franchise that does not involve consuming Predators during those eras before Rage War. Only the Founders found a way and look what it did to them. XD
Yeah, there are definitely obstacles to that happening, but remember,
Spoiler
in this universe extended cryosleep can carry anyone as far forward as the writers need. ;)
Personally, I would be happy if it turned out that Seegson was in league with the dog-aliens to exploit Engineer tech or something crazy like that. I really hope one day we see The Rage and the dog-aliens in comic form.
Also, I'm curious to see how Life and Death "intersects" with Fire and Stone, especially now that we know that Tartarus isn't LV-223.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Feb 13, 2016, 06:07:48 PM
Yeah, there are definitely obstacles to that happening, but remember, Spoiler
in this universe extended cryosleep can carry anyone as far forward as the writers need. ;)
Personally, I would be happy if it turned out that Seegson was in league with the dog-aliens to exploit Engineer tech or something crazy like that. I really hope one day we see The Rage and the dog-aliens in comic form.
Also, I'm curious to see how Life and Death "intersects" with Fire and Stone, especially now that we know that Tartarus isn't LV-223.
Oh yeah, that's true.
Spoiler
I would love to see Rage War adapted into a comic or even a cartoon film or trilogy of sorts. To see the Rage and Dog-Aliens. I'm also hoping to see the Arcturians.
I would love to see a spin off "first contact" scenario with humanity and the Arcturians.
Dark Horse and Titan Books did work together to make River of Pain and Aliens: FaS fit together, so who knows, they could collaborate on something bigger in the future.
Might enjoy a Rage War comic more than I have the so-so novel
Quote from: happypred on Feb 14, 2016, 03:06:50 AM
Might enjoy a Rage War comic more than I have the so-so novel
I totally agree with that. I hope they adapt this into comic format. The Aliens Predator universe is so visually rich that it would probably really elevate the story...
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 14, 2016, 04:28:06 AM
Quote from: happypred on Feb 14, 2016, 03:06:50 AM
Might enjoy a Rage War comic more than I have the so-so novel
I totally agree with that. I hope they adapt this into comic format. The Aliens Predator universe is so visually rich that it would probably really elevate the story...
I agree. I would love to see those Marine combat suits in comic form. The book doesn't describe them physically all that much other than that they are very fitting and the mask is almost skin tight, almost. But we don't even know what colour this flexible Nanosuit like armour is. So I imagine it as black just like the Crysis Nanosuits. :P
But seeing a picture of it would be epic.
And also 27th century ships, and the Predator stuff in the book would be cool to see.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbR8aZUVIAExmB9.png:large)
Quote#Predator: Life & Death #1 Exclusive Variant Cover by @wheatley_doug for @friedpiecomics http://friedpiecomics.com/post/139177448613/predator-life-and-death-1-publisher-dark-horse
Great cover, love the marine helmets on those skulls.
That's awesome! Just the small bit of Engineer interior stuff in the background reminds me how great Doug Wheatley's art was in Destroying Angels. It would be awesome if he was doing one of the L&D series.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 15, 2016, 08:18:53 PM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbR8aZUVIAExmB9.png:large)
Oh look, it's Scar
Quote from: happypred on Feb 16, 2016, 05:21:26 AM
Oh look, it's Scar
I'll laugh if his design makes it into the comic. But I highly doubt it.
Are they releasing this story in Reading order this time? lol
Quote from: Whiskeybrewer on Feb 16, 2016, 01:28:35 PM
Are they releasing this story in Reading order this time? lol
Randy did actually say that the reading order will be crystal clear this time around.
That's great because it was such a pain to have to read everything concurrently. Everything was one big spoiler...
Yeah, they seem to have learned from that, hence why they're only releasing one series at a time. The event will take a lot longer to play out that way, but it will make it read 1000% better.
I still can't understand why they put the series in the order they did in the F&S collected edition. Casual readers must have been so confused.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Feb 16, 2016, 03:43:42 PM
That's great because it was such a pain to have to read everything concurrently. Everything was one big spoiler...
That said...that Prometheus #1 closer was damn nice.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Feb 16, 2016, 03:48:27 PM
Yeah, they seem to have learned from that, hence why they're only releasing one series at a time. The event will take a lot longer to play out that way, but it will make it read 1000% better.
I still can't understand why they put the series in the order they did in the F&S collected edition. Casual readers must have been so confused.
I haven't bought the collected edition yet. How did they order it? I'm afraid to ask...
The release order, with Aliens coming after Prometheus. Even more bizarrely, they put the Dark Horse Presents Aliens short after A:F&S and re-titled it "Aliens: Epilogue". The rest of the edition was fine, though. I can see them wanting to open with Prometheus, but the chronological jumping around is a bit unnecessary in a collected edition.
Yeah, they should have just had Aliens first. There'd have been no problem with that. It was a nice touch having that DHP short in though. I really appreciated that.
Does anyone know if the DHP short is in the collected edition? if no one knows I'll find out myself when I get home from work ;D
where does the short they've called Alien : Epilogue fit in the timeline of F&S?
Quote from: 420Buddy on Feb 16, 2016, 04:13:11 PM
Does anyone know if the DHP short is in the collected edition? if no one knows I'll find out myself when I get home from work ;D
I don't. Be sure to let us know! :P
Quote from: Whiskeybrewer on Feb 16, 2016, 04:13:44 PM
where does the short they've called Alien : Epilogue fit in the timeline of F&S?
Well it's just before the medlab stuff in Aliens. So...somewhere in the middle of Aliens F&S? I can't remember the specific dates without looking at the comic.
Quote from: 420Buddy on Feb 16, 2016, 04:13:11 PMDoes anyone know if the DHP short is in the collected edition? if no one knows I'll find out myself when I get home from work ;D
I remember hearing it wasn't, only the big complete collection, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
i'll let you guys know, i'll be bummed if its not included.
Edit- okay this thing is frikkin huge! I don't think the dhp short is included but I'll have to really give it a good look to be certain.
When you say collected do you mean the big fatass hardback or the individual tbps?
The big fatass hardback, thing is huge! I love it though. ;D
There's a preview of issue #1 over on Dark Horse's web site. It's mostly what we've seen before, but there are two new pages. Only two more weeks!
http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/Previews/29-521?page=0 (http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/Previews/29-521?page=0)
Spoiler
Based on the color scheme, it appears that Predator is Cracked Tusk, not Lava Planet. :laugh:
That's actually an interesting way to play with the Yautja tri laser
Great stuff
Spoiler
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd2lzb5v10mb0lj.cloudfront.net%2Fcommon%2Fsalestools%2Fpreviews%2Fprdldn1%2Fprdldn1p4.jpg&hash=f763b6fd9304db9056a5dd821755a968323e1763)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd2lzb5v10mb0lj.cloudfront.net%2Fcommon%2Fsalestools%2Fpreviews%2Fprdldn1%2Fprdldn1p5.jpg&hash=808ab8f29efadce1b2a0654534c6df988c6beab6)
(https://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fd2lzb5v10mb0lj.cloudfront.net%2Fcommon%2Fsalestools%2Fpreviews%2Fprdldn1%2Fprdldn1p6.jpg&hash=96c4995925ab7964398fafe1ce56105e3a97b830)
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 17, 2016, 08:26:20 AM
When you say collected do you mean the big fatass hardback or the individual tbps?
I must have been confused reading earlier in the thread since someone already stated it was in the book, but yeah field report is in the complete edition.
Quote from: 420Buddy on Feb 18, 2016, 01:20:05 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 17, 2016, 08:26:20 AM
When you say collected do you mean the big fatass hardback or the individual tbps?
I must have been confused reading earlier in the thread since someone already stated it was in the book, but yeah field report is in the complete edition.
Sweet
I like the color palette Predator: Life and Death has going on. It looks like it's been tweaked since we first saw earlier previews. I'm very much looking forward to when they announce the artist on Prometheus: L&D.
I like how the pred waits for the guy to reload before engaging in melee. Just a little detail to show the pred might be tactical
I just discovered that Brian Thies has a public fan page on Facebook, and it includes some cool
P:L&D art.
https://www.facebook.com/BrianThiesArt/?fref=nf (https://www.facebook.com/BrianThiesArt/?fref=nf)
Spoiler
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t31.0-8/s960x960/12487292_1723604554592606_7587005120785099_o.jpg)
Spoiler
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/t31.0-8/s960x960/12474057_1723261694626892_5371449597325885142_o.jpg)
QuoteFuture action figure prelim designs.
Interesting. Is this maybe our main Predator, getting the Ahab treatment?
Spoiler
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xal1/v/t1.0-9/10157389_1723158781303850_7359260861604099874_n.jpg?oh=1c23ecfd94ec5a228005586cfee0db1f&oe=57666093)
Spoiler
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/12549078_1725013531118375_2035509433104364597_n.jpg?oh=02a4ab575c2fa2dc9ae9cbbc69b11f10&oe=5726D0DB)
I asked about the figure, and Brian got back to me:
Spoiler
QuoteThis is one of two new Predators. I can't reveal what role they play yet but definitely had fun designing them.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Feb 19, 2016, 07:26:16 PM
I just discovered that Brian Thies has a public fan page on Facebook, and it includes some cool P:L&D art.
https://www.facebook.com/BrianThiesArt/?fref=nf (https://www.facebook.com/BrianThiesArt/?fref=nf)
Spoiler
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t31.0-8/s960x960/12487292_1723604554592606_7587005120785099_o.jpg)
Spoiler
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/t31.0-8/s960x960/12474057_1723261694626892_5371449597325885142_o.jpg)
QuoteFuture action figure prelim designs.
Interesting. Is this maybe our main Predator, getting the Ahab treatment?
Spoiler
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xal1/v/t1.0-9/10157389_1723158781303850_7359260861604099874_n.jpg?oh=1c23ecfd94ec5a228005586cfee0db1f&oe=57666093)
Spoiler
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/12549078_1725013531118375_2035509433104364597_n.jpg?oh=02a4ab575c2fa2dc9ae9cbbc69b11f10&oe=5726D0DB)
I asked about the figure, and Brian got back to me:
Spoiler
QuoteThis is one of two new Predators. I can't reveal what role they play yet but definitely had fun designing them.
The first picture - dat ass tho. :laugh: just kidding. His bulky stature reminds me of Scarface from Concrete Jungle.
I love the designs, I noticed that first one has a really cool sword on his back, yay! More Predator swords! I'm looking forward to this series.
Very cool...both the robust and gracile designs look good
Predator homo neanderthalis and Predator homo sapiens sapiens perhaps?
Maybe males and females?
Or you know, different body types? Like one Predator having an ectomorph type body, the other having mesomorph?
(https://cdn.muscleandstrength.com/sites/default/files/images/bodytypes.jpg)
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xal1/v/t1.0-9/10157389_1723158781303850_7359260861604099874_n.jpg?oh=1c23ecfd94ec5a228005586cfee0db1f&oe=57666093)
That is gorgeous! I love it.
I wish I could go back and show this comic to my younger self when I had the Kenner toys as a kid!
Also, Hulking Reviewer has a very positive review of issue #1, but it does contain some new spoilers, so be aware of that.
http://hulkingreviewer.com/home/reviews/predator-life-and-death-1/ (http://hulkingreviewer.com/home/reviews/predator-life-and-death-1/)
Interesting!
Spoiler
I wonder if we'll be seeing Seegson more active in the EU. That said, I do realize that Abnett wrote Isolation so it'd make sense we see them in his other Alien related work but it'd be interesting to see if they're going to pop up more!
Awesome kenner design, they def made it look good.
Glad seegson is now apart of the EU, isolation was great.
It is cool to have Seegson in the mix.
Spoiler
The solicitation for issue #3 sort of makes it seem like they might be setting up more involvement for Seegson, at least as far as Life and Death goes. The whole "know more than they were letting on" about the Engineer ship thing.
Maybe they'll show up in Defiance, too.
I can see it now.
*Working Joe approaches cloaked Predator*
"Why don't you ask me about hunting safety protocols?"
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Feb 20, 2016, 12:52:51 AM
Or you know, different body types? Like one Predator having an ectomorph type body, the other having mesomorph?
(https://cdn.muscleandstrength.com/sites/default/files/images/bodytypes.jpg)
My god...I had no idea. Thank you for pointing that out
Quote from: happypred on Feb 22, 2016, 02:15:04 AM
My god...I had no idea. Thank you for pointing that out
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Cool that Seegson's getting a showing outside of the game. I loved how low-rent they were.
For me it's nice to see some more expansion in the universe. I hate when you get throwaway companies or individuals or races that are just never seen again. I'm very thankful to see the Seegson reappear and get some extra attention.
I'm really holding out that we see more of the Colonial Marshals at some point.
I'd love a prequel story about Waits fighting corruption in his early days with the bureau :)
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Feb 22, 2016, 09:04:13 AM
I'm really holding out that we see more of the Colonial Marshals at some point.
Yes! I thought they'd have been perfect for River of Pain instead of the Colonial Marines.
Maybe if the book hadn't started development until after the game came out, they might've used them. It's a shame because it would've been better for the story on every level.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 22, 2016, 09:02:41 AM
For me it's nice to see some more expansion in the universe. I hate when you get throwaway companies or individuals or races that are just never seen again. I'm very thankful to see the Seegson reappear and get some extra attention.
I agree, so many throwaway aliens in the comics!
I'm glad that even the
Spoiler
Arcturians are being brought back in this new EU (being mentioned in novels)
It's so good to see some actual expansion going on.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Feb 22, 2016, 09:04:13 AM
I'm really holding out that we see more of the Colonial Marshals at some point.
I'd love a prequel story about Waits fighting corruption in his early days with the bureau :)
That'd be so good to see, Huda. It's always great when they add some new well established factions.
Quote from: The Alien Predator on Feb 22, 2016, 02:05:20 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 22, 2016, 09:02:41 AM
For me it's nice to see some more expansion in the universe. I hate when you get throwaway companies or individuals or races that are just never seen again. I'm very thankful to see the Seegson reappear and get some extra attention.
I agree, so many throwaway aliens in the comics!
I'm glad that even the Spoiler
Arcturians are being brought back in this new EU (being mentioned in novels)
It's so good to see some actual expansion going on.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Feb 22, 2016, 09:04:13 AM
I'm really holding out that we see more of the Colonial Marshals at some point.
I'd love a prequel story about Waits fighting corruption in his early days with the bureau :)
That'd be so good to see, Huda. It's always great when they add some new well established factions.
I see the expansion of the universe as a good thing too. It is something that can be derailed if done wrong but overall I'm cautiously optimistic about it. The idea of a complete WY monopoly seems a bit absurd to me, so having Seegson makes sense. It can easily take us into Star Trek territory, but even that, if done right could be good. As long as the cynicism and bleakness of the Alien universe endures, it could be made to work..
Way too early, but the collected edition of
Predator: Life and Death is already up for pre-order on Amazon, with a release date of
October 25, 2016.
http://www.amazon.com/Predator-Life-Death-Dan-Abnett/dp/1506700500/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1456166982&sr=8-7&keywords=predator+life+and+death (http://www.amazon.com/Predator-Life-Death-Dan-Abnett/dp/1506700500/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1456166982&sr=8-7&keywords=predator+life+and+death)
I'm eager to see how much the universe gets expanded in
Life and Death. Seegson is an interesting wrinkle. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it "intersects" with
Fire and Stone. I wonder if
Spoiler
Tartarus is the third, as yet un-named, moon of Calpamos.
Interesting theory, if true I gotta wonder why that system was so important to the engineers.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 22, 2016, 09:02:41 AM
For me it's nice to see some more expansion in the universe. I hate when you get throwaway companies or individuals or races that are just never seen again. I'm very thankful to see the Seegson reappear and get some extra attention.
Yeah...it's called effective world building
Indeed. And I'm glad to see them trying to do better world building now.
Seegson's android tech lags far behind WY's in Alien Isolation...wonder if they're still playing catch up in the 2200's
I like the idea someone one this thread threw around earlier about Predators preforming taxidermy... That would make it really creepy indeed. They could make them (the taxidermic bodies) really lifelike... Now picture a scene with our human protagonist stuck in a misty trophy cabinet, stumbling into an area with with stuffed humans, some of them his/her comrades, and then the Predator(s) start using that voice mimicking technology to really screw around with you.
Quote from: SpreadEagleBeagle on Feb 25, 2016, 06:10:36 AM
I like the idea someone one this thread threw around earlier about Predators preforming taxidermy... That would make it really creepy indeed. They could make them (the taxidermic bodies) really lifelike... Now picture a scene with our human protagonist stuck in a misty trophy cabinet, stumbling into an area with with stuffed humans, some of them his/her comrades, and then the Predator(s) start using that voice mimicking technology to really screw around with you.
I've toyed with that as a head canon myself... but instead of taxidermy, they'd collect the body, skin it, remove the muscle-- skeleton trophy.
Quote from: SpreadEagleBeagle on Feb 25, 2016, 06:10:36 AM
I like the idea someone one this thread threw around earlier about Predators preforming taxidermy... That would make it really creepy indeed. They could make them (the taxidermic bodies) really lifelike... Now picture a scene with our human protagonist stuck in a misty trophy cabinet, stumbling into an area with with stuffed humans, some of them his/her comrades, and then the Predator(s) start using that voice mimicking technology to really screw around with you.
That would be such a creepy scene. I love it
I think Yautja taxidermy might be a bit too ... I dunno ... too much like Jeepers Creepers or those kinda films
Quote from: SpreadEagleBeagle on Feb 25, 2016, 06:10:36 AM
I like the idea someone one this thread threw around earlier about Predators preforming taxidermy... That would make it really creepy indeed. They could make them (the taxidermic bodies) really lifelike... Now picture a scene with our human protagonist stuck in a misty trophy cabinet, stumbling into an area with with stuffed humans, some of them his/her comrades, and then the Predator(s) start using that voice mimicking technology to really screw around with you.
Oh God, that is brilliant!
Have you read Predator: South China Sea?
There's a eerie scene in the book where the Predator
Spoiler
mimics a main character's sister's dying screams to her. And later on, while fighting an army, the Predator is behind this wall and begins throwing the beheaded heads of their comrades across the wall at them while playing back their screams and dying noises to them. His intimidation worked as literally everyone apart from the leader shat themselves, especially as the Predator began to raise the volume of his playbacks.
Just preordered the first 3 issues. My wife is gonna be wondering about all these alien and pred comics coming in the mail lol. Seems like a good time to start collecting again though.
Get a feeling this should surpass F&S
Quote from: 420Buddy on Feb 28, 2016, 02:08:03 PM
Just preordered the first 3 issues. My wife is gonna be wondering about all these alien and pred comics coming in the mail lol. Seems like a good time to start collecting again though.
It's the perfect time, 420!
Maybe if L&D is a smash hit, we won't have to wait over a year for the next AvP series
I just hope it is an AvP series this time!
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Feb 29, 2016, 02:04:31 PM
I just hope it is an AvP series this time!
Isn't L&D going to be Aliens, Predator, AvP and Prometheus?
I meant in regards to how AvP: F&S didn't really come across as an AvP series.
Quote from: happypred on Mar 01, 2016, 04:50:04 AMIsn't L&D going to be Aliens, Predator, AvP and Prometheus?
We assume. All we know for sure is there will be four series and one of them will be
Predator and one of them will be
Prometheus. So yeah, it seems highly probable the others will be
Aliens and
AVP.
Quote from: HuDaFuK on Mar 01, 2016, 08:52:11 AM
Quote from: happypred on Mar 01, 2016, 04:50:04 AMIsn't L&D going to be Aliens, Predator, AvP and Prometheus?
We assume. All we know for sure is there will be four series and one of them will be Predator and one of them will be Prometheus. So yeah, it seems highly probable the others will be Aliens and AVP.
Vampirella and Archie!
One more day...more or less. ::)
I usually wait for running comic series to finish so I can read them all at once. Predator: Life and Death is one of the few exceptions I'm taking.
I'll be leaving early tomorrow to go pick my first copy up! Assuming they have it in!
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 01, 2016, 06:51:16 PM
I'll be leaving early tomorrow to go pick my first copy up! Assuming they have it in!
I'll be buying a digital copy...really anticipating this.
Looking forward to your review
Posted by happy in the review thread: http://www.newsarama.com/28201-predators-vs-colonial-marines-in-predator-life-death.html
Thought it wanted to be here too. Just about to read it.
Quote from: happypred on Mar 02, 2016, 04:42:46 AM
Looking forward to your review
Thanks. I wont be doing proper ones on the website or anything. Just thoughts in the forums. I can't stand reviewing comics issue by issue. I'll probably do a complete one when the series is done though. :)
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From the interview. Is this the cover art for #4 do we think?
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 02, 2016, 08:26:15 AM
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From the interview. Is this the cover art for #4 do we think?
I love the water colour quality...very beautiful
That cover is definitely awesome! I can't wait to see what we have coming for the upcoming comics.
I picked up the digital version today, because of course I can't wait for the mail. :laugh:
Quote from: Ultramorph on Mar 02, 2016, 11:30:05 AM
I picked up the digital version today, because of course I can't wait for the mail. :laugh:
Cool! Can't wait to see what you think.
I love those hoverbikes in this! With those twin mounted smartguns. So badass!
So this is out today?
Yesterday.
The hover bikes were cool! I hope we get to see some more new Marine tech.
Life and Death seems to be off to a good start. Abnett was good at not hinting too much on what's coming next, so I might try and avoid spoilers more from here on out. I'm getting the feeling that this will be something special.
Man TFAW takes forever to send their stuff and they're located on the other side of the country so I might have to order my stuff elsewhere, I cant take the wait on my stuff lol. I ordered more than human last Friday and I still don't have it, had it been amazon I would have had it Tuesday.
Really anticipating the next issue...things better heat up
Quote from: 420Buddy on Mar 03, 2016, 04:26:38 PM
Man TFAW takes forever to send their stuff and they're located on the other side of the country so I might have to order my stuff elsewhere, I cant take the wait on my stuff lol. I ordered more than human last Friday and I still don't have it, had it been amazon I would have had it Tuesday.
Have you had it yet?
Quote from: happypred on Mar 22, 2016, 07:27:19 AM
Really anticipating the next issue...things better heat up
I'm sure they will. The ending was a nice ramping up towards more action.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 22, 2016, 08:20:02 AM
Quote from: 420Buddy on Mar 03, 2016, 04:26:38 PM
Man TFAW takes forever to send their stuff and they're located on the other side of the country so I might have to order my stuff elsewhere, I cant take the wait on my stuff lol. I ordered more than human last Friday and I still don't have it, had it been amazon I would have had it Tuesday.
Have you had it yet?
The Predator L&D? Yep i've had it for a bit now, posted my thoughts in the L&D review thread. As for "More than Human" I did finally get my shipment from tfaw while back now, I sent you a PM thanking you for recommending it, did you get it? Anyway I enjoyed More than Human quite a bit, it was a nice fresh feeling story with unique and cool art and a badass Swanland cover :)
Sorry. Had a bit of a brain fart there.
No worries ;D
There's a 5-page preview of issue #2 up on the Dark Horse site. Beware of spoilers.
http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/Previews/29-807?page=0 (http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/Previews/29-807?page=0)
Spoiler
Looks like we can expect lots of Marines vs Predators action in this issue.
So we can assume..
Spoiler
Hive Wars dies then...?
Too soon to tell. I wonder when
Spoiler
the other Predators that Thiess designed will show up. "Hornhead" is on the cover of issue #3, so maybe then? It will be interesting to see if it's two separate clans competing against each other, or one group.
Spoiler
That aim with the smartgun
Quote from: Ultramorph on Mar 24, 2016, 05:15:27 PM
Too soon to tell. I wonder when Spoiler
the other Predators that Thiess designed will show up. "Hornhead" is on the cover of issue #3, so maybe then? It will be interesting to see if it's two separate clans competing against each other, or one group.
I don't think he's dead. Looks like his armor is able to deflect some of the fire so maybe not...
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 25, 2016, 09:53:30 AM
I don't think he's dead. Looks like his armor is able to deflect some of the fire so maybe not...
Would be a rather unnecessary spoiler
Spoiler
Hoping for intelligent action...friendly fire w/ the smartgun?
For a "smart" gun that aim was really terrible, although he didn't have the eye piece in place, not sure if that would matter.
That character obviously needs something to atone for as the story goes on. My bet is he's our Galgo for L&D.
I really enjoyed the frantic and graphic tone of the action though, can't wait to get this issue.
Quote from: 420Buddy on Mar 25, 2016, 03:54:03 PM
For a "smart" gun that aim was really terrible, although he didn't have the eye piece in place, not sure if that would matter.
Good observation
A female Predator? Cool.
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QuotePutting the finishing touches on issue 4 of Predator: Life and Death before moving on to the next project!
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 30, 2016, 08:48:42 AM
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-0/p296x100/12932944_1755278211425240_1594382499873048381_n.jpg?oh=5e920138e8d78fc5674d797980fb4a16&oe=578F5C6E
Look at that naughty little Predator.
What mischief does he have planned?
Spine tingly mischief, perhaps?
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Mar 30, 2016, 01:06:36 PM
Spine tingly mischief, perhaps?
Or it could be skin crawling mischief. :laugh:
Dark Horse gonna make us wait till the 6th...dammit
I went to the comic book store with the intent of only buying NECA's Chopper. I left with this and Grid (pos) as well.
I really liked the first issue, the art is great and the story seems pretty promising.
I wonder why they chose Hive Wars and Tusk as their predators though
Anyone got this early?
I'll be leaving work early to go pick it up.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 06, 2016, 08:45:31 AM
I'll be leaving work early to go pick it up.
Please give us an early review!
Of course, mate.
Review for issue 2 is out... Spoiler free, I suppose.
http://bigcomicpage.com/2016/04/05/review-predator-life-and-death-2-dark-horse-comics/
I finished it. We're moving along slowly in the story but this issue was very heavily focused on setting up the combat and wider knowledge of the Predators within the rest of the characters. I enjoyed it though!
Was the action good? Any cool spoilers?
Spoiler
Blue Predator does get seriously injured by the Smartgunner. Then all the other Predators show up. And then the marines show up and it sets it up for some insane combat.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 06, 2016, 05:56:18 PM
I finished it. We're moving along slowly in the story but this issue was very heavily focused on setting up the combat and wider knowledge of the Predators within the rest of the characters. I enjoyed it though!
Exactly how wide of knowledge of Predators are we talking about?
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Apr 06, 2016, 07:36:00 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 06, 2016, 05:56:18 PM
I finished it. We're moving along slowly in the story but this issue was very heavily focused on setting up the combat and wider knowledge of the Predators within the rest of the characters. I enjoyed it though!
Exactly how wide of knowledge of Predators are we talking about?
I am wondering the same. Feel free to spoiler it, Hicks! I am super exited to get these real soon. Do the Marines have a name for the Predators?
I just mean in as in the Colonial Marines are aware that there is actually something there, it's not just someone being crazy. I'm not talking about them knowing the Predator's mum's bra-size or anything.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 06, 2016, 08:30:48 PM
I just mean in as in the Colonial Marines are aware that there is actually something there, it's not just someone being crazy. I'm not talking about them knowing the Predator's mum's bra-size or anything.
OMG! :laugh:
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 06, 2016, 08:30:48 PM
I just mean in as in the Colonial Marines are aware that there is actually something there, it's not just someone being crazy. I'm not talking about them knowing the Predator's mum's bra-size or anything.
Okay, that got a chuckle out of me!
So we get proper action in this one...not just another build-up?
Maybe a little bit more than in the previous issue. I feel it's going to be #3 where it all explodes though.
Spoiler
RIP Hive Wars...he didn't even get to use his scythe
Spoiler
I'm not sold on him being dead yet.
Ok, I just picked up #1, and 2 last night and read them. The story is ok, albeit very derivative. Something is amiss, so USCM goes to investigate. All hell breaks loose. This time... it's Predators. It really uses and abuses the same basic language that was used in the film Aliens. I mean that film was iconic for its one-liners. I don't need to hear them repeated or minor variations thereof in every new Aliens related series. I mean that was trite several series ago. If someone starts to yell "we're gonna die, we're gonna die" that will be the nail in the coffin for this series, for me anyway.
The color palette in these books is completely unhinged. I mean the colors are everywhere all over the map. You may have these earth-tones blending into baby blue, and then a panel done in one big red color fill. There is no cohesion. That makes it a chore to look at the panels.
The drawn art is ok. No more no less.
Not the greatest start to the series, but still lots of time to improve. I actually like the color scheme and art though.
I also read issue #1 & #2 yesterday. It's so so at the moment. Issue #2 was a little more fan service on the USCM than I would have liked. Too many little one liners & having characters be too much like those in Aliens (definitely referring to the 2 Smartgunners acting pretty much like Drake & Vasquez even calling each other Badass doing the hand slap. It kinda made me facepalm a little bit but I'm interested to see where the story goes. I hope this doesn't become an all the time thing with Dark Horse just making stories that get spread out between Pred, Aliens, Prometheus & AvP. Once in a while is ok I guess but I want individual stories from each not interlocking stories all the time.
Quote from: XenoZipper on Apr 07, 2016, 04:19:59 PM
I also read issue #1 & #2 yesterday. It's so so at the moment. Issue #2 was a little more fan service on the USCM than I would have liked. Too many little one liners & having characters be too much like those in Aliens (definitely referring to the 2 Smartgunners acting pretty much like Drake & Vasquez even calling each other Badass doing the hand slap. It kinda made me facepalm a little bit but I'm interested to see where the story goes. I hope this doesn't become an all the time thing with Dark Horse just making stories that get spread out between Pred, Aliens, Prometheus & AvP. Once in a while is ok I guess but I want individual stories from each not interlocking stories all the time.
Aliens Defiance apparently is not intended to cross over into Predator territory. But I agree with all of the above. Its fan over-service now. Stop already. I bet you now the roles will be reversed and the female smartgunner will play the Hudson role.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Apr 07, 2016, 04:59:45 PM
Aliens Defiance apparently is not intended to cross over into Predator territory. But I agree with all of the above. Its fan over-service now. Stop already. I bet you now the roles will be reversed and the female smartgunner will play the Hudson role.
Oh ok that's cool then I was wondering about that. Don't know too much about Defiance yet so I wasn't sure if it was a stand alone or part of this multi-crossover like Fire & Stone. But yea I do agree is fan service overkill at this point. Certain dialogue moments didn't even make much sense for as to why the line was said beyond just being a fan service moment. I could see the smartgunner role being reversed like you said haha Now all it's missing is a someone saying the "you're one ugly.." & have the Predator finish the line off like in P2 or even have a Predator say "Want some candy?" I think I would be done with the story if it goes that route haha
Quote from: XenoZipper on Apr 07, 2016, 06:16:26 PM
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Apr 07, 2016, 04:59:45 PM
Aliens Defiance apparently is not intended to cross over into Predator territory. But I agree with all of the above. Its fan over-service now. Stop already. I bet you now the roles will be reversed and the female smartgunner will play the Hudson role.
Oh ok that's cool then I was wondering about that. Don't know too much about Defiance yet so I wasn't sure if it was a stand alone or part of this multi-crossover like Fire & Stone. But yea I do agree is fan service overkill at this point. Certain dialogue moments didn't even make much sense for as to why the line was said beyond just being a fan service moment. I could see the smartgunner role being reversed like you said haha Now all it's missing is a someone saying the "you're one ugly.." & have the Predator finish the line off like in P2 or even have a Predator say "Want some candy?" I think I would be done with the story if it goes that route haha
Imagine...
"What's the matter? Weyland-Yutani got you pushin' too many pencils?" ;D
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 07, 2016, 12:08:11 PM
Spoiler
I'm not sold on him being dead yet.
Spoiler
He seems dead as a dodo
Wasn't Hive Wars supposed to be a Veteran according to his NECA backstory? Cause if he was a Veteran..
Spoiler
That's why I'm having a hard time in swallowing that he gets punked by a Marine who is in a bloodlust, which.. is the last thing a Marine wants to do and be in a combat situation.
Quote from: The Alien Predator on Apr 07, 2016, 07:00:00 PM
Imagine...
"What's the matter? Weyland-Yutani got you pushin' too many pencils?" ;D
HAHA! Nice one, though the sad reality of that is that I can see that being said in an upcoming issue. I'm just waiting for the Commander chick to do a "Look into my eye" before that happens :P
Spoiler
This Hive Wars may have nothing to do with NECA's backstory. He frontally charges a smartgunner without the benefit of cloaking...which is not a great example of tactical mastery. I'm not sure whether his own blood shorts out the cloak or he decides to uncloak
I was really hoping for good, solid action in #2. Pretty much all of the action is in the preview, nothing new. Disappointing
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Apr 08, 2016, 03:21:05 AM
Wasn't Hive Wars supposed to be a Veteran according to his NECA backstory? Cause if he was a Veteran..
Spoiler
That's why I'm having a hard time in swallowing that he gets punked by a Marine who is in a bloodlust, which.. is the last thing a Marine wants to do and be in a combat situation.
Quote from: happypred on Apr 08, 2016, 04:48:24 AM
Spoiler
This Hive Wars may have nothing to do with NECA's backstory. He frontally charges a smartgunner without the benefit of cloaking...which is not a great example of tactical mastery. I'm not sure whether his own blood shorts out the cloak or he decides to uncloak
This isn't Hive Wars Predator. This is a new Predator whom the artist based the design around the figure. Nothing more.
Quote from: XenoZipper on Apr 07, 2016, 04:19:59 PM
I also read issue #1 & #2 yesterday. It's so so at the moment. Issue #2 was a little more fan service on the USCM than I would have liked. Too many little one liners & having characters be too much like those in Aliens (definitely referring to the 2 Smartgunners acting pretty much like Drake & Vasquez even calling each other Badass doing the hand slap. It kinda made me facepalm a little bit but I'm interested to see where the story goes. I hope this doesn't become an all the time thing with Dark Horse just making stories that get spread out between Pred, Aliens, Prometheus & AvP. Once in a while is ok I guess but I want individual stories from each not interlocking stories all the time.
I'm going to have to have a re-read because I don't recall it being obtrusive or overly done. I definitely recognized some of the same confidence and attitude but it wasn't reusing dialogue from the films.
We need to remember we're only 2 parts into a 17 part story here and we've got lots of setup to get out of the way.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 08, 2016, 07:22:12 AM
I'm going to have to have a re-read because I don't recall it being obtrusive or overly done. I definitely recognized some of the same confidence and attitude but it wasn't reusing dialogue from the films.
We need to remember we're only 2 parts into a 17 part story here and we've got lots of setup to get out of the way.
You could be right & it might not have been as much as I'm making it out to be. I think I'm just being a bitter ass about some of the attitudes being similar & me thinking they're just rehashing things. My defenses are up pretty high lately after Force Awakens came out. I was never so excited to see a movie I didn't end up liking much at all so my guard is up a little more these days especially when it comes to my beloved Aliens & Pred. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't super weary about Alien:Covenant & The Predator.
Quote from: XenoZipper on Apr 08, 2016, 09:35:35 AM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 08, 2016, 07:22:12 AM
I'm going to have to have a re-read because I don't recall it being obtrusive or overly done. I definitely recognized some of the same confidence and attitude but it wasn't reusing dialogue from the films.
We need to remember we're only 2 parts into a 17 part story here and we've got lots of setup to get out of the way.
You could be right & it might not have been as much as I'm making it out to be. I think I'm just being a bitter ass about some of the attitudes being similar & me thinking they're just rehashing things. My defenses are up pretty high lately after Force Awakens came out. I was never so excited to see a movie I didn't end up liking much at all so my guard is up a little more these days especially when it comes to my beloved Aliens & Pred. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't super weary about Alien:Covenant & The Predator.
No, I think you're spot on. The author made some minor tweaks to the one-liners, but you can clearly tell what he's getting at, and then he sprinkled them like pepper all over the comic. I'm all fan-serviced out at the moment. It's too much. It's like the author is telling me, "hey, I know that you know", but now we're saying, "I know that you know, that I know" and it becomes pandering.
Now mind you, just about every single line in Aliens is classic, with one-liner potential, and is thoroughly quotable. The issue is not in whether to use those those quotes or not, but rather it is in execution. So far it feels to me like a cheap ploy to make the book feel like the movie. Instead, such Aliens "one-liners should match the story and be added appropriately for dramatic effect, where really make sense and are necessary. Otherwise, they fall flat.
Anyway, 15 issues to go, so I will give this a chance of course. But I think we need to ramp up the art and tone down the fromage factor a bit..
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on Apr 08, 2016, 03:36:10 PM
No, I think you're spot on. The author made some minor tweaks to the one-liners, but you can clearly tell what he's getting at, and then he sprinkled them like pepper all over the comic. I'm all fan-serviced out at the moment. It's too much. It's like the author is telling me, "hey, I know that you know", but now we're saying, "I know that you know, that I know" and it becomes pandering.
Now mind you, just about every single line in Aliens is classic, with one-liner potential, and is thoroughly quotable. The issue is not in whether to use those those quotes or not, but rather it is in execution. So far it feels to me like a cheap ploy to make the book feel like the movie. Instead, such Aliens "one-liners should match the story and be added appropriately for dramatic effect, where really make sense and are necessary. Otherwise, they fall flat.
Anyway, 15 issues to go, so I will give this a chance of course. But I think we need to ramp up the art and tone down the fromage factor a bit..
That I can agree with I just couldn't formulate the right words to sound smarter about it haha I'm certainly in no way NOT going to get the rest of the issues as they come out so I do hope it does go somewhere interesting. I didn't mind Fire & Stone though it got pretty damn messy near the end & I didn't care for the ending at all but I still keep going. I recently finished reading the 6 issues of Aliens/Vampirella. It was pretty bad & pretty much went nowhere by the time it was done but whatever, I still read for just in case it turns good. But yes I do agree, tone down the fan service a bit more & just do the story. I normally wait until entire runs are complete before reading because I hate waiting for the next issue but I wanted to be up to speed on this one.
The art is serviceable...nothing more, nothing less
I much preferred the art of Predator F&S and Civilised Beasts
I got my copy in the mail yesterday. I haven't totally read it, but I did thumb through, and I think Abnett may have tipped his hand a slight bit about what may be to come...
Spoiler
One of the new survivors says his name is Melville, which I take as a Moby Dick reference, so I think it's looking good that Ahab will be showing up at some point in Life and Death.
Ha. Nice catch! I certainly hope that to be the case!
I hope we see Ahab as well, such an awesome predator character. I finished issue two and like others kinda found it a lil meh. I didn't mind the marine banter though, only one line really made me roll my eyes and that's the badass and hand clap with the two smart gunners. It was okay over all and its still a lot of set-up at this point but its a lil bothersome that the preview shows most of the action for the issue. I dig the art a lot for the human characters but I'm finding the Predator art to be less than great. I think this artist could do some great alien and marine work but just not digging the preds that much. I like their overall designs but the style doesn't seem to fit. Not sure if any of that made sense.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 08, 2016, 07:22:12 AM
Quote from: RakaiThwei on Apr 08, 2016, 03:21:05 AM
Wasn't Hive Wars supposed to be a Veteran according to his NECA backstory? Cause if he was a Veteran..
Spoiler
That's why I'm having a hard time in swallowing that he gets punked by a Marine who is in a bloodlust, which.. is the last thing a Marine wants to do and be in a combat situation.
Quote from: happypred on Apr 08, 2016, 04:48:24 AM
Spoiler
This Hive Wars may have nothing to do with NECA's backstory. He frontally charges a smartgunner without the benefit of cloaking...which is not a great example of tactical mastery. I'm not sure whether his own blood shorts out the cloak or he decides to uncloak
This isn't Hive Wars Predator. This is a new Predator whom the artist based the design around the figure. Nothing more.
Quote from: XenoZipper on Apr 07, 2016, 04:19:59 PM
I also read issue #1 & #2 yesterday. It's so so at the moment. Issue #2 was a little more fan service on the USCM than I would have liked. Too many little one liners & having characters be too much like those in Aliens (definitely referring to the 2 Smartgunners acting pretty much like Drake & Vasquez even calling each other Badass doing the hand slap. It kinda made me facepalm a little bit but I'm interested to see where the story goes. I hope this doesn't become an all the time thing with Dark Horse just making stories that get spread out between Pred, Aliens, Prometheus & AvP. Once in a while is ok I guess but I want individual stories from each not interlocking stories all the time.
I'm going to have to have a re-read because I don't recall it being obtrusive or overly done. I definitely recognized some of the same confidence and attitude but it wasn't reusing dialogue from the films.
We need to remember we're only 2 parts into a 17 part story here and we've got lots of setup to get out of the way.
17 parts? Isn't Predator: Life and Death a 4-part miniseries?
Quote from: Xenomrph on Apr 13, 2016, 08:11:12 PM17 parts? Isn't Predator: Life and Death a 4-part miniseries?
Four 4-issue series and a one-shot finale, like
Fire and Stone.
Quote from: 420Buddy on Apr 13, 2016, 02:16:06 PM
I hope we see Ahab as well, such an awesome predator character. I finished issue two and like others kinda found it a lil meh.
The action should've started in earnest by #2
There's really no point to dragging out the scenario with Marine banter and uninteresting set up...
Expected a lot more from Abnett
I finally got around to reading the second issue fully, and I liked it pretty well. I get the impression that the story will ramp up from here. Did anyone else notice
Spoiler
how different Singer's heat signature was when the Predator was looking at the group? Looks confirmed that he's a synthetic, if that hadn't already been established.
I was excited to see the five other Predators that show up. Hopefully we start to get some characterization on them.
Also, it should be cool to see how much Seegson knows about the Engineers. Hopefully that story angle doesn't get lost as this event unfolds.
There are only 2 issues left . . . I would not expect much characterisation of the Predators
Some intelligent, well thought out action is all I'm hoping for - I am not expecting Abnett to be doing anything non-derivative with Predator L&D. Looks like he's sticking with a very tried and true sort of execution
https://www.instagram.com/alberthies/
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12912403_1601958623464907_274332793_n.jpg)
QuoteUnused variation of Hornhead Predator. #predator #hornhead #yautja #darkhorsecomics #brianthies
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12918463_221521984885388_1653369847_n.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s750x750/sh0.08/e35/12912644_236612063365262_1074829394_n.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12912372_1712976448960687_1584257923_n.jpg)
QuotePanel detail Predator: Life and Death, issue 3.
I really do enjoy the Life and Death artwork.
I really like that HornHead Variation. Thats something i could see on screen
I'm really liking that panel detail of all those Predators. Hopefully Horn Head and some of the others evolve into more fleshed-out characters over the course of Life and Death.
Yeah I hope the pred's actually get to become characters in the next couple issues.
I'll be looking forward to where the story for this series goes after Predator L&D, two issues in and it feels like nothing has been revealed yet.
I kind of like how little has been revealed so far. We were drip fed too much information too far in advance with Fire and Stone, IMO. It's cool to have what's next be a mystery.
It has been a slow burn so far, though. Any guesses about what will happen when it interests with Fire and Stone? I'm hoping Abnett does something cool with the mountain.
A very slow burn...
#3 better deliver the goods
Kinda wish they would've just gone with those Predator designs rather than use the NECA ones.
Lookimg forward to seeing sword pred in action
Thiess has uploaded a few more Predator: Life and Death-related images to his Instagram. I don't know how to embed, so here are the link to the specific images.
Not new, but we now know that this Predator is called 'Longface'.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEY1ENQEtdc/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/BEY1ENQEtdc/)
A Pred with some nice alien architecture.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEY0asmEtb7/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/BEY0asmEtb7/)
An unused mask design.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEY0DG9ktbH/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/BEY0DG9ktbH/)
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Apr 19, 2016, 08:22:25 AM
https://www.instagram.com/alberthies/
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12912403_1601958623464907_274332793_n.jpg)
QuoteUnused variation of Hornhead Predator. #predator #hornhead #yautja #darkhorsecomics #brianthies
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12918463_221521984885388_1653369847_n.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s750x750/sh0.08/e35/12912644_236612063365262_1074829394_n.jpg)
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12912372_1712976448960687_1584257923_n.jpg)
QuotePanel detail Predator: Life and Death, issue 3.
I really do enjoy the Life and Death artwork.
Do we know where in the timeline Life and Death is supposed to take place?
Because the Conestoga-class (i.e. the Sulaco) had an expiration date established in the USCM Tech Manual. AvP2010 was one of the few sources to actually take that into account, which was refreshing.
Life and Death takes place 43 years after Aliens, so the year 2222.
Quote from: Ultramorph on Apr 22, 2016, 09:26:39 PM
Life and Death takes place 43 years after Aliens, so the year 2222.
Well shit, looks like someone didn't do their fact-checking if Life and Death has Conestogas in it.
Has series started hitting shelves yet? Maybe there's still time for me to tweet/email the artist and say "hey, you might want to fix this..."
Quote from: Xenomrph on Apr 22, 2016, 11:00:38 PM
Quote from: Ultramorph on Apr 22, 2016, 09:26:39 PM
Life and Death takes place 43 years after Aliens, so the year 2222.
Well shit, looks like someone didn't do their fact-checking if Life and Death has Conestogas in it.
Has series started hitting shelves yet? Maybe there's still time for me to tweet/email the artist and say "hey, you might want to fix this..."
It's already released a couple of issues.
Well, shit.
It's not supposed to be a Conestoga - just something similar.
Quote from: SM on Apr 24, 2016, 03:14:30 AM
It's not supposed to be a Conestoga - just something similar.
It does look a little different when comparing the fine details. Have the artist or author actually said that, though?
Couple more from Brian's Instagram.
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s320x320/e35/12976390_272563036411740_2064073283_n.jpg)
QuoteUnused Predator helmet concept for predator: Life and Death.
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12907136_234548120235619_770747606_n.jpg)
There's just something about seeing a Predator hanging off some Engineer architecture that makes me happy.
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/12424752_520857198094690_2025282012_n.jpg)
QuoteLongface, predator concept for Predator: Life and Death
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13082609_1768712940081767_522980105497328039_n.jpg?oh=35ed57504410c1a9d17015a3f21eacb4&oe=57BD2158)
From Brian's Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/BrianThiesArt/
Brian uploaded an Aliens Day doodle yesterday, and it's a pretty neat variant on the xeno. I hope something like it shows up at some point in Life and Death.
(https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/s480x480/13083256_1768712036748524_6957402191843717686_n.jpg?oh=2bbe6d35e59113fef1249110bd148b67&oe=577308EC)
All Comic also has a preview of Predator #3:
http://all-comic.com/2016/preview-predator-life-death-3/ (http://all-comic.com/2016/preview-predator-life-death-3/)
Just finished the first two issues while picking picking up aliens defiance as well. I like the predator masks in this one. I hope Ahab makes a comeback.
Really hope #3 delivers the action in spades
I'd encourage you to at least keep with it till issue 4.
Quote from: SM on Apr 30, 2016, 03:35:02 AM
I'd encourage you to at least keep with it till issue 4.
Is issue 4 out?
Not yet. It's out June 1st.
SM, do you have advance copies or something?
"He's supposed to be some kinda consultant. Apparently he saw an alien once."
Another mask from Brian: https://www.instagram.com/p/BE7lMlcktbN/
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/13117857_1115655195144220_182962288_n.jpg)
Review for #3. https://bigcomicpage.com/2016/05/03/review-predator-life-and-death-3-dark-horse-comics/ Kind of so/so.
Please let #3 deliver the action
No more pointless delay
I picked up the digital version this morning and just got done reading it. It was a mixed bag, really. It had some fun action, and Thies showed off some good artwork in this issue, but once again the story sort of treaded water. At least
Spoiler
they've finally reached the Juggernaut. I have hope that issue #4 will be a fun finale, and that Life and Death will pick up, but this first series has been pretty slow. Maybe I'm just spoiled by how much story it felt like they managed to get into Defiance #1.
Also, in the behind-the-scenes at the end, it's confirmed that the Marines' hovercraft were inspired by those in the first AvP comic, so that's a cool little nod. It also mentions that there are so many characters because they want to be able to spin them off in future stories if they feel like it.
I just picked mine up too. I'm in agreement. It just seems like it's taking its time getting going. I feel like the Predators are going to still persist throughout the story though. I did like the character moment with Rucker, that was really nice!
Yeah, the writing of the characters was definitely stepped up this time around along with the art. As far as the Predators
Spoiler
I assume at some point they'll follow our heroes to LV-223. They must have a ship of their own, so they won't exactly be stranded once the Juggernaut takes off.
Speaking of being stranded, I wonder if we'll spend the majority of the event of LV-223 once we get there, or if the characters will get off and have adventures elsewhere.
Just finished reading #3 as well digitally. It was so so, a mixed bag for me as well. I didn't like the use of the "This time it's war" tag line on the cover. I think they should let the covers speak for itself rather than relying on old used tag line to try & sell. The Rucker moment was nice I'll agree, didn't mind the one Predator near the end holding the dude, neat mask anyway. Didn't like how the art looked on the dead Predators. The hair bothered me, I know, such a small little thing. I do wonder however why this has been set up since the beginning to be a 17 part story, seems to me there's gonna be some slow moving issues to come in the future to stretch out the story but hopefully I'm wrong & it'll just get more awesome as it goes. Now I'm ready for Defiance #2.
Spoiler
Quote from: XenoZipper on May 04, 2016, 07:23:36 PM
Just finished reading #3 as well digitally. It was so so, a mixed bag for me as well. I didn't like the use of the "This time it's war" tag line on the cover. I think they should let the covers speak for itself rather than relying on old used tag line to try & sell. The Rucker moment was nice I'll agree, didn't mind the one Predator near the end holding the dude, neat mask anyway. Didn't like how the art looked on the dead Predators. The hair bothered me, I know, such a small little thing. I do wonder however why this has been set up since the beginning to be a 17 part story, seems to me there's gonna be some slow moving issues to come in the future to stretch out the story but hopefully I'm wrong & it'll just get more awesome as it goes. Now I'm ready for Defiance #2.
I'm curious about these points. I have yet to read this series.
Quote from: The Alien Predator on May 04, 2016, 08:39:04 PM
Quote from: XenoZipper on May 04, 2016, 07:23:36 PM
Spoiler
Just finished reading #3 as well digitally. It was so so, a mixed bag for me as well. I didn't like the use of the "This time it's war" tag line on the cover. I think they should let the covers speak for itself rather than relying on old used tag line to try & sell. The Rucker moment was nice I'll agree, didn't mind the one Predator near the end holding the dude, neat mask anyway. Didn't like how the art looked on the dead Predators. The hair bothered me, I know, such a small little thing. I do wonder however why this has been set up since the beginning to be a 17 part story, seems to me there's gonna be some slow moving issues to come in the future to stretch out the story but hopefully I'm wrong & it'll just get more awesome as it goes. Now I'm ready for Defiance #2.
I'm curious about these points. I have yet to read this series.
Sorry I should have put Spoilers in front of my post, I certainly don't intend to ruin things for people that haven't read yet. It was more so just art style for certain shots I either didn't like or didn't mind. The story itself is ok, just slow starting but like I said, 17 issue run so it's probably bound to go slow in spots. I do honestly wish long stories like this were bi-weekly rather than monthly cause I get them all on day 1, read them so quickly & then I'm stuck sitting around for another month to continue.
*Added spoiler tag in the quote - Corporal Hicks.
It's alright, you didn't ruin anything for me. But it'd be a good idea for to put it in spoiler tags for other people.
I agree, I wish this stuff would be a weekly thing. But the stories themselves could be monthly, so the Predator segment is done in this month, then Prometheus next and then Alien and so on.
Gonna purchase digitally today...
Just hope it's not just additional build-up. It's the penultimate issue for crying out loud
It's more build-up...f**k
Quote from: XenoZipper on May 04, 2016, 08:56:44 PM
Sorry I should have put Spoilers in front of my post, I certainly don't intend to ruin things for people that haven't read yet. It was more so just art style for certain shots I either didn't like or didn't mind. The story itself is ok, just slow starting but like I said, 17 issue run so it's probably bound to go slow in spots. I do honestly wish long stories like this were bi-weekly rather than monthly cause I get them all on day 1, read them so quickly & then I'm stuck sitting around for another month to continue.
*Added spoiler tag in the quote - Corporal Hicks.
It does seem like Fire and Stone went a bit quicker. Though they were releasing multiple series at the same time. I do prefer this chronological release schedule more. I'm not minding the slow build up. I am eager to see where it goes.
I enjoyed the issue 3. I think the slow build up is important. This is essentially one 17 part story. It's working to establish the characters. Witle them down a bit.
One or two of these marines, I suspect, will be our hero throughout the whole story.
Stick around for issue 4.
It's 17 issues...but the Predator arc is ending. Was really hoping for better Predator action (and less stereotypical gung-ho marines). The former frontally charges marines with their wristblades...the latter just stomp around, bantering and shooting from the hip. I was expecting some intelligence
It looks like I'll have to wait until the AvP arc
Another piece from Brian: https://www.instagram.com/p/BFAJN17ktbu/
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/13129368_1047705835295040_1534513378_n.jpg)
I honestly like this black & white version a lot more than the final colored product. Kinda wish they'd do another black & white comic it's been a long damn time since Dark Horse last did one for Aliens or Predator.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on May 05, 2016, 02:31:08 PM
Another piece from Brian: https://www.instagram.com/p/BFAJN17ktbu/
(https://scontent-lhr3-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/e35/13129368_1047705835295040_1534513378_n.jpg)
Oh hey it's the Kenner Cracked Tusk (or Lava Planet) Predator.
It has the Cracked Tusk coloration in the comic.
Yeah the black and white art is fantastic and much better without color.
Colour version is just as cool IMO
I'm really enjoying the artwork for this one too. I think it works really well for the series.
Just another damned build-up. The fight that started in the 2nd issue ended abruptly.
Was a release date for issue 4 announced yet?
Issue #4 comes out June 1st, followed by issue #1 of Prometheus a week later.
Thanks ! ;)
Just got issue 3! I thought there was quite a bit more action going on here and I enjoyed this issue more than the last. Odd that the cover of this issue has no bearing on what's happening inside.
They've stepped up the pace but still feels like it hasn't gone very far in 3 issues.
And I still kinda wish the art was b&w.
Quote from: 420Buddy on May 10, 2016, 10:48:23 PM
Odd that the cover of this issue has no bearing on what's happening inside.
That's something the Alien and Predator comics have always done from what I remember.
Well yeah but it just threw me off since the first two covers kinda went with the issue inside lol
I know it was an unused concept but i feel like the hover bike at the end of this issue might hint at the original Aliens vs Predator comic being canon. Pure speculation of course but when i saw it my nostalgia just went through the roof!
The hover bikes are in issue 1.
Quote from: LordCassusSnow on May 16, 2016, 12:50:53 AM
I know it was an unused concept but i feel like the hover bike at the end of this issue might hint at the original Aliens vs Predator comic being canon. Pure speculation of course but when i saw it my nostalgia just went through the roof!
Actually Trisan Jones confirmed that the original AvP comic is on the list of what's canon.
Over on Instagram, Brian Thiess shared a new interior shot from issue #4. I can't figure out how to imbed from Instagram, but here's the link:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFe0wH0ktVe/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/BFe0wH0ktVe/)
This is what I've been waiting to see!
Quote from: Ultramorph on May 16, 2016, 02:26:39 AM
Quote from: LordCassusSnow on May 16, 2016, 12:50:53 AM
I know it was an unused concept but i feel like the hover bike at the end of this issue might hint at the original Aliens vs Predator comic being canon. Pure speculation of course but when i saw it my nostalgia just went through the roof!
Actually Trisan Jones confirmed that the original AvP comic is on the list of what's canon.
Huh, you learn something new every day.
He referred to it as soft canon iirc.
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on May 17, 2016, 07:15:25 PM
He referred to it as soft canon iirc.
Yeah, I take that to mean it more or less happened, some stuff being different if needed to make it it. Same with the AvP movie.
Though I will say, I'd like a story where Machiko meets Ahab.
Quote from: Ultramorph on May 17, 2016, 07:34:34 PM
Yeah, I take that to mean it more or less happened, some stuff being different if needed to make it it. Same with the AvP movie.
Which is why I'm not really fussed about canon. I'll just enjoy what I enjoy.
Exactly, I'm long over caring too much about canon. I just want the new books and comics to be good, which they have, so I'm happy.
Also just realized that we're about to have 3 weeks of consecutive releases with Defiance #2, Predator #4, then Prometheus #1. :)
Quote from: Ultramorph on May 17, 2016, 07:34:34 PM
Yeah, I take that to mean it more or less happened, some stuff being different if needed to make it it. Same with the AvP movie.
And that's good enough for me... For now..
I still want my multiverse!
Quote from: Xenomrph on May 17, 2016, 03:57:30 PM
Huh, you learn something new every day.
Dude, didn't I show you that thread where he confirmed what's what you know... weeks ago?
I thought you'd said Tristan had confirmed the AvP movies, not the comics. If so then I guess I mis-read or mis-remembered your post, my apologies. :)
Quote from: Xenomrph on May 17, 2016, 08:24:02 PM
I thought you'd said Tristan had confirmed the AvP movies, not the comics. If so then I guess I mis-read or mis-remembered your post, my apologies. :)
I was referring to both. Both the AVP movies and the comics.
However I am not expecting the Machiko storyline to be continued. And personally... as much as I would want to, now... I kind of don't. Not unless it continued after Three World War but I don't think it's going to happen.
I'm pretty okay with the Machiko storyline being over.
Quote from: Xenomrph on May 17, 2016, 08:33:35 PM
I'm pretty okay with the Machiko storyline being over.
[Fists bump] For once we agree..
I mean... aside from AVP2010, Three World War was where AVP ended for me.
Quote from: RakaiThwei on May 17, 2016, 08:36:13 PM
Quote from: Xenomrph on May 17, 2016, 08:33:35 PM
I'm pretty okay with the Machiko storyline being over.
[Fists bump] For once we agree..
I mean... aside from AVP2010, Three World War was where AVP ended for me.
I wonder if TWW is still "canon" if the original AvP story is canon. Because then by association, that actually ends up drawing back in nearly the entirety of the old EU. :P :P :P
Chronologically, AvP "ends" for me with the SNES game (mostly because it's the last point on the timeline, it's set in like 2600).
Quote from: Xenomrph on May 17, 2016, 08:38:05 PM
I wonder if TWW is still "canon" if the original AvP story is canon. Because then by association, that actually ends up drawing back in nearly the entirety of the old EU. :P :P :P
Maybe, maybe not... at this point? Who cares... I don't think anyone at Fox or Dark Horse would.
Another WIP from Thiess' Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFhGLtnkteo/ (https://www.instagram.com/p/BFhGLtnkteo/)
Quote from: Xenomrph on May 17, 2016, 08:38:05 PM
Quote from: RakaiThwei on May 17, 2016, 08:36:13 PM
Quote from: Xenomrph on May 17, 2016, 08:33:35 PM
I'm pretty okay with the Machiko storyline being over.
[Fists bump] For once we agree..
I mean... aside from AVP2010, Three World War was where AVP ended for me.
I wonder if TWW is still "canon" if the original AvP story is canon. Because then by association, that actually ends up drawing back in nearly the entirety of the old EU. :P :P :P
Chronologically, AvP "ends" for me with the SNES game (mostly because it's the last point on the timeline, it's set in like 2600).
The SNES game is set in 2493. :) I loved it because it was set so far in the timeline. And that's why I was so freakin' excited for Alien: Sea of Sorrows, because it starts in 2496 and concludes in 2497. I couldn't believe it when I saw that, I was always curious about the SNES game so in a way, Sea of Sorrows kind of "explored" that timeline for me.
AvP: Last of His Clan (the Gameboy game) goes further than this, it's set in 2593.
The Rage War books are currently the latest chronologically, starts in March 2692 and currently are on December 2692, may go to 2693.
Am I noticing a trend here lol? 2493 - 2593 - 2693...
Oh snap, you're right, Last of His Clan is later in the timeline.
I didn't realize the Rage War books were so far in the timeline; I have them on my shelf but haven't gotten to read them yet. I'm still working my way through Out of the Shadows...
How are you finding it so far?
It's pretty neat. I'm only about 60 pages in so far. Ripley's inclusion is really contrived but it's not radically undermining my enjoyment.
I figure I'll post up a full review/reflection in the dedicated thread once I finish it.
I really enjoyed the small world building in Out of the Shadows, I gotta say Tim Lebbon is my favourite author for these books.
I wasn't too bothered by Ripley's inclusion, but I agree that it wasn't particularly necessary for the story. It would have been fine without her, but for me, it's also fine with her.
They needed Ripley's shuttle to escape, so she can't be cleanly lifted out.
That's true. Although they did miscount the amount of cryopods in her ship. I heard people saying there's an extra one in the films and Alien: Isolation, however the book makes her having just one be quite a big deal.
It didn't bother me though, I never knew the Narcissus even had a spare until someone pointed it out.
Yeah two a clearly visible in Alien, but it's not that much of an issue since the problem of having too many passengers remains a problem for the most part.
That's correct, there were lots of them to begin with so the extra pod doesn't make too much of a difference.
The Nostromo was a bit of a Titanic. Not enough life-boats (or at least cryo-tubes) for everyone. The Alien Vault actually indicates that there were 2 shuttles. The Narcissus and the Salmacis.
Quote from: Perfect-Organism on May 18, 2016, 04:27:26 AM
The Nostromo was a bit of a Titanic. Not enough life-boats (or at least cryo-tubes) for everyone. The Alien Vault actually indicates that there were 2 shuttles. The Narcissus and the Salmacis.
Yep, and assuming the Salmacis had the same number of cryotubes as the Narcissus, it would still be short 3 cryotubes.
If I remember right the Tech Manual clarifies that the Narcissus could be used as an emergency lifeboat in a pinch, but that its main function was as a short-range shuttle.
Quote from: SM on May 17, 2016, 11:56:18 PMThey needed Ripley's shuttle to escape, so she can't be cleanly lifted out.
I'm sure they could've come up with another solution that didn't involve awkwardly shoe-horning Ripley into the story and requiring cringe-worthy "mind-wipes" to stop it spoiling continuity with the films.
Seriously, I hated that they put her in it. It really hurt what otherwise could've been a really good read.
Having Ash's AI still out there trying to fulfil his special order worked fine, and I didn't find the mind wipe that bad. It was telegraphed before you even start reading, and looking at the MedPod and Visor technology in Prometheus it's not like its unprecedented. Particularly since Lebbon gave it a realistic context.
The only problem arises beyond the book and why Ripley didn't use it after she got back to Gateway to treat her nightmares.
Presumably Ripley wouldn't be aware of the option if it was via technology developed while she was asleep. It does beg the question of why a psychiatrist wouldn't recommend it though. Maggs talked about it being used to treat PTSD in the audio drama but I can't remember if Lebbon rationalized it the same way in the novel?
In the original Aliens Book 1, they wipe Newt's memory and it doesn't particularly hold that well (I know it's not the same technology). I suppose it might have a low success rate. That might be one way to explain it.
I really liked that Ash's consciousness was in it, although I was disappointed he didn't play a more active role in the story.
To me, the Ripley mind-wipe thing was just a cheesy get-out clause. As you say, there are other times when it could've been used in the series (Aliens, Alien Resurrection; "Why does it have memories?!") and the fact it was never even suggested makes its use on some run-down mining vessel operating in the arse-end of nowhere seem even more convenient and dubious.
I'm not sure Lebbon could have gotten out of that inbetweenquel any better though. Maybe Ripley suffers a bad head wound but that would have been contrived.
No, hence why I wish it hadn't had Ripley in at all. Or had at least kept her comatose in stasis throughout and left Ash to do his thing.
I think the point was that Fox was more interested in an undiscovered Ripley adventure than anything else.
Kasyanov mentions PTSD treatment in the book.
Dark Horse has a preview of issue #4 up on their site. Beware of spoilers.
http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/Previews/29-809?page=0 (http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/Previews/29-809?page=0)
Wow...why would they include that spoiler in a preview...
Quote from: happypred on May 25, 2016, 01:36:50 PM
Wow...why would they include that spoiler in a preview...
It's funny because I pretty much guessed that stuff would happen based on the preview of Prometheus #1 from a week or so ago. I wonder what else happens in the issue?
What spoiler?
Spoiler
That they get the Juggernaut flying?
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on May 25, 2016, 01:53:19 PM
What spoiler?
Spoiler
That they get the Juggernaut flying?
Spoiler
I think he's talking about the predator character getting killed
Yeah, that's what I meant.
So now we know how
Spoiler
the Engineer's pod got damaged which awakened him.
That 'spoiler' was revealed nearly two weeks ago. (http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/prometheus-life-and-death-1-dark-horse-comics-2016)
"Hey, USCM. We come in peace yo"
...
Apprently Abnett is now DC-exclusive. I assume this doesn't effect things he's already working on, but I hope this doesn't lead to a writer shake-up on Life and Death.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dc-comics-announces-dan-abnett-now-under-exclusive-deal (http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/dc-comics-announces-dan-abnett-now-under-exclusive-deal)
Yeah thats strange, I hope he gets to finish L&D
I sent him a tweet about it, we'll see if he responds. It could be that L&D is totally written already and he's able to move on to other projects or something, who knows.
The outline for L+D was written last year. I daresay he's finished it, and if not, his existing contract would likely be honoured before moving to DC.
I'm sure they'd allow him to finish his existing contract....well i'd hope so anyway
Brian Thies teased his next project last night on Facebook.
QuotePanel environment work for the next project, soon to be announced.
(https://scontent.fbos1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13263896_1782580758694985_1565590978680288556_n.jpg?oh=d580127c0caf1ba453adeb27e14f9a8c&oe=57D5BEC3)
Looks like he's doing another L&D series. The next one to be announced is
Aliens: Life and Death, which is due to be in Dark Horse's September solicitations.
Looks like thats a marine in the art?
I've been liking Predator L&D a lot, so I'm all for an Aliens L&D
Quote from: Ultramorph on May 28, 2016, 12:12:43 PM(https://scontent.fbos1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13263896_1782580758694985_1565590978680288556_n.jpg?oh=d580127c0caf1ba453adeb27e14f9a8c&oe=57D5BEC3)
Going back to the temple on LV-223? That'll be cool, it was conspicuously absent from
Fire and Stone.
Russell visited it in the Aliens run.
Did he? My mistake then. I only read it recently and still managed to forget :laugh:
It's only brief and not really focused that much on.
I noticed on my second read of F&S, while at thr temple it does show that Russell awakens the engineer accidentally. but still doesn't explain the engineer that smashed the probe at the beginning of promy F&S (I think the probe arrived before the events in the film.)
There's a couple of things in Fire & Stone that were victims of the shift in time period. Not sure about the Engineer at the start though.
Big Comic Page didn't like #4 - https://bigcomicpage.com/2016/05/31/review-predator-life-and-death-4-dark-horse-comics/
Ugh...
Spoiler
"For the finale to a Predator story arc, you would expect a large Predator presence, but there's this annoying lack of Predator here, nonsensically so.
. . .
I didn't feel like I got a satisfying amount of Predator action, or even just an ominous presence. Yeah they look cool, but they're given nothing to do. Instead of having the big final assault that it seemed like we were getting, we have a lot of wandering around talking, which has been the biggest problem with all of the issues leading up to this."
Based on that review (and this was a bit of a problem with F&S), it feels like rather than segregating the series into 4-issue mini-arcs that don't really work well as mini-arcs, they should have done the series as a 16-part overarching series that happens to occasionally focus on the 4 elements (Aliens, Predator, AvP, Prometheus). Like, I was pretty critical of F&S for having weak mini-arcs until I began to realize that it was all part of one larger story, and then I was a little more forgiving of it because it started to work a little better when viewed as a whole. It seems like L&D is experiencing something similar.
Each arc should have its own mini climax and resolution
Agreed that L&D will just end up reading like a massive 16 issue arc rather than 4 mini arcs
That's why the Predator presence in L&D seems to be so limited
Spoiler
There's still a possibility that we may see them track the Derelict back to LV223. And we will presumably have Predator presence through Ahab.
Another review from Hulking Reviewer- http://hulkingreviewer.com/home/reviews/predator-life-and-death-4/
Much more positive one.
Just finished it on digital. It was a pretty good last issue.
Spoiler
Just nothing I wasn't expecting given what we already know about Prometheus #1. The last page was a nice tease, though.
I am interested to see
Spoiler
where they go with Melville and his faith.
Thankfully we only have to wait a week for the next part.
Also, a tad disappointed that we didn't get any behind the scenes stuff with this issue. Hopefully they include some with the Prometheus issues.
Still a bunch of Predators and Marines (led by Paget) left on the planet...
The Predators are converging on the ship at the end of the comic...
Interested in where this is heading
Just finished reading #4 digital as well. Not a bad last issue. Good lead up into Prometheus but felt like it wasn't much of a Predator story overall. Just more of an elaborate build up to Prometheus. Was still an alright read though.
So I got issue 4 in the mail today, I went back and read issues 1-3 again and then finally read 4.
Spoiler
Over all I liked this issue, I enjoyed the art especially in the derelict frames. The action was good with Pagent and her marines getting outmatched. Also like XenoZipper said it was a good lead up to Prometheus life and death.
Now for the entire arc... It was nice to finally read through the whole arc in one go. On the whole it's actually a pretty action packed and fun story. There are some cool preds and great designs and it sets up quite a few human characters. The fights went pretty back and forth, the USCM really stood their own for the most part. The art is a little uneven at times but it's mostly pretty good, there are some really great frames.
Unfortunately the story is a bit thin, some of the human characters made an impression but the predators had no characterization or motivation at all. Over the four issue arc all that happened was the marines arrived, fought the predators a couple times, and then half the team leaves with the derelict ship. It just felt like a setup for the rest of the event, with the the predators getting short changed a bit IMO. It did do a good job of getting things set up though. There was a lot of characters to introduce
.
Predator Life & Death
Overall 7/10.
Quote from: 426Buddy on Jun 07, 2016, 02:35:55 AM
So I got issue 4 in the mail today, I went back and read issues 1-3 again and then finally read 4.
Spoiler
Over all I liked this issue, I enjoyed the art especially in there derelict frames. The action was good with Pagent and her marines getting outmatched. Also like XenoZipper said it was a good lead up to Prometheus life and death.
Now for the entire arc... It was nice to finally read through the whole arc in one go. On the whole it's actually a pretty action packed and fun story. There are some cool preds and great designs and it sets up quite a few human characters. The fights went pretty back and forth, the USCM really stood their own for the most part. The art is a little uneven at times but it's mostly pretty good, there are some really great frames.
Unfortunately the story is a bit thin, some of the human characters made an impression but the predators had no characterization or motivation at all. Over the four issue arc all that happened was the marines arrived, fought the predators a couple times, and then half the team leaves with the derelict ship. It just felt like a setup for the rest of the event, with the the predators getting short changed a bit IMO. It did do a good job of getting things set up though. There was a lot of characters to introduce
Predator Life & Death
Overall 7/10.
I agree with you. I'll have to give it a go as 1 read for all 4 issues sometime.
Spoiler
I do agree the Preds seemed like they were short changed in favor of setting up Prometheus. Good set up most definitely but as a stand alone Predator title, disappointing for the creatures.
I would agree that the story is indeed very thin.
Neither is the Predator action satisfying...the sword predator doesn't even get screen time