Dark Horse Comics 2016
Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Andrea Mutti
Coloured by Rain Beredo
Lettered by Michael Heisler
Once on the new planet, the humans escaped the ship and encountered the survivors of a previous mission— and their Predator companion, “Ahab.” Their hope was that the marine commander would follow the alien ship’s course and rescue them, but when they discover that the Engineer has awakened another one of his kind, they realize that waiting is not an option and make plans to steal the Engineer’s ship . . .
Damn this series just keeps getting better and better with each new issue that comes out! These folks are fighting Engineer’s and xenomorphs and have a dang Predator on their team and what more could you possibly want from a franchise that incorporates all these things? Dan’s writing of this story and the way he keeps progressing things leaves me with breathless anticipation for the next every dang time.
Just as impressive as that is is the fact that somehow or another the casualty count doesn’t get as high as I keep thinking it should be. Through cunning, training and sheer determination of willpower these folks keep finding a way to soldier on against near impossible odds. Just that Dan can convey that through these multiple arcs continually is mighty impressive work.
Andrea and Rain are doing some really nice work on the interiors here as well. From the backgrounds of the world to the xenomorphs, the Engineer’s and the people themselves they represent it all creating just the right mood, atmosphere, tone and feeling we need to really get into this. The flow of the book through the page layouts with the use of angles and perspective really are great to see.
I think it’s fair to say that this is just as exciting, fresh and interesting as when either the Alien or the Predator series debuted for the first time. With a great look at these characters and a strong story driving them to move forward this is the stuff that both dreams and nightmares are made of. Dan’s elevated this from mere storytelling to a major company event the likes of which we haven’t ever seen before.