A comiXologist recommends:
Predator: Fire and Stone
A book in a franchise as fun as the Predator series has to be energetic, gestural, and with only the right amount of momentary evisceration. This entry into the franchise by seasoned professionals Josh Williamson (Birthright) and Chris Mooneyham (Deadly Class, Five Ghosts) has all the right parts. Predator: Fire and Stone doesn’t suffer from any unnecessary stalls in action nor dwell on any portions of exposition beyond the occasional update in the characters’ statuses. It has quick action, quick dialogue, and even a warm moment between the Predator referred to simply as “Ahab” and his hostage around a campfire. It is enough to tug on any Sci-fi nerd’s nostalgic heart strings.
As part of Dark Horse’s wider Fire and Stone series that ties together the Alien, Predator, and Prometheus canons our focus shifts toward a Predator (Ahab) on the hunt for an Engineer. The whole story is narrated through the eyes of a human scoundrel named Galgo. For those that aren’t familiar with the more recent Prometheus film, Engineers are very tall blue humanoid aliens more or less responsible for the creation of the aliens from Alien, and they usually try to kill everyone that isn’t also an Engineer in order to study it.
Galgo, our human narrator and Ahab’s captive is dragged into Xenomorph (Alien) infested jungles to aid Ahab in the tracking down and killing of one particular Engineer. The planet of LV-223 and the jungles covering its surface have been overrun by the shiny, black, and acid-blood filled monsters according to Galgo. Although, upon their arrival to the planet’s surface Galgo and Ahab find piles and piles of dead Xenomorphs in mass graves. Thousands of the creatures are being wiped out in droves, and the Engineer is the culprit. It’s just up to the two to find him.
Armed with Ahab’s arsenal of classic Predator weapons and Galgo’s Engineer-made rifle, readers are in for an action-packed treat.
Predator: Fire and Stone is a very fast read, but it is a good time from start to finish never overstaying its welcome because of its brevity. The visuals in Mooneyham’s fast-handed grit makes sure Williamson’s narrative loses none of its teeth while remaining a love letter to the Predator he (and I) always wanted to be friends with. Ahab is a hunter not to be trifled with.