The Predator has been a part of the sci-fi and horror genre ever since the first movie came out in 1987. One of the more recent ones is a comic by Dan Abnett and Brian Albert Thies called “Predator: Life and Death.†This comic has an all too familiar story that will bore readers to death.
“USCM†members aboard the ship “Hasdrubal†are sent to the planet “Tartarus†to capture unlicensed prospectors from stripping the planet. When they get to the planet they only find ruins of a ship and a group of predators waiting for them.
The plot is the average plot of many “Predator†stories with no attempt to differentiate it from the others. A crew goes someplace, finds lots of destruction and gets picked off by predators. It’s been done before and has gotten both boring and predictable.
Like many stories, two key things that can save many basic stories are strong characters and writing. Sadly, none of those things are present here. The characters are all flat, boring and come across and generic goons. Even the main leads are forgettable. Their names are given, but the reader will quickly forget them as the story progresses.
Theis’s art is on the same level as the story. It is not visually appealing, it doesn’t stand out and will make you snore looking at t. The character designs have these weird, blank expressions that make them look less alive than a generic statue you’d buy at a dollar store.
“Predator: Life and Death†is a dull, lifeless comic on all levels. It has the basic “Predator†plot, the characters are dull and the art uninteresting and predictable. It almost mathematically impossible to make “Predator†boring, but the coming managed to find the right equation to do just that.
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