New Beginnings - Alien Versus Predator: Fire and Stone #1

by Matt Puddy

And so another piece of the Fire and Stone puzzle to slot into the bigger picture. Born originally from a crossover of two strong franchises, Alien vs Predator was a geeky marriage in heaven which went on to spawn films, books, comics and video games.

Dark Horse has once again included it in the various threads of a bigger Alien story arc. But - and here is a slightly tricky aspect - its inclusion in the Fire and Stone continuity is not from the start of all hell breaking loose. Much like the weird aunt and uncle at a family wedding, it arrives late to the main event but well before the evening reception. Placed after issue #4 of Prometheus: Fire and Stone (and subsequently Aliens: Fire and Stone as a result) but completely before Predator: Fire and Stone  #1, this issue suffers quite a bit from leaving the reader in an occasional state of “what exactly has happened here?”

Now I do understand and appreciate that this style of storytelling can pique interest in readers, as it promotes so many questions about what has gone on in the parallel stories, but for me, on this occasion the leap made is too big. 

Loosely speaking the situation in the story is such that we can identify with the characters physically but their personalities in some cases are compromised to such a degree that they are different entirely. Francis is now a captive with an almost subservient manner to him, and Eldon is a completely different entity to how we first met him. Don’t get me wrong, I want to know how he got to be what he is now - with the new growths, protrusions and aliens in tow - but I can’t see him as the artificial human that started the trip in the first place. I also have no clue as to why he is so desperate to retrieve and reunite with Francis as well. (Some of that journey begins in this week's Prometheus #2 which Matt has yet to read due to a business trip, BF.)

The plot is primarily an aftermath explanation that goes out of control. While trying to escape with both Francis and an alien weapon in their custody, the inhabitants of the ship find themselves at the mercy of Eldon. He controls the Helios which in turn has power over their ship. However, as we are dealing with mercenaries here the options are simple. Stay alive by handing over Francis.

This would have all gone smoothly (and made for an awfully short comic!), had this simply happened but unbeknownst to everyone, sci-fi’s favourite hunters had also set their eyes on the ship as a hunt. The Predator's breach of the hull didn’t go unnoticed and the subsequent alarm sets everyone on edge, spinning matters out of control. A deranged android leading a group of xenomorphs on a hide and seek raid of the ship quickly ensues.

With the xenomorphs running amok on the ship, it’s easy for the stealth suited hunting party to make their advances as well. Everything culminates in a variety of face offs and preambles to fighting with poor Francis just hiding for his life. The apparent prize of it all.

Ariel Olivetti has done a cracking job of bringing Christopher Sebela’s writing to life. I really like the artwork. It has energy conveyed through the clean lines and sharp shapes, with the colouring adding more depth. There is even the odd frame that, conversely, does a lot with zero background or using a silhouette, instead of flooding the frame with details letting the readers mind fill in the rest.

Putting aside the continuity I really liked this comic and can envisage that I will like it more when I’ve collected them all and re-read them in a more structured fashion. Fire and Stone is shaping up to be a superb event series.

Matt Puddy had a tough decision between the first episode of Gotham and the start of the new series of The Walking Dead earlier this week.

New Beginnings - Prometheus: Fire and Stone #1

by Matt Puddy

Back in the days of VHS videos and slightly less than strictly adhered to film certificate laws, I came across a film that changed my appreciation of science fiction forever – Aliens. I quickly followed it up by finding and watching the original and then over the coming (I’m sad to say this) decades I have followed the Alien and Predator franchises in almost all forms of media including the games.

So now this week we have Prometheus: Fire and Stone. Following on from the renowned head-scratcher of a film (for both its setup and amazement at why one person couldn’t run sideways in the face of a crashing spaceship), the comic takes up almost where it left off and stays in canon.

Paul Tobin’s story opens prior to the Prometheus film, with a probe scouring an apparently dead planet only to see it smashed under foot of one of the Engineers. Skipping forward 129 years to a point not long after Aliens, scientific curiosity has once again got the better of mankind. Following up on the probe’s findings - and also the reports of a crashed and more importantly salvageable craft - a team are led to LV-233 with everything being chronicled by filmmaker Clara Atkinson.

After a brief introduction to all of the crew, and some of their peculiarities, the party heads down to the surface. Things are not right almost from the very beginning. What was considered a barren desert planet has a thriving jungle ecosystem, contrary to what should be there. Strange creatures and insects aside they continue their foraging in search of the ship. Stranger sights are still afoot, but eventually they find their prize - a completely intact ship, apparently from the ill-fated LV-426 (Hadley’s Hope). But they have no idea what is waiting inside for them. As the reader though, you can see exactly what lies behind door number one. A dormant but deadly batch of xenomorphs.

The story has a very familiar feel to it, and is written in a similar style to Alien and Aliens. There are a few scenes which could have been transplanted from either film; for example the meet and greet, which has overtones of both the dinner scene from Alien and the military briefing in Aliens.

From a scripting point of view the story is easy to read and flows throughout through the narrative lens of the filmmaker. What I did notice though is that this is almost an optical illusion, seeing as it doesn’t actually cover that much, although what it does it does well.

Artistically, Juan Ferreyra’s work is quite good. There is a gritty differential to the camera feed and equally a huge diverse appearance in the jungle. He also has a clear skill for new phylum in the xenobiology depictions. I liked his work overall but did feel that occasionally there could have been some more definition and detail as some of the frames were a little soft for my liking.

Overall this is exactly what I would have expected from a Dark Horse title continuing their good run with the Aliens and Predator franchises. I will caveat that by repeating I am a big fan of the films, books, comics and games (yes, even Colonial Marines) and so this was an easy choice for me.

For any other fans this is also a sure win, with three linked miniseries ready to bloom across all of the other brands.

Matt Puddy is looking forward to the new BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Good Omens.

First glimpse at Predators

This good be really good... (NOW UPDATED WITH THE ACTUAL TEASER TRAILER!)