Predator: Fire and Stone #2 (Comics Review)

Last month Dark Horse kicked off yet another Fire and Stone crossover book wih Joshua Williamson and Christian Mooneyham’s Predator, that is the tail-end of the stories being told in this crossover. With Galgo sacrificing his crew yet again to get out of a tight scrap, it was a very fun issue that also showcased the utter deadliness of the Predator and it seems that both the writer and the artist have the monster alien hunter down pat, since they imbue him with all the hallmarks of that which made the original films so good all those years ago.

This week’s Predator: Fire and Stone #2 continues Galgo’s story as he tries to fight against the Predator who took over the Perses in the last issue. Well, more like ineffectual resistance since the Predator pretty much caught by the end of the issue and now Galgo is basically Ahab the Predator’s servant. Of sorts. It is pretty awesome. Joshua really ups the stakes with this issue, giving us some background on the Predator early on, and then launches off on a really fun story. And the art? It is pretty damn perfect too!

The previous issue played out rather well when Joshua focused on how the Predator outmatched Galgo and his self-serving deviousness. We’ve seen Galgo already sacrifice the rest of the crew of the command ship in Prometheus: Fire and Stone #3, and in the last issue we saw that he abandoned the two-three people who were his accomplices in that first betrayal. Now, he is all on his own with a Predator who still has some use for him and who wants him to, well, hunt down the Engineer who is on LV-223 so that he can take the being’s head for his trophy collection.

The story in here is pretty damn powerful and Joshua does not disappoint in any way, not that I expected him to, after seeing what he did in the last issue. And it really helped that we got some background on the Predator himself, it added to the feeling of the “grand hunt” that the Predator is on, and when the characters are on LV-223 and hunting for the Engineer, the action and tension really, really kick off in a really big way.

As is usual with Joshua, the story is pretty intense, as I’ve already said, and his dialogue is also pretty spot on. Regrettably, we never get any translation of the Predator’s dialogue, but that’s fine with me. It maintains the air of mystery surrounding him and serves to drive Galgo a bit crazy, which is a good end in and of itself. And Galgo is Galgo, self-serving and always looking out for number one, even when confronted by someone like the Predator, who is far cannier than Galgo, though the human isn’t likely to admit that any time soon.

Really though, the dynamic between Galgo and the Predator is quite a bit of fun. Not a lot actually happens in this issue and it is mostly getting from point A to point B, but that journey is itself a lot of fun, and I couldn’t get enough of it, like when the Predator chained Galgo to himself so that the human couldn’t run. Like I said, the Predator here is a canny individual and he knows how to work both Galgo and the Engineer himself. The most striking thing though happens when they are on LV-223 and find out what happened to the Xenomorphs who were ravaging through the jungles in Prometheus: Fire and Stone #3 just last week. After all, that’s one of the first concerns that Galgo has and Joshua delivers an epic twist.

Christian Mooneyham’s art and Dan Brown’s colours really make it all come alive. The cover by Lucas Graciano is top-notch of course, as I expected it to be, and the internal art matches that awesomeness. We get all the ferocity of the Predator in each scene he is in, and the threats of both the Engineer and the Xenomorphs. The scene with the hordes of Xenomorphs is quite a striking one, as I said above, so that’s also something you can look forward to in this issue. But really though, it is the Predator who is the absolute star of this issue, as he should be.

Bring on the next issue!

Rating: 9.5/10

More Fire and Stone: Predator #1; Prometheus #1-2, Alien vs Predator: Fire and Stone #1-2.