Dark Horse Comic review: Predator Big Game

Right so its Yautja month I'll be reviewing some of Dark horse awesome Predator comic's starting with Big Game.  While there are others with far more impressive Art styles and stories Big Game captures the feel and spirit of the Predator movies.

Set in small town of Cole New Mexico a community near an army base a Predator Craft lands and its pilot decides to bag some game. A local grunt Enoch Nakai is embroiled in a battle of wits with the savage Yautja hunter and when his army training fails he puts his skills as a Indian Brave into use to tackle the hunter from the stars.

The art work buy Evan Dorkin isnt great but isnt bad either. The Predator looks awesome and the landscape  epic but the humans could have been drawn much better. John Arcudi's story while nothing groundbreaking is primal and tense and he does however make Enoch a really fleshed out character with a rich backstory which lends its self to the conflict. The story's climax is pure raw testosterone driven and kinda hints in a cheeky way what might have happened if Billy not Dutch survived to duke it out with the predator.


I was lucky and came across an early collected edition and two singles with the awesome Chris Warner covers. You can also find this story in the Predator Omnibus volume Two. Pick it up if you can because it is one of the more action packed and well crafted Predator stories.

Aliens Art Attack!!!

Heres a wicked piece done buy a very talented young artiest David Mc Arthur who I had the pleasure of meeting recently. Its a wicked tribute to the late H.R Giger.

You can check out more of Davids work here. http://numbvoid.tumblr.com/

The Riverghost

The movie predators was the flick that saved my faith in all the sci-fi horror reboots that came out in in the recent years. ((Damn you Prometheus)) The Movie had the look and feel of the classic predators movies but also introduced some new things and even new creature like the hounds and and the Badblood predators but the wickedest thing I think the movie introduced was the RiverGhost.

While AVP showed us the the Predators did indeed hunt other creatures bar humans, xenos and Pred's went together like cake and Ice-cream. Yet Predators show us that  Yautja would hunt in the words of Noland "shit you wouldnt believe" 

The Riverghost as named buy Nimrod Antel is a 7 foot tall bipedal insect like being that can move a extreme speeds and seems to be very aggressive. The creatures level of intelligence is hard to judge as Royce states it avoided their traps but it seemed to chase after Edwin with a more primal aggression. The beast seemed to have parasites which cleaned its wounds and kept it alive however when it died the bugs fleed its body. 

It unsure if this species was aware of the Predator race and had it been hunted before as Royce also states that it might think they captured it.

One final note is the design seems to be a throw back to the rejected design for the first predator movie and while they did do a fairly wicked job on this creature you can still tell that its a homage to the rejected predator costume.

 

My top 5 Yautja hunters.

So since its Yautja month I've decided to start with my top 5 favorite Predator hunters from only the movies. Im including a hunter from AVP-R too as he does take a licking and keep on kicking.

(5) The Wolf
A formidable Predator hunter this "cleaner" Was sent to earth to prevent and contain a Xenomorph outbreak in a small U.S town. The Wolf was clearly a veteran of many xenomorph battles given the savage scaring on on face going as face as to melt his tusks off. ((A ref to Broken tusk from the first AVP comic)). This skilled killer was able to dispatch Xeno's with ease but also had no issues with killing human beings who obstructed his mission. Packing an extensive arsenal which includes duel Plasma casters, Wrist blades, Razor whip, shurikens and Plasma pistlol. While not a hunter exactly the Wolf was a skilled tracker and stalker and was one of the major factors in preventing the infestation speading across the great United States.

(4) The Berserker Badblood

This savage and deadly hunter was the leader of the black clan on the Predator Game preserve planet and mercilessly hunted both human and  Jungle clan Yautja. The Berserker along with the Flusher and the Falconer were Badblood/ Killer Yautja. These a Yautja who dont hunt or stalk buy the common code of conduct. The have no issue with shooting unarmed prey in the back or while cloaked. The Berserker leader seemd to be a lot more ruthless and cruel in its hunting methods examples being crucifying the youngblood junge hunter, beating and toying Royce before going in for the kill and shooting Stans in the back while cloaked. The Berserker seemed to be strong, faster and more aggressive then common Yautja hunters...while this could just be the  trait with this race of Predators one theory I have is these Predators a Xeno zip junkies. In some Aliens comics The Alien Queens Royle Jelly is harvested and turned into a drug called Xeno Zip which enhance's humans strength, speed and aggressive nature. So one could assume the Predators who have had a longer history with the xenomorph may have harvested this and over time converted into a drug that would make these outcast predators even more dangerous. Two things to support this idea are in the first draft script it stated the the predators alter themselves via genetics or drugs to make them selves better Hunters. Also The Berserkers mask has a xno jawbone on it proving he did indeed fight the Aliens and possibly harvested the Jelly. While a not a noble hunter like the rest of his bredren he is a hunter in every sense of the word and will not let anything be it fairness or honor stop him from killing his prey.

(3) The Jungle Hunter
The Yautja who started it all. Now your most lightly wondering why I didnt put him higher up on the list? Well heres why....the other movies really gave their Predators a lot of personality....not to say he didnt have any just we only got glimpses of him and as a result we only got to see what this guy was like in the last 1o minutes of the movie. That said he was awesome. Stalking Hoppers team and killing them then taking out Dutchs team one man at a time. From mimicing Billy's laugh to letting Dutch take him on man to......Yautja!
This guy was awesome and Kevin Peter Hall was fantastic at bringing the creature to life. The Jungle Hunter may have been one Ugly Motherfucker but he was also a badass to boot.

(2) The Greyback

Okay forget that Elder in AVP one the one and only awesome Yautja Elder in my book is the Greyback from Predator 2. This guy is fucking awesome....he's only in the ass end of the movie and only then for a few minutes. This is agien down to Kevin Peter Hall who makes the role. The other fun thing is that costume is the one from the first movie only repainted and added with a few more trinkits. The Greyback himself is awesome, this elder hunter who watchs over his clan and rewards Mike Harrigan with a flint lockpistol for dispatching his student. Covered in trinkets and trophy's of those he's hunted and killed you get a feeling of this guys age and nobility in actions when he motions his clan to decloak and remove their fallen brother.

He was so badass that Darkhorse did a one shot about him Called Predator 1715 which shows how he came to having the flintlock. While not in the movie long he's noble and aged persona wins him the number the number two spot

 

(1) The City Hunter

Right Im going to get some major stick for this but you know what fuck it. He awesome.Why? Again Kevin Peter Hall. He gets a 2nd chance at playing on of these guys and goes wild on personality. This predator is to me is the Predator you watch if you wanna get inside the head of one of these things. The City Hunter is basicly a young blood who kitted up to the nines and is out to prove himself to his clan...and prove himself he does. The City Hunter holds the highest kill count of an on screen predator to date. He takes out a Colombian gang who's armed to the teeth with heavy weapons, then takes out King Willies gang, then Mike's partner Danny, Then King Willie, then a bunch of people on a subway train along with Jerry Lambert then Keyes Team then Keyes himself. This guy is fucking relentless....he lose's an arm trying to blow himself up and get peppered with shotgun ammo so he has to used broken plaster and glass a medi gel which is as painfull as fuck only then does he try to retreat. While indeed a ruthless hunter he still has the code shown in two occasions. When the kid comes at him with a toy gun he know to scan it first rather then attack the kid and also when he spares Leona after scanning her and seeing she's pregnant.  This guy not only packs the shoulder canon and the duel blades but also has a spear and throwing disk. Because he's young and a novice hunter he either needs or is allowed to use this kit. For me the City Hunter is the Predator of Predators.

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Yautja Month

Right for the entire month of June my posts are going to be solely focused on Yautja(Predator). No AVP mind but the species solo outings in movies, Comics, novels and Games. Also making a deeper look at clans, weapons and certain types of predators.

Sub-species: Beasts of Prometheus and Resurrection

There are a number of creatures which seem to have spawned from the same DNA of the Xenomorph but would not be classed as one.

Hammerpede 
This creature first appeared in Prometheus and seemed to be some kind of larva worm that was exposed to the fluid from the ample chamber of the Jockey ship. Very like an earth cobra this little beast was aggressive and savage like a xeno. It shared the trait of acid blood like the xenomorph but also had the ability to regenerate itself from damage or attack regrowing its head after Fiefield cut it off.

The Decon

While man people call this a jockey xeno or a proto xeno however this creature didnt spawn from a facehugger but a human born creature that mutated in a massive facehugger like beast. The creature emerges fully formed from the jockey and cuts it way out with is crown blade very unlike an infant xeno. The jaws while like a xeno are more like a goblin shark which inner jaw expands the full range of the mouth. Also it has a placenta when its born which a xeno does not.

New Born

More of a gene splice gone wrong. When Ripley and the Queen DNA get mixed in the cloneing process and now the Queen has a human womb and gives birth to this monster. A loathsome creature with human eyes and features. This beast is like a toddler which dosent know its own power and with a creepy wide eyed wonder of a child this beast is the one of the few things in an otherwise letdown of a movie.

Game over man Review: Aliens vs Predator P.C

This is my favorite Aliens game of all time. Released for the P.C in 1999 buy Rebellion studios this game had the atmosphere and detail to boot. This FPS is told from three different perspectives Xenomorph, Predator and Colonial Marine.
Not only are you just playing as different creatures but the method in which you play must be different. I.E you cant go in all guns blazing( you dont have any) when your the Xeno unlike the Marine who has the hardware and armour. While the predator is a good alrounder...both stealth and combat work well for him,

The story is slime line to say the least  but it's set 10 years after Aliens and occurs in different movie locations such as LV426 and Fury161. Wayland Yuntani seems to have a greater insight into the xeno and seems to be breeding them. As a result youll face Xenoborgs...Aliens with lasers and other weapons.
The Marine mission is to get from LV426 to his troop ship, The Predator mission is split into two. One is set in Wayland Yuntis underground research lab to find a captured Predator the later mission is to break into a Yunti owned Hive and kill the Queen. Lastly the Alien must escape from a Yutani Hive and make it to earth.

Marines weapons include Pulse Rifle, Flamethrower, Smartgun, SADER , Minigun and Grenade Launcher. The Gold edition also gives you a skeet Launcher and Duel Pistols. The Marine can get health packs and armor if injured and he's also equipped with flares and night vision goggles.

Aliens weapons include Claws, Tail and extended Jaws. While not an impressive weapons set its jaws when head biting restore your health making every enemy a walking health pack.

Lastly the predator gear includes Wristblades, Speargun, Plasma Caster, Plasma pistol and throwing disc. It also has three vision modes and a medipack  which while requires power to work it still is a godsend.

The Game is A1 in sound, lighting, A.I and graphics which I still think hold up today. This game is a must if your an Aliens or Predator fan. You can pick it up on steam for peanuts and even if you aint an AVP fan this is one of the best P.C FPS's out there.