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Publisher:  Dark Horse
Writer:  John Arcudi
Artist:  Javier Saltares
Cover:  Raymond Swanland

 “Prey to the Heavens” Pt. 1:  Dark Horse is kicking off twenty years of Predator comics with this latest installment into the franchise!  Now if you have no idea who or what Predator is, then you need to immediately utilize your outlet for DVD or Blu-Ray rentals and pick up this 20th Century Fox release from 1987! Then pick up some back issues from Dark Horse!

When you have an extremely hot climate and people brutally killing each other, then you’re pretty much inviting a Predator to pay a visit!  This time, travel plans bring us to East Africa where an American corporation has plans to do some real estate deals but the native rebels want to send a hint that they should leave.  They ambush the caravan the two reps from the company are riding in and start killing the security detail. However, when the smoke and dust settle the rebels are dead as well and in their place are 3 Predators who end up killing the reps!  So now we are introduced to the guys who will provide the body count for the Predators which is a group of private contractors under contract by the U.S. Army! These guys are doing a dry run to avoid the previous days events when they are ambushed as well!  Strangely though, it seems the Predators are ransacking the vehicles of the contractors, and in the background they are being tracked by another Predator wearing very different armor.

This series is going to deal with 2 warring tribes of Predators who decided to carry out their fight on Earth. Now, why these guys can’t settle their issues on their own planet is beyond me, but if it makes for a good story I’m all in! John Arcudi only sets up the bare minimum in this issue to where it’s heavy on the action and not much anything else. We’re introduced to our principal cast of characters but it’s the same type we’ve seen before; military types with attitude and bravado who can be switched out at any point. I know it’s a Predator book and sometimes the humans are mainly considered fodder but at some point things have to change.  It’s time to mix up the formula a little bit people!  Javier Saltares’ interiors are consistently good, though I’m not too keen on the armor designs for one of the groups of Predators, but that’s just me. I will say I was very impressed with the covers by Raymond Swanland! I’ve never heard of this guy but I did find out he painted Magic: The Gathering cards. I definitely hope he’s contracted to do a lot more covers in the future for any comic book company!

Even with this being a formula we’ve seen time and again in the Predator universe this issue can still make for a great read! There’s more to learn about the Predator’s history and habits and I’m hoping this book gives us a bit more of that and some great action along the way!

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