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Predator: Badlands (2025) #1

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The official prequel, done in collaboration with director Dan Trachtenberg, to the new, eagerly anticipated film, BADLANDS, is here! A young Yautja warrior is given a seemingly simple task by his Retrieve a piece of technology from a derelict spaceship that crashed years ago. Inside, however, an ancient and deadly threat lies in wait. Now the Predator will become the prey…

Kindle Edition

Published November 12, 2025

16 people are currently reading
13 people want to read

About the author

Ethan Sacks

227 books37 followers
Ethan Sacks is a writer and journalist from New York, who is currently writing the ongoing series Star Wars- Bounty Hunters for Marvel as well as other various Star Wars titles. He is also know for his Marvel works that take place in the iconic Old Man Logan wasteland, Old Man Hawkeye and Old Man Quill.

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5 stars
24 (25%)
4 stars
15 (15%)
3 stars
44 (46%)
2 stars
9 (9%)
1 star
2 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for James DeSantis.
Author 17 books1,204 followers
November 12, 2025
A fun adventure, but nothing major of substance. But cool to see the main character of the new film kicking ass. I will check out the movie soon!
Profile Image for Anna  Quilter.
1,686 reviews51 followers
November 13, 2025
A little taste for the excellent Predator-Badlands Movie...doesn't capture it's mood.
Profile Image for Danii Savage.
366 reviews5 followers
November 13, 2025
It’s always great to see a prequel before the movie, but I’ve never read one in comic form before! This was okay. There was some decent background provided but it felt like a classic Star Trek Klingon story, nothing spectacular or new.
205 reviews
November 18, 2025
A única caçada que há aqui é a de níqueis...

NOTA: 1,5/5 (MUITO RUIM)

Sempre que me deparo com prelúdios de filmes da Marvel em quadrinhos, minha primeira reação é perguntar por que ainda insisto nisso, sabendo que, na maior parte das vezes, o resultado é previsível ou decepcionante. Para cada exceção como o de Quarteto Fantástico: Primeiros Passos, há uma infinidade de títulos que parecem mais uma tentativa de caça-níquel do que uma continuação ou aprofundamento legítimo da história. Mesmo os que têm algum potencial, muitas vezes, não conseguem se destacar, enquanto os ruins só reforçam a sensação de que são produzidos apressadamente, sem paixão ou cuidado. Ironicamente, esses prelúdios revelam o quão pouco a editora realmente investe na qualidade dessas obras, preferindo o caminho fácil do lucro rápido.

No caso de Predador: Terras Selvagens, a sensação é de déjà-vu: um produto que, por mais que tente se apresentar como uma introdução ao filme de Dan Trachtenberg, acaba sendo uma espécie de cápsula que pouco ou nada acrescenta à narrativa original. O roteiro de Ethan Sacks começa promissor, com alienígenas em uma nave com problemas, entrando em estase na esperança de serem resgatados, enquanto 10 mil anos se passam até a história que nos interessa começar. Nesse cenário, conhecemos Dek, um jovem yautja, e seu irmão Kewi, em uma missão para recuperar uma peça de tecnologia dos destroços da nave. Dek reclama que aquilo não é trabalho de caçador, enquanto Kewi, inexplicavelmente, manda o irmão mais novo fazer o serviço sozinho, uma decisão que, já de início, parece mais um artifício para acelerar a narrativa do que uma escolha lógica.

No entanto, toda essa promessa se dissolve na premissa básica do que vem a seguir. A história, embora não se relacione diretamente ao filme, parece mais uma “cápsula” que resume sua temática: Dek deve lidar com tecnologia alienígena e as ameaças naturais da lua onde está. Uma inteligência artificial altamente eficiente cria armamentos e manipula flora e fauna locais para impedir o caçador, que é considerado uma ameaça pelos sistemas de segurança da nave. A intenção parece ser criar uma espécie de “batalha épica”, mas o que se vê é uma pancadaria genérica, típica de filmes de ação hollywoodianos de baixa qualidade.

A ação é protagonizada por uma IA que gera robôs armados até os dentes, lutando contra Dek, que também está equipado até o pescoço. A cena se assemelha a um ringue de MMA onde tudo vale – menos um golpe no olho, talvez. A arte digital de Elvin Ching, com cores de Juancho Vélez e finalização de Oren Junior, é limpa e funcional, mas chega a parecer excessivamente polida, quase fria demais para o clima de conflito brutal que tenta transmitir. Ainda assim, consegue ser dinâmica o suficiente para tornar as batalhas visualmente agradáveis, mesmo que a história seja pouco inspirada e previsível, dando um alívio visual que, por vezes, ajuda a suportar o ritmo morno.

Havia espaço para explorar mais o universo Yautja, seu cotidiano em Yautja Prime, ou aprofundar a relação de Dek com seus irmãos e seu pai. Poderia até mesmo narrar uma história de origem de Dek ou mostrar outro caçador de sua linhagem mais jovem, dando camadas à mitologia. Mas Ethan Sacks opta pelo caminho mais fácil: uma trama rasa, sem riscos, que não desafia o leitor ou acrescenta nada de novo. É uma narrativa mecanizada, que decepciona logo nas primeiras páginas e só piora com o avanço da leitura. Mesmo com uma equipe de artistas competente, o resultado é uma obra que parece mais uma rotina do que uma oportunidade de aprofundar o universo dos predadores.

Em suma, não é o fim do mundo em termos de quadrinhos — segue o padrão de prelúdios que parecem feitos apenas para preencher páginas e vender mais. Contudo, é uma oportunidade desperdiçada, uma chance de explorar temas mais relevantes ou dar alguma profundidade aos personagens, que acabou sendo transformada em uma historieta cansativa, onde cada virada de página parece automática, sem entusiasmo ou criatividade. Quem sabe, no próximo, não melhorem?
5 reviews
November 12, 2025
An entertaining tie-in prequel comic to Badlands

I am soon to head out to see Predator: Badlands in the movie theater for the second time after enjoying it so much the first time, so when I learned that a comic book prequel to the movie would be released today, I rushed to buy it so that I could read it before seeing the movie again. And I must say, I enjoyed it. It ends right shortly before the beginning of Badlands, and helps explain what Dek was doing so recently that...failed to impress his father enough to make the decision he did near the beginning of the film, in a stroke that broke the camels back sort of way.

His relationship with his brother Kwei is also fleshed put some more with the additional screen time he gets, which was nice. There were some interesting implications with the alien species that made an appearance in this one, as they were also a space-faring species but I must admit I don't know I they have showed up before in other expanded Predator lore from the comics and novels. They may show up again later though as we hadn't seen all that many intelligent AND technologically advanced alien species in Alien and the Predator franchises as far as I know from what I have seen of the movies and read online, so itself like an interesting detail that may be expanded upon later. Particularly given that that the director in charge of the last 3 movies that have seen a bit of a resurgence for the franchise wanted to include the scenes of this comic at the beginning of Badkands but had to delete them for timing and budget reasons from what I have read in interviews and behind the scenes stuff. In short, the reveal and info about the new alien species shown here may provide additional pay off later, even if there is not that much to go on so far, since this comic is meant to be Canon to the movies and with the director's direct creative involvement.

Really my only real complaint is that I wanted it to be longer and that only means I wanted to read more so it is a ring of endorsement from me in that scene. And the comic book had some well crafted action sequences too, so great on them.

I really liked it. And I recommends it to anyone who enjoyed Badlands.
7 reviews
December 16, 2025
2.5 stars

Kind of a pointless comic to have made.

I thought this would be the story of how Dex saved his brother (un explained story line in the movie) but it wasn't that at all.

This was a comic that didn't really have a story too it it was more of an action piece than anything else with no real substance other that to add another piece of lore to this band of Yautja warriors. The art was good and the action in it was well done but other than that nothing really to write home about. Probably didn't need to be made really.
Profile Image for RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez.
Author 8 books32 followers
December 14, 2025
Bastante decepcionante hasta para términos de one shot precedente de gran estreno... Lo que debería ser una aventurilla a mayores de lo que se ve en Badlands con este Predator más puramente heroíco, pues juega hasta en contra de esa némesis de gran parte de la película. Si aquí Dek
100 reviews
November 17, 2025
This is a cool tie in issue to the amazing Predator Badlands film.
The story is alright and the artwork is visually stunning! Overall if you liked the film then you'll like this book, its a fun read, just nothing crazy exciting!
Profile Image for Andrew Bast.
21 reviews1 follower
November 17, 2025
Fun insight into the new film

I like how this comic fills in some context between dek and his father before Predator badlands. It was a fun short comic, hope to see more in the future.
Profile Image for Ashley (Red-Haired Ash Reads).
3,372 reviews181 followers
December 7, 2025
This was a very short story that takes place before the movie. Dak has been sent on a mission by his father to gather a power source from a crashed spaceship. It was interesting and shows how determined Dak is.

TW: depictions of death, including child death
Profile Image for Connor.
108 reviews1 follower
November 20, 2025
Just a fun little prelude to the movie nothing less or more, not essential and only really recommend to fellow collectors.
908 reviews4 followers
November 29, 2025
Really good.

I am glad I read this before I watch the film. Its a good one-shot. Not bad at all. Read it!
Profile Image for Dean.
981 reviews5 followers
November 30, 2025
skip this.
art wasn't good.
story was poor.
Profile Image for J.A. Flynn.
Author 7 books5 followers
December 11, 2025
The artwork was beautiful and I LOVE Dek. But I didn't really learn anything new about Dek I didn't know before.
1 review
January 3, 2026
Not bad

Good little prequel story that ties comic and movie together would’ve loved it to be longer though very short unfortunately.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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