Predator: Prey to the Heavens

Predator: Prey to the Heavens #1-4

by John Arcudi, Javier Saltares (Artist), Wes Dzioba

The world's attention is focused painfully on a brutal third-world civil war, a merciless sectarian conflict sparing neither soldier nor civilian, grandmother nor child. But amidst the terror and carnage, where great nations and powerful interests jockey for position and advantage, another blood feud rages in the shadows, one no more humane, but decidedly less human. Two warring tribes from the stars have chosen Earth's killing fields as their arena, with each clan sworn to eradicate the other - and all who stand between them! Each is the other's prey, each the other's Predator. The hunt resumes as Dark Horse Books unleashes Predator once again into the graphic-fiction jungle. Features the creative team of writer John Arcudi (Aliens, B.P.R.D., Doom Patrol) and artist Javier Saltares (Aliens vs. Predator, Ghost Rider).

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Horror, Fiction

104 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2009

About the author

John Arcudi has made a name for himself by scripting comics that manage to combine long-running subplots with impeccable characterization and action sequences, making for some of the most exciting and consistently good comics out today.

Reviews

[Bookwraiths · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty meh story. Honestly, I like action as much as the next person, but I also expect a narrative to actually have a plot which draws me in, not just killing and then more killing. Unfortunately, this miniseries jettisoned any attempt at telling an interesting story and instead just went for non stop mayhem. I’m sure a lot of people love this story, find it action packed, but as for me, it was a borefest.

[Vigneswara Prabhu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not all comic-books need to contain complex themes, well developed characters, and representative of the politics of the era. i.e. not every comic needs to be The Dark Knight Returns, or the Watchmen. Some just needs to cater to that part of the reader that just wants to satiate their need for overwhelming violence and a power fantasy. Every one has the junk that they like to consume, while turning their minds off. I mean, I still don't get why people flock to Micheal Bay's trash movies, but seeing how well they do at the box-office, clearly there is an audience dedicated to such movies.

For me, the Predator series has been the junk content which I go back to, again and again. Even if all, almost all iterations after Arnie's outing have been sub par to various degrees, you are still willing to give it a chance, in the hopes that it might capture the feeling of the original.

The Same goes at the comic front. Over the years I've read quite a few adaptations, featuring the Predators, in conjunction with the Xenomorphs. A few of my favorite have been Batman vs. Predator, Superman/Batman vs. Aliens/Predator, where two of the world's greatest superheroes face up against the world's most lethal hunter/prey. And, again, I don't go into these stories expecting anything more, just mindless gory action.

For the most part, Prey to the heavens satisfies some of those needs. There is plenty of gore and action, but the narrative suffers due to a lack of care put into each confrontation. I mean, part of the charm of these series is the Predators going up against hapless prey, and outsmarting or out maneuvering them in inventive ways. Who wants to see a bunch of mooks, dying at the drop of the hat. Then there is the half baked plot. The title, and the story, hints at some manner of civil war amongst the predators. Perhaps between those who want to follow the old way of Hunting trophies, and the new radicalistic faction that want to launch large scale invasion of inferior species like the humans. But none of the this is explored, as the story just randomly ends, not giving us anything to bite into.

It could've been a decent ride of mindless entertainment if the writers put in a bit more effort into the actual story, which is something ironic consider the genre we are talking about. 2 out of 5, and that is being generous.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predators hunt American mercenaries in a war torn African country- a fun game of cat and mouse, solid art (the predators face is really well done here). If you like these types of movies you’ll probably enjoy this comic- not a game changer but solid.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

I know a lot of readers didn't care for this one, and I can see their point. The story isn't very coherent and we never really find out what's going on. Still, we see soldiers fighting Predators and even Predators fighting Predators so there's at least enough action to keep things interesting. I also am a fan of Javier Saltares's art so that was a plus. Overall I thought it was okay but very generic and also felt a bit unfinished, like we only got a small part of the overall story.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bunch of military grunts vs cool badass looking Predators. The story isn't great but the action is fun and some really badass designs for the Predators.

[Whitney · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a rare case where I'm honestly not sure what to say about this one. There were aliens, and people, and people fighting aliens, but not much plot to hang your hat on. I'm an action movie kind of girl, but this book left me scratching my head trying to figure out what just happened - and not in a good way.

[Sierra · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the storyline was very meh, jumped a lot and hard to keep track of characters. You think they'd make their characters look different from one another. Only one character stood out wasn't even the main guy leading and making orders.
But bright side, the predators in this were super cool. Awesome designs.

[The Smoog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty enough to look at, although I wasn’t fond of the Predator design here and the characters all seem to have the exact same expression for the whole book. Not much of a plot, but it is a Predator book after all, so you know what you’re getting into. The end was pretty disappointing, it just kind of stops without resolving the fates of the two main characters.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 1 out of 5]

Otro comic exploit de la franquicia. Los Predator están más de adorno que otra cosa en la enésima trama militar americanizada.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some decent action in an otherwise unremarkable Predator story.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s always nice to see Predators but this story just seems a little too short to tell itself. A well drawn graphic novel but lacking in storyline

[Johan · Rating 1 out of 5]

What can I say? The movies are way, way, way better than the comics.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have absolutely no idea what the point of this was supposed to be, other than Dark Horse having the rights to making comics based on the Predator film franchise. Because otherwise it's gibberish military comics randomly featuring mayhem from aliens who happen to have the look of the stars from the Predator films. I'm sure for some people that's all the movies themselves are, but if you're going to bother making Predator comics, and you're a company that's generally known for much better material, why are you wasting anyone's time making comics that make movies that aren't particularly nuanced to begin with that much more low grade? I apologize to readers who like this stuff. I'm sure you will find something better.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gunfire. Explosions. Fighting. Lots of fighting. Some soldiers are battling rebels in an African country, then a bunch of different Predators show up. Are they after the soldiers or each other? Who cares? It's hard to really tell what's going on at any given moment here, then the fighting stops and the book is over. A complete waste of time.

[Ronald · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get much outta this. Not even sure what was really going on most of it. Some stuff was blown up, there were a lot of those creepy predator thingies, there was a 'good' one, things got blown up, people screamed, things blew up.

[Mohammad Ali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Final battle dont know what the hell was going on and no detail of who was that other Predator.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable, but fairly generic Predator tale.

[Wolf · Rating 1 out of 5]

Huge disappointment for the Predator franchise. Basic plot. Yet at the same time it left you super lost. Zero clarification on improvement pieces.

[Phil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where do I even begin? This story is set in an Africa town with a U.S. (?) military base stationed nearby. The town has been decimated due to a conflict with a local warlord. And then some predators show up and start killing people. That's pretty much all that happens here. It really could have used an extra 32 pages to fill out some story.

It does give some back story on the human characters, although they still end up feeling pretty flat. There isn't much for plot. The predators are hunting the humans for unstated reasons (anyone that knows anything about predators can figure it out), and another group of predators is hunting them.

The book is full of action and the art isn't bad. These just weren't enough to carry it for me.