Alien vs. Predator: Fire and Stone #1

By Christopher Sebela & Ariel Olivetti

Here’s the big issue with Alien vs. Predator: Fire and Stone: the story is supposed to take place after the events in Prometheus: Fire and Stone, but Dark Horse has only released the first issue. There are some major spoilers, so if you are reading it, I highly recommend not touching this until that mini-series ends. The survivors from the events in Prometheus have drawn the attention of the predators to their spacecraft. All the while, an adversary thought to have perished makes his way onboard with his new xenomorph friends.

The book opens with a great sequence of the predators on a hunt. After that, the issue becomes bogged down with establishing the human characters. Yes it’s necessary, but to be honest, everyone picking up this title just wants to see the two most dangerous species face off. Christopher Sebela does well in expediting the exposition to reach the heart of the plot. Sadly, no major action takes place, but that’s to be expected.

Ariel Olivetti brings stylish and detailed imagery to this comic. The xenomorphs are shown in silhouette throughout and the predators are presented in colorful glory. Ariel even goes as far as to show veins in the hunters’ arms when they use force. He also makes the setting on the ship very atmospheric with the use of shadows and high contrast between the lights and darks in panels.

Despite Dark Horse’s confusing release for this title, it seems to a decent start. All the exposition is out of the way, so hopefully the next book will allow Sebela and Olivetti to cut loose with some Alien and Predator action.