I’ve made it a Predator summer, rewatching the original films leading up to the release of the animated flick Killer of Killers which debuted at Number 1 on Hulu. While I wasn’t totally enamored with KoK’s choppy animation, it served its purpose, had some exciting and gruesome action in new settings while elevating Michael Biehn into the rare club of acting in a The Terminator, Aliens and Predator installment along with legends Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen. Keeping the Predator vibes alive, I dug into Archie vs. Predator from Dark Horse Comics, a quick, funny, violent and random read from 2015.
Written by Alex de Campi and penciled by Fernando Ruiz, this new AvP finds Archie, Jughead, Veronica and Betty from Riverdale winning a sweepstakes taking them to a tropical island where they unknowingly encounter a Predator. There’s some nice Predator easter eggs sprinkled throughout with callbacks to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch from part 1, Danny Glover’s Mike Harrigan from part 2 and of course, the manliest handshake of all time. I was surprised the action didn’t stay in the jungle as the gang heads back to Riverdale, where teenage Predator hunting teenagers, death and hijinks ensue.
There’s some odd and out of nowhere choices made in how the kids fight the Predator including maces, axes, mech suit and a rich panic room that includes some kind of steroid injecting, “turn you into a Hulk” device. Ruiz’s art is classic Archie style which highlights the Predator, blood and spines as both cute and terrifying. But it all makes for a fun read and now I’ll have to find the 2019 sequel.
