Predator #4 // Review
Theta is waking up. It’s been a rough night for her. There’s no doubt about that. When she wakes up, it’s with a robotic arm. Paolo is there to explain to her that they couldn’t save the arm. She was losing so much blood. At least she woke up. And at least she’s got an arm of some sort. Things are about to get worse for the both of them in Predator #4. Writer Ed Brisson continues the sci-fi survival tale that is brought to page and panel by the art team of Netho Diaz, Belardino Brabo, and Erick Arciniega.
The arm was a small sacrifice for survival. Of course...there are a lot of other sacrifices that are going to need to be made if everyone’s going to make it out okay. Theta’s going to have to decide whether her human life is worth giving up the last remaining link to her family. Theta’s looking for revenge. She might be forced to sacrifice someone else for that vengeance. Humanity is a fragile thing when life is on the line. It’s going to be a long, perilous ride back to Earth for the people onboard the Sandpiper.
Brisson is bringing across a very vivid and arduous journey for his extended ensemble. The tale of survival ends up being one that is immersed in drama. For the most part, it's kind of difficult to feel a connection with much of the ensemble. Everybody's just trying to survive. They're all defined by their need for survival. As of four issues, it's still not remarkably clear what it is that these people are looking to survive for beyond the very nature of survival itself. We don't know enough about their lives outside of the crisis to connect with them in any substantial tangible sense.
The tight, claustrophobic nature of the journey feels vividly locked in by the art team. There's heavy darkness around every face. The cold, unforgiving metal seems to immerse every aspect of the drama. Stern faces go unshaven as the denizens of the Sandpiper go about the grim business of trying to ensure that no one dies. Occasionally, action explodes across the page. But for the most part, all that is felt is the overwhelming oppression of the danger that seems to lurk around every corner.
There are quite a few different ways to tell a story featuring the Predator. The most prominent forms of the story involve basic human survival in the face of this vicious alien intelligence. There have been a few other approaches over the years. Brisson seems to be embracing a style of Predator storytelling that has been around since the very first film. There are so many different ways a story like this could be told. And while it is nice to see tradition upheld, it would be really preferable to see this inhuman predatory intelligence in some other light.
