Comic reviews -- Week of June 9th

DARK HORSE:



Predators #1: Ah, movie tie-ins--they get such a bad reputation. I had low expectations going into issue one of the Dark Horse Predators prequel miniseries, but I had a good time. The issue is broken up into two stories. The first, "Welcome to the Jungle," follows a team of ultimate bad-asses as they are dropped into a jungle and slowly picked off one by one, leaving only Drake, the protagonist, alive. His chapter ends with him coming face to face with a Predator, but there is a cool twist that makes me want to pick-up next week's issue. The artist has a great handle on gore, and the dialog is spot on. "Welcome to the Jungle" was enough to get me hooked, while the second story, "A Predatory Life," was forgettable. This story follows what looks like Adrian Brody as he is tasked with taking down a terrorist who has taken control of an African jungle. Brody is to be paid highly for his services, but the general insists that he be escorted by a government soldier. Brody smells a trap . . . So far, this story has no action and no Predator, so it's not living up to my (low) expectations. The story is something I've seen before, but unlike the first story (which was essentially a retread of the first Predator film), this one was boring and added nothing new. I wouldn't come back to this series if it were only this second story, but because "Jungle" was great, I'll give the next issue a shot. It was only three dollars, too!

MARVEL:



Captain America #606: Well, the Butch is back. Butch Guice is once again lending his beautiful pencils to Captain America, and the series is all the better for it. Not only is Guice back with his fantastically-detailed pencils, but with him comes Baron Zemo, who's pissed off about Bucky taking up the Cap mantle. I thought last arc's "villain" was cool, but this new Heroic Age has led to the death of the "gray area" and has allowed for heroes and villains to return to their classic roles. Zemo is a villain again, and his first order of business is finishing the work his father started--killing Bucky. The arc has a great setup, and Brubaker must think in these characters' voices--he's got these characterizations down so well, I almost hate it when the Cap characters pop up in other series, because they never talk quite the right way. Falcon never says, "Aw, crud" anywhere else, and I've got Brubaker to thank for it. I'd kill for this series to be a weekly.