Predator #3 - Marvel Comics

PREDATOR No. 3, December 2022

Considering just how much of Ed Brisson’s script for Issue Three of “Predator” consists of the audience simply watching Theta Berwick pack a hoverbike with “enough M.R.E.s, canned goods and booze to get me through next year”, this twenty-page periodical still contains an incredible amount of tension and pulse-pounding pace courtesy of a rapidly dwindling countdown until an inbound Astar Industries spacecraft arrives. In fact, by the time the young woman has spent yet another sixty minutes of this ever-ticking clock cutting down the hapless employees recently slaughtered by a Yautja, some readers may well be holding their breath in anticipation of the authorities arriving a little sooner than perhaps Sandy anticipated; “Based on the strength of the signal, I would estimate that the ship will arrive in twelve to fifteen hours.”

Of course, understandably this comic’s biggest draw is the sole survivor’s epic battle against a Predator which thought it had the drop on her. This intense clash of blades is wonderfully penned, and enjoyably doesn’t fall into the trap of the Canadian writer simply imbuing the title’s lead protagonist with super-human fighting skills either. Instead, having quickly lost a limb to the lady’s ferocious adversary, it soon becomes clear that she will only outlive her bestial opponent with a massive amount of good luck.

Furthermore, having arguably got the book’s action out of the way early on, the author has time to bring out more of Theta’s motivation for tracking down the slayer of her fellow interstellar surveyors, and depict the character’s guilt at having inadvertently caused the deaths of others by drawing the Predators’ attention upon herself. This genuine desire to do good by others blinds her to more pressing dangers and makes her much more intriguingly vulnerable than Berwick would ever acknowledge.

Just as captivating as this comic’s narrative though is Kev Walker’s prodigious pencilling, which does a great job of depicting all the emotions running through the human warrior as she realises she has fallen into an ambush and subsequently attempts to outthink her much stronger foe. Furthermore, the woman’s descent into an alcohol-induced stupor is made all the more sympathetic by some terrific facial expressions and physical exertions, with the weight of innocent murders weighing heavily upon her shoulders.

Writer: Ed Brisson, Artist: Kev Walker, and Colorist: Frank D'Armata