Aliens Vs. Predator (Paperback)

ETERNAL takes place a short step into our future. The exact year is left up in the air, though the story certainly unfolds in the first couple decades of the 21st century. As a result, the Tokyo that forms the backdrop of the story is very much like our own, with recognizable vehicles, weapons and clothing styles. Doubtless the powers-that-be at Dark Horse thought perhaps ETERNAL would make a good film, and they were right.

The protagonist of the piece is Becca Shaw, a self-described "journalist-as-celebrity" with a penchant for big stories and even bigger self-promotion. As ETERNAL begins, Becca witnesses, and barely survives, a massacre in a war-torn African nation, and obtains a piece of alien technology - a spearhead such as the one similarly recovered in the film PREDATOR 2 - that starts her on an investigation to end all investigations.

Running parallel to Becca's quest for discovery, we learn about Gideon Suhn Lee, a Chinese businessman now (inexplicably) based in Japan. Lee is seven hundred years old but seemingly only thirty-eight, thanks to a chance encounter with a downed predator spacecraft centuries ago. It seems that predator organs and blood can prolong life and sustain health, but intermittent treatments are necessary. With his newfound immortality and a wealth of off-world technology to exploit, Lee has turned himself into the most successful entrepreneur the world has ever known. When the predators come calling from time to time, Lee or his handpicked soldiers hunt the hunters and obtain the biological material that grants everlasting youth.

Unbeknownst to Lee, the predator spacecraft carries a pair of alien eggs on board. These are discovered during the ongoing process of reverse-engineering the craft, and no sooner has this happened than facehugging, chestbursting action ensues. The presence of aliens attracts the predators, and thus begins a new hunt with three very different participants, a hunt that Becca Shaw falls right into the middle of.

Writer Ian Edginton puts together a solid plot to carry ETERNAL forward. There's plenty of action to please the fans of both ALIENS and PREDATOR, and better character development than is usually seen in these crossover comics. Artist Alex Maleev, who subsequently went on to great fame as Brian Michael Bendis's partner on Marvel's DAREDEVIL, knows how to evoke mood with his heavy inks and evocative linework, though his clarity in the action sequences could stand some improvement.

Despite its many positives, ETERNAL suffers from the same problem as the original ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: the four-issue format. Resolution comes too quickly, and some plot development seems rushed. This story needs room to breathe.