Customer Reviews

Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This has everything you would want from a predator or alien book. On the alien side, the book combines the horror of alien with the action of aliens, something that is rare in an aliens trade paperback and that I have never seen been so seemlessy integrated. On the predator side, one of the main things I look for in a predator novel, information on predator culture, is delivered in spades. New predator technology is shown (another plus) and even some predator physiology is thrown in. I believe this is the first book that describes exactly what gas predators breath (its methane) and what happens to them if they lose their mask. This adds depth to the story. It departs from the aliens vs. predator storyline, having nothing to do with aliens vs. predator or aliens vs. predator: war trade paperbacks (which share a storyline with the aliens vs. predator novels). Taking place after aliens: genocide (aliens: the female war), it deals with a rebuilt, but still dangerous, earth. One of the biggest surprises is that the predator is female, the first (but not the last) time a female has been seen in a predator novel. A familiar face (if you can call it a face) from another aliens book will show up later in the series, as well. The story is set up for a sequel (which hasn't been produced yet), which is always a turn off. However, there is a ton of plot twists, a large amount of character depth, a number of sub-conflicts, and a several villan changes. I have read nearly every aliens, predator, and aliens vs. predator comic and novel ever written , and this is the best (and longest) I have ever seen.

This is the best Aliens and Predator novella I have seen. All the characters are given their piece, the Aliens aren't just big bugs, but characters, the Predator isn't just a hunter, she's a mother searching for her children. Both creatures are like looking at something majestic and ferocious. And the human story is wonderful as well, a woman who is not as she appears to be. The writing may be confusing to first time readers or those who skim through it, I advise to read every word, every line. Enjoy the wonderful art, from the action packed sequences, to the landscapes, to the pain on Caryn's face, the rage on the Predator's, and the open-mouthed hiss of the Alien Queen. Wonderful book!

To be fair, no book, movie, or comic can ever live up to the expectations people have of the Alien vs. Predator mythos. I'm giving this comic 4 stars, when really it only deserves 3, because it does a better job than most of the other attempts that have been made to do so. (The recent movie, for instance, deserves 1 star, at most, and only because we have the satisfaction of seeing almost all of the inane characters die painful deaths.) Deadliest of the Species is the longest running of the AvP crossovers, with 12 issues. The original cover art (which is all included in the back of the book) is superlative--as gorgeous as anything produced in the comic book industry. Unfortunately, that of the actual story leaves something to be desired. The story arch is interesting and engaging, but the actual dialogue, and internal monologues often wear thin. The thoughts of all the characters except Big Mama (the Predator) seem to be redundant expositions on their favorite virtues: honor, duty, etc. Excessive use of cliched military jargon gets a bit old as well.

Some redundancy has to be forgiven, as people who happened to pick up an issue somewhere in the middle of the series needed enough background to follow whats going on and enjoy the comic, but the cost is that the story sometimes feels a bit rushed, as though chunks of the story line had been cut to meet a page limit, particularly in the last couple issues, and the conclusion isn't really very satisfying.

I don't want to only point out the negative aspects of the comic. Caryn Delacroix's story is definitely an interesting one, and the world in which it takes place is marvelously constructed. If you can forgive some of the flaws in the editing, its quite a lot of fun to read.

If William Faulkner, Franz Kafka and Arthur C. Clarke got together and wrote a storyline for a graphic novel, it couldn't be any more perfectly twisted with Chris Claremont's Deadliest of the Species. Barreto's art is also superb and illustrates the story wonderfully in a very cinematic form. This is a phenomenally conceived and ridiculously convoluted story. If you're looking for vanilla shoot-em-up-oh-no-acid-blood-type stuff, then don't read this. (In the introduction, there is a actually a response to a letter complaining about "the mythos being broken" because of issues involving Predator gender. Ridiculous.) But if you want a compelling look at self-doubt, human relationships, and most importantly, self-preservation (and rarely in the classic comic-book sense, particularly in the ridiculously planned final scene), then definitely read this at least twice. this is not a comic book about Aliens and Predators so much as a book, in comic form, involving predators and aliens. You will not catch every subtlety of plot the first time, and probably not even the second time. And no, it really doesn't have anything to do with the AvP universe other than the fact that it's set there; however, said universe is very convenient in its fundamental similarites between the previously established perspectives of alien, predator, and human.

On the flip side, Claremont does seem to indulge himself from time to time by juggling essentially unnecessary stories and scenarios to further his smoke and mirrors, and doesn't always clarify between hallucination and reality. (Although they represent cholesterol, I think that even these enhance the effect of the story by placing the reader in the fuguelike state of the protagonist. But this is also a retrospective opinion...) Also, the last two installments don't seem to connect to the first ten very well, as if he spent too much time on exposition, so the leadup to the ending seems abrupt and is slightly jarring. You probably won't understand what ... is going on in the last ten pages the first time you read through, and you will probably end up backtracking. Nonetheless, despite these minor quibbles, this is a classic and is worth every minute.

What can I say the art and story were nothing short of excellent, and I'd recomend it to any Predator or aliens fans.

I'm a big fan of the "Aliens vs. _____", "Predator vs. ______" and (needless to say) "Aliens vs. Predator" crossovers. I was looking forward to this book when I purchased it, as it's one of the longer graphic novels on the subject.

It starts off great: an very interesting main character, complex themes (including credible forays into feminism) and a well thought-through setting within the dystopian human future that fills the Aliens novels. The story keeps adding just enough complexity to make things even more interesting. It keeps it up for quite some time. For a while, I thought I was reading what might be the best book in any of these related series.

Then, just about halfway through the book, the whole thing starts to come apart: the layers of complexity start to bog the story down, supporting characters have pivotal changes of heart (for no apparent reason other than to better serve the latest twist) and the story begins to become absurd. Now, you might say the very idea of Aliens and Predators is absurd, but I use the word in context: for a very promising story in the universe of these two characters, the story becomes a muddled, mindless exercise in twists for the sake of twists, mindless action-adventure violence and a total abandoning of what made the story worth reading for the first half.

I can only guess how this happened. I assume this was released in installments, so the major twists probably came at the end of each installment --and the sometimes massive character changes may have been split over installments (which themselves may have been spread over months, if not years). The problem is reading it in one go: it almost feels as though the author had to fill a certain total number of pages and then started writing to fill space --or he possibly thought he could keep the characters going (in both overt plot and internal growth), but instead the interesting story goes beyond its useful life, bringing an inferior conclusions.

Here, the first half is much greater than the sum of its parts, and my 3-star rating is entirely carried by the first half (mitigated by the second).

as the title says its a ggod comic ( and a v long 1) and its got some real safe illustrations but it like hasnt got much of the aliens vs predators. I mean the title of the comic asks which is the deadliest species but it shows no final, bloody, hunt or be hunted conflict between the species that i longed for. i reccomend AVP:WAR if your looking for some good predator on alien action. Or if you like aliens then get Stronghold (3 stars) or my fav alien comic: GENOSIS ( or female war ). I liked this comic a lot but it dosnt have that little xtra to b 5 star. Soz all u AVP: deadliest of species fans!... ;)

i can't say any thing good about this book the story was crap the art was dull its not worthy of thease characters

I love this book! I think it is illustrated well and it is very detailed. It is so good that you have to read it more then once to catch everything.

What the title of my review says is exactly what I said. There is practically nothing to do with Aliens or Predators. Just talk, talk, talk. And not even interesting talk. If you're a die-hard Aliens/Predator fan, you may like it. If you don't like it, hold onto it, for collector's purposes.