Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Colourist: Rain Beredo
Editor: Randy Stradly
Release Date: 8 June 2016
Price: $3.99

 

Set one year after Dark Horse’s “Fire and Stone” Alien–Predator–Prometheus cross-over event, Prometheus: Life and Death #1 finds the crew of the spaceship Hasdrubal trying to return home. The voyage, however, is complicated, Captain Padgett and her crew have beat back some Predators and commandeered an alien ship. But they are alone; a familiar enough Alien scenario.

A Prometheus emerges from a pod and there is very little suspense, instead the narrative settles for a War of the World’s movie moment as marine Indelicato talks to the Prometheus, which ends badly for guess who? Time to lock and load. While the dialogue is serviceable, there is not enough reader attachment to the characters at this point to make Prometheus: Life and Death #1 a compulsive page turner.

Artist Andrea Mutti’s story-telling technique does what it can to enhance the script. Rain Beredo’s colouring is effective and adds depth to the pages, but it’s not enough to give the story the gravitas it really needs.

Prometheus: Life and Death No. 1 wants to loom large, but, unfortunately, it falls short of that admirable target. If you’re interested in the Alien characters you will probably enjoy it and that is after all, the audience here. However, for the casual reader, the story has some moments but there is a lack of depth in the story and the characterisation which will hopefully be addressed in the remaining issues.

The right ingredients are very present in Prometheus: Life and Death No. 1, the mixture may need more work.

 

Reviewer: Joe Lovece
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker