Comic Review: Aliens Vs. Predator: Three Worlds War #1 & Conan: The Weight Of The Crown

Avp1

ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: THREE WORLD WAR #1 (Dark Horse) $3.50

Dark Horse delves into their rich history of Alien and Predator comics with this brand new miniseries written by Randy Stradley and drawn by Rick Leonardi, bringing back the survivor of the very first AVP mini Machiko Noguchi. See, there's this crazy batch of Predators called Killers (not like the Hunters we're more familiar with) who just love killing and use Aliens as tools to do so. The thrust of the first issue shows an attack by the Killers on a far-off planet and then reintroduces us to Machiko Noguchi thanks to some Colonial Marines tracking her down and asking for her help. We get a lot of exposition, but all in all, this was a pretty good way to kick off a new AVP comic. How can you not love seeing these crazy baddasses mix it up with each other? I'm guessing that the rest of the series will involve plenty of action as the Predators, Marines and Aliens all go at it. Here's hoping the people holding the reigns of the movie franchise are paying attention, because this book already sounds better than both AVP movies put together. 

Conanweight

CONAN: THE WEIGHT OF THE CROWN 1-SHOT (Dark Horse) $3.50

I'm not a huge fan of Conan, but I do have an affinity for the character. The real draw for me to this book was the fact that it's written and drawn by Darick Robertson, whose artwork I'm a big fan of, but don't think I've read anything he's written. And, to be honest, this one-shot does feel kind of like it's written by a fledgling writer because the story is told almost exclusively in really dense text blocks. The writing isn't bad, it actually seems pretty close to the tone of the other Conan comics and books I've read, I'm just not as much a fan of the telling-instead-of-showing method of storytelling. Aside from that, though, this book is a lot of fun. Well, not fun fun, but it's a good read. Conan inadvertently becomes king of an area, but he's still just a young, bloodthirsty warrior at heart who loves to party and kind of ruins the kingdom. As time goes on he realizes his mistakes, but is it too late to save his new kingdom? Check it out yourself if you're curious. Oh, and as you might expect, Robertson's art looks fantastic. It was very cool seeing him draw something in a completely different vein than what you're probably used to seeing from him. He's got to be one of the top three or four artists when it comes to facial expressions, up there with Kevin Maguire and Steve Dillon.

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