About Heroes

This review was submitted by Ray2007
Writer: Mark Schultz
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics / DC Comics

Boy, oh boy...When I first saw this title at my local Borders bookstore, I actually chuckled. It just sounded like a title ripe for disaster. I mean, the title alone already shows some inherent flaws in the concept:

1. "Aliens AND Predator" ? If the film, "AVP" taught us anything it's that those two species are natural enemies. How are they going to work together against Batman and Superman?

2. Both Superman and Batman have each confronted Aliens and Predators before, and lived to tell about it. Any guesses as to who's going to win THIS battle?

3. The title had the trappings of one of those WWF or WWE (or whatever initials they go by) Pay-Per-View Main Event Steel Cage Matches.

So...of course, I had to get it.

I figured this one of those books that was so outrageous that it would either succeed brilliantly, or die in flames. Well, for me, it succeeded. Just not brilliantly.

Our story starts in the Andes Mountains of Peru where a geological team vanishes (read: decapitated) while climbing a volcano, Mount Viejo Abuelo. Word of this event reaches the Daily Planet where Perry White decides to send Clark Kent to sniff out the story. After a bit of badgering and bad puns (you'll know when you read them), Lois Lane tags along with her super husband. Little does Perry realize that just the day before, Clark had encountered a group of Predators modifying an underground power generator in Metropolis. But rather than fight, they scatter. And now, Clark doesn't realize that his trip to the Andes is about to provide more answers than he wants...

Meanwhile, in Gotham City, Batman,( who has started keeping Captain's Log's like Star Trek Starfleet officers), is about to jump a meeting of the Russian mob and the local steelworker's union. His mission is interrupted however by the presence of another group of Predators, who after a brief tussle, also retreat. Batman, after analyzing dust traces they leave at the scene, tracks them to Peru.

In short order, the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight meet in the Andes, and discover a THIRD party called to Peru: TDI agents. The Terrestial Defense Initiative is a covert group that is dedicated to protecting the human populace from Aliens and Predators, by any means necessary. (No doubt this group was started with the help of two U.S. state governors, an L.A. police lieutenant, and a clone of a woman who looks remarkably like Sigourney Weaver!) However, the TDI agents that Batman and Superman encounter are all dead, easy pickings for the Predators. And that's just the beginning of their problems...

Ariel Olivetti's ("The Last Avenger's Story", "JLA: Paradise Lost") artwork is good, done in a digital style that vaguely reminded me of "Batman: Digital Justice". But, that feels appropriate for a story dealing with advanced and alien technology. Mark Schultz's writing is solid, if a bit repetitive at times. (How many times can Superman say, "Great Rao" in a given story?) He does have at least a grasp of the fundamental differences in Superman and Batman's philosophies when it comes to fighting crime, and milks it for all it's worth when dealing with the Aliens and Predators. It then came as no surprise that he makes Superman so noble in the face of these adversaries, since Schultz's most prolific and current assignment is as the writer on the "Prince Valiant" comic strip. Schultz's portrayal of Batman is believable, but nothing groundbreaking.

The action is well written and drawn however, and there were enough surprises and gags to make me smile. Personally, though, I was hoping for something just a little bit bloodier. We ARE dealing with Aliens and Predators, after all.

Maybe the title should have been:

Dark Horse versus DC: Clash of the Franchises!

B-