Predators PREQUEL released in comic book series form via Darkhorse.
Lapham and Marc Andreyko’s pulp prequel sets the table for director Nimród Antal’s Predators, using the kind of tense mercenary gamesmanship more routinely found in war films and documentaries than in spacey sci-fi blockbusters. The franchise could use that kind of topical disaster capitalism to back up its been-there-done-that chess matches involving soft human targets and hard-core interstellar killers.
“Mercenary heroism is always culturally ascendant,” said Paul Tobin, writer of Dark Horse’s Predators film adaptation, out July 14. “What we see as mercenaries might change from pulp heroes to detectives to gangsters to whatever. But the theme of the lone man against all odds, and breaking all the rules, is always the basis for action-oriented pop culture.”
“The comics take Robert Rodriguez’s screenplay and expand on it,” said Lapham. “As writers and artists, we’ve been given latitude to create stories that add to the characters. So even if you see the movie, you’re going to get something different. And people who read the comics are going into the film knowing so much more about the story behind what they’re seeing.”
“We’re covering the film from all angles,” said Tobin in an e-mail to Wired.com. “The last couple decades of Predator were enjoyable at times, but without the tension and horror that I feel Rodriguez is bringing back to the franchise.”
