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Aliens Vs. Predator: Fire And Stone #4
Published by: Dark Horse Comics
Published on: January 14th, 2015.
Written by: Christopher Sebela
Art by: Ariel Olivetti
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Need to get caught up? Do it. Now let's see how Sebela and Olivetti bring this bad boy to a close… a Predator has mutated. A science officer named Francis Lane has tried to used the same accelerant responsible for that mutation to cure his terminal illness but it's only accelerated the cancer and he's now more or less a giant tumor. A synthetic named Elden wants answers but there are aliens to contend with. It's all about to hit the fan.
When the issue begins, the non-mutated Predator and Elden do battle and just as it looks like Elden is done for, the aliens move in. He has a connection with them. Meanwhile Francis coils in pain but then begins to change himself. The disease has taken over to the point where he is cured and strong, but no longer himself. The mutated Predator follows him and you just know they're going to come to blows. They do, but it's not how you'd expect.
Those aliens though, they make it past the Predator and back towards Elden - maybe they're not his obedient servants after all, these perfect killing machines. He'll learn this the hard way and 'connect' wit the Predator - or maybe not, as there are things that can happen in space, things that can't happen in a gravitational environment. Elden and Francis though? They've got unfinished business, and given that this is the last issue and all, well, they're going to want to finish that. Right? Right. But first they're going to have to take care of that incredibly powerful mutated Predator that has been causing so many problems for them in this four issue run.
Wow. This one ends on a seriously highbrow note that you probably won't see coming. It's quite philosophical the way that it comes to a finish, and even a little bit tragic but never to the point where it feels hammy or overdone. The ramifications of the other series in the Fire And Stone run that Dark Horse has been publishing over the last few months are starting to run deep and everything is tying together quite well at this point. The AVP run, that started off feeling a bit superficial and a bit too style over substance winds up being one of the best of the four mini-series really in large part to how writer Sebela finishes up his story. Poignant. That's the right word to describe it. Yes, we're dealing with monsters in a sci-fi/horror environment, you know that and you WANT that, but there's still room to bring some depth and humanity to the story and Sebela does that very, very well.
Ariel Olivetti's artwork was gorgeous from the first issue and it stayed that way throughout. He's got a great sense of how to lay out a panel and in this issue specifically really lets the ol' imagination run wild in terms of the monster mash action that plays out. The fully mutated version of Francis has a sort of Richard Corben feel to it that's nice to see but his style is very definitely his own. E. M. Gist once again contributes a slick painted cover. All in all, this is a very strong finish to the four issue run. One that, as a good finale should, leaves us wanting more.
