Despite being billed as a 20th Century Studios product, Predator vs. Wolverine is very much a Wolverine story with the Predator being an outside actor to his narrative. This is a smart choice as Wolverine is a compelling narrator and has a more diverse, distinct visual history to draw from. It’s just slightly odd that the Predator gets top billing in a book that is presented as “in association with Marvel” despite really being a Wolverine book.
Marvel Comics
The entirety of the series was written by current Wolverine scribe Benjamin Percy. Art duties across the various eras are handled by Ken Lashley, Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Andrea DiVito, Hayden Sherman, Kei Zama, and Gavin Guidry. The colors are by Juan Fernandez, Frank D’Armata, Alex Guimaraes, and Matthew Wilson, while all of the lettering was done by VC’s Cory Petit.
Wolverine’s history with the Yautja (the name for the alien species to which the titular Predator belongs) spans his entire adult life. The miniseries presents their storied conflict across six eras: The present, the Westchester era, the Muramasa era, Team X, Weapon X, and Young Wolverine. Each era is presented in a single issue with the associated characters in a new one-off story. The exception is the present-day segments which are woven throughout the entirety of the series, punctuating the transitions between eras and providing a framing device for the narrative. The collection flows nicely with the low issue count making it easy to keep track of what is happening despite the various jumps between the past and present.
Marvel Comics
The art and writing work in concert to create something more than the sum of their parts, as many comics try to do. This is notable here as dialogue, while not entirely absent, is sparse by nature, as the Predator’s only speech is a handful of parroted utterances. Leaving the majority of on-panel text to Wolverine’s narration.
Wolverine is, iconically, angry and is cursed inherently violent superpowers. His claws rip through his hands every time he deploys them and his healing factor puts him in a position when the most logical solution to his problems often requires him to take unfathomable physical punishment. That being said, he also has an interesting interiority when the audience is allowed to hear it. Percy gives the reader a gift in this sense by allowing Wolverine to be the reader’s point of view into this conflict. Wolverine’s philosophy of hunting in particular is heartbreaking and sensible. He knows the violence is necessary and he is more than capable of carrying it out but he’s not numb to the pain it causes or ignorant of the consequences. Even though he intellectually understands the violence is necessary, he can’t help but see it as tragic. As a result, he judges the Yautja’s approach to his craft because they collect trophies and rely heavily on technology. He even gets a little sassy with it and compares them to human trophy hunters killing apex predators only after being led to them by safari guides and getting their kill with the help of purchased laser sights and guns.
Marvel Comics
Percy understood the assignment and did his research. Drawing on behind-the-scenes tidbits and culturally agreed upon big moments from the Predator films, the series brings Wolverine and this Predator in and out of conflict as believably as it can, given the very comic book, sci-fi ideas at play. Much iconography from the Predator lore and Wolverine’s lengthy publication history make appearances and are even used in new ways, adding interesting wrinkles to older stories that have previously been told.
Despite the inconsequential nature of the crossover to the franchises involved, this title brought together a team of creators who understood the assignment and put their best foot (feet?) forward. This crossover might not have been what people had in mind when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox but it’s a pleasant surprise. The result is an incredibly readable and satisfying book that fans of either franchise should experience.
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