Predator - No Escape - R.A. Wonsowski

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Panel 1 - The Amazon jungle.  Classic 2-shot.  MAJ. "DUTCH" SCHAEFER (left of panel) faces down the PREDATOR.  Both are holding very big knives.  However, in the PREDATOR's other hand is a pilfered Dimensional JUxtapositioning via Muon Particles (or D-Jump) control pad.  He activates it as "DUTCH" prepares to attack.

"DUTCH":  Bleed, bastard!!

SoundFX (D-Jump):  vooOP!


Panel 2 - Back alley somewhere in L.A.  Same positions, except "DUTCH" is now the T-800 TERMINATOR, holding two sawed-off shotguns.

T-800:  Hasta la vista...bay-bee!

SoundFX (D-Jump):  vooOP!


Panel 3 - In a cinderblock cellar/bunker.  Same positions, except the T-800 is now JOHN MATRIX (from Commando), levelling a SAW at the PREDATOR (who is now starting to look concerned).

MATRIX:  I eat Green Berets for breakfast!  And right now, I'm very hungry!

SoundFX (D-Jump):  vooOP!


Panel 4 - Rooftop in Gotham City.  Same positions, except now it's MR: FREEZE and his cold-gun.  The PREDATOR grows more frustrated.

MR. FREEZE:  Chill!!!

SoundFX (D-Jump):  vooOP!


Panel 5 - Abandoned movie theatre.  Now JACK SLATER and a giant revolver, cigar between his teeth.

SLATER:  Rubber baby buggy bumpers!

SoundFX (D-Jump):  vooOP!


Panel 6 - The desert of Hyborea.  CONAN, huge sword.  The PREDATOR now pounding the D-Jump with his fist.

CONAN:  Crush your enemies!  See them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!

SoundFX (D-Jump):  vooOO-oowOOWooPbth!!!


Panel 7 - White background.  The PREDATOR, right, is now facing, left:  "DUTCH", the T-800, MATRIX, MR. FREEZE, SLATER, and CONAN, plus JOHN KIMBLE (from Kindergarten Cop), DOUGLAS QUAID (from 90's Total Recall) and TURBO-MAN (from Jingle All the Way), all of whom are about to jump PREDATOR's @$$.  The PREDATOR has an "I'm screwed" air about him, a kind of failure posture as the D-Jump smokes smashed in his hand.

KIMBLE:  It's not a too-mah!

TURBO-MAN:  It's Turbo Time!

QUAID:  Who the hell am I?!?

PREDATOR:  ¿#@&%!

CAPTION:   ....Th-th-th-that's all, folks!!!

Predator - Among The Dead - Niel Jacoby

Panel 1: We see through a camera as a group of 4 paranormal investigators(think one of those SyFy shows where people walk around an abandoned house in green light) in the Paris Catacombs, with this giant column thing of bones behind them. One of the investigators is talking to the camera.

Investigator 1: WE'RE HERE IN THE PARIS CATACOMBS, WHERE THE REMAINS OF ABOUT 6 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE BEEN STORED SINCE THE LATE 1700S.

Panel 2: Same view through the camera, as the crew pans around the column of bones.

Investigator 1: FOR DECADES, CENTURIES, THERE HAVE BEEN RUMORS OF AN UNEARTHLY PRESENCE IN THE CATACOMBS. A STRANGE BEING, OR BEINGS, THAT HAVE TRIED TO GET THEIR REVENGE ON THE LIVING.

Panel 3: Same view, they've walked a bit further, and the Predator has stuck his face out through one of the holes that a skull would usually be in. Nobody sees this.

Investigator 1: IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO THIS? THAT'S WHAT WE, THE GHOST FINDERS, ARE HERE TO FIND OUT.

Predator - The Hunter Becomes the Hunted - J.D. Coughlan

Panel 1: One of those desert rock formations from John Ford westerns; the ones that are perfect for ambushes. It is night, but we can make out a figure scrambling up the rock side.

(NOTE: The Narrator's dialogue is all in caption boxes.)

NARRATOR: Even the tamer tales of the life and times of infamous bounty hunter Jonah Hex are not for the faint of heart.

NARRATOR: This particular story, however, will not only chill the blood of the hardest men, but test the limits of belief for the sanest as well.

Panel 2: Closer up now. Hex has reached the top of the rock he was climbing, and is pulling himself up onto it. We now see that he is shirtless, covered in mud, beaten up and bloody. He has his usual permanently pissed-off expression.

NARRATOR: It's a matter of both fact and legend that wheresoever Hex went, death and gunsmoke were sure to follow

Panel 3: Hex walks cautiously to the edge of the rock to look down on the valley below.

NARRATOR: While most folks would steer clear of a man with such a reputation, there were some for whom Hex had made himself a target -- a trophy waiting to be claimed. To kill a man like Hex would elevate their own reputation.

Panel 4: Close up on Hex (his "bad" side). Behind him, over his shoulder, against a flash of lightning in the sky, we see the outline of the invisible Predator.

NARRATOR: Many such wouldbe trophy-hunters had sought to bag Hex as their prize, and failed gruesomely in the face of Hex's superior skill. It would seem that there was no match for him; no predator to make him prey.

Inset: Close up on Hex's holstered pistol as he draws back the hammer.

SFX: (small) crrrik

Panel 5: Two-shot. Hex, still crouched, spins on his heel and draws his pistol as the Predator decloaks, standing proudly before Hex. This is the first time they've seen each other so close, hence their hesitation.

NARRATOR: At least...

NARRATOR: ...none on this Earth.

Panel 6: Close up of the fully-decloaked Predator as he regards Hex with curiosity.

PREDATOR: [alien text]*

CAPTION: *"You are one ugly [UNTRANSLATABLE]"

END OF PAGE

Predator – Hot Damn I Love Hunting - Shaun Richens.

PAGE ONE – 5 PANELS.

1.1

We open in a dense woodland forest. Huge trees tower all around. Shafts of light from the bright morning sun escape into the forest through the thick canopy of trees.

A large and majestic adult STAG grazes on the vegetation in a small clearing.

NO COPY.

1.2

Repeat shot of 1.1. However how the Stag has looked up and towards us. A gunshot wound erupts at the base of the poor beasts neck. Blood sprays out towards us.

SFX:

BLAM

1.3

Cut to a slightly over weight “hick” in full camouflage gear including a cap. His faces is sweaty and covered with stubble, he has two streaks of camo paint on his cheeks. He smiles broadly on one side of his face showing his misshapen teeth.

The HICK peers out from behind the scope of his hunting rifle, the barrel pointed towards us. He is lying prone on his stomach in a thick patch of grass. He has been watching and waiting for his moment.

HICK:

Fuckin’ got ya.

1.4

Looking down through the branches of trees we see the Hick walking over to the carcass of his prize stag. Deep red blood has begun to pool around the stag.

NO COPY.

1.5

Repeat of 1.4. However now the Hick kneels at the side of the stag and we reveal the shimmering outline of a PREDATOR crouching in the treetops looking down on his prize, watching, waiting.

HICK:

Hot damn I love hunting. 

Predator - Worlds Deadliest – MK Stangeland Jr.

(If you’ve seen Predators, imagine that, but with Marvel characters, and you’ll get a basic idea of what’s going on here.

In this case, the characters who have been abducted and dropped into an alien jungle are PUNISHER, BULLSEYE, TASKMASTER, ELECTRA, BLACK WIDOW (YELENA BELOVA), KRAVEN THE HUNTER, WINTER SOLDIER, and NICK FURY (though this one is an LMD).

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: PUNISHER has one of his guns pressed up against BULLSEYE’s head as he’s waiting for someone to give him a reason not to pull the trigger, while BULLEYE is looking at him defiantly as though he’s practically daring PUNISHER to try to kill him.

PUNISHER (1): Give me a reason not to.

BULLSEYE (1): Go ahead and try. I know you don’t have it in you.

PUNISHER (2): You don’t think I’ll do it?

BULLSEYE (2): I’m sure you’ll try.

BULLSEYE (3): But seriously, Frank, when is the last time you killed a villain with real street cred?

Panel 2: Everyone turns to look at KRAVEN, who is off-panel.

KRAVEN: You will let him live if you wish not to die.

Panel 3: KRAVEN stands in the foreground. While his head looks up and forwards, his eyes are pointing off to a corner, as he’s pretty sure he knows someone is there but he doesn’t want them to KNOW he knows there there.

KRAVEN (1): We are being hunted.

KRAVEN (2): We will not survive if we are at each others throats.

Panel 4: In the foreground, a cloaked PREDATOR stands on a large tree branch watching the assembled heroes and villains. In the background, KRAVEN continues to stare out into the jungle.

BULLSEYE: What you talking about…

KRAVEN (1): Am hunter.

KRAVEN (2): I should know when I am being hunted.

Panel 5: Close up on the helmet of the cloaked PREDATOR. A ‘reflection’ of sorts can be seen on its helmet, in which KRAVEN is returning to the group but looking over his shoulder in the PREDATOR’s direction.

KRAVEN (1): I have been in many a jungle.

KRAVEN (2): This is like none I know of.

KRAVEN (3): Whoever put us here, they most certainly have advantage. Must act as pack if we are to outhunt them.

Panel 6: PUNISHER lowers his weapon from BULLSEYE while the rest approach KRAVEN, recognizing that it’s probably a good idea to listen to his advice.

TASKMASTER (1): I swear, if this is a Mojo thing, I will gut that fat %&$^@%* like a Thanksgiving Turkey.

 ELECTRA: Mojo? You don’t think it could be Arcade?

TASKMASTER (2): HA!

TASKMASTER (3): That little twerp? Nah, this is out of his league.

(END PAGE) 

Predator -Foo Fighter -Dan Hill

PAGE 22

22.1

WIDE PANEL, a shot of a long dark corridor bathed in shadow. A few bodies can be seen strewn about at various intervals down the corridor.

    CAPTION:        “What the hell are you?”

    CAPTION:        “Come on...lets get a closer look at you.”

22.2

CUT TO somewhere in the depths of the facility, and a CLOSE UP on SGT ROCK. His face is partly bathed in shadow but a strip of light cuts across his eyes suggesting he’s looking at the scene before him from the ventilation system.

    SGT ROCK:        Awful lot of activity, whoever you are.

22.3

ANGLE ON BULLDOZER (Rock’s second in command), close to him in the vents.

    BULLDOZER:        Ah geez, boss, you seein’ what I’m seein’ ?

22.4

WIDE PANEL from Rock and Bulldozer’s point of view. We’re looking out of the ventilation system into the main area inside one of the hangar buildings.

The majority of the panel is taken up by a PREDATOR SHIP surrounded by scaffolding and a team of NAZI ENGINEERS. They’re trying to cut the ship into sections, to reverse engineer it.

A few yards away we see an OXYGEN TENT, the flaps at the end open a few feet.

    CAPTION:        “ ‘Fraid so. Looks like we have a visitor.”

22.5

INSET PANEL on the bottom right of 22.6; a CLOSE UP on the inhabitant of the oxygen tent, an injured but very much alive PREDATOR.

    CAPTION:        “I thought they’d be greener.”

Predator - Most Feared - Ben Rosenthal

1.  A panel showing a close up of a male Predator, mask on hunting in a futuristic lab somewhere in space.

CAPTION

The most feared and dangerous hunters in the galaxy.

2.  The Predator has come across two aliens – they look non threatening and are cowering in a corner.  The Predator has its arm cannon raised.

CAPTION

They hunt for trophies.  To both show they are the best---

3.  A close panel of the arm cannon firing.

SFX: ZARKT

4.  In the foreground are the burnt bodies of the now toasted aliens.  The Predator is reaching to take its mask off.  Now that we can see it’s full body it appears to be wearing some type of clothing under all of its advance weaponry.

CAPTION

--and steal technologies to remain the best.

5.  The mask is off revealing not a Predator face, but that of a human.

CAPTION

No other race stands a chance.

Predator – Trophy – Brian Manton

1.

Wide landscape shot of a dojo, in flames.

On the left, a Predator in full battle gear. A number of arrows protrude from his shoulder through a gap in the armour.

The Predator's arm is raised, pointing his gauntlet-mounted gun at a Samurai (panel right) who wears his full ornate armour.

Various Samurai weapons are mounted on racks on the back wall.

2.

Front CU of Samurai, who wears a menacing full-face Somen mask.

3.

Same shot.

The Samurai unties his mask...

4.

Same shot.

... to reveal a weathered, battle-hardened face.

5.

Front view of the Predator, gun still raised.

6.

Same shot.

Gun lowered, the Predator begins to detach his helmet. Steam hisses from the joints.

7.

Same shot.

We see that he is One Ugly...

8.

Wide Panel. Low shot from behind the Samurai. The Predator stands before him, ready to fight.

We now see the Samurai's arm - he is wearing a Predator gauntlet - familiar dual blades shunt out from it.

 

Why Predator?

Predators are an alien race whose culture is built around trophy hunting other dangerous species for sport.

I can't remember what age I was when I first saw Predator but I do remember the overwhelming need to draw one.  Never mind that he's invisible for most of the film... the greatest challenge was in repeatedly hitting the pause button on the VHS to gradually move the static banding along the picture so I could draw him bit by bit.

Kids today and their Blu-rays don't know how easy they have it.

Anyway, I've been fascinated with Predator ever since.

The Playstation2 RTS game Alien vs. Predator: Extinction enabled me to send a team of Predators into an Alien nest, allow the Queens to keep spawning Aliens until I had covered the entire cave floor in Gigeresque bodies and, only then, set the Predators to "harvest".  They proceeded to tear off the Alien skulls and hold them up in victory with a guttural roar, one after the other for the next half an hour. "Turn off that horrible noise" people said. "It's not horrible. It's triumphant!"

Ok, so there have been a few ropey films. Check out my one-page comic adaptation of the major fight scene from Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, for an illustrative example:

While sharing a plane journey with special effects artist Stan Winston,  James Cameron said "I always wanted to see something with mandibles". Then this happened...

But the good news is - it bleeds. If it bleeds, we can kill it.