Let me just start off with a a little disclaimer. Just shy of two years ago, I was introduced to Accent UK by a group of great guys over at the Tales From The Parents Basement Podcast (find them on Twitter at @tpbpodcast , tell them John sent you if you want them to block you). When I say “introduced” I mean to say “had them violently forced upon me, with no mention of a safe word” by the TPB guys. They sent our little ol’podcast a copy of Whatever Happened To The World’s Fastest Man, and everyone pretty much loved the book.
What else can we get our grubby little hands on? Oh look, there is the mostly wordless and powerful story being told about the loss of a child to a couple in MAN OF GLASS. Our love of thick lines and snarling werewolves was rewarded with the wonderful WOLFMEN/FALL OF THE WOLFMEN books. We even ran to the computer to check out the web offering of STRANGE TIMES. Then we were told the company also makes anthology comics . . . and we love anthology comics! Well, gotta get those, right?
We tore into the wonderful collection of stories found inside of ROBOTS, and pulled on our best and fanciest chaps to saddle up to WESTERNS, and even got the shotgun ready to take on ZOMBIES. Weed, Bo and I all had our favorites from each book, and they did tend to overlap, but were not exclusively the same stories. It is true, in anthology comics, there is a little bit of something for everyone, and in Accent UK anthologies, there is a whole lot of something for everybody. So yeah, we have a lot of love for the products Accent UK puts out as you can tell a lot of work and love goes into them making these very books.
I heard their newest anthology was going to be called “Predators” and had a sabre-tooth tiger on the front. Cool image, but really, how many stories of crazy animals can I endure? I was a little bummed and just hoped Zombies 2 would be coming out soon. Then a funny thing happened. A few preview images were posted for the book, and some panels snuck out. Well, this instantly got my attention because it look like there was war comics. Okay, why didn’t I trust these guys to deliver?
The amount angles of storytelling in the past books was vast, why shouldn’t this Predators book be the same? I felt a little silly looking past this for the next one at this point, and got more excited about it. Now I have PREDATORS sitting right in front of me. Pardon my language, and I hope my grandmother doesn’t end up reading this, but holy shit is this book great!
It’s a simple mistake to hear the word “predators” and simply think of lions, tigers, bears (no, no “oh my” joke) and even sharks. But what about the predators in everyday society. The maniacs, the sociopaths, and even the woman or gent at the bar looking to score? People are some of the most fierce and cunning predators on the planet. Soldiers, boxers, and pilots all take center stage in their stories. Okay, and yes, some dinosaurs, tigers and other viscous animals show up, but in a way you may not expect, the book is full of surprises!
So what are you going to find exactly? One of my favorite stories was ” THE DRILL” by Morgan Pielli and Jon-Mikel Gates about a playground full of children who frantically set up the playground and school with burning moats and camouflage to defend against giant, elongated alien monsters! Gorgeous art, and a powerful and heartbreaking story told in only a few pages. This is what a good story in an anthology can do: instantly hook you, squash it all into a few memorable pages, and force you to flip back to it every once in awhile to soak in a small, clever detail you may have missed. Great stuff.
PREDATORS is full of different art styles and storytelling methods, so if the preview below doesn’t entice you, I would be willing to bet you can find several other varieties in the book that do hook you into enjoying the book and checking out more.
We talk about more of the issue on EPISODE 94 at about the 47:50 mark. Bo and Weed really loved the anthology as well, talking about the wonderful job done by nearly every creator in the book, where I gush about the wonderful pinups and such in the back as I didn’t get my copy yet to check out.
Bottom Line: If you like anthology comics, this is a no brainer to me. Pick up PREDATORS (and hell, check out ROBOTS as well). If you have never tried out an anthology comic or it has been awhile, this is a great place to jump back into the world of the short stories collected in a graphically compelling package of fantastical awesomeness. The last sentence made no sense, but you should still give the book a look.
