Something Spooky: Gotham’s Most Dangerous Game In ‘Batman Vs. Predator’

The Dark Knight is one of the greatest superheroes in history. Given his design, inspirations and modus operandi, he’s also the hero that has been shrouded in horror the most. Meanwhile, the science fiction franchise Predator is rightfully one of the greats in horror, for its intense alien namesake. So when the two collided in Batman Vs. Predator, it was one of the greatest horror comics of its day.

The brutal and violent Predators (or Yautja if you want to be technical), stars of the film series, probably would seem like a poor fit for a superhero crossover. After all, the film series was extremely violent, and who would want to see their favorite heroes hunted down and violently killed in a crossover? (Yes, I know Archie Vs Predator exists and is incredibly gruesome.) However, this story was early in Dark Horse’s time with licensed comics, and the Predator comics they were producing were immensely popular. Combining this world with another was appealing.

The Dark Knight was a perfect fit to battle the violent alien hunters, especially when the violence the story calls for can be taken out of some of Gotham’s most unsavory. However, it’s not just that to push the series into legendary status. The creative team DC Comics put together consisted of some of the most legendary creators in comics: Dave Gibbons, Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert (both inking his brother and lettering), and Sherilyn van Valkenburgh (a color artist who you should know if you don’t).

Now, naturally because this is a Batman comic in the 1990’s, this couldn’t be the gory, R-rated horror action story that many Predator fans would hope for. Gibbons knew that, and he still wrote the closest he could come to that, with an extremely violent and frightening tale of Gotham under siege. The Predator arrives and begins trying to find Gotham’s champion, while Batman teams with Commissioner Gordon to find this see-through killer.

And even without a brutal “mature readers” designation, it went hard. (The series was not approved by the Comics Code Authority.)

Really, this series could have been a minimal effort affair. However, Gibbons writes a pitch perfect Batman story (surprisingly only one of two he wrote that I can find), with a great sense of tension and horror. He also shows that Batman is outclassed by taking him out of commission for much of the second issue after their first knock-down, drag-out fight — one the Predator wins easily. It’s a fight so brutal that its hero is put out of commission for a full third of this series’ run. It raises the stakes for the final conflict in a way that few Batman stories are willing to do.

Though this is still early in the Kuberts’ careers, they create a Gotham that’s moody and atmospheric, and the fight layouts are just incredible. It’s easy to see why Andy was drawn back to Gotham 15 years later after his legendary X-Men run. When you add van Valkenburgh’s painted colors, it makes for one of the most visually exciting Batman stories published in the last thirty years.

At this point, these crossovers may seem like a novelty, but it holds up better than a lot of Batman stories from this era do, and vastly better than most intercompany crossovers. This is just a damn good Batman story, and worth tracking down.

Batman Vs. Predator is collected as a part of DC/Dark Horse Crossovers: Batman Vs. Predator (which also includes the two sequel series), which may be difficult to find today, and through diving into your local comic store’s back issues bin. It’s worth the time and effort.